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| Indian Government scoring self goals: Gen Sinha | | Kashmir Policy | | Rustam
JAMMU, Sept 22: Former Governor of Jammu and Kashmir Gen SK Sinha, who is known for his definite views on the State, yesterday came down heavily on the Government of India. He accused it scoring "self goals in the State, instead of learning any lesson from the mistakes it committed in the past. He even opposed the demand seeking revocation of Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA). He was addressing a lecture on "Kashmir: Genesis and Solutions" at Mangalayatan University, Aligarh.
It would be only desirable to refer to some of the mistakes the Government of India committed. These include grant of special status to the State on purely religious grounds, parleys with Sheikh Abdullah in 1952 to re-determine the political status of Jammu and Kashmir within the Union, inking of an accord with Sheikh Abdullah in 1975 and installation of this Kashmiri leader as Chief Minister dislodging the Chief Minister who belonged to the Congress party, appointment of interlocutors for the State from time to time and promotion of those who opposed the Indian Constitution.
Any way, Gen Sinha not only opposed the demand seeking withdrawal of the AFSPA from some parts of Kashmir, but also defended his June 2008 decision to transfer 100 acres of land to Shri Amarnath Shrine Board for the creation of facilities for pilgrims. His decision, which had been upheld by the High Court of Jammu and Kashmir and implemented by the State Government in accordance with the judicial direction, had triggered street protests in Kashmir on an unprecedented scale. The extremists and "mainstream" Kashmiri leaders, including Syed Ali Shah Geelani, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and Omar Abdullah had opposed the decision tooth and nail and said that they would not give an inch of land to the Shrine Board.
The Government of Ghulam Nabi Azad, instead of respecting the court judgment and sticking to the decision, withdrew the order under which a small piece of land at Baltal (Kashmir) had been diverted to the Shrine Board for the creation of additional facilities during the pilgrimage period. The people of Jammu accused the Congress and the Azad-led Government of withdrawing the order under pressure from Kashmiri fundamentalists. The decision had its impact on Jammu Pradesh. The people of Jammu and outside this Pradesh revolted against the Congress and the Ghulam Nabi Azad-led Government. Such was the nature of the movement that he had to resign and the authorities had to restore that piece of land to the Shrine Board, free of cost and on a permanent basis.
Besides defending his decision on the Amarnath land, Gen Sinha also threw his weight behind the Indian Army which need the AFSPA to fight insurgency, control the situation and frustrate the Pakistani evil designs. He said withdrawal of the AFSPA at this critical juncture will prove counter-productive and help only the separatists and Pakistan. He hailed the Army saying it has "a more clean record in Kashmir than the Pakistani Army in Balochistan or the American Army in Afghanistan or Iraq".
All right-thinking people would endorse what he said about the Government of India and its Kashmir policy. However, it would be difficult to appreciate his statement that "Kashmir has a composite culture, called Kashmiriyat". What happened in Kashmir over the period clearly demonstrated that there was, and is a, section in the Valley which hates The Other and which wants to give a particular orientation to everything in Kashmir. The worst part of the whole situation had been that there are elements in the establishment who wilfully allow the fundamentalists and separatists to do whatever they want. It was not for the first time that Gen Sinha hailed Kashmiriyat. He has been hailing it for quite sometime now for reasons best known to him. |
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