Let us start from Kashmir-Part Four

I imagined myself as Kashmiri and posed a few questions to myself

The aircraft landed at Srinagar without much problem. Weather was not chill. The pleasant sensation I experienced while landing could be compared to the one that I felt when I landed at Paris airport last year. I know I was entering into a different plane, a different soil, a different climate, all shaped by a peculiar history and politics. Our student was waiting outside the airport .Soon we found ourselves in a taxi. The afternoon was marching slowly towards evening .Here I was told that the Sun was setting and taking rest around 7.30pm only. I was beginning to feel the cool breeze of Kashmir when the taxi was on its long way towards Dal Lake. That brief travel also made me to be reminiscent of the old Pune town, its dilapidated buildings and narrow roads of 1980. At key vulnerable points I saw security personnel standing. I know given the militants problems in the past few decades, this military occupation may have its own reasons. But somehow it made me uneasy. I imagined myself as a Kashmiri and posed the following few questions to my self, while traveling.

Why the hell they are standing for long? What do they actually do? What will they think about us? Are they married? Will they also suffer like us, thinking about their wife and children? When will they sit and rest? Are they really happy with machine gun in their hands? Will they really know what kind of revolt that their machine guns in their hands would trigger in the minds of general public like me? How could a civilian population, normally engaged in their trade or business or farm activities be under constant vigilance? When will this kind of mild or wild military presence /occupation end for the peace and stability of the region? Will there be relative political peace along with economic prosperity for the majority of the poor in this valley? Do we really have a full fledged civilian government, routed firmly in the tradition and culture of the people? Are they,(meaning State Govt) doing any tangible economic good to the masses? Does Delhi government’s Employment Guarantee Programme work here? As there are so many tribals, is there any special programme for them? I could not help myself from asking these simple questions to myself. They are as much relevant for other regions too, but they have a greater relevance and significance for the alienated Kashmir; unless some honest homework is done and majority of the ordinary people are made to feel economically strong, India as foreign concept will continue to haunt them as ghosts.