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| Self-rule fundamentally bad and retrograde -- II | | | NEHA
ET REPORT
JAMMU, Feb 10: PDP leader and former Chief Minister further said in Washington DC: "At a practical level, it should be obvious that the Jammu & Kashmir issue cannot be solved exclusively on an inter-state level (i.e., within India or within Pakistan). It requires a combination of intra-state (across India and Pakistan) and inter-state (within Jammu & Kashmir and cross-Line of Control) measures. Thus, it would seem prudent to advocate a three-step approach to the resolution of the issue - introducing fundamental principles of a solution, which would reduce uncertainty and provide a 'road-map.' Creating a dual power-sharing arrangement which would be based on equal relationship between the people of Jammu and Kashmir... and combining this power-sharing arrangement with regional and national integration."
He told the Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), Washington DC: "Our aim is not to discuss the complexities of history and geo-politics, but, instead, to shift focus to more practical issue. It is argued that the solution of the Jammu & Kashmir issue must be built on three essential elements: (1) introduction of clearly defined fundamental principles on which the solution must be based; (2) creation of a proper system of integration between arrangements; and (3) combining of this arrangement into the framework of Indian and Pakistan polity... This approach, which is underlying the concept of self-rule, is the only way that could eliminate the sources of ethno-territorial conflicts, entrenched in the traditional notions of sovereignty, self-determination, national and ethnic borders".
The resolution on self-rule adopted by the People's Democratic Party Executive Committee, held under Mufti Sayeed, in Jammu on February 11, 2007, also said the same thing and demanded withdrawal of the Indian Constitution from Jammu & Kashmir. In this regard, the resolution said: "People's Democratic Party recognizes that the people of the state (reads Kashmiri Muslims), unlike other states, which acceded with the Union of India, were assured and promised internal sovereignty and self-rule by allowing the state to have its own constituent assembly, its own constitution and flag and a vast degree of self-governance (read semi-independence). This was reflected in Article 370 of the Constitution of India. Unfortunately, this Article, which was meant to be a bridge between the Union of India and the State of Jammu and Kashmir, has been used as one-way window to undermine the internal sovereignty of the state and subvert the ideal of self-governance promised to the people of the state. The successive governments of Jammu & Kashmir, unfortunately, were parties to this subversion of self-rule of the people of the state. Consequently, many aberrations have taken place in the originally conceived and devised constitutional arrangement with the Union of India. In particular, self-rule was denied to people, by depriving them (of) the opportunity to freely express their political verdict or by thwarting their verdict when given...People's Democratic Party resolves to correct these distortions and aberrations that have crept in self-rule, as part of its comprehensive formula to resolve the Kashmir issue."
The resolution, among several other controversial and provocative things, also said: "The use of force is no substitute for a policy of engagement and dialogue. Armed forces are meant for extraordinary situations and crisis. They are not meant to find solutions to political problems. People's Democratic Party has, in a previous resolution, called upon the Government of India to reduce the strength of armed forces, engaged in anti-militancy operations...The local police battalions can be raised to meet the challenge of internal security and to fight militants...The Armed Forces Special Powers Act should be withdrawn as conditions have substantially improved in the state and resort to use of this legislation is proving counter-productive and detrimental to the peace process and dialogue..."
The message of the People's Democratic Party leaders is loud and clear. The message is that it wants a dispensation that is outside the Indian constitutional framework, with India and Pakistan sharing sovereignty in Jammu & Kashmir, plus the state's demilitarization. This is utterly unacceptable to an overwhelming majority of the population in the state. What is needed is that all right-thinking people and the authorities in New Delhi must combat the pernicious self-rule doctrine. Not just this, the greater autonomy doctrine of the National Conference, with which the Congress is sharing power in the state and at the Centre, has also to be combated because the implication of the autonomy concept and self-rule doctrine are the same. The only difference is that while the National Conference calls it internal autonomy, the People's Democratic Party calls it internal sovereignty.
We are a secular country. We just can't afford to endorse such dubious, communal and unsettling formulations, as are being put forth by the Kashmir-based parties. (Concluded) |
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