Letter against dangerous suggestion for making “Kashmir-PoK Borders Irrelevant" 

FORUM FOR SECULARISM & DEVELOPMENT (USA)
3145 Gilbert Ave., Roseburg, OR 97471
Phone and Fax 1-541-957-841

                                                                                                                                October 11, 2008

Hon'ble Political Leaders,
Hon'ble Community and Religious Leaders, and
Hon'ble Nationalist activists:

Subject: Study by Peace Institute suggesting to make “Kashmir-PoK Borders Irrelevant" is toxic to National Security & dangerously misleading. 

            Being overwhelmingly influenced by naivety and an inherently impulsive mindset the Indian establishment seems once again at the verge of doing some thing extremely dangerous and highly unthinkable, i.e. opening the Kashmir border for free travel and trade not only with Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK) but also with the Islamic republic itself. Utilizing its usual undemocratic and non-transparent mode of operation as a tool it has denied any role to the national Parliament, judiciary, media and above all to the Indian public for arriving at this risk laden, full of pitfalls decision of historic nature. 

            Taking such adventurous decisions without analyzing costs and benefits, void of pragmatism and pregnant with enormous risks and threats to the welfare of the citizenry and the integrity of the state itself, is nothing new for the modern rulers of India. In the past, during the early years of India’s independence, they similarly invoked the mantra of “Hindi China Bhai Bhai” signifying the great brotherly relations between India & China. In the ultimate context the outcome of that questionable philosophical dogma is universally known – loss of Tibet’s independence and its occupation by the People’s Republic of China (PRC); two Sino-Indian wars and loss of territory and its occupation by PRC in India’s North Eastern Region; loss of territory and its occupation by PRC in J&K’s Ladakh region. Recently even Nepal has fallen prey to the Chinese supported Maoists rendering the north-central India vulnerable to external penetration. But the official India, holding contempt for real democracy and transparency, intoxicated with absolute power, refuses to learn from its past mistakes. 

        1) From its very inception, during the past sixty plus years, three full-fledged armed confrontations and the illegal occupation of nearly half of the J&K State, Pakistan’s territorial, religious, demographic, economic, ideological and political war against India has never ended. Even today when another armed conflict is only a matter of time, the Islamic State’s entire politics continues to be organized around anti-Indianism and anti-Hinduism. Through its Jihad brigades and terrorists, Hindus by the thousands are killed and bomb blasts and violent agitations have become an every day phenomenon in the targeted country of India. The ethnic cleansing, illegal occupation of the properties of the dislodged people, murder of Hindus and destruction of their religious infrastructure is a common occurrence. The Indian Home Minister has confessed that there were upwards of 800 terrorist cells and other such networks existing and operating in every nook and corner of India. Needless to emphasize that all these outfits, which are capable of paralyzing if not blowing up India at will, are either directly created or indirectly supported by Islamabad. India can ignore these realities only at her own peril. 

            Furthermore, has Pakistan taken any administrative, judicial, legislative or political measures towards normalizing the relationship with India? Has it defeated and outlawed any terrorist organizations? Has it abrogated the treaty with the Taliban establishing a virtual independent state for Al Qaeda in Waziristan? Has it defeated and captured Osama bin Laden, Ali Zachary and Mullah Omar, the worst enemies of USA & India? Has it outlawed Al Qaeda, Taliban, Mujahideen and other such outfits and put behind the bars their operatives? Did it declare a new policy to vacate the aggression and occupation of Kashmir? Did it declare Pak’s intention to disband 25, 000 Madrassas, terrorist training camps, Jihad factories and Jihad itself as a tool for bringing about change? If the Islamic Republic has not taken any of these measures then why should India be foolishly so magnanimous and open her doors to welcome the members of the Wahabi culture from the epicenter of the Islamic Jihad?  

            2) A few sugar coated words uttered by Pak’s new President Mr. Zardari due to eco-political compulsions and internal volatility prevailing in his country and casually describing the Islamic separatists of Kashmir as “terrorists” does not represent the change of policy by the Islamic Republic. Pakistan must take concrete administrative, judicial and legislative steps to destroy the Islamic, terrorist, and anti-India culture created and perpetuated during the past sixty years before expecting India to adopt an open door policy. Until then New Delhi must feel duty bound to strictly follow the policy of Ronald Regan towards Mr. Gorbachev’s Russia - the policy of “trust but verify”. Anything short of that will be foolhardy and outright dangerous for India.  

