Selective Sympathy

chowk staff,

why did you filter out khamkhwa.`s innocent interact while this stupid post was put through:

``There are just 5 million Kashmiris and 1 million Indian soldiers. If each Indian soldier is given 5 bullets and told to pump them into the heads of 5 Kashmiri Islamic fundooos , sparing only the nubile fair complexioned ample bosomed Kashmiri chicks in the age group of 14-30 , the `Kashmir problem` can be solved oin 24 hours.

No sympathy for Islamic terrorists. Kill them all. Take their women.``

What wrong has happened in Kashmir that hasn`t already happened in the rest of India?

Mismanagement? That happens all the time in all the states. Heck, even Karnataka which is home to India`s silicon valley, is now in the midst of an ugly wrangle between IT companies and Deve Gowda.

Corruption? Laloo gobbled up crores of rupees meant to purchase fodder for cattle. Mayawati has enriched herself as if there is no tomorrow. Chandrababu Naidu is said to have made crores through land deals. Deve Gowda has amassed crores by grabbing land.

Alienation? Look at how the state of TN has alienated the upper castes by virtually blocking their chances of finding a seat in government colleges by reserving well over 80% of the seats for the ``backward castes``. Or how Biharis are virtual outcastes in the city of Mumbai. Or how Sikhs were alienated by the storming of the Golden Temple. Of course, there was a terrorist struggle there, but Sikhs today are at the helm of power in India.

Rigged elections? There isn`t a state in India that doesn`t have rigged elections. Booth capturingis an endemic phenomenon common throughout India.

Economic backwardness? Kashmiris have one of the highest per-capita incomes in India.

How does any of that justify terrorism? The Indian Army didn`t go into Kashmir on a picnic. Every day, the soldier patrolling the streets of towns and villages there wonders if he will live to see another day. By resorting to terrorism, Kashmiris damaged irreparable damage to their cause and brought misery upon themselves. The day support for the terrorist thugs ceases, the Army will be glad to go back to their barracks.

This entire article is a frikking lie.

Most state governments donated money to the cause of earthquake relief in Kashmir. I know Tamil Nadu has donated Rs. 1 crore to Kashmir relief efforts.

If people haven`t shown up in person to help dig out tumbled-down schools, perhaps they do not want their throats cut by some rabid Islamist thug or have acid thrown on their faces for wearing jeans. I would think that it would be a bit tough to engage in strenuous physical activity when worrying about if your burqa would be slipping.

The Pakistanis have been shouting themselves hoarse that all they want is ``self-determination`` for Kashmir and how that self-determination would cause Kashmir to leave India.

In that case, Kashmiris can taste what true freedom is like by trying to dig themselves out of the earthquake without India`s help.

Ref Urstruly #1

India doesn`t have to do diddly-squat.

We don`t need a character certificate from, of all the people in the world, Muslims or Pakistanis. And we don`t need it from the Chrisians either. Or from Condoleeza Rice.

If at all we want a character certificate, it would be from the peaceful Buddhists and the Jains. They haven`t seen fit to tell us what we need to do; in fact, they don`t seem to think we require a character certificate from them.

So STFU.

Joe,

The New Hope Calvary Church, Assembly of God, Daughters of Mary Immaculate, TMSSS, PMSSS, etc., etc., etc., showed up along the tsunami-hit coast of Tamil Nadu with bags of rice in one hand and bibles in the other, hoping to gather a few errant sheep, the blacker the better for they are guaranteed to be sinners, for the Good Shepherd.

That trick ain`t going to work among the People of the True Faith who populate Kashmir.

That might explain the absence of the rush of NGOs to the rescue in Kashmir.

You don`t have the nerve to ask why is it that a Kashmiri woman set off a suicide bomb in Srinagar the day after the earthquake. Does the bomb in a crowded public place deliver any extra relief materials to Kashmiris who lost their homes to the earthquake?

Now, don`t you think it is time for you to write an article on why Christians in India need reservations/quotas for education, scholarships, government jobs, etc?

Join the Bandwagon of the Brain-Dead.

Message to the author Joe Athialy:
Relax pal. You started off by trying to make a point about Indian civil society not responding to the earthquate in J&K, and veered off into a canned diatribe against the army.

Indian civil society, cine stars, business houses etc are reasonably good in responding to major natural disasters in India. Notice the word ``major``. That would mean at least 10,000 people dead as in the case of the Orissa cyclone, the Tamil Nadu tsunami and the Latur and Bhuj earthquakes (I am not sure of the death toll in the last two but think it was at least 5000). The J&K earthquake, while killing over 55000 in POK and Pakistan, caused `only` about 1500 deaths on the Indian side of the LOC - which is probably why you dont see a major response from Indian civil society.

Remember that there are so many minor disasters (man-made and natural) happening all the time in India. Just in the past few days we had over 110 people killed in the train derailment/crash in Andhra Pradesh at the same time as the Delhi bomb blasts that killed around 60. In the past few months there have been floods in Northern Karnataka and other parts of South India, killing hundreds. Japanese encephalitis is rampaging in Uttar Pradesh killing hundreds over the past few months. Similarly floods have killed several hundreds in Assam in the last couple of months. Unfortunately, Indian civil society is not geared or does not respond at a national level to every disaster. A casualty figure of 10,000 seems to be the threshold that will force newspapers to set up relief funds and employees to donate a day`s pay or whatever. One exception that I am aware of is that of software giant Infosys that donated one crore rupees to the North Karnataka flood victims, as well as one or 1.5 crores each to both sides of J&K for the earthquake.

