Black Fridays

It was last Wednesday that Lifestyle and Shopper's Stop had announced a discount of upto 50% in their merchandise but the mammoth traffic outside Oberoi mall made me wonder .... have these idiots still not noticed the small upto in the newspaper advertisements. Our cab could hardly snail through this traffic and the fact that I had to catch my train to Delhi was making impatience run down our veins. Since dad was on a tour and dada busy, mom was accompanying me to the station. In an attempt to relieve her fears of missing the train she asked our cabbie “ Has the kandivali flyover opened?”. Now for people not belonging to Mumbai, let me tell you that the western express highway that connects Goregaon to Borivali is in desperate need of this flyover or at least removal of the blockage that it’s construction is causing. Well …. The cabbie replied “no ma’m… its opening on 15 august”. The citation of 15 august made me lost is the in all the masti we we used to have when I was small . Singing of the national anthem in school and then back in the colony eating samosas, jalebies, slow cycling races and competing with each other on the number of flags collected. The strange vibe set out by the principal’s speech on freedom fighters. Watching the same movie ‘Gandhi’ year after year this afternoon. But things have changed . For me school changed to college and the significance of independence day limited to an hour or two hours of extended sleep as there were no morning classes at 8. But surprisingly for mom, whose life was still somewhat the same, things too had changed . At once she ordered “ refrain from being out of campus up til a little after 15 august”. THINGS HAD REALLY CHANGED!!!! “ you know… these terrorists don’t attack on the exact day.. perhaps a nearby Friday”.

Well people from peaceful places would find her statement a bit canny but in my opinion her fright is justified. One of her friends who had not yet got away with the excitement of promotion and transfer to Bandra branch of her bank was hit by a an iron piece that flew out as a blast occurred in the train passing by her’s. My dad’s colleague had missed the drama at the Oberoi Trident as his seminar got over an hour before the the insurgents broke in. There was a 19 year old guy in our locality who lost his limbs in the in the 2005 local train blasts.

Since I didn't wan’t to spend too much on our Kolkatta trip ( after the recent gyaneshwari sabotage ) it was hard to convince my friend for a’ Durunto experience’ . “Marna hai kya???” was all that he had to say and I finally resorted to dumb explanations of flights being equally prone to hijack as trains are to sabotage. Even my maid now takes a longer route to work from her chawl as the earlier one passes through a failed bombing attempt site in 2005.

With human eyeballs eager to spit suspicion , mankind has now gone to an extent that a burkha clad woman rushing through the crowds is thought to be a man with big beard carrying a few kilos of RDX in a pressure cooker, long pathani coats are only thought of as AK47 hideouts, reference of Islamabad in an uncommon language is at once linked to ISI.

The hate statement sent across the world against Muslims has made many immigrants loose their jobs and denied VISA. In this race of creating a terror free world , mankind’s suspicion has taken its toll not only on the common man but also celebrities like Shahrukh Khan and Neil Nitin Mukesh .With countries such as Switzerland imposing a ban on minarets and France on burkha , we see how suspicious minds in the name of security and cultural unity practice minority crimes.

But a few other facts reveal a different story. Since 9/11 there have been no major terrorist attack in the United States . The last attacks in the UK were the London bombings in 2005. Even in India there have been no plane hijacks in past few years despite of the media accusing lapse in security measures.Is it not justified to suspect a baggage left unattended at a public place? Is informing authorities about unusual happenings in the neighbourhood a crime? Is being a bit more careful and observing surroundings harmful to the society?

But how many of these suspicions come true?

How many of these Fridays are BLACK?

BISMILLAH... STOP THIS NONSENSE (In the name of God stop this nonsense)

1949:On 1 January, a ceasefire between Indian and Pakistani forces leaves India in control of most of the valley, as well as Jammu and Ladakh, while Pakistan gains control of part of Kashmir including what Pakistan calls "Azad" Kashmir and Northern territories.

1951: First post-independence elections.Sheikh Abdullah wins, mostly unopposed. There are widespread charges of election rigging which continue to plague all the subsequent elections.

1947-1952: Sheikh Abdullah drifts from a position of endorsing accession to India in 1947 to insisting on the self-determination of Kashmiris in 1952.

1953-54: The governments of India and Pakistan agree to appoint a Plebiscite Administrator by the end of April 1954. Abdullah procrastinates in confirming the accession of Kashmir to India. In August 1953, Abdullah is dismissed and arrested. Bakshi Ghulam Mohammed is installed in power, who then gets the accession formally ratified in 1954.

In Aug 1965, Pakistan undertakes Operation Gibraltar and sends in a few thousand armed infiltrators across the cease-fire line.

1971: An Indian Airlines plane, 'Ganga', en route from Srinagar to New Delhi, is hijacked in January and diverted to Lahore .

