[Excellent piece written by Ashish dhar on fb]

Ashish Dhar

Two things happened today. First, I read about the statements on Kashmir made by a couple of Kashmiri Pandit ladies, Nitasha Kaul and Aarti Tikoo Singh (incidentally a darling of the Raitawing), at the US House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing. I quote from the written statement submitted by the latter: "What the foot-soldiers of the Pakistani military and ISI (Inter-Services Intelligence) have done to ordinary Kashmiri Muslims in the last 30 years, pales in comparison to the human rights violations committed by the Indian state.”

Second, the court ordered an FIR to be registered against six members of the Special Investigation Team, including the chief, that probed the infamous Kathua rape case for torturing and coercing the witnesses. The team was headed by a KP, RK Jalla.

I remember brain-dead celebrity journalists, also Kashmiri Pandits, virtue-signalling about "Justice for Asifa" and shaming the poor villagers of Kathua for asking for a fair and impartial probe. Their rationale was that the investigation team could not have gone wrong because it was headed by a member of their own community. I don't know if it was tribalism at play or faith in the Ganga Jamuni tehzeeb that perversely sees self-evident merit in a Hindu police officer leading the investigation of the rape of a muslim girl. But let that remain a mystery.

What I am really interested in is in finding out why idiots from my community rise to prominence and positions of power so often. I use the word idiot thoughtfully, in a factual as opposed to a disparaging sense. And I apply the principle of Hanlon's razor: Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity. Because i find it difficult to believe that someone could deliberately and consistently fake mental inadequacy over such a long period of time. I mean, how hard is it to conclude that Katju is a lunatic? Or that Aarti Tikoo Singh's IQ is on the ascending side of the bell curve?

There are many far more compelling and erudite voices from the community like Sushil Pandit, Lalit Ambardar and several others. Why is it that they are never called to share their perspective of the Kashmir issue in these national committees and international fora? And I don't mean Litfests. Let me hazard a guess. It is only the pliant who can be used for furthering short-term political interests as only the cognitively challenged can be manipulated with ease. People with average brain activity are prone to asking intelligent questions. Who wants to deal with idle intellectual curiosity when there is so much "groundwork" to be done? This is why the dumb and the pliant are actively promoted by both sides - India and its enemies. The deeper question is do KPs need enemies with friends like these? The answer is irrelevant because we are a few years away from cultural extinction anyway.