My point is that the J&K quake victims are not being singled out for being ignored by the rest of India. For a nation beseiged by disasters continuously, it takes a major disaster to roust us. As for Indian civil society assisting quake victims in POK or Pak who are the major victims of this quake, it is all very good and noble but it is even more difficult to roust people to help people in another country.

Coming to your diatribe against the Indian army, well, the army is deployed only because of the jihadis and terrorists. If the secessionists were to protest peacefully, then the state police would be capable of handling any violence and there would be no need to bring the army in.

You make a point about `us` versus `them` when it comes to Kashmiris and the rest of India. Remember, alienation works both ways. If the average Kashmiri feels alienated from ROI, then so would ROI from the average Kashmiri. When there is a bomb blast in Delhi, everyone even in Chennai and Bangalore is worried. Why? Because people in the South have relatives or friends living in Delhi and who are affected by it. Today there was an article in the Hindu about a mother in Karnataka who lost her son in Delhi due to the bomb blasts. I personally know someone who was injured in the Delhi blasts, though I live 2000 miles away in Bangalore. Alienation cannot be there when our lives are intertwined - what happens in one place affects people in other places as well. But that has not been the case for J&K in the past decade or more. Once there is peace in J&K, with free movement of people and business, then our lives will be truly intertwined and there will be no `us` versus `them` anymore.

=== Interact Filtered ===
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Some details about those Kashmiris !!

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Bharath-Heritage/message/382

Its just not kashmiries but muslims in general have less simpathy from rest of the non-muslims world. This is very evident in the difference of aid that pakistan got as compared to what Thailand and Sri Lanka got after Tsunami.
As far as Indians are concered the beheading for 5 hindus the very next day of earthquake left a very bad taste. Kashmiries did not protest that act the same way they protest when one of thier ``freedom fighter`` is killed by Indian Army.

Rigging of eleclion 20 years back does not justify Jihad. Elections in past were rigged in other states also. BTW the recent election in Pakistan was heavy rigged, I don`t see Pakistanis launching Jihad in Pakistan.

Well right now i am in Srinagar. The way we had experiences of army even troubling us all through the way and not allowing others(from India) to reach out a hand of help to the affected Kashmiris. I feel Indian system is doing more harm, than healing. This is like sprinkling salt on wounds.

If a common Indian student from Mumbai and a Hindu by religion is not trustworthy. It is difficult who we can trust. The way people are dealt is very depressing and shattering your faith in the system that we call ours.

As far as democracy goes, we can boast of a good democracy. But we know of our undemocratic acts in other states also, and I do not think that would anyway enhance India`s image as a supporter of democracy and anyone to trust India for a democratic behaviour.

A place where you are not given avenues to express yourself. A place where there is always pressure on you - either you are with us or you are with them, you cannot have your independent opinion. It deceptive to believe we are nurturing democratic values. In fact what we nurture is ``either you are on our toes or you are not``.

I think what we feel is that Kashmiris are incompetent to take care of themselves. And same do the Pakis. I am of the opinion that pouring in enormous amount of Money, resources and security personnels can in no way strengthen ones faith in a country, what it can do is increase suspision on some vested interest to hold on to this land.

A more positive approach would be to create more avenues of interaction between the mainland India and the Kashmir Valley. Hope I can make few friends bieng here to help out in their time of distress.

dear Author

It is shocking to see the kind of responses to your article.
Are we really living in a humane and rational society or with the progress of technology we have become more backward and unreasionable in our thinking? What is the difference in a the way many people have responded to the selective sympathy and a fundamentalist who we are against?

It is painful that we have taken the whole Kashmir issue beyond the earth quake and the pain the little children, old and sick might be going through. Rather many have taken the issue towards hate, politicking and fundamentalism.

mukta

It is shocking to see the kind of responses to your article.
Are we really living in a humane and rational society or with the progress of technology we have become more backward and unreasionable in our thinking. What is the difference in a the way many people have responded to the selective sympathy and a fundamentalist who we are against.

It is painful that we have taken the whole Kashmir issue beyond the earth quake and the pain the little children, old and sick might be going through. Rather many have taken the issue towards hate, politicking and fundamentalist.

mukta

# 9 Ranger,keep your perverted thoughts to your self .
you are wearing the mask of extremism, like all hindo.
think in terms of humanity rather than greed of kashmir occupation.

Mr. Joe,

What about my rights as a hindu? I feel occupied living in India in the presence of all these muslims and other non-hindus. I want all of them to move out and give me my freedom to live the life of a hindu without any interference of muslim azaan or christian church bells. These other religions are causing me immense suffering and pain and pushing me to the point that I want to blow up bombs and kill my oppressors.

Sir, do you see the fallacy of the above argument in a multi-cultural, multi-religious society like India? Kashmiris need to understand that they are part of that mosaic in India. Their islamic sensiblity means nothing. They have to involve themselves in the national mosaic and participate in India. Then the rest of India will reciprocate.

Joe Sahib

Though art Jesus re-resurrected.....For, among the mortals, even the Pope feels the pain of Catholics and Christians more than that of others.