Tragedy of Sopore: India's 'Chota London' becomes 'Pakistan'

Sopore, Jan 2:They used to call Sopore as Chota London. London not because of the fact that Jehlum flows through it like the Thames flows through London. But because of the fact that Sopore used to be a very prospers Town like London. With the passage of time, the people changed.

The society changed and with that changed everything so Chota London became Chota Pakistan and this because of the reason that it used to be the launching pad of Anti India Struggle, both armed and peaceful.

Some of the great and some not that great political personalities have their roots in Sopore. Sopore has always played a very vital role In deciding and determining the Politics of state of Jammu and Kashmir (J&K). Being a town in the Border District of Baramulla, the politics of the neighboring nations also effected the politics of Sopore Town and with that the politics of State of J&K.

Sopore has defined many of the political terms, and only defined but set out many more political terms. But Sopore, as it is now, was not always like that. Many of the flawed policies of the govt viz-a-viz this town have changed the political mind set of people of Sopore.

Whether it was the govt of National Conference or Congress or for that matter the coalition of these two political parties is the much hyped peoples Democratic Party. Sopore was never on there Map. The developmental projects aimed at Sopore where either diverted to other towns or cancelled all together.

This political neglect lead to the making of Sopore, what it is today. The people, particularly the youth found themselves totally neglected and thus at cross roads. The anti-India sentiment got catalyzed and many of the people exploited this and built their political carrier on this.

The culture and the social values also degraded with the advent of conflict. The Sopore has seen the worst culture and social aggression. Not a single day passed by incident free. This has leaded a deep imprint on the minds of the people, at the one point of time sopore used to be at top when we talked of education.

The conflict away with it this gifts well. People forgot every thing except the monetary interests, but things are changing again. people are now trying to regain and remise the social values in themselves some conscious people are trying their level best to undo the damage. the bad practices and the cultural deteoriation i snow the target of the people.

Government is stilll in slumber and is not understanding and going to the roots of the problem. The people of Sopore are very good at heart and still very good at understanding the things. If channelized properly, the talent and good brains will definitely get a boost. All said and done, despite being a neglected lot, the people still are not hope less.

Sopore has always played a very vital role in deciding the political future of this boarder state. the stalwarts in politics, and not only in politics but in other fields as well like art, culture etc have their roots in Sopore.

The leading politicians in the state are from this township. The people have in past also contributed to a great deal in deciding the socio-political scenario of the state. Having said that the Soporians can not therefore be left in lurch for always, the people at the helm of affairs need to wake up from the slumber and do the needful in this regard.

Many of the socio-cum-politico-cum-religious organizations have their roots and origin in Sopore. Jamat-i-Islami J&K have in it the founding members who are from Sopore. The pro-referendum people and parties in kashmir have their origin in Sopore.

There was the 'quite kashmir' movement in Kashmir before the independence of India and the plebiscite front after its independence. The founding members of these movements were also, among others, from Sopore. The intellectuals, the writers, the politicians, the academicians, the artists and the social workers and religious personalities are what the sopore has produced.

So, Sopore has always played a pivotal role in deciding and determining the socio-political scenario of the state of Kashmir and hopefully it would continue to do so in future as well.

[Iqbal Qadri is a Citizen Journalist and the views expressed in this article belong to the author]