by Inam Un Nabi Soudagar
Well, I was compelled to write this article after a thorough analysis of the write-up Why They Feel Dignity In Death? In this article, the Youth President of PDP has tried to highlight some genuine concerns about youth taking to arms whose number has drastically increased ever since PDP took the charge.
Going statistically every third day one local boy has joined militant ranks in 2017. The author has tried to discuss issues of radicalization, emancipation, perspectives, religious connotations and even the lifespan of a militant probably as a deterrent to contain fresh recruitments.
Kashmir conundrum has put the best of brains to farrago and based on their allegiance to State and non-state actors every soul has redefined and coloured the conflict to suit personal agendas and broad narratives.
The author has been avowal in reflecting that definition of success, traitor and failure. Martyrs are relative and depend entirely on the eyes of the oppressor and oppressed. True enough that majority of our populace is young and they are the biggest casualty in the conflict accounting for most injured, dead, maimed and blinded till now in the three mass uprisings of last one decade.
One line in the mid of article where he writes “I question the cause they believe in, but they are so convinced that they can give life to it and don’t regret” is probably the answer for all his queries as he seems to have an utter desperation to flounder for peace under the umbrella of slack narratives and belated remonstrations.
Geo-strategically a nuclear flashpoint that forced the UN intervention and global diplomatic and think tank involvement since decades has been reduced to a miniscule petard by the author. If it was a simple maths then a few sermons on radicalization and authors propounded the theory of finding dignity in life would have solved the issue decades back.
Things are not that easy, it is quite perplexing and baffling that the authorities sitting on million dollar chairs are naive and oblivious to ground realities. Your misinterpretation and calumnies intended to defang the martyrdom of youth is an exponential cause of anathema your party faces on the ground and a mere kowtowing to impress some power corridors in and nonetheless makes your protégés as potential subjects to grey matter scanning.
The PDP that started siding with militants and orphans a decade back to secure vote bank is today questioning the dignity of martyrs. Your hometown has witnessed a million people marching in funerals of martyrs cumulatively over the last few years. I can understand their feelings when you question their cause and why actually they chose death. You seem to be the bulwark of redefining neo conflict through your coterie of loathsome lumpen’s hell-bent to supplant the political nature of Kashmir imbroglio by a sudden discovery of dignity in Kashmiris lives.
Surprisingly you were voted to bring back dignity to their lives by a load of election manifestos enshrined in Agenda of Alliance where an unconditional dialogue with separatists and Pakistan was a prerequisite for ushering in peace.
Your political plod of three years saw ham fisted neo-political powerhouses acting as pantheons of corruption, scams and misgovernance. You eviscerated the credibility of all possible institutions by making a handful of neo-riches to enjoy all perks. Your behave to give healing touch proved a mockery, as interventions in a financial institution still run the risk of country’s biggest scam. Your pre-election meliorism was a derision of sorts. You facilitated the first blind epidemic in recent history. Kathua legislator that rallied for rapists recently found a berth in the cabinet under your government. The day Late Mufti Sahab thanked Pakistan and Hurriyat for election success must have been an eye-opener for all of you to engage seriously with all stakeholders.
Alas! The party that you promised to vote out soon turned your coalition partner. Article 370 and 35A are still debated in Supreme Court under your asinine leadership. In your tenure, only UN chief was forced twice to guide you out of slumber on Shopian and Kathua incidents. Your attempts at musical concerts, bigwigs like MS Dhoni and Sri Sri Ravi Shankar were greeted with Azadi slogans. Chief Minister herself had a narrow escape in SKICC facing a public wrath. South Kashmir has hardly witnessed any of your legislators visit. Terrified workers are confined to scrutinized quarters. A petrol bomb attack on your legislator’s house recently is redolent of your shrinking fiefdom owing to the trust deficit you created through the massacre of your manifesto. Quintessential prudent voices have all been engraved under squalid oblivious snollygoster.
We have seen governments in the past too but unfortunately, the ground you have created has hardly left an iota of a scope for any future government. The credit for delaying Panchayat elections adds stars to your miserable baggage. We have seen peoples’ marches for a referendum in Valley since decades but the anarchy today is unprecedented. Thanks to your mismanagement and surrender to the coalition partner.
Academic institutes which used to be safe earlier are dungeons under your government, students as subjects are a relearning for law and order drill for security forces nowadays. You will have to answer for millions of academic hours lost which are akin to a disaster. When all channels of engagement are closed, when there is no hope, when the partner has surrendered in coalition, every new recruitment is a scam next up, students are dragged into conflict, the fate of our ethnic identity and special status is still pending in supreme court, passionate youth pushing for a dialogue and political resolution are blinded for a life time, election manifestos and Agendas of Alliance files are gathering dust, oppressed and oppressor narrative are confused with a political will, the question of youth taking to arms and dignifying death is a reality and natural outcome which undoubtedly is a baggage of your mis-governance and historical blunders.
Before putting across sleight arguments, it is high time for you and the PDP, your party, at large to re-introspect of how you pushed a generation into a bloodbath by repeated hedonistic abhorrent policies. Instead of asking why they find dignity in death let you ask yourself: “Why we pushed them to death’’ because a million arguments won’t absolve you the responsibility of enshrining peace you were voted for. The onus lies on you and you only.
(The author is a social, political activist and a TV debater. Ideas expressed in this article are personal.)
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