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| Can those 24 frozen seats get their occupants? | | |
NIRBHAY JAMMUAL
The state Assembly has kept 24 seats for the area in Pakistan occupied Kashmir frozen. Frozen in the sense that these seats have not been filled since the first Assembly poll held in the state in 1951.While the election for the 87 seats are held the poll process for these 24 seats stands de-linked because the Government continues to believe that the other Kashmir is part of the undivided Jammu and Kashmir state. Have these seats remained frozen because the Government believes that” we will be able to get back the area that is under the control of Pakistan since 1947"? The political and the security scenario having emerged in the Indian subcontinent during the last 60 years indicates that it is simply a wishful thinking on our part to nurture ideas on annexation of the other Kashmir with the area which stands acceded to India.
Well those who do not agree on this point should refer to the 1995 resolution which the Parliament adopted under which India had pledged itself to liberating the occupied Kashmir. The resolution has become part of the history of parliament proceedings. Nothing beyond that. The very idea of liberating occupied Kashmir is not only tricky but fraught with internal complicacies. Even an exercise on liberating occupied Kashmir could prove counter productive, politically as well as militarily. Freezing 24 Assembly seats seems to be an attempt at retaining constitutional claim on the state's territory under the control of Pakistan. It is so because had India been serious about liberating occupied Kashmir why were the Indian troops told to halt when they were advancing into what is called Azad Kashmir in late 1947 when the state was invaded by Pak tribals who had the overt and covert support from the Pakistani troops ?That Indian troops that landed in Srinagar from the third week of October 1947 had succeeded pushing back the tribals and Pak troops right from Srinagar to Uri,from the summer capital of the state to the other side of Kupwara, Keran, Tangdhar, Machel, Haji Pir and Gulmarg besides from Poonch and Rajouri border belts. And when these tribal and Pakistani soldiers were on the run why Sheikh Abdullah persuaded Jawaharlal Nehru to direct the field commanders of the Indian troops to abandon their onward march ?Even Nehru was himself in favour of keeping the non-Kashmiri speaking people on the other side of the border.
At that time the Indian troops were in a position to liberate occupied Kashmir by the beginning of 1948.It was an easy task at that stage. It is not so now. If it is so why should then these 24 seats remain frozen. And SOS Inernational, an organisation of Pakistan occupied Kashmir refugees, headed by Rajiv Chuni, is right when it demands that elections should be held on these 24 seats or they should be kept reserved for the POK refugees settled in Jammu during the last 60 years. Possibly the Government, whether in Jammu or in Delhi, may not be in favour of such an alternative. Why So? Once the elections are held on these seats or they are reserved for the POK refugees India fears that it may denote that Delhi has given up its claim on occupied Kashmir. This would amount to the negation of the 1995 Parliamentary resolution seeking liberation of occupied Kashmir. There is no possibility for adopting Budha's golden mean approach. Either liberate occupied Kashmir or forget it like a nightmare and instead initiate measures for proper rehabilitation of not only POK refugees but those who have come from Pakistan. Forget about liberating occupied Kashmir which could encourage the Government on either filling these 24 seats with POK refugees who claim that they constitute one third of the population of Azad Kashmir at the time of the partition of India. May be such a step could dilute mistrust and tension between India and Pakistan.
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