We hate Omar Abdullah.....

We hate Omar Abdullah...and why should not we hate him. We have all the reasons in this world to hate him. If an innocent dies on road, he gets worried and does not want any further killing to take place and imposes curfew. Is it not a bad administration that the Chief Minister worries about the civilian deaths?? He is not supposed to and behave like others who showed no interest.

We hate Omar Abdullah.. and why should we not hate him. He walks out straight from the bedroom wearing a T-shirt and gets on the business. The GAP T shirt is the issue to discuss and what he discussed at the meeting was never discussed because how dare he talk business without dressing in traditional pathani dress and a dussa (Men shawl). And why does he have to worry?? He should have bothered about his dressing sense before discussing the Kashmir unrest.

Army deployment.. Hey friend's how many of us saw Army men actually deployed on the road assisting civil administration. But still how should be bothered about preventing further loss of life?? After all there are people who want these deaths to take place.

So what is Omar Abdullah being accused of.. What is his guilt?? What is the charge against him?? Hurriyat Conference chickened out or the Central government stepped back from the talks or quiet diplomacy?? What is the fault of Omar Abdullah?? May be, because he is the Chief Minister of the politically-complex state at a wrong time..
As one of the CEO of a company told me a month back in Mumbai. Please shift your Chief Minister to some other state and we will just shower investment because of his vision which is wonderful and development oriented. I wonder why Omar Abdullah thinks so much about the unemployment. Can you please answer Omar Abdullah why did you want to have the correct figure of unemployed youths in the state immediately upon your taking over as the Chief Minister?? After all your predecessor's also carried with the figure of 28,232 unemployed youths. What was the necessity of carrying out a census to know the exact number of unemployed youths and getting the actual number which was nearly six lakh.

And how dare you Mr Chief Minister to get a commandant of BSF arrested and a Colonel and two Majors of Army being charge sheeted for targeting innocents and killing them. You should have carried on with the healing touch of your predecessor Mufti Sayeed which remained confined to public consumption and slogan shouting. How dare you actually translate zero tolerance towards human rights violations into reality?? That's bad Mr Chief Minister.. after all there are over 100 shops of human rights and 50 other experts who write about police excesses. You have left them unemployed?? I mean how could you?????

So how many have you annoyed in last 18 months of your rule -- the para-military forces, the Army, people with vested interests, human rights experts and Kashmir experts.

And lastly how can you think about the poor people like shikarawala's and sumo drivers and make efforts to bring so many tourists -- ah lemme guess six lakh in first six months -- Don't you know Kashmir is an issue where poor people have right to live. You are at fault Mr Chief Minister...... Alas, this can happen too. We have to punish him for his pro-people deeds.

Kashmir: Media absence ensures peace in valley

Media gagged in Kashmir!!! This was a question enough to puzzle me during my stay in the Kashmir valley. The valley has been without local newspapers for last three days and surprisingly things are returning fast back to normal.

So have the rules of the game changed. I had heard pen is mightier then the sword but here I was seeing silence of pen is mightier then what could not be achieved in the valley for past one week -- Peace at last. I tried to find reasons during my various meetings with officials, journalists, locals as to why the newspapers are not allowed to publish and surprisingly no one was bothered. The end user -- locals -- were happy that the newspapers did not come as otherwise it contained news about the separatist calendars for protest, warning people, threatening people and somewhere in the second or third page you could find some news in a two by two column about the activities of government.

Has the government been non functional? The answer seems to no as if it was that non functional, then I guess the state would not have surpassed the tourism figures of not only 1990s and 2000s but also of 1986-87 when Kashmir had no trouble. This government meant business and working quietly which was not acceptable to the vested interests of  this state. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, whose administrative capabilities are uncontested, would not have showered praises on Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on his developmental work if he did not find so

So media, which is considered as a fourth pillar of the democracy, in Kashmir seems to be full of agenda barring a few exception especially local journalists representing some prominent Jammu daily newspapers. As I say that i do not believe in histories and therefore, I will stick to it. A case was registered against a private Television Channel for inciting mob in a district in South Kashmir. The TV news had broadcast that one person had died in firing and mob came out on streets hurling stones, an incident in which one DySP was injured. The TV channel decided to air an apology only after a case was registered against its correspondents and the channel itself. The government only wanted truth that no one had died.

Another "respected" journalist of a prominent daily had reported that Hazratbal Mosque had been sealed and no prayers were offered. God, the television -- especially the private one's -- are airing footage of prayers being held but this gentleman decided to turn his blind eye to that and faithfully report what was fed to him by his masters -- I guess PDP in this case.

