Srinagar: Apart from two former chief ministers of Jammu and Kashmir Mehbooba Mufti and Omar Abdullah, hundreds of people, including common people, civil society members and journalists, have responded on twitter to the killing of soldiers and the “soft response” of the Central government towards China.
Reactions were different in Jammu and in Kashmir valley. In Jammu, people held protests against China and demanded stern action against them by the Central government. “Most of the people in Jammu city and other areas want India to strike back against China and take revenge for the killing of soldiers. Such sentiments are overwhelming here,” said Surender Rajput, who also participated in the anti-China protest. Talking to a cross section of people in Jammu, this reporter could see in their statements that they have complete faith in the decisive leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. In Kashmir valley, it started on social media with people showing a lot of eagerness to know about the exact happenings in Ladakh region. Omar Abdullah reacted on twitter when he saw a pro-China reaction on social media and said that people should shun such leanings. This was the tweet of Omar which triggered a twitter war in Kashmir, “Those Kashmiris tempted to look towards China as some sort of savior need only Google the plight of Uighur Muslims. Be careful what you wish for.” Soon after this tweet, hundreds of people reacted in Kashmir, including journalists, calling Omar power hungry and not having learnt any lesson even after being detained by the BJP government under the PSA. Omar was surprised by the response; first, he disallowed public comments on the tweet, and subsequently he deactivated his account and then deleted it. People were very angry on the internet and said that Omar Abdullah was providing the trigger to the mobs in the rest of the country to tar Kashmiris as supporting China.
The deactivation of his twitter account was the result of his tweet, warning people of Kashmir not to cheer China in the ongoing standoff with the army, especially in the Galwan valley of Ladakh. “Statement s like ‘some Kashmiris look towards China as saviour’ is a distortion of facts…employed by a jobless and desperate man seeking to cling on to powers following the August 5 scenario. Worse old tricks of debasing and using Kashmiris as expendables for furthering agenda pity,” was one of the tweets of Mufti Islah who has been working for News 18 for years from Kashmir. He slammed Omar Abdullah for his comments. Cautioning Omar Abdullah not to tweet such irresponsible utterances, Mufti in another tweet said, “Kashmiris are mired in their own cyclic pain and trauma for decades and this irresponsible remark may ring in trouble for the students, traders and labour communities working outside Kashmir. Fact is Kashmiris want a peaceful and honourable resolution of a long dispute.” And added, “And if you really want to Google those asking repeatedly for China mediation in Kashmir, do share a post or two here. Not difficult to find. Google keeps all records.”
When Omar Abdullah re-activated his account, senior journalist Yusuf Jameel tweeted, “Omar Abdullah 3 million+followers to 8 follower, 400 plus following to zero following…What is this? Have you been to the Galwan frontier?”
Earlier, in a series of tweets, both Omar Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti, while paying rich tributes to the soldiers killed in Galwan valley, accused the Central government of having two policies to deal with two neighbours.
Mehbooba Mufti tweeted, “Seems like China has hijacked the aggressive ‘ghar main ghuske marengay’ militaristic approach. Nation deserves to know why there is no talk of retaliation to avenge the death of Indian army personnel!”
Omar said, “Herein lies the problem with a very public ownership (in a marked departure from previous governments) of the surgical strikes after Uri & Pulwama. How does one react to soldiers’ deaths in Ladakh at the hands of a much-stronger force without appearing weak or reckless?”
Apart from people of Jammu and Ladakh, BJP leader of Kashmir, including former MLC from Anantnag Sofi Yousuf, has demanded surgical strikes against China after the killing of 20 soldiers at Galwan valley. Meanwhile, people of Ladakh have shown overwhelming support for the army and most of them on social media paid rich tributes to the soldiers at Galwan valley. The youth of Ladakh were seen outside Leh hospital to pay tribute to the Galwan martyrs. The clip was shared by Sonam Wangchuk, in which dozens of Ladakhi youth can be seen honouring the sacrifice of brave soldiers by waving white scarfs. Most people in Ladakh want firm action from New Delhi as they feel Chinese troops have been intruding in the past several decades and have taken over a lot of grazing pastures.