            New Delhi cannot ignore the call for a “100 year war” against it and declarations to take Kashmir forcibly given by President Zardari’s father-in-law and the former Pak-premier Z.A. Bhutto and a similar call given by his recently assassinated wife Benazir Bhutto. After all the new Pak President has not invented or made public any new magic approach for normalizing his country’s relations with India? To stay in power he has no choice but to follow the populist policies formulated by his wife and father-in-law and those policies have always been anti-Kashmir, anti-India and anti-Hindus.  

            3) When the rest of the world including the super powers -- USA, UK, France, Germany, Russia, China, Australia, Israel, Canada, NATO above all the United Nations are engaged in effectively combating the Pak generated Islamic terrorists and are taking every conceivable action to destroy them and squeeze the life out of them how can India, whose security and territoriality are already in jeopardy, in the name of peace and friendship open her borders and doors to facilitate their entering and operating from her soil?  

            Doesn’t New Delhi realize that as the US led NATO forces increase their attacks on Taliban & Al Qaeda strong holds and use guided drones to blow them up both in and out side Afghanistan and Pakistan the only logical place for these subversives is to slip into India where they have already built self sustaining organizations and cultivated a mass support system. Opening the border posts for traffic, without first Pakistan having destroyed its terrorist organizations and their infrastructure under its jurisdiction, will actually facilitate and make considerably easier their transit into India which will in turn more seriously threaten India’s peace, tranquility and safety of her people.         

            4) With intent to legitimize the reckless yet irrational decision of New Delhi a recent study "Making Borders Irrelevant," undertaken by the Institute of Peace and Conflict Studies (IPCS), New Delhi, aided and published by the United States Institute of Peace (USIP), a research institute based in Washington DC with Pak researchers on board, exploring the possibility of permitting the cross-LoC trade from five crossing points in Jammu and Kashmir (J&K), has simply ignored the history of partition, Islamic violence, separatism and the goals of the Pan Islamic Movement in this region (Attachment A).   

            The conclusion erroneously drawn by this politically motivated study supports Islamic Jihadists in their quest for eventual Talibanization and secession of J&K. The present truncated nature of J&K is the result of Pakistan's unprovoked aggression and occupation despite Kashmir’s voluntary and enthusiastic accession to India. The Indian part of the state has been flourishing. If the other side has remained unattended to and backward that is due to Pakistan’s intentional neglect and bad policies. The unification of the state can be realized by simply removing the illegal occupation by Pakistan.  

            5) In their eagerness to draw the designated conclusion these unlettered Institutes in New Delhi and Washington have completely ignored the Islamist crusade in Kashmir and its links with Pan-Islamic militancy and systematic terrorist violence spread by Pakistan and the mounting Jihadist terror attacks across India.  "Making Borders Irrelevant" is an idealistic objective but possible only where people of the neighborhood believe in equitable rule of Law, respect for each others boundaries and freedom of personal faith. There exists any thing but those characteristics in Islamic states. The conclusions of the study drawn under a scholastic façade seem intended to mislead the Hindus while engineering some Islamist pathways for advancing the cause of the exclusivist Dar- ul- Islam. If Borders could be made irrelevant or even porous why was Yugoslavia divided into seven tiny parts with dependable borders, East Timor separated from Indonesia and Pakistan and Bangladesh sliced away from India. Why is the US fortifying its long southern border with Mexico?  

            In the sphere of “geopolitical world” the concept of irrelevant borders cuts at the very roots of sovereignty and territorial integrity of states. Additionally the inability of Islamists to coexist in peace with other religionists is well known. With contempt and animosity they call Hindus “Kafirs” and express hatred for their “idolatrous” ways. How can India with a population of 85% Hindus disregard this dangerous mindset and ideological indoctrination of Pakistani Islamists? In fact historically it was the religious intolerance and incompatibility of Islamists that was at the center of India’s partition in 1947.   