So today after the government decided to crack its whip on "fictitious reporting", the journalists gathered and decided to lodge its protest against the high-handedness of government. I tried to inquire about the reason for protest from a very senior editor of prominent daily and was surprised to hear his answer that he was standing because others asked him to and he is not aware of the reason.

Its time to take a ride in a boat in Dal lake and the shikarawala surprised me more about his view on media saying "Saheb, yeh Kashmir ki gutter hai, bandh rahe to better hai {This (media) is the stinking drain of Kashmir, the more it remains close, the better it is for Kashmir}.

Omar: An honest politician

Its been a painful month for the people of Kashmir who all of sudden find themselves at the cross roads again as "vested elements" have snatched their livelihood yet again. Now who is responsible for this is a million dollar question for "intellectuals" who call themselves as "Kashmir experts" but for me, I would simply blame Pakistan, PDP, Syed Ali Shah Geelani as these three parties have merged together and are injecting venom in the veins of our Generation Next. For them killing of a few innocents is nothing as has been found from the taped conversations. 

Now the interesting aspect of the present turmoil is the growing presence of "I Protest" bandwagons on social websites like facebook. Makes me laugh and cry at the same time that how can a person, who can afford to sit on Internet and spread venom, be sympathetic to a poor Shikarawala of a taxi driver on the roads, whose business had come to standstill. On one hand these people carrying out activities on Internet while sitting on their cosy bedrooms and drawing rooms and on the other, a poor boatman is praying in his boat for things to get better so that he could earn for his children and save something for rainy days. No but these self-styled contractors of religion will never agree to this. They have to inject venom and so they will do.

And for Omar Abdullah, the young chief minister who came with dreams in his eyes of a better and developed Kashmir, it is a situation where he does not only have to battle some of his own party leaders but also the divided Congress camp and Pakistan-sponsored terrorism.

I suddenly found him in the middle of crisis where he is receiving flak from all sides for calling out Army. He has been accused of mismanagement of law and order situation in the state. But is he??? Now this is a million dollar question. A Chief Minister is bothered that his people should not die on roads -- Is this inefficiency? A Chief Minister requests political parties not to play divisive politics -- Is this inept handling? A Chief Minister is firm on his security personnel and asks them for restraint -- Is this an immature approach??? The poor man came with his dreams of bringing in Information Technology into the state, bringing in industries in the state, lift Kashmir to heights on global tourism map -- I guess that was enough to unnerve the people across the border and "vested interests" in the state. Why do processions take place??? Not because of inept handling or lack of governance, its because others are over working. Why cant people like an honest politician??? Is being honest and clean hearted a crime in politics these days??? I guess it is. Had Omar been like his predecessors, things would have been on a better side today. Had he not bothered about the killings of innocents, many more would have died. Crucify him if he is wrong...but Kashmiris privately admit that he is a wonderful CM who is being wronged for no fault of his. And when I asked them to speak it in open, they would chicken away as the "big brother" (read Pakistan and its stooges) is listening.

I jumped out of my seat during a discussion when I was told that Kashmir has never seen so much of violence before. Says who, was a impromptu question from my side because I remembered the figures of violence which I will share in the next paragraph. This was enough to silence the critics. Write against him if he does any wrong but why penalise him for no fault of his. At least this is what a journalist is supposed to do.

According to National Crime Records Bureau of the Union Home Ministry, in 2003, the year the People's Democratic Party-Congress alliance government took office, six people were killed in 47 incidents involving the use of force by police. Thirteen civilians were killed in 2004 when the then Chief Minister Mufti Sayeed completed his first year in office. Besides this, Police is recorded to have opened fire on 123 occasions.

In 2005, fatalities in police firing rose sharply to 50 and the State government withdrew BSF committed to counter-insurgency operations in Srinagar and replaced them with the CRPF in an effort to contain killings of civilians.

In 2006, the year Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad took office, there were no civilian fatalities caused by police. Even though Srinagar saw some violence that summer, in the course of protests against a prostitution racket in which politicians were implicated, there was little bloodshed. But in 2007, eight civilians were killed in 47 instances of police firing.

Civilian deaths rose sharply in 2008 — during the Amarnath agitation, and the State government reported 43 deaths and 317 injuries in 379 incidents involving use of force by police. 

Any comments now???? I guess none will come....