Kasmir and Arundhati Roy

Arundhati Roy has been making waves across the country with her views about India and Kashmir. While everyone is free to air comments which they feel are justified, I would like to ask her a few questions in this regard. Firstly, she calls Indian presence as one of the most brutal miltary regimes in the world. I would want to know how many military regimes has she actually seen in her life, has she visited, Myanmar, any African conflict ridden zone, Srilankan occupation of Jaffna, or even closer home, Pakistan Occupied Kashmir or China occupied Tibet for that matter. She seems to have decided based on her limited factual understanding in this particular case. Other question that I would put is, if it is oppresssive regime, how come she could make such statements from Srinagar itself. Would she be able to do the same in any other part of the world. I would like to know how many Chinese writers have written about demographic and other forced changes in Tibet or similar such stuff in Jaffna in Srilanka. It is relatively easy to blame anything and everything on Indian Armed Forces, whether it is a theft or a rape which they did not even commit (as was the case in Shopian). Even local criminal activities are blamed on the armed forces and instead of realizing the fact that Kashmir like any other part of the world is facing issues brought out by internal differences, most criminal elemnt can escape by crying foul over the activities of Indian Armed Forces.

I do not say that there should be armed occupation of Kashmir or for that matter any other place in this world. It is certainly a problematic situation, no one would like to be dictated about what to do and what not to do on daily basis for so many years at a stretch. Had it been any other part of India, results would have been no different. However, this also does not mean that Kashmir is completely without fault. What kind of society allows its youngsters too go astray institutionally, why cant they be asked to set up businesses in such a motivated manner thereby ensuring jobs and better life for everyone.

I personally do not support the idea of independence based on religion alone. At least this is what Geelani and Co keep harping about. It would be just another blunder in the series of problems that we are facing in south-east Asia. A fundamentalist Kasmir is not good for anyone, not even for the Kasmiris themselves. I would like to put up another question before Ms Roy, does she think that those trained in arms would forget their training in a day after Kashmir becomes independent and start behaving like doves. Well if this is so, I would like to oint at Afghanistan and several countries in Africa as living examples of how this does not work. It is nothing but the initiation of a series of unending conflicts, which may today not be visible.

More importantly, instead of demoralizing the armed forces by calling them brutal and opressive, would Ms. Roy not be better off imparting literature related education in University of Kashmir and thus helping several youngters realize a dream of good education and subsequently more meaningful existence.