            6) Opening more travel & trade points (transit) will only make it easier for Jihadists to walk in and create havoc in India. It must be noted that after the so-called normalization process enforced by UPA with Pakistan the infiltration of terrorists into India has multiplied. The Jihadists have created a formidable infrastructure in the country giving them capacity to attack anywhere anytime. Earlier they snuck into India through Nepal and Bangladesh but now they come by the bus, truck and train loads direct from the Islamic republic to Hindustan. Opening more points for trade across the line of control (LOC) without first neutralizing the culture of Jihad, anti Hinduism and anti-Indianism in Pakistan, will blow the security interests of India and the harmonious conduct of her civil society into the thin air. Overlooking these interests could take India back to the days of “Hindi Chini Bhai Bhai” thus extracting from her an excruciatingly painful cost. Are Indians born to suffer due to the naivety of their decision makers? 

            7) Currently the dominant issue in Kashmir is that of human rights violations and atrocities on Hindus and Sikhs committed by Islamists and the total indifference exhibited by its Muslim led Govt. – an authority that did not allow even the use of 100 acres of land for building temporary shelters in summer for Amarnath bound Hindu pilgrims. The idealistic authors of the study ignore the fact that atrocities in Kashmir were actually committed by Islamists who killed tens of thousands of Hindus and Sikhs in the region since 1989 (over 65,000 by some estimates) and drove out more than 350,000 of them into exile, after thousands were tortured and maimed and thousands of Hindu females were molested and forcibly converted to Islam. This was in addition to the complete ethnic cleansing in PoK from where more than 700,000 Pandits, Dogras and Sikhs were driven by the Jihadis.  

            India cannot forget the process of desecration, loot, vandalizing and destruction of Hindu temples that took place in J&K under the anti-Hindu Islamic rule through generations. The intent of committing these crimes was to wipe out all traces of religious and cultural symbols of Hindus. After Kashmir’s accession to India the destruction of Hinduism and its infrastructure under the new Islamic regimes wearing secular turbans received added impetus and acceleration. Consequently during the past two decades with the help of Al Qaeda, Taliban and Pakistan trained terrorists hundreds of more temples were destroyed. 

            8) Due to stringent measures taken in the US, not a single terrorist act has occurred after the devastating one on the World Trade Center in New York on September 11, 2001. However, by comparison there have been relentless terrorist bomb explosions killing as many Hindus in India as Americans were in five years of war in Iraq. Apart from the multiple explosions in New Delhi major terrorist strikes have taken place in Bangalore, Ahmedabad, Ayodhya, Mumbai, Varanasi, Hyderabad, Malegaon, Panipat, Ajmer, Ludhiana, Lucknow, Faizabad, etc. killing Hindu men, women and children by the hundreds. In these terrorists attacks nothing not even Govt. offices, Parliament,  court houses, hospitals, police, railway and bus stations and above all Hindu temples, homes and market places were spared.  

            And now these crimes take place almost every day. Thanks to the Govt. failure in preventing the establishment of deep rooted terrorist networks, the bomb blasts in India with indigenous operators and materials seems to be happening regularly and the authorities are doing precious little to stop it. Of course as usual there is no dearth of condemnatory and bombastic statements by the people in charge blaming others for such violent acts. The official policy of indifference towards Hindus, who generally are the victims in these blasts, has made their blood the cheapest and risk free in the entire world. Unlike the US and other countries taking seriously and respecting the security and welfare of their citizens India has miserably failed in setting up even a national security or anti-terrorism wing for combating and uprooting this menace.  

                9) Before giving any credence to the irrational academics dogma of "Irrelevant Borders" which inescapably supports the Islamists agenda, India’s painful history and experience with inhumanities inflicted by Islamists must not be dismissed summarily. Some of the treacherous examples of that genocidal era include: 

            a) killing of 50-100 million Hindus during the 700 years of Islamists rule by terror, plunder, arson and building 98% of the Islamic population by forcible conversions; b) wiping out more than 20,000 people in Calcutta by Islamists in 1946 to force partition on Congress; c) Elimination of millions of Sikhs & Hindus during the partition in 1947; d) Putting to death over three million Hindus in East Pakistan; driving out some 9 million Bangladeshi Hindus into India; and the illegal infiltration by an additional 30 million Bangladeshi Muslims; e) Expulsion of the entire Hindu-Sikh population from Kashmir and PoK; f) Ethnic cleansing of Hindus and Sikhs in Pakistan where they are now less than 1% reduced from over 25% in 1947. In Bangladesh where the non-Muslims were more than 30% in 1947 they have been reduced to less than 8%. These one sided anti-Hindu crimes committed by Islamists do not justify India’s unconditional change of policy towards Pakistan – the epicenter of Islamic terrorism, unless India too has a contempt for its population of which 85% is Hindu. (Foot notes 1 & 2)

