news details |
|
|
| '70-year-old status quo must not be broken': Sajjad Lone | | No CM from Jammu | | Neha
Early Times Report
JAMMU, Dec 31: Separatist-turned-politician and writer of the anti-India book, Achievable Nationhood, Sajjad Lone, whose party won two seats in the Assembly elections has also jumped on to the bandwagon of those in Kashmir and outside who have rejected the demand in Jammu province for Chief Minister from this economically neglected and politically marginalized region. He himself won the election from Handwara assembly constituency. The only difference between Lone and others who have repeatedly said on December 23, when the state again got an hung assembly, that the Chief Minister of the State has to be a Muslim from the Valley, is that he was quite sophisticated while putting across his point of view.
Endorsing the suggestion that the next government should be the one in which the BJP is an important political player, he very politely rejected the suggestion that the Chief Minister of the State this time should be some Jammu-based politician belonging to the BJP. The BJP in Jammu, like the PDP in the Valley, has won 25 seats in Jammu and polled more votes as compared to any other political party, including even the PDP. The BJP secured 23 per cent votes and the PDP 22.3 per cent.
Sajjad Lone has refused to discuss the religion of who should be the next Chief Minister of the State, but he very categorically stated that the "70-year-old status quo in the State must not be broken". "If it is a Chief Minister from Jammu, he will not go well with the people of Kashmir. The Chief Minister has to be from Kashmir and from the majority community. It would not be in the best interest of the State to break the status quo". So, he very politely put across his point of view and rejected the idea of Chief Minister from Jammu.
It needs to be underlined that Sajjad Lone is only one among many in Kashmir and outside it, barring Jammu and Ladakh, who have unleashed a no-holds-barred campaign to scuttle the demand in Jammu for Chief Minister from Jammu. The campaign is not just shrill but it is also humiliating for the people of Jammu province, who have been suffering gross discrimination at the hands of the Kashmir's ruling elite and certain elements in New Delhi. It is humiliating in the sense that all those who have rejected the demand in Jammu for Chief Minister from Jammu have stated and restated that the demand of the people of Jammu, if accepted or given an effect to, will further alienate the Kashmiri Muslims from New Delhi and complicate further the situation in the so-called alienated Kashmir Valley. The office of the Chief Minister is the sole preserve of Kashmir and Kashmiri Muslims has been their argument.
They cannot treat the people of Jammu province and Ladakh region in the manner they have been treating them to defend and promote Kashmir and Kashmir's sectarian and anti-Jammu and anti-Ladakh interests. The people of Jammu and Ladakh, like the people of Kashmir, are part and parcel of the state's polity and no discrimination could be made between them on any ground whatsoever. The anti-Jammu and anti-Ladakh forces need to understand that they are only facilitating the task of those who want the state to be trifurcated into Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh. It would be better if they leave the issues to the political parties which are holding discussion between them behind the curtain. One thing is manifestly clear: It would be very dangerous to ignore the people of Jammu province and their age-old demand that seeks political empowerment of the neglected region. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
| |
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
STOCK UPDATE |
|
|
 |
| BSE
Sensex |
 |
| NSE
Nifty |
|
|
| |
CRICKET UPDATE |
|
|
|
|
| |
| |
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
