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| For the information of controversial interlocutor Padgaonkar | | | RUSTAM
EARLY TIMES REPORT
JAMMU, Oct 28: The story of the People's Democratic Party, which ruled the state from November 5, 2002 to November 4, 2005, and other Kashmir-based parties, including the CPI-M and People's Democratic Front and all the Valley-based separatist organizations has been no different. While the People's Democratic Party, like the National Conference, the CPI-M and the People's democratic Front, has been demanding self-rule for Jammu and Kashmir (self-rule is a carbon-copy of the National Conference's autonomy committee report with one addition - supra-state measures or sharing of sovereignty --), the Kashmir-based separatist outfits have been demanding merger of the state with Pakistan and independence. The arguments advanced by all the Kashmir-based outfits, without any exception, are the same: Indian presence in Jammu and Kashmir is unlawful, the political future of the state has yet to be determined, Pakistan is a party to the Kashmir dispute; Kashmir is a distinct identity and New Delhi has eroded it beyond recognition, the Kashmiri Muslims feel threatened, and Kashmir is not a bilateral issue; it is a trilateral issue.
Even a superficial study of the literature these political outfits have produced so far would be enough to reach the right conclusion that their bottom-line is secession; that they are the ardent believers in the concept of two-nation theory; that they will not have any kind of truck with India that has consistently worked for the "erosion of the Kashmir's autonomy and Kashmiri identity"; and that they long for a settlement that is also acceptable to Pakistan. Pakistan, which is on the brink of ruin and disintegration, is the source of inspiration of all the Kashmir-based outfits, the so-called Left parties like the CPI and the CPI-M included. Such a study will help even a naïve understand in no time the nature of the ongoing secessionist movement in Kashmir. It needs to be underlined that all or nearly all the Kashmir-based outfits consist of and controlled by the members of a particular sect, who have also been ruling the roost since 1947 and dominating all the political, administrative and economic institutions of the state.
What does all this show? It shows that the New Delhi's generosity has utterly failed to bring the Kashmiri leadership into the national mainstream and that the all the concessions, political concessions included, have, instead of inducing the Kashmiri leadership to become part of the secular and democratic political system, gone down the drain and only promoted fissiparous tendencies. The very fact that the Kashmiri leadership that has been enjoying absolute political power in the state since 1947 has been carrying on a relentless anti-India campaign should leave none of the interlocutors in any doubt whatever that the problem confronting the nation in the otherwise highly prosperous and over-developed Kashmir Valley is patently communal.
It's strange that those who have been ruling the state since 1947 are up in arms against the highly generous New Delhi and indulging in subversive and communal activities and those who have been dismissed with contempt by New Delhi are fighting for the cause of New Delhi in the state. The case in point is the highly ignored people of Jammu and Ladakh and religious and ethnic minorities in the state, including Kashmiri Hindus and Sikhs. These people had every right to adopt a threatening posture, but they didn't do that. Instead, they suffered in the larger interest of the nation and allowed New Delhi to treat Kashmir with kid gloves. It would be suicidal to test their patience any longer. Such an attitude on the part of the interlocutors and their Delhi bosses would surely boomerang.
The interlocutors would do well to look all these facts in the face and stop behaving in the fashion that have been behaving ever since their appointment. They must present a true picture of facts to their bosses in New Delhi so that the policy-planners in the South and North Blocks are able to devise a reform scheme that not only integrates the state fully into India but also empowers the discriminated against regions and marginalized people so that they could lead a dignified life as Indian citizens. They would also do well to air only such views that do not encourage the separatists and the protagonists of greater autonomy and self-rule. One can only hope and pray that these interlocutors, who have already landed themselves in a fierce controversy by making controversial statements, would see writing on the wall and not say anything that has the potential of further vitiating the atmosphere in the already rather sensitive state. The problem in Kashmir is essentially communal and it has to be dealt with as such. India cannot afford another partition on communal basis. (Concluded) |
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