1987: Farooq Abdullah wins the elections. The Muslim United Front (MUF) accuses that the elections have been rigged. The MUF candidate Mohammad Yousuf Shah is imprisoned and he would later become Syed Salahuddin, chief of militant outfit Hizb-ul-Mujahedin. His election aides (known as the HAJY group) - Abdul Hamid Shaikh, Ashfaq Majid Wani, Javed Ahmed Mir and Mohammed Yasin Malik - would join the JKLF.

1989: Militancy increases with bomb blasts. On 8 December, Rubaiya Sayeed, daughter of the Home Minister Mufti Mohammed Sayeed is kidnapped by the JKLF. She is released safely on 13 December in exchange for the release of five JKLF leaders. Kashmiri Pandits Jia Lal Taploo and Neel Kanth Ganjoo are killed by militants, the latter for sentencing Maqbool Butt to death in 1984.

1990: In January, Jagmohan is appointed as the Governor. Farooq Abdullah resigns. On 20 January, an estimated 100 people are killed when a large group of unarmed protesters are fired upon by the Indian troops at the Gawakadal bridge.

On March 1, an estimated one million take to the streets and more than forty people are killed in police firing.

For ages saints, kings, sages, and truth finders have turned towards Kashmir as a hot spot for attaining moksha and nirvana.But how come such a marvellous virgin beauty after feasting one’s eyes upto the extent of opening up all barriers of imagination , take away his desires for life??

The weather turned cold and discomfort of wet clothes intensified as strong winds started entering through the open windows of our car… but wait!! Something was unusual. Bilal our driver was rushing the car at an unusual speed. My eyeballs pooped out as I saw the speedometer touching the 120 kmph mark.Also he was constantly in conversation with someone on the phone. Though such unusual things do demand suspicion in a place like Kashmir , but all our rationality was lost in the Baiseran greens and Sonamarg glacier. Lost in the adventures of rafting we were completely unaware of the adventure impending.

But a rational mind finally broke the silence. My dad asked “ Is something wrong Bilal? “ .He hesitatingly informed us about some tension sprouting up in the valley.He could hardly do away with the questions my mom flooded him with, a stone bounced back our car and cracked its rear window. To our horror a mob of 20 was chasing our car hurling stones at us!!It was no longer the beautiful landscape but broken glass pieces , strains of blood and burning tyres that attracted attention . Once again HEAVEN was burning in a fire of greed and illiteracy.

One generally develops a picture of Pakistani militants as the only hell breakers in this heaven but the reality is that Kashmir is a victim of political greed for power and money. Its not only Pakistanis who have made situations uncontrollable but even our own politicians from time to time have en cashed upon Kashmiri emotions.I remember what our cabbie spoke about kashmiri politics…..”the central government doesn't spend on infrastructure in the region for its fears of loosing the territory to Pakistan. And even the funds that are sent to the state government, are exhausted in the lavish orchards of the ministers. If centre asks for an explanation , the state threatens to sing the Pakistani anthem. Illiterate, hungry, jobless people prefer throwing stones in exchange of some cash and evil thoughts for the mind to engage into. “. This is how a small peaceful, local, secular, agitation aimed at the freedom of Kashmir has now been publicized by hungry beasts into an international, armed, Islamic jihad aimed at nothing but keeping the state ablaze for meagre personal benefits.

Let me feed you with a few facts:

It is alleged that the 1987 assembly polls were rigged by the Rajiv Gandhi government as he suspected the militant nature of the political parties that had a greater chances of winning the elections. The result was that these parties were wooed by the Pakistani lollipop of of power and came up in arms. The genesis of Hizbul Muzaedin and Lashkar-e-toiba can be traced back to this event. Some who then didn’t join this bandwagon like Mehbooba mufti’s party because of her good ties with Delhi now on loosing elections speaks a Pakistani tone. The intelligentsia in Kashmir call her a chameleon whose political colours have hardly stayed the same for long.Not known to many but there is a section that believe Farookh Abdullah having ties with terror groups in his young age when his father had quiet a stronghold on kashmiri politics.

Delhi’s attempts to retain kashmir, army’s attrocities and human rights violation, Pakistan’s desperation to encroach upon and poke its nose in the internal affairs of its neighbours, the militants involving children and people from all age groups at gunpoint in their jihad, the political greed of local leaders and what not!!The prime ministers of India and Pakistan from their respective south block bungalows, the UNSC secretaries from their Manhattan offices, the local leaders from their dens around the picturesque chasme shahi bagh admist tight security of the police , CRPF and army play this blame game. The people to whom the situations actually concern the most is the mother whose 6 yr old was kidnapped and sent across the LOC in the name of jihad, the wife whose husband is arrested on charges of terrorism and since then has gone missing, the father who doesn’t send his son to school fearing that the next bomb blasts will take away his sons to another heaven, the head of the family who finds it hard to find a job as he is branded a millitant and his roots traced back to pakistan.