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ELECTION 99
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E-mail from readers the world overUnpatriotic!
Date:
Mon, 20 Sep 1999 07:02:22 PDT
This news item has shocked me out of the complacent moral high ground that I used to hold when discussing the Kashmir issue. Democracy is as much about duty as about expressing displeasure in one's own chosen non-violent method. These acts of downright authoritarianism will not serve India's interests. I hope that prompt action is taken by the new government to find the authorities behind this action. We cannot ensure a true democracy with these Macchiavelian methods. Shibani Prasad Mohapatra
Date:
Sat, 18 Sep 1999 13:49:56 -0400
I am sure whatever you have written is true, but it's not good in our motherland's interest. It's my thinking and feeling that if a person living in India don't like India then s/he should leave or kill her/himself. Their is no question of disintegrating the country. Had I been the dictator of India, I would have shot you. Nehru, a power-giddy, a Gandhian, is also partially responsible for the partition of our motherland. I would like to meet you in person, sometime in my lifetime. Hoping for prompt reply. Vande Mataram
Date:
Sat, 18 Sep 1999 23:28:54 -0400
There is no reason for you to publish such anti-India articles/interviews. I sincerely suggest that you do not be so frank with the conditions in Kashmir. Do you think without Pakistan's support there would be a rise in terrorism? Secondly who in India cares about Maqbool Bhat? We all know what the hell is going on in Kashmir. It is only media articles like this that come so handy for Pakistan when it raises this issue in the UN. Please be patriotic and not overtly frank when you write your articles
Date:
Mon, 20 Sep 1999 01:02:33 -0700
If people do not want to participate in a free election process, then they have themselves to be blamed. They deserve the government that they get. If Kashmiri youths believe that they can win freedom through gun barrels, then it is India's duty to make it impossible for them to do that. Nehru's screw-up to keep Kashmir pure for the Pandits and Muslims has backfired, and is backfiring. We need to populate Kashmir with a lot of Indian Hindus and make the difference. If several Kashmiris can rule India, why cannot other Indians settle down in Kashmir?
Date:
Mon, 20 Sep 1999 00:05:13 -0700
This is a bogus article and the author is playing to the tune of militants. If the army is asking the people to vote what is wrong in it? The people in Kashmir are staying indoors because of the fear of the gun. Till people are voting, the democratic rights of people are not violated. After all, if they want something they have to come out through their leaders. The Kashmiris are a confused lot. The gun-wielding Islamic militants are ruling the roost. Innocent armymen have to lay their lives on one hand and face anti-nationalist Hindus on the other.
Date:
Mon, 20 Sep 1999 00:52:04 -0700 (PDT)
Very sad to know about Kashmir, an INDIAN region. I appreciate your interest. But instead of defaming India's democracy why can't you media people do something to educate the people? Being a powerful media why can't you reform them? Those people are so foolish and asking for FREEDOM. Your people are with them collecting news and publishing it here. Why can't your people tell them what the consequence of being out of India with a fraud neighbour like Pakistan is? I'm not saying that what the BSF people do is right. But what I want to say any one who does not want India should leave India. Not stay here and create problems. If they go away at least my motherland's population will come down. Raman
Date:
Mon, 20 Sep 1999 15:37:02 +0800
You went to Kashmir on the election day. Had you gone there 3 months before and studied the situation, you would understand why the Kashmiris are boycotting. It's because of the threat of the militants. And if we were to follow your line about democracy, we might as well go for plebiscite. I think Rediff will lose its credibility if you go on publishing such sensational news. Or is it that Rediff has published this under threat from the militants? Think rationally. Girish Andani
Date:
Mon, 20 Sep 1999 02:56:23 -0700
This story smacks of bias and gives the impression that dictatorship prevails in J&K. That is not the case, every one knows. You must immediately publish comments from the army, the BSF, the J&K police, and from Farooq Abdullah's secretariat. Then only will I believe that your story is not cock-and-bull.
Anand Shyam
Date:
Mon, 20 Sep 1999 18:01:45 +0700
What does the author achieve by writing all this? He is providing additional material for criticism of the Indian army. Why does he not stay in Kashmir for a couple of days more to find out more about the so-mentioned slaughter of democracy? Democracy never existed in Kashmir. They had monarchy before Independence and a special state status afterwards. All the govts that ruled post-Independence Kashmir were not democratically elected. Does the author also fail to understand the need to bring these people to vote? Does the author know that so many of our soldiers have lost their lives at the hands of the locals? These people play an important hand in harbouring terrorists. The author should witness the behaviour of these people more closely before he begins maligning the army.
Date:
Mon, 20 Sep 1999 17:16:49 +0530
This feature is one of the most unpatriotic ones I have ever read. Instead of writing feature after feature about the atrocities on Kashmiri people living in Kashmir why doesn't anybody write about the crux of the problem? What about the thousands of migrants staying elsewhere throughout India? Are they not people? Who drove them out? Why isn't Rediff featuring such people? People who are refugees in their own homeland. Please refrain from using such features in future and focus on core issues.
Date:
Mon, 20 Sep 1999 07:57:51 -0400
I don't like this guy Chindu Sreedharan. Not because he has written with sympathy about Naxalites and militants in the past but because his articles ooze sensationalism. As if he and his ilk in the Indian Express want to prove to their Western counterparts (some would say Western masters) that Hum kisise kum nahin. I have only one question. If an Indian Constitution amendment makes voting compulsory, with penalties like fines, removal from ration list, ban of going abroad for 6 to 12 months, community service, suspension of driving license for 1 month etc, would we call it a slaughter of democracy? I think we must make voting compulsory. As far as the Kashmiri resistance to vote as portrayed by our 'great sensational writer', I think it is a reality. But there is also another reality: 1. Not all Kashmiris want to boycott the polls. In fact the majority wants to vote. 2. The Huriyat and militants have issued threats against voting. There must be some counter-balance to them.
3. Indians don't care about those ungrateful Kashmiris who got so much from India, but still carp a lot.
People better learn to live peacefully there and find solutions to their problems within the framework of the Constitution. I have some sympathies with these guys but I know many of these are the people who help militants day and night and contribute to Bharat Mata's shahid list every passing day. Mukund Kute
Date:
Mon, 20 Sep 1999 08:52:47 -0400
This report lacks conviction. Chindu has got good at writing a Western media styled report. An attempt to sort of give an appearance of a live report. As if something is happening right in front of the eyes of the reader. It's a technique not too hard to master. What's not clear is the intent of the report. Has Chindu been covering the elections in Kashmir? Who appointed him? Has he done any other reports on Kashmir? Has he done his homework on Kashmir which at minimum is to read: 1. A brief history of Kashmir. 2. Instrument of accession to India by Hari Singh. 3. UN Resolution. 4. Simla Agreement. 5. Article 370. If he has not, then he is not qualified to report on Kashmir. Gananath
Date:
Mon, 20 Sep 1999 08:07:09 -0500
Why don't you also condemn the voting boycott through violence as murder of democracy? Your piece is too one-sided to believe! Pai
Date:
Mon, 20 Sep 1999 18:55:46 +0530
The freedom of the press is the ultimate weapon, which is often used to provoke reactions. Each picture has two sides. It depends on how one balances the facts. Unfortunately, this report smacks of bias. It is easy to provoke people, and that is exactly what is the purpose of this report. Please do take care of providing the facts without bias. Otherwise, the people of India would be compelled to protest and publish the negative picture that Rediff presents of India through irresponsible reporters. If he has clicked photos, where are they? It is the militants and the gun power of Pakistan that creates the fear psychosis. It has become a fashion to portray the army as the villain. Let us not forget they had no business being there if terrorism was not provoked by Pakistan. So I appeal to you to see sense and stop publishing such biased reports. Sourav
Date:
Mon, 20 Sep 1999 09:39:42 -0400
I am shocked at how Indian (?) journalists oppose the establishment so easily. Chindu Sreedharan's article is a shame on him and the Indian press. He should have highlighted the open and newspaper-published threats by militants to the general population to desist from voting. THAT is murder of democracy. Not one of you newspeople highlighted that. You think that the Kashmiris really want to be with Pakistan? It is stupid people like you who force them away by not letting the army do its job against terrorists. They know that the soldiers will not kill them or hurt them and they also know that the Indian soldier is prevented from taking proper action against militants. Hence, they have to support the militants because he will simply rape, maim and kill if they do not and you guys will not even comment. No headlines on that in your book. SHAME. SHAME. Is it that Mr Sreedharan would not have got the kick that he must have got from kicking RR soldiers who die every day facing up to Muslim warmongers from Pakistan and Afghanistan? These terrorists are guys who have no other cause in life than to kill non-Muslims. God give you your due, Chindu. This is the heartfelt feeling of this Hindu, who along with hundreds of thousands, has been shut out of Kashmir by these violent marauders. If it were for saner press, we would not have been violently hounded out of Kashmir nor would the Muslims there be under threat to support the terrorists. Shame on you for biased reporting. Arun Koul
Date:
Mon, 20 Sep 1999 06:42:34 -0700 (PDT)
It is quiet ironic that the mighty Indian nation, praised for its restrained poise in the Kargil conflict, can stoop so low. If things have come to such a pass, I as an Indian and above all as a human, feel that we have no right to chalk out the future of the Kashmir people. The Kashmir problem is very complex and is of strategic importance to India. However, it does not justify the suppression of the human spirit. War, in spite of all glorification, is a nasty business, and history has taught us that. No matter which the conquering tribe is, human rights violations are bound to happen and Kashmir is no exception. If only our politicians had some foresight we would not have got into this bloody mess. It is high-time that we, as brothers of Kashmiris, take up their cause and work towards an amiable solution. Let us not be daunted by the enormity of the task. Hoping for a better world.
Date:
Mon, 20 Sep 1999 09:09:43 -0500
This is a poorly researched article that focuses on sensationalism rather than facts. It is a totally one-sided view of the whole thing -- he hardly interviewed any army people or local government officials! Many of the observations can be easily argued in a different way. For example Chindu claims he saw 70 people being taken by the jawans at gunpoint -- what if the jawans where giving protection to the people from the militants? It is badly written articles by Indians like these that the Western countries use to punish India! Karthik
Date:
Mon, 20 Sep 1999 09:52:51 -0500
Articles like these are rare in the Indian press perhaps because so few journalists are willing to tell the truth. So we have lost the hearts and minds of the people of Kashmir even as we have lost the lives of many defending Kashmir. India must come to terms with this fact. It seems to me that we cannot be a police state and pretend that we are a democracy. Let Kashmir vote for its future then, we will survive it regardless of the outcome, as long as it is free and fair, something this election obviously is not. Isn't it the right thing to do? Paul Mathew
Date:
Mon, 20 Sep 1999 13:43:42 -0400
Varsha, you also travelled around Kashmir and interviewed Mr Abdullah. Did you at any time notice the kinds of things that were reported by Mr Sreedharan? Is it not possible that the army and BSF were protecting the voters from being attacked by the militants? One would get the impression from Mr Sreedharan's articles that no Kashmiri wants to participate in the election process or to have anything positive to say about India. Would you please consider going into this matter in your next column? Ven Hari
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