            10) "The jihad in Kashmir by the terrorists is not just for independence. Its real goal is to form a Darul Islam with Kashmir as a part of the Caliphate. Considering its implications upon the region and national security India cannot allow the emergence of such a lawless and militant entity at a close proximity to her frontiers. Therefore, the suggestion of parting with Kashmir is simply unthinkable. The constitutions of J&K State and India do not provide any provisions allowing separation of any part of the country. Accordingly India should concentrate on doing every thing possible to maintain it as an integral part of the country in which people of all ethnicities and religious formations particularly the Hindus (which include Pandits, Dogras, Buddhists & Sikhs) and Muslims can live in peace and harmony sharing power equally in its reorganized form. 

            11) Hon'ble National Leaders and Activists: These ultras have targeted the entire Indian subcontinent for Islamic subversion. Their goal is to destroy the very fabric of India’s traditional society and culture. The citizens of the county must understand that the prescribed recommendation by the irrational and unlettered academics for making borders irrelevant has the potential of fundamentally altering the complexion of the ground realities to the detriment of India. Under the prevailing political environment when Kashmiri Muslims by the millions have marched in city centers, villages and towns raising slogans like “we are Pakistanis and Pakistan is ours” while carrying Pakistani flags and burning the tri-colors, opening the doors for their possible integration with Pakistanis will effectively lead Kashmir into the enemy Islamic camp thus irreparably harming the country’s sovereignty and territoriality.

            In such an environment opening the gates to the Islamists and terrorists under the garb of free travel and trade, without conditions and without first seeking a radical political, ideological and policy transformation in Pakistan for shunning her claim on Kashmir and for renouncing her anti-India and anti-Hindu policies, could be tantamount to a repeat grand betrayal of mother India. Patriotic Indians cannot and must not allow such a transformation to take place at any cost.  

            Because the Hurriyat, the multi-party conglomerate (Islamists) in Kashmir, is an organization that cannot go against Pakistan, India has a very short period of time at her disposal, as suggested by Dr. Subramanian Swamy, to prepare for a decisive and defining war with Pakistan and she must plan and prepare to win it to avoid the balkanization of the country. She should, therefore, refute those Indian columnists, academicians and politicians who are desperately desirous and are seeking being popular in Pakistan by sounding reasonable and secular on the issue of Kashmir. 

            12) "Kashmir is our defining identity and a touchstone for our resolve to preserve our national integrity. The population of that state may be majority Muslim, but the land and its history is pre-dominantly Hindu. For our commitment to the survival of the ancient civilization of India and the composite culture that secularists talk about, we have not only to win that coming inevitable war but also to never part with Kashmir" (Subramanian Swamy).  Furthermore, we could not be oblivious of Pakistan's overwhelming expenditure on military and her obsession for a war with India. Therefore, the cleverly designed tactical move aiding the Islamists agenda for "irrelevant borders" through irrational and unlettered Institutes must summarily be rejected as it will alienate the Muslims of Kashmir and make them vulnerable for being gobbled up by the Pan Islamic Movement. It might even trigger a domino effect and encourage a chain of secessions leading to the eventual disintegration of India. At this pivotal point in the history of modern India the brave people of Jammu, during the recent unprecedented struggle on Shri Amarnath Land issue, have shown the way for preventing such a thing from happening.  

Dr. Jagan Kaul
Krishan Bhatnagar
Forum for Secularism and Development (USA)
October 11, 2008

email: krishan.kb@verizon.net 

Note: This message will soon be posted on : http://www.bharatjagran.com/

Footnote 1: 

 The Leaders and the public must beware of the Islamists subtle moves: "A will to eliminate the weeds and face the wrath of malevolent elements with the confidence of a victor is the prerequisite to be a ruler and, yes, to be a citizen. If it's there, you build a nation. If not, civilizations vanish. If citizens encourage and harbour the wicked, forget dates like December 13 that should be remembered, forget to take revenge on anti-nationals, continue with their late-night parties when dead bodies of their fellow citizens lie splattered in busy fashion markets, no one can save that deadwood society" (Tarun Vijay). 

