Kashmir: Rulers Love For ‘Israeli Model’ newsclick.in

It is difficult to believe that a serving Indian diplomat can dare speak in his official capacity, before a New York gathering of Kashmiri Pandits, tell them that Kashmiri culture “is Indian culture and it is Hindu culture”, and then espouse emulating the Israeli settlement policy as the “Israeli model”, which is notorious for its savagery. To characterize Kashmiri culture as entirely “Hindu” is not only to deny its overwhelmingly Muslim majority any role in their own culture but is a means to justify driving away from the Kashmiri Muslims from Kashmir. It is also difficult to believe that an IPS officer can peddle demographic transformation while serving in Kashmir.

These regressive ideas are difficult to believe—unless they reflect the Bharatiya Janata Party government’s policy on Kashmir. There are many in the bureaucracy who act as indoctrinated members of the ruling party. An Israeli diplomat in Mumbai had recently opined at a public meeting that Hindutva and Zionism are alike.

That Kashmiri Pandits must return to their homes and hearths in Kashmir is not in dispute. But to ride piggyback on Kashmiri Pandits to peddle abhorrent ideas shows how low the Indian establishment is willing to stoop to carry out its nightmarish vision.