KASHMIR SENTINEL August 16-September 15, 2000----LETTERS TO THE EDITOR---None so blind

KASHMIR SENTINEL

August 16-September 15, 2000

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
None so blind

Sir,
Hundred yatris mowed down on their way to Amar Nath Yatra. Prime Minister rushes to Kashmir. Whether it is the Prime Minister of India or a police inspector of Delhi, why do they rush to the place of incidence, why don't they just go. Any way the Prime Minister rushes to the site of incidence and rushes back. Weeks pass, the incidence is forgotten; the nation goes back to the more important business of Jethmalani versus Soli Sorabji ! To be fair to the PM before rushing back he makes a statement, blaming Pakistan for the massacre. Not to be out done, the military ruler of Pakistan (sorry-Chief Executive Officer !) blames it on the Indian Security forces who in their efforts to malign Pakistan have knocked off a few hundred Hindu pilgrims ! Farooq Abdullah blames militants, militants blame other militants and foreign mercenaries. The only hero in this gory episode is the Bihari Hindu Yatri who faced the TV camera squarely and said that he is not cowed down. He will continue his yatra and in the process if he is able to deal with even one militant, his goal would have been achieved.

We are a nation of hypocrites. We do not call a spade a spade. We want to maintain that no Kashmiri Muslim, none, is involved directly or indirectly this massacre. We want to believe hundred per-cent of K.M's have had a change of heart. We are convinced FarooqAbdullah is the true nationalist. We don't want to accept that the militants sitting at the negotiating table and the militants killing innocent worshippers are two sides of the same coin."None so blind than those who refuse to see."

As I have said before the only hero in this gory episode is the non-Kashmiri Hindu who is continuing his yatra and is prepared to meet the killers in their own den. The nation has to arm him and get him and other young men like him live around yatra points,"Paroas" and temples on yatra routes from Vairinag to Chandanwari and fight for the yatra route the year around. Let him do it Israeli style. Article 370 is not a sacred cow. There is other option as well in case we are reluctant to fiddle with the sanctity of Article 370. Settle K.Ps on these points. Give them land around these temples. Give them tractors, give them guns. Get them do this job jew style. Hope the visits to Israel by our leaders are not just a jaunt abroad. Hope we
have learnt a few things.

Let us not be ostrichs with our head in the sand. Stand up and be counted. Now is the time to leave our stamp on today's history of this sacred region.

--S.D. Khanna