Date: 11/11/2001
RAM RAJYA (Lord Rama rules here!)
The hated British have gone. The natives have recovered their sacred soil from the foreign masters after 1000 years. The manly HINDU race is strong and is respected as a World Power, at par with great countries like the United States, Russia and China.
The first thing the new government did after the departure of the British in 1947, was to develop KASHMIR as a tourist paradise. Seeing its great potential, hotels and facilites for fun and recreation were rapidly developed.
Most tourists interviewed last summer said they used to go to Switzerland and Austria but now prefer KASHMIR. They find the climate very salubrious, people friendly, and food, hospitality excellent; mountaineering, water sports and skiing (in winter) second to none.
During the summer there is a spate of festivals of songs and dances. The tourists' cameras go on rolling and clicking seeing the colourful costumes and pretty dancers and rich display of local arts and craft.
Kashmir tourist industry is said to contribute significantly to India's foreign exchange earnings. The place has developed beyond imagination. Every village has electricity. Every household in Kashmir has a television set and a washing machine. Every town has a high school and there are four universities in Srinagar.
Due to its altitude and geographic formation, many scholars come from all over the world to do research and study. The finds of embedded fossilised animals, moths, butterflies and other insects in the rocks are unique.
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Well, that is what KASHMIR would have seemed today had Pandit Nehru been a committed HINDU with a committed HINDU on his side, and had Indira, his daughter married a committed HINDU and had Rajiv Gandhi, her son, chosen a COMMITTED Hindu bride for himself. Kashmir would have seemed SO different.
But what is the news from Kashmir today, the Day of Remembrance, 11 November 2001?
Please read on, and DO ENJOY the good news of peace and progress. Truly "Rama Rajya" has dawned in our blessed land of Gurus.
Twenty-Eight Killed in Fresh Kashmir Violence
Sunday, November 11, 2001
Shrinagar, India (Reuters) - Twenty-eight people including 17 Muslim rebels have been killed in the past 24 hours in India's troubled Kashmir region, police said Sunday. They said Indian security forces shot dead 11 separatist militants in two gun battles Sunday in the state's Poonch district, 300 miles southwest of Shrinagar, the summer capital of Jammu and Kashmir.
"Both gun battles were continuing when last reports came in," a police spokesman said.
In another incident, eight people -- seven separatists and one civilian -- were killed near Surankote in the same district, police said.
Earlier Saturday evening, three policemen were killed when rebels attacked a patrol at Tral, south of Shrinagar.
Witnesses said angry policemen retaliated and torched nearly 40 shops and other buildings in the township.
A 10-year-old boy died in the blaze, they said.
"They (policemen) fired indiscriminately and set ablaze shops in the area," Rashid Ahmad, a resident of Tral told Reuters.
A police spokesman denied the charge and said the shops caught fire in the fighting between militants and policemen.
"The fire broke out during the encounter between militants and policemen. We don't know yet if any civilian died due to bullet injuries," he said.
A frontline Kashmiri militant group Sunday claimed responsibility for the attack in Tral and said it had killed four police, not three as the authorities claimed.
"Our Mujahideen (holy warriors) attacked the SOG patrol at Tral and killed four policemen. Mujahideen also took away four rifles from the spot," a spokesman of Hizb-ul- Mujahideen told newspaper offices in Shrinagar.
SOG or Special Operations Group is the counter insurgency arm of Jammu and Kashmir police.
Elsewhere, four militants and a civilian were killed in separate shootouts in the Himalayan region.
At least a dozen militant groups are fighting New Delhi's rule in India's only Muslim-majority state. Officials say about 30,000 people have died in nearly 12 years of conflict.
Muslim separatist violence has mounted across the strife- torn region since the launch of the U.S.-led strikes in Afghanistan.
India consistently accuses Pakistan of arming and aiding Kashmiri separatists. Pakistan denies the charge.
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(Does India have a Supreme Commander? O yes, but he is now attending Bible classes from his spouse from MYANMAR.
Whenever he wants to send the message, "Counterattack!" to his Army Chief, she calls him "DIRTY WAR MONGER" and reminds him of the dictum, "Offer the other cheek!".
Then she says, "Go and see the statue of Mahatma Gandhi in front of the Parliament building in New Delhi. What will 'Bapu' think of YOU, Narayanan?", she shouts at his terrified cowering figure.)
When did PRESIDENT KR Narayanan ever visit Kashmir as a tourist?
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