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| NC out to divide Jammu on communal lines, resist the sinister design | | | RUSTAM
EARLY TIMES REPORT
JAMMU, Oct 14: It was obvious that the Regional Autonomy Committee (RAC) would recommend division of Jammu province on communal lines and it did that. The committee said: "It is of the opinion that prevailing classification of Provinces/Divisions is hampering the process of social/human development. The committee is also of the view that this arrangement is coming in the way of democratic participation at the grassroots level within the state. Keeping in view this historical, social, ethnic and development factors, this committee recommends that the existing two provinces/divisions of J&K should be classified into eight new regions/provinces. The committee, therefore, recommends (PP. 15-16) reconstituting the regions/provinces as follows:--
What does this mapping of the regions indicate? It clearly indicates the intention of the RAC to divert the attention of the people of the Jammu province away from the problems they had been facing since October 1947 and cause a communal divide so that they, instead of working for their empowerment, start fighting among themselves and enable the National Conference leadership to implement its divisive agenda. The committee members had gone so perverted and communal that they recommended separation of the Muslim-majority Mahore tehsil from the Hindu-majority Udhampur district and the merger of the segregated Mahore tehsil with the Muslim-majority Doda district.
But this recommendation should not surprise those who believe in peaceful co-existence of different communities. The National Conference had from day one indicated that it believed in communalism and two-nation theory and that, if given the power to rule, it would divide Jammu and Ladakh on communal lines. In 1948, it had done the same. It created Muslim-majority Doda district out of the Hindu-majority Udhampur district. In 1978-79, it created Muslim-majority Kargil district out of the Buddhist-majority Ladakh. The motive was to neutralize the demand in these areas for empowerment; for ensuring end of the Kashmiri domination and exploitation.
It needs to be noted that the RAC used two different yardsticks while creating eight regions - one in the case of the Muslim-majority areas and another in the case of the Hindu-majority areas in Jammu province. While the RAC thought it prudent to de-link the Muslim-majority Mahore tehsil from the Hindu-majority Udhampur district, it did not think it proper to de-link the Hindu-majority Sunderbani and Nowshehra tehsils and Hindu-majority Rajouri city from the Muslim-majority Rajouri district or the non-Muslim-majority Poonch city from the Muslim-dominated Poonch district. It also did not take into consideration the fact that there was no love lost between the Gujjar and Bakerwal Muslims and Pathowari-speaking Muslims in the Poonch-Rajouri belt. It took these communities as a homogenous social group. Besides, the committee did not think it appropriate to de-link the Hindu-majority areas from the Doda district, as it existed in 1999, and merge them with the Hindu-majority Udhampur district.
It would not be out of place to mention here that the Doda district had Muslim-majority tehsils as well as Hindu-majority tehsils. There were some tehsils where the Hindu and Muslim population was evenly balanced. The ratio of Muslim and Hindu population in the erstwhile Doda district was 53:47. In other words, the population of Hindus in the erstwhile Doda district was almost equal to that of the Muslims. The Hindus were not in a microscopic minority in that district.
The RAC undoubtedly overstepped its authority and subverted the very terms of reference by suggesting the creation of the Chenab Valley region and Pir Panjal region. There exists no such valley in the Jammu province as Chenab Valley. Valley is a definite geographical term. It means a flat and plain area surrounded by mountains from all sides, as is the case of Kashmir Valley. Similarly, there is nothing whatever in the historical records that suggest the existence of Pir Panjal region. Pir Panjal is a mountainous range like many other mountains ranges in the country.
The fact of the matter is that the RAC created new identities and new regions only in order to defeat the loud clamour in the Jammu province for political and economic empowerment. It is disturbing to note that those who were talking about the neglect of the Doda, Poonch and Rajouri districts walked into the Kashmiri trap, thus hitting the people of the area below the belt. These elements are active even today. They are dancing to the Kashmiri tunes and promoting their self-interests at the cost of the people whom, they say, they represent.
And, what did the RAC recommend? It recommended nothing. It recommended the creation of regional/provincial councils/ district councils invested with no power whatever (PP. 17-24). It only said the "matter needs to be examined carefully by a committee of experts, which may be constituted separately…The selection of subjects to be dealt with by the regional/provincial councils and the areas of allocation of funds and powers of taxation etc need to be worked out carefully…" The RAC took more than three years only to suggest that the government should set up one more committee to suggest ways and means leading up to the establishment of regional/provincial councils/district councils.
It is clear that it was not a regional autonomy committee. Actually, it was a committee whose job it was to communalize the Jammu polity, divide Jammu on communal lines and pit the Muslims against the Hindus and the vice versa. And, it is this report of the so-called RAC that the National Conference wants to implement. Where is the Jammu leadership? Is it sleeping? Does it not know what the National Conference leadership is up to? (Concluded)
Kamraj (Baramulla and Kupwara districts)
Nundabad (Budgam and Srinagar districts)
Maraz (Anantnag and Pulwama districts)
Chenab Valley (Doda district and Tehsil Mahore)
Jammu (Jammu, Kathua and Udhampur (excluding Mahore tehsil) districts)
Pir Panchal (Poonch and Rajouri districts)
Ladakh (Leh district)
Kargil (Kargil district) |
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