Has Omar Abdullah crossed the line here ?

[kumble_rocks]

What you are failing to understand is that being part of one nation is NOT an inviolable condition to existence- if a nation is heavyhanded with a particular region under its domain, that region would have EVERY MORAL RIGHT to secede. Your comment reeks of despotism and absolutist control, where nomatter what happens, a nation must remain intact. Sorry, thats not how human psyche works. If a nation is neglectful, discriminatory or heavyhanded towards a particular region, people of that region tend to secede/want to secede and there is absolutely NOTHING unnatural or immoral in that. The entire reason we are one nation is because today, together we can do better than individually. But if tomorrow, new geo/socio-political scenarios mean that Bengal and Bengali would do better on its own than remain with India, i will vociferously advocate seperation. And if tomorrow it becomes clear that Marathis would do better on their own than sticking with India, you can bet your bottom dollar i will argue in favour of marathi seperation. My point is not that Kashmir should seperate or should be let go- but i completely disagree with your absolutist and despotic comment that nomatter what, seperation from a nation is intolerable. Look around you : Quebec tried to seperate and we gave them the chance to. Russia allowed seperation of sixteen or so of its regions, UK allowed seperation of Southern Ireland from its Kingdom. Secession is neither a sin nor should it be completely off the table as an option. The land of Kashmir is ours till the day Kashmiris overwhelmingly favuor seperation. Then the land of Kashmir would cease to be ours. The land of Burma is not ours- till the day Burmese overwhelmingly favour union with India. There is absolutely no logic or morality in proclaiming that 'nomatter what happens, kashmir would always be ours and nothing will change that' - infact that sounds exactly like the soundbytes the Nazis gave out during Hitler's time, saying Leibenstraum would be theirs for the next 10,000 years. Somehow i am not surprised to see many points of similarity between hinduvta movements and Nazism/Fascism.

Separation of nation may be tolerable , but the question is , is it feasible and practical! Yes, in a utopian world it is perfectly fine if a certain segment of the nation want to separate due to some preconceived grievances , lack of respect or whatever reason they feel is justified in their mind's eye. But we are not living in a Utopian world. Hence most nations in the 21 st century will not allow disintegration of the union . I can give countless examples of nations world wide wherein separatist movements have had significant fomentation only to be ruthlessly suppressed by the leaders of the union. For example , there are numerous separatist conflicts in Somalia,Cyprus' problem has to do with two nations, Greeks and Turks, who hate each other. There is a separatist movement in the South Cameroons in the nation of Cameroon in Africa. Syria does have a Kurdish separatist movement, as does Iraq. The so called liberal democratic state called Turkey carved up part of Kurdistan, another part was donated to the British colony in Iraq and another to the French colony in Syria, as the Allies carved up the remains of the Empire like hungry guests at a feast. So , Is India justified in suppressing Kashmiri movement ... The jury is still out . If Kashmir secedes from India others will follow suit . So what's the end game . Are you perfectly fine with Bengal as a separate country ? Tomorrow North East may separate , then Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh and so on. So , do you really want a fragmented India which would lose it's identity and clout all over the world.Also keep in mind , since Independence , the Indian union has strategic interests all over India irrespective of geographical locations. This includes oil in Assam ,natural gas in AP , ISRO and IT in bangalore ,Siachen in Kashmir , Finance in Bombay to name a few . Heck they launch their satellites from Sriharikota in AP . Imagine of AP separates from Indian Union . I have a feeling that the union will crumble if states decide to separate ! It is not practically feasible to break the union anymore. You are talking about Russia, why do you think that they invaded Georgia which has already ceded from Russia. In this part of the world, diplomacy and war are about oil and gas as much as they are about hegemony and the tragic loss of human life. Victory in Georgia now gives Russia the edge in the struggle over access to the Caspian's 35 billion barrels of oil and trillions of cubic feet of gas. The very thought of NATO Ukraine will give sleepless nights to Putin and co in Russia. No , I disagree with your post , Kashmir is a part of the Indian Union and should never separate. If Kashmir separates , even majority Hindus will be justified in separating from Muslims in India !