India, the Kashmiri colony

By Rajeev Srinivasan, November 2002

The point we have all missed is the virtual colonization of India by Muslim Kashmiris. I have been reading statistical information about the rate of poverty in different states in India. Gentle reader, take this test: what do you think the rate of poverty in Kashmir is? Below the average, above the average in India? 10 per cent? 20 per cent? 30 per cent?

The astonishing fact is that, despite all the wailing and the beating of breasts, J&K is the least poor state in the country, with a rate of poverty of about 3.4 per cent, compared to 26 per cent for the country as a whole! And no prizes for guessing how it got that way: a hint, it is not because they earn lots of foreign exchange from tourism, dried fruits and nuts, and pashmina shawls.

In effect, Kashmir is extracting royal tribute from the rest of India. Strangely reminiscent of what the British did during colonial times. That is, there is massive funds flow from the Centre to J&K. Look at the magnitude of that largesse:
Fiscal Year Amount (Rs, in Crores)
1991 1,244
1992 1,393
1993 1,569
1994 1,820
1995 2,635
1996 2,627
1997 3,208
1998 3,624
1999 3,833
2000 4,604
2001 4,437
2002 4,578
CAGR 1991-2002 14%

Source: India Today, October 14, 2002. 'Great Sop Story,' V Shankar Aiyar. For further information, see www.cifjkindia.com, www.kashmir-information.com, www.kashmiri-pandit.org

The Union government's aid to J&K has therefore far outstripped the growth in the GDP, which has averaged roughly 5% in this time frame. What does this mean? J&K gets a larger and larger share of central expenditure on states. In fact, it gets 10 percent of all central assistance and J&K has received more than any other state since 1995! Far out of proportion to its fair share, which by population should be about 1 percent: that is, J&K gets roughly ten times what it deserves.

Reminds me of the story of the koel and the crow: how the koel lays its eggs in a crow's nest, and the loud, demanding, hungry koel chick deceives the foster-parents. In the end, the crow's chicks are starved or elbowed out of the nest, and the interloper flies off, fully grown at someone else's expense. That is exactly what the good folks in J&K seem to want: fatten at the trough of Indian taxpayer expense, and then secede or join Pakistan.

To put it another way, the per capita central assistance is Rs 8,092 per man, woman and child in J&K. Kindly compare this to the per capita GDP in India, roughly $460 or Rs 22,000. Therefore, each man, woman and child in J&K is being subsidized to the tune of 36 per cent of the per capita GDP! Each J&K person gets eight to ten times more money from the Centre than citizens from other states. This is a true rip-off. And all this money is given by the Center to the state directly, to use as it pleases.
  Per capita assistance 1992-1993 Per capita assistance 2000-01 CAGR
Other states 576 1,137 8.8%
J & K 3,197 8,092 12.3%

By the way, this largesse does not include major projects that have been funded by the Centre to the tune of Rs 25,000 crores. Consider the following:

 
Projects Cost Rs, in crores
 Railways 4,496
Jammu-Udhampur  446
Udampur-Srinagar-Baramulla  3,564
Jammu Tawi-Jalandar  486
 Roads 1,700
NH 1A  1200
Batote-Kishwar-Singhan Pass  200
Leh via Manali Road  1,300
 Public Works 318
Reconstruction of gutted bridges  224
Planning Commission Projects  30
Schools  65
 Power 16,000
Salai Power Project  921
Dulhasti Hydro Project  4,279
Uri Project  3,300
 Tourism 115
Dal Lake cleanup  100
Tourist facility projects  19
Leh Convention Center  2

All this is in addition to the enormous amounts of money to keep Islamist barbarians from overrunning the place. This amounts to thousands of crores of rupees a year, much of which ends up being spent in Jammu and Kashmir. No wonder that the population there, despite years of militancy, and the hollowing out of the tourism industry, is still remarkably better off than most of India's population.

So the next time some 'secular' 'progressive' asks you why there is abject poverty in India, the answer is: 'Because we spend all our money on keeping Jammu & Kashmir well-fed and well-protected.' Of course, the 'secular' 'progressive' will then ask the question, 'Why don't we just give up J&K to Pakistan?' The answer is, 'If we do, very soon we'll be repeating the very same conversation about West Bengal, and Uttar Pradesh, and Tamil Nadu, and Kerala: because the Islamist terrorists are not looking for J&K alone, they want nothing less than the complete conquest of India.'

In case you think I am kidding, here's an excerpt from an interview with Nawabzada Nabiullah Khan of the Jamaat-I-Islami of Pakistan, published in the February 1999 issue of the Jamhooria Islamia, a Baluchi magazine. Khan is quoting the views of Qazi Hussain Ahmed, head of the JI, which has captured a large number of seats in the Pakistani 'elections' held recently. The entire interview, as a window into the mindset of an Islamist, is most instructive. And shows a remarkable world view.

What kind of government that JI envisages for Pakistan?

It will be the Sharia government. Sharia will be made our constitution so that the eminent Muslim scholars who had completed the schooling in madrassas will be appointed as the judges in every court. Qazi wanted to make the presidium on the same model as the Khalifa. Presently our ideas is that the entire top leadership of JI as well as all three military generals will be part of the presidium for which the Qazi will be the Kalifa.

We are keenly watching the progress of Taliban and learning from it. We are impressed with the Taliban on the women issue, minorities issue and law and order issue. Mullah Omar is a great friend of Qazi. Omar had visited his house many times. In the tentative talks, we had decided to form union of Pakistan and Afghanistan once the right conditions are set in Pakistan (ie the JI government in Pakistan). Our motto is Constant Jihad.

The idea is to keep Pakistan in a constant state of Jihad all the time. Qazi's vision is that Pakistan will be centre of the new Islamic empire that stretches from Burma to Afghanistan and from Sri Lanka to Tajikistan including Kashmir. Towards that end, Jamaat will use all tactics from terrorism in the kafir- controlled areas to negotiations in the Muslim-controlled areas. Already the Jamaat leaders of Bangladesh and Jamaat leaders of India had accepted the primacy of Pakistani leadership in this regard.

The problem is that India has internalized a fear of this creeping Islamization, as well as the woolly-headed 'secular' 'progressive' idea that somehow India owes Kashmiris something. On the contrary, Kashmiris have generally pulled the wool over India's eyes, to the extent that India is now a Kashmiri colony.

How have the Kashmiris colonized India? Consider the following:

Massive amounts of money are channeled from the Indian government to J&K.
Kashmiris are free to reside anywhere in India, to own property, to carry own business.
Unwanted Kashmiris (namely Hindus) are dumped on India.
Kashmiris often are in senior positions in the Indian government, for instance the Nehru dynasty and even honorary Kashmiris like Sonia Antonia Maino Gandhi get to perpetuate their rule. Not to forget that Mufti Sayeed was once home minister of India.
India sends its soldiers and spends massive amounts to fight the Kashmiris' wars.

Now all this sounds pretty much like what the British had going on in India, doesn't it? Consider what the British imperialists did: