Aggressive Attitude of Gupkar Alliance

BY: RAMNEEK MANHAS

The Gupkar Alliance seems to be in high spirits after the coup by the Taliban in Afghanistan. The leaders are seen warning India in a threatening tone, while experts believe that Pakistani terrorist organizations are preparing to open their camps in Afghanistan.

As far as Alliance leaders are concerned, they have a miraculous art of seizing any opportunity to intimidate India. They never miss to remind India that Pakistan is a nuclear state..  Today they are trying to take advantage of the current situation in Afghanistan, hoping that after the coup, the Taliban may move towards Jammu and Kashmir (which is also being suspected by the experts), which can put more pressure on India. They have perhaps forgotten the treatment given to Kashmiris by the Kabaili raiders in 1947.

Last year also in an interview given to a TV channel on October 11, National Conference President Dr. Farooq Abdullah had said that he wants Article 370 of the Constitution, which gives special status to Jammu and Kashmir, to be reinstated with the support of China conveniently forgetting the treatment being meted to Uyghurs Muslims in Xinjiang. They play such tricks intentionally because they know that, it would be convenient for them to browbeat India as they have been doing in past.

Similarly, former Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir and PDP President Mehbooba Mufti on August 21 while addressing party workers in Kulgam district of south Kashmir warned New Delhi to take lessons from Afghanistan, where the Taliban seized power and drove US out.  Referring the coup by the Taliban, Mehbooba Mufti warned the Center not to “test us” and asked the Center to “improve its methods, understand the situation and see what is happening in the neighborhood”.

“America, a superpower, had to pack their bags and flee. “You (Centre) still have an opportunity. The way former PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee ji initiated a dialogue, you also should start a dialogue.” she added.

Referring to the abrogation of special status and bifurcation of the erstwhile state into UTs, Mufti said, “What you have robbed us of illegally and unconstitutionally — the identity of J&K — that you have distorted, and the pieces that you did to J&K rectify this mistake, before it would be too late,” she said.

In the same vein People’s Alliance for the Gupkar Declaration (PAGD) while reiterating its demand for the restoration of the pre-August 5, 2019 and special constitutional position of Jammu and Kashmir also warned the Central government against misconstruing “the current graveyard’s silence in J&K as normalcy”. It demanded an “end to humiliating people that, otherwise, has dangerous consequences” Gupkar alliance spokesman M.Y. Tarigami said. He made these remarks after a meeting of the Gupkar alliance held at National Conference President Dr. Farooq Abdullah’s residence Srinagar on 24 August, where former Chief Minister and President of Peoples Democratic Party Mehbooba Mufti also participated.

The sudden aggressiveness in the behavior of Kashmiri leaders is not new thing. The people of the country, especially the people of Jammu and Kashmir, have witnessed many times earlier when these so called leaders have tried to blackmail India and failed since the times of Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah.

The apparent reason for their flurry could be the demand for restoration of special status to Jammu and Kashmir, but in reality they are worried that they will be fully exposed by agencies like National Investigation Agency (NIA) and the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and the public will know that only they are responsible for the plight of Kashmir.