The train seems to be mostly welcome, but so was the cross-border bus service that got attacked even as it was geared to serve Kashmiris and almost only Kashmiris.
Originally Posted by
Yaatri
I wonder how the local people feel. Are people for Jammu and Laddakh considered non-Kashmiri or "Indian" by the people of Kashmir?
I do know that many Kashmiris were not pleased when Congress got its last Chief Minister there. Apparently that Congress CM was considered by them to be non-Kashmiri even as he remains a state subject from Jammu. I also do know that this kind of assessment was generally from the same corners that had no issue with supporting the English-Kashmiri becoming Chief Minister after saying the following as an MP:
I am a Muslim and I am an Indian. ... And I see no distinction between the two. I don’t know why should I fear the nuclear deal. It is a deal between two countries which, I hope, will become two equals in the future .... The enemies of Indian Muslims are not America or deals like these. The enemies are the same as the enemies of all those who are poor -- poverty, hunger, lack of development and the absence of a voice.
The people of Kashmir are pretty much aware that the presence of security forces in Kashmiri-majority civilian areas is nowhere near as routine and of the same nature and scale as that found to be the case for state subjects in Jammu and Ladakh.
Identity politics is a complex landscape.