The amount of funds flowing into Kashmir from various sources and circulating freely within the valley for lining pockets of one and all is mind boggling!

by M.Ashraf.  August 3, 2010.  Rising Kashmir.

For a long time there have been allegations of illegal funds flowing into Kashmir for creating a situation of turmoil. Many a times the police have claimed seizure of these funds from different persons. The story of funds being pumped in for various activities is not a new discovery. It has been there since 1953 when Sheikh Abdullah was deposed. Those days the Plebiscite Front was supposed to be receiving funds on regular basis from Pakistan. Omar Abdullah recently stated that he had held a meeting with the Indian home minister regarding flow of outside funds to protestors in Kashmir. The funds he is talking about even if true amount to peanuts as compared to the actual circulation of money in this area of conflict. It is not even the tip of the proverbial ice-berg! He is probably unaware that Kashmir has become a money minting machine for a large number of vested interests from all sides. The size of funds flowing into and circulating within Kashmir is colossal.

There are already enough funds within Kashmir available for all types of activities. A large amount is channelled by Government of India for development as well as for various security operations which find many takers other than those for whom these are actually meant. Mohammad Ali Jinnah because of Kashmir being a Muslim majority area contagious to Pakistan is reported to have referred to it as a bearer cheque in his pocket. For reasons well known now, the cheque bounced and Pakistan instead of cashing it paid heavily for claiming it. On the contrary, Kashmir has become an open dated cheque for anyone who knows how to cash it! A lot of people did cash it and are still continuing to cash it. Before trying to identify and stop the flow of foreign funds, there is need to check the accountability of funds flowing in from Delhi. The size of these funds is immense......READ MORE…