Kashmir as I see it

Bhupinder Singh

CEO

If you had been to Srinagar you would have known the reality, but if you had not been there you would definitely have had a picture of it in your mind… Lush green landscape, snow clad mountains with fragrance of flowers in the air. Neat wide roads with huge deodar trees on both sides giving glimpses of beautiful small houses and gardens. Crystal clear blue water of Dal Lake with boats full of assorted coloured flowers smoothly floating around house boats, parked in the lake.

Alas! Your imagination is just the opposite of reality!

Srinagar of today is dirt, stink, mud, broken roads, open and overflowing gutters. Dal Lake today is nothing but a big dirty pond, full of grass, mud and garbage. A perfect picture of total neglect and disaster.

Condition of the basic infrastructure is so pathetic and deplorable in this world famous town of India that one is forced to think as to what was done here in the last 60 years since India’s independence from the British. Except for a few parks, most of which were developed by the Mughal princes and princesses in 16th Century, and half a kilometre of dirty and broken footpath along the Dal Lake starting from Dal gate, there is no place in Srinagar where one can walk. Srinagar of today should be a disgrace and shame for every Indian.

Except for a short stretch on Residency road, there is no market which can be called a modern market. Famous Lal Chowk market can at best be compared with 3rd rate 'Khanna market' of Lodhi Road in New Delhi. And when it comes to technology, the condition can be very well be gauged from the fact that there is almost no sign of internet in the city.

Even vital and only link road between Srinagar and Jammu (and rest of country) is in a dismal condition. A very narrow road, almost one lane at places with surface peeled up at regular intervals exposing poor quality of material under it. There is no lighting in the dark 2.5 km long renowned Jawahar tunnel.

When the capital city Srinagar is a shambles, the condition in other towns of Kashmir cannot be better. Work on the widening of important road between Anantnag and Pahalgam was started but was left in the middle, forcing the traffic to go on the dug-up road for the past few years. If you go to Gulmarg or Pahalgam, you would be shocked to find thousands and thousands of chopped barks of huge Deodar trees, but not a single re-plantation. What makes the matter worse is that orders of the Supreme Court or the central government on this subject have no regard in Kashmir.

It is extremely painful to see jawans of security forces standing on guard, in full uniform carrying heavy arms, all the day at extremely dirty spots. Near garbage heaps or stinking nallahs and hollowed out roads. One can only imagine their condition in winter when it is snowing with slush around, at sub zero temperature. Their life is highly miserable indeed but somehow they are keeping their sprits high, which is really commendable.

Writer of this article was in Kashmir recently and had taken the opportunity to mingle with the commoners in different towns. Nowhere did he ever spot any special love for Pakistan or dislike for India. In fact, he never heard the name of Pakistan from anybody during his entire stay in Kashmir. Common man in Kashmir is so innocent and so much engrossed in his struggle of life that he has neither time nor means and energy to indulge in any type of politics. All he can wish to the god is a peaceful two meal life for himself and his family.

In this writer's view, the problem in Kashmir is no different from that in the rest of India. As everywhere else, it is only a handful of people who create trouble and keep things boiling for their own interest.

But one who has any interest in Kashmir cannot brush aside the vital questions. Why the living standard in India’s Kashmir has not improved in the last 60 years, in spite of so much money poured in there. Why is there no sign of development? Why is the condition of basic amenities so pathetic?

I think this stagnation in Kashmir is the root cause of problem.

Totally let down, disappointed and frustrated – intellectual in Kashmir is an easy target and victim to provocation from across the border and of elements interested in creating problems for the Union of India. The situation there is no different from that of the Naxalite areas and the Northeast, where insurgent groups can incite and mobilize people against the establishment on charges of corruption, inefficiency, exploitation and human right violation. In Kashmir there is added provocation from across no man’s land.

Fight of a common Kashmiri, is for his right of progress and development and good living. It is a fight against rampant corruption (from Santry to Mantri, as is the common saying there) of politicians and officials of state and central governments who have done nothing for him in the last 60 years, and have looted heaps and heaps of poor Indian tax payers' hard earned money, on his name. The politicians have rather pushed Kashmir back in time as compared to many other parts of India.

Srinagar is one of the most famous cities of the world for its natural beauty, which no foreigner wants to miss out on his visit to India. Alas! It has been reduced to one of any other dirty cities of this country.

Much of the blame for today’s condition of Kashmir should go to the leadership of this country. If people who mattered in the last 60 years had taken Kashmir on the road to development and had made it a modern state, what charm would have been there for Kashmiris to look towards undeveloped Pakistan? On the contrary, there would have been struggle in POK to join progressive and democratic India.

But as they say it is never too late to take a right step.

A realistic understanding and new outlook for Kashmir is the need of the hour. An emergency plan for rapid development of Kashmir, at any cost and against all obstacles should be the top priority of India. Only a modern and prosperous Kashmir can be a guarantee to the security of India and shall become a headache for Pakistan.

Deplorable conditions in Kashmir may be a crime against people of Kashmir and India but butchering of thousands and thousands of majestic Deodar trees in Gulmarg, Pahalgam and other areas of Kashmir, and that too without re-plantation, is a crime against humanity and this mother earth.