Diwali 2011

Yesterday was Diwali in India, a time filled with an excitement in the air that permeates all corners of an office, factory, school or college. The period around Diwali is the time when manufacturers and retailers go all out in selling as many goodies as they can to the public that happily opens its purse strings in this otherwise bleak economic environment.

This being Diwali, an important day for the country, also becomes an important day for the enemies of the country, be they within or without our national borders. Just yesterday, there were two blasts in Imphal which injured 6 people and fortunately nobody is dead. Nobody claimed responsibility for the blasts but there could be two reasons for the blast - one, its Diwali and it being an important festival, cowards will try their best to wound the public sentiment. The second reason could be that its because P Chidambaram is visiting Manipur, and he will be specifically visiting three Naga-dominated districts, so perhaps this blast has something to do with it.

In Assam, there was a blast on the train tracks in Central Assam's Dima Hasao district that affected train movement but again did not result in any loss of life. Perhaps I am not paying attention to the news well enough but this was after a while that I heard of a blast in Assam. Unfortunate and dangerous nonetheless, and again on Diwali night.

In what seemed to be a restive Jammu & Kashmir, there were attacks on our security forces for two straight days, with the latest one being a grenade attack on a police vehicle in Anantnag district. On the previous day, there were grenade attacks on CRPF and police personnel in Srinagar. In Kashmir, this comes at a time when the demand for the easing of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) is getting louder, being led by the Chief Minister, Omar Abdullah. The premise is that these special acts are looked at by the locals as oppressive and tyrannical, and considering that the violence in the state has been in a steady decline (which is perhaps due to the fact that the Pakis don't have a lot of money to fund terror now), it is high time these laws be done away with in order to bring a greater sense of being a part of the Indian nation among the Kashmiris. A news report in Reuters, which I do not want to quote here for its obvious bias and regurgitation of hackneyed stereotypes on Kashmir such as Hindu-minority or Muslim-majority or Hindu/Muslim, Muslim/Hindu etc etc and the friendly reminder of how India and Pakistan have fought so many wars over it, says that the terror is subsiding and the government wants to use this opportunity to win the hearts and minds of the Kashmiri folk who hate the law.

I hate to say it but I think that a lot of Kashmiri politicians love to portray themselves as victims and if anybody says anything critical of how the state is functioning or if somebody calls some bluff of theirs, or even of a group of people from there, then that at once becomes an example of how Kashmir is being victimized by India. This is not just a Kashmir problem but an India problem that the law enforcement side is the one that is always supposed to act within the boundaries of what is right, just, lawful, legal etc, while the enemy has all the laws in the world to flout. At the same time, it is much easier to show your contempt towards the side that is forced to work within the law because you know that you can shout at them, throw stones at them and they won't be able to do anything about it. The terrorists, well, they're fighting for a higher cause such as a brainwashed mind and some promised money in their familys' pockets when they are gone. With the grenade attacks in the past few days, maybe Omar Abdullah might consider backing down.

In Kashmir too, it is very easy to shout at the Army and be heard because the Indian media usually works without having sense of what it is doing. The Army in Kashmir is the villain for many Indian journalists who shed tears about how human rights are being flouted by the men in uniform. The terrorists, sorry, alleged terrorists, well, can shoot into a crowd and still be doubted if they are real terrorists at all. Way to stand up for your country, Indian media.

I do not claim to know everything about the AFSPA or even form a good opinion on the Act, because as always, the truth is always muddy. Perhaps if the Government of India grew some more balls and allowed the Armed Forces a little more leeway in doing more damage to the terrorists in Kashmir and those sitting across the border, including their handlers, maybe the state would be a lot more peaceful. This is not just true there, but in a lot of places across the country where the spineless government of India continues to let rashes fester till they become more dangerous. Then its operation containment and appeasement at a national scale.

I'll end up ranting against the absolutely disgraceful and shameless Government of India again but I just want to say that I hope things will get better in this nation so that we can continue to celebrate our traditions and festivals and events without the fear of having some traitor or enemy try to kill us. However, to ensure that the possibility of that remains a bare minimum, sometimes the solution does not lie as deep as making the world a better and a more equal place, all it needs is more spine to get rid of crazy fanatics who have lost all their sense of reasoning and objective.