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| Nothing in common between Kashmir and Jammu | | State of Disparate Regions | | Neha
Jammu, Dec 20: Leaders from Kashmir -- both "mainstream" and separatist -- continue to put forth suggestions which, according to them, alone could end the so-called Kashmir problem and restore peace in the Valley. They are putting forth these suggestions in the Valley, in Jammu, in New Delhi, in Pakistan, and even in such countries as United States, United Kingdom, Belgium and so on. These days APHC (M) chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, along with six other Hurriyat leaders, is advocating a solution to the Kashmir "problem" giving the people of the hostile country to understand that he and his separatist and extremist outfit represent the general will in the state. This is not true. Everyone is aware of the ground realities in the state and recognizes that the State of Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) consists of three disparate regions and the relations between the regions are far from normal.
What is the nature of inter-regional relations in Jammu and Kashmir (J&K)? Is there anything that is common between the people of Kashmir and Jammu and between the former and Ladakh? What are the major complaints of the people of Jammu against the Kashmir-based and Kashmir-centric ruling elite? And do the people of Jammu and Ladakh and Kashmiri Hindus subscribe to the ideology of the Kashmir-based outfits, both "mainstream" and separatist?
There is nothing that is common between the people of Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh. In fact, the people of the three regions are ethnically, culturally, economically, historically and politically different. Their way of life is different. Their diet and dresses are different. Their customs and traditions are different. Their heroes and enemies are different. Their victories and defeats overlap. Their sources of inspiration are different. Their languages are different. And more than that, their concept of life is also different.
Not just this, their political perceptions are different. Jammu and Ladakh, unlike the Kashmiri leadership, stand for the State's full integration with India. Article 370 doesn't enthuse or inspire the people of these two regions. In fact, they want the Union Government to extend the Indian Constitution to the State in full, barring its Article 370, so that they are able to enjoy all those rights which are available to all other Indians; so that they are freed from the clutches of the Valley leadership, which has all along treated them with a contempt and deprived them of their legitimate due share in the State's political, economic and social processes. They do not want to act as a millstone around the Kashmir's neck. They want a dispensation that is of them, by them and for them and that is within the Indian Constitution. The people of Ladakh want Union territory status and the people of Jammu in their heart of hearts want separation from Kashmir, saying this is the only panacea available to them. The grouse of the people of Jammu is that the Kashmiri leadership has snatched from them political power and that the Kashmiri leadership denounces the Indian Constitution in downright language. Their grouses against the Kashmiri leadership is that it is "regressive, intolerant, exclusivist, backward-looking, conservative and extremist"; that it has "destroyed" them politically, culturally, economically and socially; and that "in pursuit of its economic, political and administrative policies, it is solely guided by the Valley interests".
The Kashmiri leadership also has several grouses against the people of Jammu, notwithstanding the fact that it has been ruling the State and "exploiting" the people of Jammu and Ladakh since 1947. The less-than-three-year rule of Ghulam Nabi Azad was an exception. The grouse of the Kashmiri leadership is that the Dogras of Jammu ruled over Kashmir for full 101 years (1846-1947). Its grouse against the people of Jammu is that they always conspire against the Kashmiri and help New Delhi dismiss the duly-elected Governments in the State. In this context, the Kashmiri leaders consistently refer to the dismissal of Sheikh Abdullah's Government in 1953 and 1977 and dismissal of Dr Farooq Abdullah's Government in 1984. Its grouse against the people of Jammu is that they do not allow New Delhi to accept the "political" demands of Kashmiri leadership - demands ranging from autonomy to self-rule to independence to merger with Pakistan and so on.
All this shows that the wedlock between Kashmir and Jammu and between the former and Ladakh is unnatural. All this also shows that it is impossible to reconcile contradictions between Kashmir and Jammu because these are irreconcilable. But more than that, all this shows that district councils are no solution to the problems facing different people inhabiting different regions of the State. The lasting solution to the problems facing Jammu and Ladakh lies only in the state's reorganization/trifurcation. Even otherwise, reorganization/trifurcation of the State is the need of the time in the sense that it has the potential of satisfying the urges and needs of the people of Jammu and Ladakh and enabling New Delhi to start parleys with Kashmiri leaders of all shades of opinion, including those representing the internally-displaced Kashmiri Hindus, to find what could satisfy them. Will Kashmiri leaders recognize the existing realities in the state and act accordingly? They will not because they see in the state's reorganization their inability to rule Jammu and exploit its natural resources.
One thing is clear: The Kashmiri leadership cannot take the people of Jammu province for a ride any longer because the latter are determined to obtain their due share at whatever cost. |
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