News Kashmir Exclusive
Communal cracks are once again haunting the state of Jammu and Kashmir with regional divide becoming pronounced with every passing moment.
From AIM Controversy to State Subject Status to West Pakistan Refugees and recent attack on Kashmir based truck drives the communal flares are threatening to engulf the State once again.
Communal polity and fanatic outbursts which have dented the image of Jammu and Kashmir State from time to time are once again hogging the limelight. Even at national level the growing incidents of religious intolerance is a worrying matter for all voices of sanity. In the 2008 Summer unrest in Kashmir the way communal flares had engulfed entire state and left ugly aftermath the pulse on ground is that sensitive state like Jammu and Kashmir State can hardly afford another communal flare.
Pertinently, The two Kashmiri truck drivers were set ablaze by a right-wing mob in Udhampur district in Jammu province on Friday 9 October night and they were airlifted to AIIMS New Delhi for specialized treatment.Deputy Commissioner Anantnag Muneer-ul-Islam told that the two injured men were airlifted to AIIMS, New Delhi, for treatment .
What was dastardly was the heartrending manner in which violence was practiced as these two Kashmiri truck drivers of Bijbehara were set ablaze by petrol bombs by a mob in Udhampur district near Shiv Nagaron Friday night when they were asleep in their coal-laden truck. A third driver had narrowly escaped by hiding under the truck.
Even the prominent commerce organizations are aghast over growing communalism in state. Addressing a joint press conference KCCI and JCCI recently condemned the attacks on Kashmir bound truckers, said the “politically” motivated attacks on truckers were aimed to create disturbance in the peaceful atmosphere of the state.“Some external forces want to divide the state but we won’t allow them to succeed in their nefarious designs,” the JCCI President Rakesh Gupta said. “We have to remain united and not surrender before these forces. We want to protect to each community”, he said.
Worryingly,the Government on eve of Eid decided to impose a communication curfew.As recently ,the government ordered termination of internet services for three days on Eid-ul-Adha as it apprehended people would post pictures of cattle being slaughtered on social media website and hurt the sentiments of some rightwing Hindus who consider cow holy and thus create communal tensions.
The directive to terminate internet services to the customers was given by the police to all the internet service providers amidst the controversy over beef ban.
Few weeks back the pulse that emanated from ground zero was that the HC’s decision calling for enforcing the 83-year-old cow-slaughter ban has proven that the rightwing parties across India including the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sang, Bajrang Dal, Shiv Sena and Bharataiy Janta Party (BJP) are at work against the minorities in the country and are interfering not only in their religious duties but also their food habits.
Syed Tajamul Imran, a young writer states – ” The recent attacks on Kashmir bound trucks by fanatic elements at Udhampur needs to be condemned by one and all. Events like these lend validity to the claims that Kashmiri’s are not safe beyond the Banihal Tunnel. Government should wake up and act tough against such elements .All issues deserve settlement via meaningful talks and high handedness has never solved anything. ”
In a related development, Broadcaster, Poet and renowned Ghulam Nabi Khayal who returned his Sahatiya Academy award recently to protest growing religious intolerance is the first ever Kashmir literary figure to do so. He has worked in several prestigious institutions from All India Radio to PTV.
Expert analysis on ground is that any further deepening of communal cracks will have its own disastrous ramifications and can further dent the economy of Jammu and Kashmir and add to the human Pain.
