My friend (ie. RTI friend) Shankar Dayal Sharma has inspired me. After having been on extended 4 year holiday in Delhi (funded by us) as Chief Information Commissioner-India, Mr H is settling down very well in his holiday at J&K.
On Saturday he addressed a meeting in Srinagar about why Kashmiris were discriminated against in All India services. Playing the Muslim card, Mr H said " ... the world had changed and lots of Muslims were joining government services. "But most of them are from Kerala and Tamil Nadu and less numbers from erstwhile Mughal Empire in north (India)." This statement did not go down very well in Shia dominated J&K (WAjahat HABIbullah corresponds to Wahbabi - a differing sect ie. 'Muwahiddun' of Islam), so he clarified ""Don't consider (government) services to be a big achievement, there are other worlds including IT sector and other professional and technical fields. If Muslims are suffering from (under) representation in services, they are moving ahead in IT and other sectors,"" The entire article can be read here http://www.greaterkashmir.net/full_story.asp?Date=16_11_2009&ItemID=54&cat=1 IC(S.D.Sharma) can now educate Mr Habibullah that J&K is not limited to Kashmir, and that Hindus (incl. displaced Pandits, Buddhists, Lepchas and godless Chinese subjects) constitute over 60% of the State's population) and that Muslims have MINORITY status in J&K. Next week Mr H travels to Lucknow accompanied by his successor-in-waiting. Sarbajit
