Who Rescued Whom?

One has to marvel at this man. It is no wonder that he remains as indispensable for the Gandhi family (aka Congress) as he did during Indira Gandhi’s infamous emergency. It is people like him and Makhdoom Amin Faheem of Pakistan who define (honest) slavery of the modern era.

It was all over the blind Indian media (blindia) and they gave it the space and the effect it was meant for. It hasn’t been since Sheikh Abdullah’s times that a Kashmiri politician has been able to create a fake truth, spread it like wildfire and then bask in its glory! Even Farooq-I-Like-To-Discoe -Abdullah failed to create such a massive sensation -using the media effectively- over what shall never go down in history – an issue that won’t stay more than a few days in people’s memory – but has created its desired effects and proved, in not so many words, the inefficiency of Mufti Sayed’s administration.

It was not a path breaking roadmap for the resolution of Kashmir. It was a simple rescue mission. The army (and the police) had rescued about 30 people who had been trapped in an avalanche. The army (and the police) had done it again; they had helped the sad people of Kashmir. It wasn’t a rescue mission that would blow the brains of rescuers around the world but the media coverage was aimed at putting to shame National Geographic!

So far, so good!

You may argue, what’s wrong in it? With elections (or the absence of them) near, a little self-glorifying by the Chief Minister should not be shouted at, or should it be?

The Actual Footage

The little actual footage showed the people and not the army (and the police) rescuing. It was the rescued people who were carrying the old and elderly and it was the rescued people who were clearing the path as they moved on (makes one to think which path did the army (and the police) take? And no it was not snowing). The army (and the police) were more than willing to pose for the cameras! The army (there was no police visible) did not look exhausted even though they had supposedly walked miles in snow for the rescue.

The rescue was over and the people of Kashmir were all happy!

However, the government pulled one more trick out of their sleeves and this time the blindia looked side-a-ways:

The Act

Even as the chief minister, Ghulam Nabi Azad, was reviewing the post-snowfall situation in various valley districts, his administration pushed thousands of Srinagar-bound passengers into a virtual hell on the Jammu-Srinagar highway.

No less than 3,000 people, including a large number of women and children, have been caught in one of the worst traffic jams on either side of Patnitop.

The Army

“It is only militarily convoys which have free run on this road,” said another stranded passenger, Rafiq Ahmad Bhat.

The Aim

A woman passenger Mehmooda who was crying on phone said that children in the bus were demanding food. “But I have nothing to offer them. This Government is lying. They allowed the traffic from Jammu to kill our children of hunger and cold,” she said. The passenger said that it was a deliberate attempt by the Government to subject hundreds of people to hardship.

The Admittance

Admitting that the highway was not totally fit for vehicular traffic, the senior superintendent of police, Traffic (Highway), Dinesh Rana, told Greater Kashmir that movement of vehicles in slippery stretches on either side of Patni Top, the movement of vehicles was hazardous. “The highway is not fit for traffic between Patni Top and Jawahar tunnel and it would require another two days to make it traffic worthy,” he said.

Interestingly, it was the same Rana who had, on Saturday evening, told Greater Kashmir that the traffic had been restored fully on the highway.

[Quotes source: Azad, through his fantastic understanding of the media, tried to prove his superiority but failed miserably for the people of Kashmir.

The Army (and the police)

From a prevous post I Can Kill Everybody:

Killing in Kashmir is not uncommon but gradually it appears that the police and the army see themselves as reincarnations of God on earth. Be it the illiterate gun totting policeman or his superior office, they both think that they are the Greater Beings, created to maim and kill the children, the young, the old and the women of Kashmir. The Jammu and Kashmir Police has turned over the past decade and a half from an organisation supporting the freedom struggle to a people more than happy to kill innocents and it will continue to grow evil. It has already graduated from beatings innocents to killing them, now they just need to expand their reach and increase the innocent death toll. Once India is confident that the police have been trained well to behave as colonial masters, as is the attitude of the army at present; it can reduce the presence of the army, flash a happy face to the world, confident and satisfied at the thought that the same role is being played by someone else. Lessons from the colonial masters, the British, has always inspired India: import officers who can act and behave as colonial masters, obtain the major chunk of the force from the local population and impose evil through them.