We aren't angry over innocents' killings in Kashmir but our Indian blood boils when Kashmiris cheer against us in a cricket match!

When innocents are killed in Jammu and Kashmir (J & K) by army bullets, do we feel angry?

Are we upset when mass graves are discovered or when gang rapes take place in the valley. And yet there is no action against soldiers due to AFSPA.

Most of us are apathetic on these issues and for our media it is no news.

There is no support for justice for them. There is no such rage. But if it is petty cricket match and Kashmiri boys have cheered for Pakistan, our blood boils.

Perhaps, it is these double standards, which makes them cheer for Pakistan. Don't Indians settled in UK, Australia and New Zealand, cheer for visiting Indian team, instead of their countries! Should we feel upset over someone taking sides.

In this case, it is not sure either that how many of these students had supported or raised voice for the Pakistani cricket team in its match against India. We simply rely on one sided version and the hysteria generated by it.

Let us take up the most basic points first:

1. Kashmir is part of India. Surely. But there have been issues and we haven't treated Kashmiris very well in the past. We forget that Kashmiris had the option to join Pakistan but the masses under Sheikh Abdullah preferred to join India, because they believed in secular nation.

What we do? We put their leaders in jail, didn't allow free and fair elections for decades. Governments were toppled and AFSPA makes life difficult for an average Kashmiri. There is hue and cry about scrapping Article 370.

2. We expect them to behave the perfect hosts when we go their for pilgrimage or trips. But Kashmiris are human beings as much as we are. They can also be political. Their youngsters too have raging hormones. They may act recklessly at times. But it shouldn't make us so angry.

3. We may not like it but we mustn't take it as a patriotism test. Cricket match can be no test for loyalty. Our nationalism is not so weak that a mere cricket match can prompt university to take disciplinary action. The irony is that those who talk about patriotism, themselves have dubious credentials.

4. The right-wing groups that are most vocal on such issues are affiliated to the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), which never hoists Tiranga (national flag) on its premises or buildings anywhere in India.

5. But no one questions it. It is not that Kashmir is the sole troubled spot. In other states, there are issues. But when it comes to Kashmir we are over sensitive. We should stop being reactive over such matters. This is almost a non-issue.

We must understand our responsibilities too, rather, than expecting the Kashmiri youth to just play the gallery and prove his patriotism. It will do us a lot of good. It will also help Kashmiris integrate with the rest of India, better, than by sending the youths back home from university.

We need to win the hearts and minds of Kashmiris. But what are we doing?

If Rajiv Gandhi's killers can be spared, then why was Afzal Guru hanged?

The three persons have been convicted for the murder of India's Prime Minister. Yet, the killers of Rajiv Gandhi are going to live.

The Supreme Court has decided to commute their death penalty into life imprisonment. The honourable court's decision is final.

There is no scope for disagreement. But politicians, citizens and activists in Jammu and Kashmir, now ask why 'Afzal Guru' wasn't pardoned.

Was his crime as serious and in the same league. In his case, there was no direct evidence but to satisfy the 'collective conscience' of the society, it was decided to hang him to death.

Even his family was not formally informed about the decision to hang him. It was undoubtedly an inhuman act. His family could have met him a last time before he was hanged. But the government machinery was sure that they had to kill him. Was it a lust for blood?

The signals aren't right. In J and K, it sends the wrong message. Punjab government did it best to save Bhullar from death penalty. The trio--Santhan, Murugan and Perarivalan, have been spared the gallows. Why? It is not court's decision alone. 

The reality is that the prevailing jingoistic atmosphere where nothing is allowed to be discussed, if it is 'sensitive'.The BJP is the second biggest party. But it was never serious for capital punishment for Santhan, Murugan and Perarivalan. It wanted Afzal Guru to be hanged.

While in most cases, the mercy petitions aren't disposed or the convict gets reprieve by PRESIDENT. However, Afzal's death penalty was not commuted. Why? Is it because he was a Muslim? These are really serious questions. The manner in which Afzal was made an enemy of the nation, proves how media and politicians joined hands to kill him.

It augurs bad for the nation when there is such clear difference on case to case basis. Are we a bloodthirsty nation?

Migration of Kashmiri Pandits (KPs): Don't make it Kashmiri Pandit Vs Kashmiri Muslim Issue

The Kashmiri Pandits (KPs) had to leave their home state Kashmir. Their displacement was a monumental tragedy.

Every sensitive persons understands their pain and speaks in support of the community. Even 'separatist' leaders today urge the KPs to return.

While every such issue must be looked with a humanitarian aspect, the Kashmir issue gets communalised in a strange way: Militants targeted Kashmiri Pandits but they also targeted Kashmiri Muslims, thousands of whom died in the last three decades.

On one hand the issue of exile of the KPs is raised, the issue of security forces' excesses is a Holy Cow. Nobody wants to discuss the 'mass graves' found in the Valley. TV channels don't want to talk about the 'missing thousands' of children and teenagers in J&K.

They ignore atrocities like rapes and custodial tortures. Life is not easy for a Kashmiri even today. The channels don't show it. Journalists visit refugee camps but avoid talking about fake encounters or human rights abuse. Over 200 Kashmiri Pandits died in the militant attacks in Kashmir. It is a shame. 

But also around 47,000 Kashmiri Muslims have been killed in this conflict. This is also a big shame. If the former is a holocaust or genocide as described repeatedly, what is the latter? Both are not different and should not be seen differently.

Ironically, in the last few years, focus is less on getting the KPs back, but more on exploiting the migration of the Pandit community, to serve narrow political interests and further a particular ideology that divides people on religious lines.

The right-wing political parties and groups who have tried their best to milk the issue of displacement has never supported the Kashmiri Pandits wholeheartedly. For them, it is just a routine exercise to target the so-called secularists or further their own agenda.

Often people say that KPs shouldn't have migrated, rather they should have stayed, endured and fought. Just like Muslims who suffered tremendously in Gujarat but continued to live despite a hostile administration, police and angry neighbours.

I don't buy this argument and to discuss it more than two decades later, it's a bad joke. All situations are different. There are different versions of what happened in the era when Jagmohan was governor and KP exodus began. Today the J&K government is repeatedly calling KPs to return.

Government may not be doing as much as one expects but the society is also welcoming them. Separatist leaders say that they open arms for KPs. Hundreds of jobs have been given to KPs recently and they have returned also. Muslims go out of way to ensure success of Amarnath Yatra (Vaishnav Devi) every year.

There are many real life stories of Muslims keeping the temples safe all these years. In this situation, pitting KPs against KMs is totally wrong and deplorable. On social networking websites, enormous amount of hate is directed against Muslims, who are blamed for KP exodus.

This serves the Sangh Parivar, BJP and RSS. But it doesn't help the Kashmiris, either Hindus or Muslims. It doesn't help non-Kashmiris in India. This only helps in furthering the divisive agenda of a segment. But many fall in this trap.


Unfortunately, people who talk of one tragedy, don't want to talk about another tragedy. Naturally, the issue gets communalised and puts victims as opponents. Why both tragedies shouldn't be spoken about in the same breath? When you talk of militants killing people, why it doesn't include all.

Why the encounters, illegal detentions and firing on 'stone pelters' (teenagers and boys) is not considered as a tragedy. It either deliberately (by design) or unknowingly becomes a Kashmiri Pandit Vs Kashmiri Muslim issue. We shouldn't let this happen. Don't divide. Don't differentiate sufferings.

It is not KP Vs KM. It should be Kashmiri Pandit+Kashmiri Muslim. Or simply Kashmir.