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| Alarm bells are rung over nonissues | | | Since the rise of militancy related violence in 1988-89 the number of people having grown adept in ringing alarm bells in the Kashmir valley has multiplied in geometric progression.Even the alarm bells are rung over issues that have no relevance or on matters which do not deserve any attention.The latest instance is the ringing of the alarm bells over what is called Government plan to alter the demography of the muslim majority Kashmir valley.What seems to be amazing and intriguing is the way the most talented lot of the members of the Kashmir Bar Association having fallen prey to the "canard" that has been circulated by what may be conveniently called "bogemen."These unidentiofied bogeymen have been adding one ache to the other,one problem to the other and one difficulty to the other.The source of the uncalled for fears and doubts has been found in the recent Government ban on inter-district recruitment.The ban was imposed after legislators belonging
to the remote areas protested over the plan of lifting the ban on inter-district recruitment.Their fears were genuine because those unemployed youth belonging to the urban areas,especially to thedistrictsJammu,Srinagar,Kathua,Udhampur,Baramullah,Ganderbal,Anantnag,Samba, Budgam,could grab more posts in the Government departments in the r emote rural areas because of their better academic qualification and talent than the ruralites.Their fears were not unfounded when they said that those educated youth who belonged to Kupwara,Bandipore,Shopian,Kulgam,Doda,Poonch,Rajouri and Kishtwar districts had less chances of securing Government jobs in the urban areas and hence in the process the ruralites were losing jobs to the urbanites.After the Government made it known that it had decided to ban interdistrict recruitment number of ministers and legislators belonging to the Jammu region intervened and succeeded in keeping the scheduled castes out of the purview
of the ban on inter-district recruitment.The candidates belonging to the Scheduled Castes can avail of eight per cent reservation and there is no restrictions on them as far applying for the vacant posts in any district.This very concession is being exploited by the Kashmiri separatists who have started describing the Government decision as part of the plan to change the demography of the valley.They seem to be possibly miles away from reality.The current population ratio in the Kashmir valley says that the muslims constitute 99.98 per cent population.Even if five to 10 candidates belonging to the scheduled castes apply for Government jobs in some districts it will not change the demography even if they settle in the valley alongwith their family members,which may not be possible at all.Already over 3.50 lakh Hindus were hounded out of the
valley in 1990 and do the members of the Bar Association treat the Government decision to offer jobs to unemployed Pandit youths only when they agree to work in Kashmir as part of the plan to change the demography.And again alarm bells were rung when rumours were circulated by the vested interests suggesting that a large number of SC candidates had been given jobs in Kupwara district.One senior Government functionary said that not more than five youths belonging to the scheduled caste have been recruited in the Kashmir valley during the last four years.And by raising the bogey of change in demography the separatists do not want to treat the regions of Jammu and Ladakh as part of the entire state.For them the Kashmir valley is the state.And Chief Minister,Omar Abdullah,is right when he has stated that as citizens of the state Jammuites have the right to work in Kashmir,those belonging to Kashmir have the right to work in Jammu and Ladakh and the
vice
versa.If this is not acceptabe to the separatists and if the handful of SC candidates can upset the demographic character of the valley let the state of Jammu and Kashmir be bifurcated.
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