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| Opposition in Kashmir to new administrative units in Jammu flawed | | Controversy | | Neha
JAMMU, Feb 16: It was on February 1, 2014 that the NC-Congress coalition government partially adopted the report of the Cabinet Sub-Committee on new administrative units in the state. Ever since then, Kashmiri separatists and certain Valley-based commentators have been criticizing both the state government and New Delhi for no reason. It was just a normal administrative decision and should have been appreciated, notwithstanding the fact that certain areas in the state remained untouched.
Sadly, many separatists and commentators, instead of hailing the government decision, turned against it. Syed Ali Shah Geelani and colleague of the APHC-M Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and former chief of this amalgam of separatists, Abdul Gani Bhat, used highly provocative language against the NC-Congress coalition government and charged New Delhi with hatching a conspiring against Kashmir with a view to defeating their separatist cause. So much so, the issue of new administrative units was discussed in the executive council of the APHC-M immediately after the government's decision and Bhat talked to media persons in Srinagar after the meeting to register his strong protest against the government decision.
It is known that Geelani tore into both the NC-Congress coalition and lambasted Delhi and charged them with diverting the people's attention away from the real issue: separatist movement and Kashmir issue. It is also known that Bhat accused both New Delhi and the NC-Congress coalition of conspiring against the "Muslim character of the State".
Not just this, Geelani and Bhat charged the NC and Congress and the Union Government with making unjust distinctions between Kashmir Valley and Jammu province while recommending new administrative units.
They said that the Jammu & Kashmir cabinet accepted the anti-Kashmir recommendations as contained in the report of the Cabinet Sub-Committee on new administrative units.
But one can understand the motives of the separatists. For, they consider the people of Jammu province and Ladakh region as their subjects and Jammu province and Ladakh region their colonies. And what they said, and continue to say even today, should not surprise anybody. It was expected that they would oppose the decision and they did it and continue to do it. But what has been surprising the people of Jammu province and Ladakh region is the no-holds-barred campaign against the State Government in Kashmir unleashed by certain opinion leaders.
Only the other day, one commentator based in Kashmir lambasted the NC-Congress coalition government and charged it with jeopardizing the interests of Kashmir. He, among other things, said: "Far from the balanced allocation of the units, among the three regions, there was a disproportion in the way the regions were benefited, with Valley receiving the least units in terms of its population size. The figures paint a stark picture of what would justifiably be read as rank discrimination with the province: Valley's gets 274 units against Jammu's 337 units and Ladakh's two districts get 48 units. However, there is a danger in raising this issue. One can't protest this alleged decentralization without making oneself liable to a communal accusation which in turn undermines the weight of the argument for a balanced distribution". "Enough of placing trust in the faces and parties which claim to uphold Kashmiri interests but do the opposite, always ready to barter these away to keep themselves in power," he also said.
Earlier, one more commentator condemned the NC-Congress coalition and, inter-alia, said: "The way the (NC-Congress coalition) has behaved and allowed administrative discrimination against Kashmir to happen will surely not go well with common Kashmiris and therefore lead to disaster. Gone are the days for them to sell sarak, paani, bijli and nokri in the election. Kashmiris are already feeling alienated and neglected. The new setup will alienate them further and convince them that the (NC-Congress coalition government) is anti-Kashmir like any other mainstream party in India".
The manner in which the separatists and certain commentators in Kashmir have been behaving has the potential of aggravating situation in Jammu province. They need to realize that the people of Jammu province have never ever got their legitimate due share in the state's political, administrative an economic processes. They should also appreciate the complaint of the people of Jammu province that the ruling coalition did not endorse the CSC's suggestion that five new districts be created in Jammu province. |
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