Page 43 - 31OCT2019E

interview

one of its framers. K D Sethi and Girdari ‘All of a sudden, What did Dr Farooq Abdullah tell you
Lal Dogra were others. without any reason or when you met him first time during
his ongoing arrest?
But stating these facts won’t justification, without I was surprised to see his level of con-
persuade the government to undo fidence. He was unfazed. No doubt, he
the decision? any logic we have felt hurt and betrayed. He was shocked
I see a chance. Don’t you see the resist- been divested of our how could central government could
ance being mounted by the people. go to this extent. He was someone who
For more than two months now, peo- identity, stripped of had been a union minister, a three
ple have shut down their businesses our autonomy. Our time CM, and the one who was re-
on their own. Eight million people of quested in 1994 by the Narsimha Rao
the Valley are peacefully protesting. territorial integrity government to accompany Vajpayee
Universities, colleges and schools are is gone. We have lost ji to defend country’s human rights
closed. Information blockade is there. record in Kashmir in Geneva. And he is
Nobody has told people to protest our constitution.’ been now under detention lest he cre-
but they are still doing it. What is the ates public disturbance.
BJP doing about it. They are lying and
downplaying it. They are saying not a There are rumours in Kashmir that
single bullet has been fired in Kashmir he told you that the struggle in
and nobody has been killed. Suspect Kashmir has to start again from
nature of this claim apart, they are try- 1931?
ing to convey that no resistance is valid I don’t remember if he said so but
unless bullets are fired and people die. essentially we feel we have been
And unless there’s stone pelting. People pushed to 1931. All of a sudden, with-
who say they are inspired by Gandhi out any reason or justification, with-
downplay something that was advocat- out any logic we have been divested of
ed by Gandhi. They want to send a mes- • tourism hurt The usually abuzz Dal Lake, the our identity, stripped of our autonomy.
sage to the people to resort to violence. tourist hub of Kashmir, is waiting for tourists Our territorial integrity is gone. We
have lost our constitu-
tion. We have lost our
flag. We have lost our his-
tory. Kashmir which has
a 5,000 year old history
has been reduced to a
municipality.
People here are
paranoid about
demographic change
now. Are you also
fearful?
They have made no se-
cret of their real objective.
They have talked about
settlements. So, people
here are genuinely con-
cerned. They think this
may be the beginning of
a horrible end. People
don’t see abrogation of
Article 370 as end of the
matter.
letters@tehelka.com
(The opinion expressed in the
interview are of Mr Masoodi)

tehelka / 31 october 2019 43 www.tehelka.com