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| BJP in full command at the Centre, in J&K | | Unique situation | | Early Times Report
JAMMU, Aug 23: The rise of BJP at the Centre and appointment of Satya Pal Malik as Governor of Jammu & Kashmir has created a unique situation in the sensitive border Jammu & Kashmir state. It has happened for the first time in 70 years that the BJP, once considered not a force to be reckon with, has been in full command. This has filled the hearts of the people of Jammu with hope. In fact, many in Jammu have taken the new situation to mean the return of hope and joy for the future and expressed the view that "the BJP, if it so likes, could redress their age-old grievances".
Members of the minority community have expressed the view that "since PDP, NC and Congress are out of the government, the Jammu & Kashmir Governor, which belongs to the BJP, can use his legislative authority and urge the BJP-led NDA Government to grant minority rights to minority Hindus, Buddhists, Sikhs, Jains and Christians". "Jammu & Kashmir Governor during the Governor's Rule under Section 92 of the J&K Constitution is not just executive and constitutional head of the state but also a legislature," they have opined, adding that "his actions can't be challenged in any court of law as he exercises legislative powers during the Governor's Rule". They bemoan that the state government has not acted till date on the Supreme Court direction to the authorities to create State Minorities Commission to identify the minorities in the state. They were expecting that the former Governor NN vohra would do the needful but it didn't happen.
Refugees from Pakistan living in Jammu since 1947 too are of the same view. They have opined that the "Jammu & Kashmir Governor and the BJP Government at the Centre can grant them citizenship in no time, as the state Governor and the Union Government have the constitutional, legislative and executive authority to take any decision". "The state government has no right decide our citizenship. It is only the Union Government which has the power to define citizenship. The Government of India could grant us citizenship on its own. The Jammu & Kashmir Governor also can grant us citizenship by invoking powers vested in him by the J&K Constitution".
The people of Jammu have many more grievances and one of them is the controversial February 14, 2018 directions issued by the then Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti to the revenue magistracy and IGP Jammu and the Police. The then Chief Minister had in writing directed the revenue and police authorities to not evict or disturb member or members of the tribal community from the state, forest or any other land that they had occupied and that, if necessary, the concerned authorities shall obtain prior permission from the Tribal Affairs Ministry before evicting them. These were illegal directions contained in the five-page document that was made public not by the government but by a Jammu-based lawyer Ankur Sharma. It was Ankur Sharma who had made the big expose.
The people want these directions to be withdrawn. They have opined that the state governor could in no time withdraw or cancel the February 14, 2018 directions and allay the fears of those who allege that these directions were aimed at allowing people to grab land and change Jammu's demography.
The other issue which the people of Jammu want the new dispensation to address is the issue of illegal settlement of Rohingyas and Bangladeshis in Jammu and Samba districts. According to one estimate, over 1 lakh Rohingya and Bangladeshi illegal immigrants are living in Jammu and they constitute a grave threat to not only Jammu's identity and security but also to the national security. The people of Jammu want them to be deported as the activities they have been indulging in are undesirable. Again, the people of Jammu feel that the "Government of India and the Governor's administration could work in tandem and thrown the illegal immigrants out of Jammu as the parties which stood behind these illegal immigrants are not in power".
These are some of the issues the people of Jammu want the authorities in the state and at the Centre addressed suggesting that things in Jammu & Kashmir have changed after the appointment of SP Malik as the Governor of Jammu & Kashmir. |
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