Voices of strife-torn Kashmir echo in Delhi

NEW DELHI: A protest at Jantar Mantar on the violence in Kashmir took an ugly turn when Muslims from the state and Kashmiri Pandits exchanged heated words and one group charged at the other accusing them of "anti-national" activities. It took prompt police action to prevent the situation from turning any worse. More than 25 Kashmiri Pandits were detained.
Earlier, the two groups refused to sit with each other even though they had assembled for a common cause.Both groups addressed the urgent need for peace in Kashmir and bemoaned the number of deaths in the last few weeks. While the Kashmiri Pandits expressed the loss of identity and representation afforded to them, the Kashmiri Muslims expressed pain and regret over the number of lives lost in `mindless firing' at civilian protests. The Muslim group kept urging the Pandits to sit together but the latter refused.
"Deshdrohi jaao,'' came the cry from the group of Kashmiri Pandit protesters. They claimed the `other' group was separatist and they did not care for the "azadi'' that they were demanding.
Said activist Aditya Raj Kaul, "A small section of Kashmiri Muslims want a separate nation. They are using women and young children in this movement, and want Kashmir to be a mess. They want the administration to fail, the infrastructure to fall apart and create total chaos and make it an international issue. Peace cannot be achieved with separatists on the table. Bring in the Sikhs, the Gujjars, Shias, Dogras, Buddhists, Pandits and let all of us decide what Kashmir wants. Theirs is not a secular movement."
Meanwhile, Kashmiri Muslims claimed that they wanted to include all Kashmiris in the struggle. Said activist Ishfaq, "They are our brothers. We want a peaceful Kashmir and the atrocities that the Indian Armed Forces are committing against innocent civilians must be stopped. We are crying, but nobody is looking.''