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'I think Mitra in any other country would have got himself a bullet for treason'
E-mail from readers the world over
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Tue, 20 Jul 1999 21:03:41 -0400 You should not have allowed this type of anti-Indian writing. Shame on you rediff.com Subbarao Kari
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Tue, 20 Jul 1999 20:13:09 -0500 I have great regard for your news magazine and I read it everyday. But I must admit that this is one article that made me sick in the stomach. It is indeed a credit to India's democratic set up and freedom of expression, that such an article was allowed to be published in your esteemed magazine. Coming to the article itself, it is quite clear that the author is a prejudiced Leftist and has very little idea of what he is talking about. Someone ought to tell Mitra that a majority of the Kashmiris are Buddhists or Shia Muslims who do not necessarily want secession. Even if you go to the government of Pakistan's official website on Kashmir, you will notice that their claim is based on Pandit Nehru's words about holding a "referendum" in Kashmir once "peace and order have been established." Let me ask Mitra -- will a referendum make sense now? How will it make sense when for the past 50 years Pakistan has systematically harassed the Kashmiris and driven out most of the Hindu population. The Inter Services Intelligence has abetted and aided secessionist forces not only in Kashmir but in other parts of India too. Mitra, please wake up! Doesn't it dawn on you that the ISI's aim is not just secession of Kashmir but the disintegration of the republic of India? Raman
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Tue, 20 Jul 1999 21:23:54 EDT I was born Sudhir Mandal in what is now Bangladesh. My family migrated to West Bengal in the late fifties because we realised it was not an advantage to belong to the minority community. In WB we were so strongly discriminated against for belonging to the scheduled caste that the whole family changed its surname to Mitra. It did not help much. Today I am in the United States, where again I belong to a minority community. I have many good Pakistani, Bangladeshi as well as Indian friends here. The Bangladeshi Muslims readily acknowledge the discrimination against the Hindus there while most of the Pakistanis are ashamed of their army's barbarity in 1971. And the Indian Hindus, free from the influence of the demagoguery rampant at home, say the same things that Mitra is saying. When the people of Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra and Orissa feel Kashmir is an integral part of India, but the Kashmiris don't, the Indian government has to satisfy the majority without paying heed to the wishes of the latter. Democracy has become synonymous with tyranny by the majority. All that matters is the number of votes. Unethical politicians dictate everything, not sane people like Mitra.
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Tue, 20 Jul 1999 17:37:08 -0400 I'd appreciate if these comments reach Ashok Mitra. I think the columnist is ignorant of the various complexities involved in the Kashmir problem. In his enthusiasm to label nationalists as communal, to the extent of stating that the Kargil crisis was fomented to win elections, he is fooling himself into believing that by giving away Kashmir all problems in India will end. My god! How short-sighted he is. If we don't have the will to fight for our land we might as well become another Yugoslavia. Does he think that a disintegrated India will be better? I belong to Jammu which is part of Jammu and Kashmir state. Where do I go if Kashmir is allowed to secede? Pakistan, independent Kashmir or an independent Jammu? He is advocating a partition again. What happens to Ladakh? Where will it go? It is idealistic to think that separatists be allowed to secede. There is, however, always the other side of the story. Indian-controlled Jammu and Kashmir has not undergone any demographic changes but that is not true for Pakistan Occupied Kashmir. The only logical end to this complex scenario would be: 1. To forget the past and convert the Line of Control to an international border. 2. Break Jammu and Kashmir into three parts. 3. Grant absolute autonomy to the states that want it. 4. Repeal Article 370. As far as Pakistan is concerned, they are going to have a tough time with the growing fundamentalism there. They no longer can be treated as a nation, as in addition to their national army, they have growing private armies of zealots. Ashish
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Tue, 20 Jul 1999 12:29:53 -0700 Great article by Ashok Mitra. I am glad that in the midst of all this mindless and hysterical patriotism at least somebody has had the guts to say the truth. We need to win the hearts and minds of the Kashmiri people. If we cannot do that we need to give them freedom on the condition that they will establish a secular, multi-ethnic set up.
