The ugly truth in expose of Kashmir's Hurriyat
In-house experts landed a fantastic expose. Not that it needed any exposing - it was a fact that everyone knew and yet somehow tried to shove under the proverbial carpet.
The unmasking of the Kashmiri separatists. The Hurriyat. That they towed Pakistan's line while being nurtured and protected by India is a well known fact. Diplomatic India-Pakistan parleys had been held hostage to please them in the past.
The replacement of JK Liberation Front's pro-independence ideology by pro-Pakistan, ISI-supported, imported terrorist outfits led to the formation of the Hurriyat in early 1993.
The Hurriyat has been carrying out its primary role of projecting a negative image of the anti-terror operations in Kashmir and agrees to the Pakistani line of Kashmir as an unfinished agenda of Partition. So much so for history.
The latest expose, including documentary evidence, demonstrates clearly the nexus between the so-called separatists and Pakistan. Separatists in the Kashmir valley receive a continuous flow of funds to keep the region on the boil.
These funds are used to incite violence on the streets. Violence does not entail stone-throwing alone. These could well be used to arm and ensure logistical support to terrorists too and probably are.
Just over two decades after its creation, the original 26 religious, social and political organisations' conglomerate, whose only goal is to further Pakistan's claims for J&K, stands exposed. They are not a political front, neither a popular one.
If they were, they would not have been so averse to contesting elections. They are not averse to claiming privileges offered by India, while "struggling" against the very country that offers such privileges.
The actuals of the privileges are not known in totality. However, newspaper reports and RTI queries have given us an idea of the mind-boggling expenses the taxpayer funds for nurturing leaders of an organisation that has scant respect for the unity and sovereignty of the country. Let us take a look:
- According to reports, the Jammu and Kashmir government spends more than Rs 100 crore on the security of these leaders every year.
- According to data provided by the state government, in the last five years Rs 21 crore spent (Rs 4 crore per annum) has been spent on hotels and Rs 26.43 crore on fuel expenditure for them.
- Since 2010-11, the state has spent Rs 309 crore on the salary of guards and Rs 150 crore on the salary of PSOs who provide security to these leaders.
- In totality, the Jammu and Kashmir government spent a whopping sum of over Rs 506 crore on these leaders in five years.
- More than 1,470 "activists" have security cover.
- More than 700 vehicles are made available to them.
- More than 400 activists are provided secure accommodation.
- Besides, their air fare etc, are also paid by the state.
- Sources indicate that central and state government expenses for the separatists amount to more than Rs 100 crore annually.
What do we get in return? Guess. How many times have you seen or read a report of a good tourist season being curtailed by a terror strike? How many times have you seen some trouble being engineered when Kashmir does good on the economic front - say a good fruit harvest?
Exploiting the weak economic condition of Kashmir, the separatists have ensured that the common Kashmiri views India with suspicion and this has continued for decades.
In the insecurity of the people of Kashmir, in their continued poverty, lack of opportunities, jobs and development, lies their goal. As of January 2017, the state of J&K suffered losses of Rs 16,000 crore due to hartals and unending cycle of violence that followed the encounter death of Burhan Wani.
The least the government of the day could do is to ensure that such designs are at least not sponsored by the taxpayer.