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| No land for Indians in Kashmir | | NC, Cong on the same side | |
Neha
JAMMU, May 7: The Kashmiri leadership has always considered all non-Kashmiris aliens and pursued policies which barred them from acquiring land in the Valley or settling there. However, it was on July 22, 2008 that NC leader and MP Lok Sabha Omar Abdullah openly declared that "Kashmir belongs to us and we will not give an inch of land" (to non-Kashmiris). Actually, he made this highly outrageous statement on the floor of the Lok Sabha while supporting the confidence motion moved by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. Paradoxically, Manmohan Singh, Sonia Gandhi and all non-BJP outfits hailed the statement of Omar Abdullah.
The statement of Omar Abdullah was a response to those in Jammu and elsewhere in the country who had been demanding restoration of the Baltal land to the Shri Amarnath Shrine Board, which was snatched by the Congress-led Government in the state on July 1 to appease the separatist and communal elements in the Valley who had denounced the decision to transfer a piece of land in Baltal area (Kashmir) to the Shrine Board for creating additional facilities for the Amarnath pilgrims as an attempt of the Government of India to change the Valley's demographic profile, destroy Kashmir's ecology and pollute its environment. Ghulam Nabi Azad was the Chief Minister when the State Cabinet went beyond the confines of the High Court's directions on the issue and ordered withdrawal of the order of the PDP-led coalition Government under which that small piece of land was transferred to the Shrine Board on a temporary basis.
It is hardly necessary to recall here what happened in Jammu province and elsewhere in the country in the wake of the controversial July 1 decision. Suffice to say that it provoked explosions in Jammu and other parts of the country and the result was the fall of the Ghulam Nabi Azad-led Government on July 7. Azad, in fact, resigned convinced that he had lost the people's confidence. It was hoped that the Congress would learn lesson from the past mistakes and treat a path different from that of the pro-autonomy, pro-separatist and patently communal and Valley-centric NC and similar other Kashmir-based outfits, but it was not to be.
That there is no difference between the NC and the Congress as far as the land policy in the state is concerned and that both the outfits consider the non-state subjects and even the people of Jammu province and Ladakh region, who are part of the national mainstream, as aliens could be seen from the statement made by JKPCC vice-president, AICC member and former Minister and Ghulam Nabi Azad's right hand man Abdul Gani Vakil. Addressing party workers meetings in Panzalla, Shutluwa, Nowgam and several other villages of Rafiabad in Baramulla Parliamentary constituency and seeking support for the coalition candidate on May 2, he, inter-alia, said: "Congress is committed to upholding and strengthening the special status of J&K and the party will oppose every small or big move to dilute Article 370…Some forces who are thinking of weakening or eroding this Article are inimical to peace and tranquility in the state…After accession Article 370 has proved a vital bridge between India and J&K. BJP's policy of grabbing land in the state to facilitate settlement of communal forces here cannot be permitted and not an inch of land of the state will be given or provided to such forces".
It was clear from what the statement that the Congress, like the NC and Kashmiri separatists of all hues, is for a land policy that bars the Indians committed to India from settling not only in Kashmir but also in Jammu province and Ladakh region. It is regrettable that even after 65 years of independence we have parties like the Congress and the NC which discriminate between Kashmiris and non-Kashmiris and hamper the process of nation-building. |
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