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| It’s unfortunate, elements in Kashmir creating a wedge between communities in Jammu | | |
NEWS ANALYSIS -- III
EARLY TIMES REPORT
JAMMU, Nov 6: The formulations of Z G Muhammad are as flawed as these are communally and politically motivated. In fact, there is nothing in his formulations that can be construed as a positive reflection on the issues facing the state by a positive commentator. Even a naïve would reject out-of-hand his assertion that the Muslims of Jammu and Kashmir are one like the Palestinians and that their only political aspiration is to get the state separated from India. Far from truth. The fact is that even the Kashmiri Muslims are vertically divided into four groups demanding Pakistan, independence, autonomy and self-rule. Some of the Kashmiri Muslims also stand for India. They are with the Congress party. Leave alone the over half a million Kashmiri Hindus whose watchwords are full integration with India and separate homeland within the Valley. Can Muhammad deny these facts? He just cannot because if he does so he would be dismissed with contempt as a liar and bluffer.
In fact, by making a ludicrous assertion that Kashmir during the past 700 years was a place known for communal harmony, brotherhood and religious tolerance Muhammad has already established that he is no different from those who have been suppressing facts and murdering history to mislead the Indian public opinion and the international community. Students of Kashmir history know it full well that Kashmir during the past about 700 years witnessed persecution of the Kashmiri Hindus on an unprecedented scale. Kashmir perhaps is the only region in India where the bulk of population had to renounce their religion and culture in order to escape extermination/physical liquidation.
Muhammad seeks to create an impression that the bulk of the people of Jammu province belongs to the religion to which the people of Kashmir belong and that only the people of two and a half districts in Jammu province – Jammu, Kathua and parts of Udhampur districts – are not with the ongoing movement in Kashmir. He is absolutely wrong. He doesn’t know the demographic profile of the province at all. His formulation is based on misinformation and falsehood. The story is altogether different.
This scribe doesn’t believe in discussing things in Hindu terms or Muslim terms, but Muhammad has left this scribe with no other option but to present a true picture of facts. The true picture of facts is that Jammu, Samba, Kathua, Udhampur, Riasi and Ramban districts in the Jammu province are Hindu majority. Not just this, the entire belt from Lakhanpur in Kathua district to Ramban district or up to Banihal tehsil in the Ramban district is Hindu majority. Similarly, it is the Hindus who constitute an overwhelming majority in the areas lying between Lakhanpur and Rajouri city. Remember, two of the tehsils in Rajouri districts – Sunderbani and Nowshehra -- and Rajouri city are Hindu majority. The city of Poonch in the Poonch district is also Hindu majority. Besides, all the tehsils in the erstwhile Doda district are evenly balanced. Some tehsils are Hindu majority and some Muslim majority. Overall the Hindus constitute more than 45 per cent of the population in the erstwhile Doda district. In other words, the Hindus are not in minority there. It is also important to note that taken together the Hindus, including displaced Kashmiri Hindus, Sikhs and Buddhists constitute almost 40 per cent of the state’s population. Their number is a nearly 4.5 million. Who can ignore this hard reality? They are not a minority.
Those who think that they could impose their pernicious ideology on them are obviously living in a world of past; they are living in isolation. Muhammad should also know that the Gujjar and Bakerwal Muslims, who constitute the third largest social group in the state after the Jammu Dogras and Kashmiri Muslims belonging to a particular sect, and Pathowari-speaking Muslims have been striving to the hilt to achieve empowerment under the Indian Constitution. These two communities constitute bulk of population in the Poonch-Rajouri belt. They are not only for the Scheduled Tribe status but also for political reservation under the Indian Constitution. The attitude of the Shiite Muslims in Kargil district and Leh district is no different. They are out-and-out Indians.
Nobody would buy the Muhammad’s untenable and silly argument that the people of Kashmir, barring the Kashmiri Hindus, are ethnically one. They are not ethnically one. The bulk of the mountainous area of Kashmir province is inhabited by non-Kashmiris, including Gujjar and Bakerwal Muslims and Pathowari-speaking Muslims, besides, Dards, Baltis and so on. It is basically the Valley that houses people belonging to one ethnic group. The displaced Kashmiri Hindus also belong to this ethnic stock.
Muhammad must abandon his sectarianism and path of separation. He and others of his ilk are only seeking to achieve the unachievable. It would be better if Muhammad talks sense and present an accurate picture of facts. His misinformation would lead Kashmir nowhere. If anything, it would lead to more destruction and more deaths. (Concluded)
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