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| All-party parliamentary delegation must visit land of refugees, alienated Jammu | | News ANALYSIS | | EARLY TIMES REPORT
JAMMU, Sept 17: The September 15 New Delhi's all-party meet has decided to send an all-party parliamentary delegation to Kashmir for an on-the-spot assessment of the situation in Kashmir and interact with cross-sections of people to ascertain their views on what should be done to diffuse the potentially dangerous situation there. The delegation would visit Kashmir on September 20.
The visit would be no more than a futile exercise because the Kashmiri leaders and members of the so-called Kashmiri civil society and media persons would want the delegation to accept certain demands no country would ever concede. They, who are over-fed, over-pampered and extraordinarily empowered, would want the delegation to ask India to give independence or semi-independence to Jammu and Kashmir; withdraw Army, paramilitary forces and Armed Forces Special Powers Act from the state; and allow them to give a religious orientation to the state's polity and economy that rigorously excludes the non-Muslim minorities in the state from the political and economic processes and persecute them. They would not demand from the delegation some employment or financial package. They would demand from them an anti-India political package. For, they are not alienated in political and economic terms because they have been enjoying absolute political and financial powers since October 1947. They are feeling alienated because they are not being allowed to establish in the state a local oligarchy based on primitive and regressive ideology. In other words, the all-party parliamentary delegation would return to New Delhi empty-handed.
If reports emanating for New Delhi are to be believed, then it can be said that the land of the refugees and alienated Jammu would not be visited by the all-party parliamentary delegation. This is doesn't augur well for the discriminated against people of Jammu province, who stand totally alienated from Kashmir and New Delhi because of their negative attitude towards them, as also for the refugees in Jammu whose number is no less than 1.5 million. Their plight, like the plight of the original inhabitants of Jammu province, is highly pathetic.
In fact, the life of the people of the marginalized and grossly ignored Jammu province, like the life of the refugees from West Pakistan, Pakistan-occupied-Jammu and Kashmir and Kashmir Valley, is one of toil and penury. It is not one of political and economic aspirations. They are under-represented in the civil secretariat. They are under-represented in the vital service sector. They are under-represented in the Assembly and Parliament. They have been deprived of their due share in the developmental funds. They lack civil amenities, including safe drinking waters, healthcare facilities and power -supply. There is no road connectivity. The agriculture in the Jammu province is suffering because of inadequate irrigation facilities. Industries in Jammu are suffering because of the official apathy and inadequate power supply. In fact, the story of Jammu, like the story of refugees inhabiting Jammu province, is one of total neglect.
The Kashmiri Hindu refugees, who have been languishing in the refugee camps since 1990, want to go back to their original habitat, but they cannot because New Delhi has been pampering fanatics in Kashmir, who do not welcome them; who call them fifth columnists or Indian agents. The refugees from Pakistan-occupied-Jammu and Kashmir have been struggling since 1947 for getting compensation, but with no result because the Kashmiri-dominated and Valley-centric administration is opposed to them; because New Delhi goes by what the Kashmiri rulers say and not do anything to redress their age-old grievances. The refugees from West Pakistan have been struggling since 1947 to obtain citizenship rights, including the right to immovable property, right to service under the state government, right to higher education, right to bank loan, right to vote in the assembly and local-bodies' elections, right to contest election to the assembly and local-bodies and so on, but with no result. The Kashmiri rulers oppose their demand, saying they are not permanent residents of the state. New Delhi has also been watching the Kashmiri rulers' onslaught on them as a silent spectator.
The truth, in short, is that it is the land of refugees, called Jammu, which stands alienated from New Delhi. It is this land that is inhabited by the discriminated against and persecuted people that needs to be visited by the all-party parliamentary delegation. They need to be conciliated. They need to be brought on board. They need to be strengthened because they constitute the most stable Indian constituency in the state, notwithstanding the New Delhi's indifferent attitude towards it. Will the Prime Minister ask the all-part delegation to visit the land of refugees for an on-the-spot assessment of the miserable plight of the people there? He must. Otherwise, he would be accused of adopting a step-motherly attitude towards them and giving a preferential treatment to the already over-fed and over-developed Kashmir. |
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