Footnote 2: 

The single line, "Ahimsa Paramo Dharmah" -- "Non - Violence is the greatest Dharma"  in its over - emphasis, has sapped both initiative and energy in our millions, and, instead of making us all irresistible moral giants, we have been reduced to poltroons and cowards. And banking on this cowardly resignation of the majority, a handful of fanatics have been perpetrating crimes which even the most barbarous cave dwellers would have avenged. ..........Today when looting, arson and rape are the dharma of a few, it is rank cowardice for the many to suffer the tyranny of the unprovoked violence in meek submission. In the battlefield, when violence is rampant, it is the dharma of everyone to meet that maniacal violence with determined, restrained, violence not only in self - defence but also to convince the aggressive vicious few that 'it rarely pays to be violent.' (Swami Chinmayananda, Attachment B). 

Attachment A 

From: Kavita Suri

Sent: Friday, October 03, 2008 3:44 AM

Subject:VERY IMPORTANT IPCS PRESS RELEASE

Attachment B 

http://www.chinmaya.org.nz/Articles/Swami%20Chinmayananda/11.htm

DHARMA HIMSA TATHAIVA CA
by Swami Chinmayananda

Personally, I am no advocate of violence. But violence, too, has its rightful place in life, life does not preclude death. The average Indian has been moulded into a particular national mentality of quixotic tolerance. His attitude is shaped into its distinct pattern by the ideologies and moralities preached in our national literature. And no single work in our classics has gained such a wide influence on our people as the Bhagawad Gita: and in, this century, no other single message had such a universal appeal to our countrymen as the single line, "Ahimsa Paramo Dharmah" -- "Non - Violence is the greatest Dharma."

This line in its over - emphasis, has sapped both initiative and energy in our millions, and, instead of making us all irresistible moral giants, we have been reduced to poltroons and cowards. And banking on this cowardly resignation of the majority, a handful of fanatics have been perpetrating crimes which even the most barbarous cave dwellers would have avenged. To clothe our weaknesses, we attribute to them glorious names and purposefully persuade ourselves to believe that they are brilliant ideologists !

Let us for a moment go to the original sacred verse and investigate the significances of the moral precept: Ahimsa Paramo Dharmah. This is the opening line of a stanza, and the very next line reads: Dharma himsaa tathaiva cha. "So too is all righteous violence." Indeed, non - violence is the supreme policy to be adopted by man to foster enduring peace in the world; but there are certain dire moments in the life of individuals, as of nations, when we will have to meet force with force in order that justice be done.

To every individual his mother, wife and children are the nearest dependents and to guard their honour and life is the unavoidable first moral duty of each head of the family. This is an obligation whether the victim be a member of the majority or of the minority class within a country, province or city.

By the over - emphasis laid on non - violence we have come to witness the pathetic situation of today, when thousands, in cowardly fear take to precipitate flight, leaving their innocent children to be butchered and their unarmed helpless women to be dishonoured or converted or killed. Under the cloak of glorified non - violence, an entire nation of cowards fly from their homes, when a small sect of fanatic barbarians boldly stalk in and out of their open undefended thresholds to kill, to rape, and to loot. When will we learn to fully interpret our Vedas, scriptures and Upanishads. If only we all learn that dharma - himsa is equally noble as ahimsa.

To me it seems that the only solution for the day's internal chaos is to bring home to the people the significance of the much neglected teaching of dharma - himsa. As it is, a misled and over - excited minority in the country has the sole monopoly of violence; and non - violence is a dangerous folly. However ideal a moral precept may be, so long as, in a society, innocent children, helpless women and defenceless old are left to be butchered dishonoured and tortured, while the youth of the land is made to watch impassionately the hellish scene, we are to conclude that either the idea is a dangerous one, or that we have not rightly understood the full meaning of the precept.

Under the present available scheme of chaos in this country, when under the planned instigation of a few power blind, reckless men, a minority community is rendered into a murderous gang of fanatics, it is the duty of the majority to win back the erring thousands. The cure depends upon the disease; the potency of the medicine is decided upon the virulence of the illness. Today when looting, arson and rape are the dharma of a few, it is rank cowardice for the many to suffer the tyranny of the unprovoked violence in meek submission. In the battlefield, when violence is rampant, it is the dharma of everyone to meet that maniacal violence with determined, restrained, violence not only in self - defence but also to convince the aggressive vicious few that 'it rarely pays to be violent.'

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