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| India needs to avoid indulging in symbolic exercises | | | Early Times Report
Jammu, Oct 16: If one has to explain the term "symbolic ownership" or "symbolic control" one can easily refer to the constitutional provision in Jammu and Kashmir under which 24 seats have been kept reserved for Pakistan occupied Kashmir.These seats stand reserved since the framing of the state constitution. Though the first Assembly election in Jammu and Kashmir was held in 1951 no one in occupied Kashmir has contested for one among the 24 seats. The reason is simple. No citizen of occupied Kashmir can contest for the Assembly poll in Jammu and Kashmir,despite having reserved 24 seats in the lower House,so long the territory is under the control of Pakistan.
Then what is the purpose of keeping 24 seats reserved for the PoK area in the Assembly? This Constitutional provision has been provided for helping Jammu and Kashmir state in particular and India in general to stake claim on the territory under the "illegal occupation" of Pakistan.
Does it mean that Jammu and Kashmir, which is part of India, believes in symbolic ownership or symbolic control? It seems so but the state and the Government of India need to know that symbolic ownership is a meaningless term whereas symbolic love can have many interpretations.
Even while one treats the exercise of reserving 24 seats in the Kashmir Assembly for the occupied Kashmir area as "futile" some political intellectuals in the Government of India had mooted the idea of reserving some seats in the Lok Sabha for Pakistan occupied Kashmir.Thank God the Union Home Minister,S.K.Shinde,has categorically denied that the Government had any such plan on its cuff.
The Home Ministry has denied reports it was working on a proposal to create Lok Sabha seats in Pakistan administered Kashmir (PaK) on the lines of Jammu and Kashmir Assembly, saying no such plan was under its consideration."It is hereby clarified that there is no such proposal under consideration of the Ministry of Home Affairs," Ministry sources have said. The report had said Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde was reviewing the proposal, which involves amending Article 81 of the Constitution.
It was suggested in the news report that the proposal was being worked out on the lines of the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly, where 24 seats are reserved for PaK but are vacant as the territory is in Pakistan's control.
Had the Government of India implemented any plan on reserving some Lok Sabha seats for Pakistan Occupied Kashmir it would have become another issue for ridicule after the 1994 “Parliament resolution.The part of the 1994 Parliament resolution said." The State of Jammu & Kashmir has been, is and shall be an integral part of India and any attempts to separate it from the rest of the country will be resisted by all necessary means; India has the will and capacity to firmly counter all designs against its unity, sovereignty and territorial integrity;and demands that - Pakistan must vacate the areas of the Indian State of Jammu and Kashmir, which they have occupied through aggression; and resolves that - all attempts to interfere in the internal affairs of India will be met resolute.
It is for New Delhi to see if Islamabad paid any heed to the resolution and if India had been able to execute the spirit of the resolution by recapturing the area of the state under the occupation of Pakistan.
It is time for India to give up believing in symbolic gestures,symbolic claims and symbolic ownership. It must try for resolving various issues through talks and if that option fails to produce results New Delhi needs to be firm and cancel the process of dialogue. |
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