—Arif Mohd Khan
Kashmir was part of Bharat, it is now and will remain forever. No power on this earth can separate Kashmir and Kashmiri people from Bharat,” thundered former Union Minister and prominent Muslim leader Arif Mohammad Khan to an equally thunderous applause from the audience in a jam-packed auditorium in Nagpur recently.
He was speaking at a seminar organised by Bharatiya Vichar Manch, Nagpur on “Kashmir: The Future Scenario”. Former J & K MLA Mohd Farooq Mir and Prof Razzaq from Srinagar were the other speakers while former Punjab DGP Shri PC Dogra compeered the proceedings.
Shri Arif Mohd Khan, who shot to fame when he criticised and quit Rajiv Gandhi Government on the issue of Shahbano alimony case, said point blank that the real problem was not Jammu & Kashmir or Kashmiri people. The real problem was across the border. We have experienced this ugly dance of death in Punjab for nearly a decade for the same reason and now also we are feeling its pangs in the form of Naxalism which receives covert support from across the borders.
Shri Khan raised a pertinent question as to why no action was taken when thousands of Kashmiri Pandits were forced to leave their hearths and homes. The government acted promptly when there was a terrorist attack on the Parliament. We deployed our forces along the border. When there was attack on Mumbai we discontinued our dialogue with Pakistan. But we did not take any such step while thousands of Kashmiri people were being subjected to inhuman atrocities and tortures at the hands of the same terrorists. Why? Khan wanted to know from the government of India.
The former Union Minister also appealed to the people to understand the proper meaning of ‘jehad’. He said the people of Kashmir are so peculiar that they visit the temples and sing bhajans after offering namaz at the mosques. Therefore, there was no dispute within the religions people followed there. It was injected from across the border by some fanatics who did not wish any good to Kashmiris and Bharat, Shri Khan said.
Mohd Farooq Mir said that in 1947 when Kashmir was merged with Bharat the Pandits did not migrate. What has happened now that they all were forced to leave their ancestral homes and belongings and take refuge in rest of the country? He blamed the then Prime Minister Pt. Jawahar Lal Nehru for the mess in Kashmir saying that had Nehru controlled both Sheikh Abdullah and Maharaja Hari Singh situation would not have gone out of hands. He denied that all the Kashmiris were Pakistani and wanted to join Pakistan.
Prof Razzaq also spoke on the similar lines explaining how the Delhi government has neglected the Kashmiri people and their aspirations over the years just for their political supremacy. The bordering countries have taken advantage of this situation arising out of continuous neglect of our people over the years, he said.
The programme was attended by RSS Sarkaryavah Shri Bhayyaji Joshi and many senior RSS functionaries.
From Virag Pachpore
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