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Tue, 20 Jul 1999 12:38:47 -0600 Dear Mr Mitra, I deeply regret not having congratulated you several times in the past when you authored thought-provoking articles. I may not have always agreed with your views, but undeniably, there was always an extremely sound thought process that informed whatever you wrote. I have, after reading your articles over the past year or two, come to regard you very highly. While I agree with certain opinions you have expressed in your article on Kashmir, it pains me to point out that the general tenor of your article is jaundiced. You seemed to have accepted as the gospel truth the theory (ascribed to the fundamentalists) that "whatever helps rouse the non-thinking masses of this country against Pakistan will duly lead, the assumption goes, to the crystallisation of a collective prejudice against Islam." The natural conscious response is to support a just and righteous action and as we aren't the sole torchbearers of justice, it is but sometimes inevitable to find ourselves in bed with our most abominable enemies. So, I find your bashing of secularists on the basis of their not opposing every action of the fundamentalists as extremely myopic and certainly not too sensible. The secularists haven't abandoned their moral high standards just because they happen to be on the same side of the fence as the fundamentalists this once. Neither does that, sir, amount to "toeing the communal line." Moreover, the patriotic fervour now evidenced in the country comes with a realisation of how important communal amity is for the nation's integrity. So it runs counter to the theory you have put forth. Parting with Kashmir is hardly a sensible solution. There are several valid reasons I could proffer on why and how Kashmir is more an asset than a liability. Amputating a limb if the danger of gangrene setting in is real is a smart thing to do but I don't believe that Kashmir is currently anywhere close to posing such a threat to the existence of India. It is but natural to have dissenting voices in a multi-lingual, multi-religious society like ours, but giving up without a fight is the easy way out. Every day, millions of Indians are fighting to eke out a living. The easy way out is to end their lives, but they don't. So, when you suggest giving up Kashmir, that's a coward speaking, that's a loser speaking. You would undoubtedly accept that the fight for independent Kashmir is a much low key affair than the fight for Khalistan. Why would any sensible Indian give away Kashmir for something so cheap? The drain on resources that you allude to is trifling. Sanjay
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Tue, 20 Jul 1999 14:33:46 -0400 What Mitra has written amounts to high treason, coming as it does during the time of the Kargil conflict. I cannot understand how rediff.com could publish this. The only result is that Pakistani newspapers will gleefully publish this article and say, see how Indians really want to give away Kashmir. Why do communist writers like Mitra and Praful Bidwai always assume that they speak for the entire country? They never announce any view as theirs. They always make sweeping assumptions about the so-called masses. I guess it is because they consider themselves to be their guardians --- whether the masses agree or not! Does Mitra know anything about the demographics of Jammu and Kashmir? What led him to make the sweeping claim that only one per cent of the Kashmiris want to be with India? He says he is willing to wager on this claim. I'll take up the wager with him. Does he promise to stop writing if he is proved wrong? I am sure the people of Jammu and Ladakh will easily prove him wrong! Sriram Gopalan
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Tue, 20 Jul 1999 11:20:00 -0500 You are doing a great disservice to the country by publishing articles like this one. I guess Comrade Mitra has lost all sense of patriotism and is just playing the tunes of his masters from Beijing. This kind of intellectual hatred towards one's own country is not allowed anywhere in the world. In fact if any one dare say something like this in China regarding Tibet, s/he would be put behind bars or even done to death. Dinesh Jain
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Tue, 20 Jul 1999 12:53:08 +0300 The author seems to be senile and is exhibiting a slave mentality. It is this kind of viewpoint which provides propaganda material to Pakistan and other would-be mediators to voice their anti- India opinion on Kashmir. Kashmir is a part of India and has its own share of problems like other parts of the country, which are mainly because of faulty economic policies and corrupt administration. Only a child or a coward would think of parting with a portion of the country to run away from problems which are self-created. It is our government's weakness not to take prompt action against malignant criticism like that of Mitra. It is also a weakness of the media to provide a platform to these demented people to air their views. If we start granting autonomy to groups of people on the basis of religion, language or even geography then India will cease to exist.
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Tue, 20 Jul 1999 03:47:16 PDT Pseudos like Mitra need to be meted out the infamous Islamic type of punishment. Funny thing is he wouldn't have been allowed to express his Communist views if his own government was in power at the Centre. Mitra is being widely quoted by Kashmiri separatists here in the US. My question is whether he advocates the same solution for Tibet and Sindh -- ask China and Pakistan respectively to allow them to secede? Surinder Puri
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Tue, 20 Jul 1999 18:13:55 +0800 Hey, Mr Mitra, why don't you limit yourself to writing on the economy? Are you trying to win the Nobel Prize for peace by proposing to give away Kashmir to Pakistan? Any more preposterous columns of this sort will lead to your being ostracised.
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Tue, 20 Jul 1999 04:56:09 -0500 This has to be the trashiest piece ever published on rediff.com as a special. After reading this column, I can't wait for the 'principled' messiahs from the Left to take over our country... Arvind
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Tue, 20 Jul 1999 09:19:09 -0500 It has always been said that education does not necessarily make a person intelligent. Mitra's column proves the adage. He is utterly daft. Regardless of being rich or poor, one has to hold on to what is one's own. Throughout his column Mitra is obsessed with his drivel and does not think of the Kashmiri Hindus or of the number of secular Muslims like Dr Farooq Abdullah who have thrown in their lot with India. I think Mitra is a Communist and therefore makes these arguments, which in any other country, would have got himself a bullet for treason. Isn't it enough that the Communists betrayed India in 1942 and in 1962? Should they try to prove that they are intelligent by going against common sense? To uphold the freedom of the press, you should publish his column. But for all that is decent and good, you should also try to make him see reason. K Govindarajan
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