Whose Kashmir is it anyway??

There is a very famous saying on Kashmir by Jahangir. “If there is a Paradise on Earth, it is here, it is here, it is here.” And it is evident that wars are fought for money, resources and the most beautiful things. Wasn’t that the reason for the Europeans to come here in India?

I will move onto the year 1947 from here when at the time of partition, the princely states were free to join India or Pakistan or remain independent. While most of the princely states acceded to India or Pakistan; states of Kashmir, Junagadh & Hyderabad were a cause of trouble since all of them wanted to remain independent. Although the states were free to choose, Mountbatten- the architect of partition took the position that only states that shared common border with Pakistan should accede to it, but it was just an advisory. Both Hyderabad and Junagadh had Muslims as their rulers, none of them sharing its borders with Pakistan.

The state of Hyderabad was included in Indian Union through an operation carried out by Indian army in September 1948. The state of Junagadh though chose to accede to Pakistan. The riots broke out in the state which comprised of 80% Hindu population. The Nawab of Junagadh escaped to Pakistan emptying the state treasury of cash and securities. On various requests made by the Dewan (who comes next to Nawab), the Pakistani Government did not intervene to control the riots which forced the Dewan to accede to India and take control of the situation, which India accepted.

At the same time, another similar game was being played in Kashmir. Kashmir had 77% Muslim population and most people believed it would accede to Pakistan owing to the fact that it shared its borders with Pakistan. However, the prince of Kashmir, Raja Hari Singh wanted Kashmir to remain an independent state. It is believed that after Raja Hari Singh decided against acceding to Pakistan, The Pakistani government “unofficially” sent in its tribals to take over Kashmir, as it did in Kargil war. The raja wanted an intervention from Indian government but India could not do anything, keeping its words on “agreement of non-intervention”. There was no direct proof of involvement of Government of Pakistan.


When the situation went out of hands, the Raja acceded to India and Kashmir was now officially a part of Indian Union. But till the time Indian troops made their way into Kashmir, the tribals from Pakistan had taken control of almost one-third Kashmir. The situation would have been worse had the tribals not stopped over for looting. The Raja’s accession to India allowed Pakistan to officially come into the scene and its troops taking control of the occupied area. The UN at that point of time asked for ceasefire and a plebiscite had to be taken in the absence of Indian & Pakistani troops, which never happened.

So, what now? India, Pakistan & the whole world knows there can’t be any solution to this issue. Even after our grandchildren would have died, both countries would keep fighting over this little paradise on earth. Kashmiris still want their own independent state, which too seems impossible. But Pakistan has made much progress than India by taking advantage of the emotions of Kahmiris, by naming their part of Kashmir as “Azad Kashmir” and controlling the state the same way Sonia Gandhi has been decision maker here in India. We still have not come to the conclusion, whose Kashmir is it anyway???

Is the Recession really dying down?

Every day I read in newspaper about the latest status of recession as if its a hurricane whose future motives can be predicted. But, I am not here to put my views on the current financial situation.

While India is facing drought like situation with most of the states having around 30% deficit in rainfall this year & still unsure of the status of recession, we should not expect our MPs and MoS to stay at 5 star hotels since the formation of the government more than 100 days back. Neither can we expect the pilots of Air India (eying for a 15,000 crore bailout) to take their nap in another 5 star hotel. Seems the people concerned have taken the reports of recession dying down seriously.


Minister of External Affairs Mr. SM Krishna had been staying at ITC Maurya and Minister of State Mr. Tharoor at The Taj till the Finance Minister Mr. Mukherjee asked them to move to a government accommodation. As expected both the ministers excused that owing to the renovation being done at their official residences they had to stay in hotel suite.

They also said that the bills for their stay are being borne by them personally and not by the tax payer’s money. Well, how do we, the tax payers will ever be able to know about that? And, I don’t think the renovation being done at their official residence is also being borne by them personally. A renovation had been done at Somnath Chatterjee’s residence as well- An elevator in a two floor residence (unconfirmed sources). An RTI application will be of no use as the expected reply would be “details can’t be disclosed as laid down under Section XXX of the RTI Act” as was replied to an RTI applicant who demanded Lal Bahadur Shastri’s death related documents to be made public.

Meanwhile, coming back to the point, I don’t think Ministers like Tharoor and Krishna do understand the importance of money as much as I and you do. Tharoor, who has spent most of his life not staying in India, can he really sustain in the Indian politics for long? (Tharoor was born in London and had been staying outside India since his post graduation till he was offered ticket by Congress). He was recently found twittering in his office (seems he is out of work within a month), which you would complain to as the same is banned at your work place.

Someone is “investing” the money in statues in UP, another is opting for “No. 1 Haryana” ads in electronic media ahead of assembly elections. Guys, when would they realise that we can’t believe everything written in newspapers. We are still in recession. Go ahead with your irrelevant expenditure once the MBA institutes again mention “100% Placement” in their prospectus.

Lastly, if any of you want to criticise or appreciate my posts or blog as a whole, please make full use of comments section underneath. I will take everything in a positive manner. As I end this post I overhear news on a news channel titled “India best place for jobs”. Don’t know how do they come to those conclusions?