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| New Delhi, not Kashmir, is the real problem | | J-K Status -- II | |
DIRECT, MINCING NO WORDS
NEHA
EARLY TIMES REPORT
JAMMU, Dec 15: It was hoped that Union Home Minister would revise his opinion about Jammu and Kashmir, which acceded to India in terms of the constitutional law on the subject, and make it loud and clear that no one in Kashmir would be allowed to advocate views that had the potential of jeopardizing the unity and integrity of India and diluting New Delhi’s sovereignty in the state. It was also hoped that he would take into consideration the aspirations of the people of Jammu and Ladakh and internally displaced Kashmiri Hindus, besides other religious and ethnic minorities in the state, and declare in clear terms that nothing would done that hurt the nationalist psyche of these people. But it has not happened. What has happened is to the contrary. The Union Home Minister has stuck to his views, thus creating serious doubts in the minds of the concerned people of the state.
Take, for example, what he said in New Delhi on December 9. He said: “Contours of a political solution to the Kashmir problem are likely to emerge in the next few months…Space must be allowed for peaceful protests (read protests by the Kashmiri separatists). Governance and delivery on the ground must improve. Visible presence of security forces must be reduced…The first and second report of the panel of interlocutors involved confidence building measures and now they have been told to focus on finding contours of a political solution…Kashmir is a political issue for which a political solution must be found…”
What he said was what the Kashmiri leaders have been saying since years. Islamabad, which considers Kashmir as the unfinished agenda of partition and has waged four full-scale wars in order to annex Kashmir, has also been advocating similar views. The views of the former Pakistani president, General Pervez Musharraf, were no different. Everyone in Kashmir and in Pakistan has been describing Kashmir as a political and human problem and saying the solution to the so-called Kashmir problem has to be in accordance with the wishes of the people of Kashmir (read followers of one particular religion).
And, it is too well known that while Islamabad would not accept anything short of the state’s merger with Pakistan, the Kashmir-based leaders, without any exception, would not accept any solution that is within the constitutional framework of India. In fact, they are vertically divided into four groups demanding merger with Pakistan, freedom, autonomy and self-rule. In other words, they are for a solution that is outside the political and constitutional organization of India. And, it is this solution the Kashmiri leaders, separatists or otherwise, calls apolitical solution.
No one can accept such a solution because acceptance of such a solution would not only mean a great triumph of communalism over secularism and democracy, but would also mean the beginning a process that would ultimately lead to the balkanization of the country – a process that would cause another communal partition of the country. No Indian is prepared to witness another partition. No Indian is prepared to revisit 1947 – the year that witnessed displacement of humanity, murder, mayhem, rape and what not on an unprecedented scale.
And, the question is: What is the number of those demanding the so-called political solution to the so-called political problem in Kashmir? They are not in a majority. They represent just one segment of society; they do not represent the people of Jammu and Ladakh; they do not represent the internally displaced Kashmiri Hindus; and they do not represent the religious and ethnic minorities in the State. Taken together, the people of Jammu and Ladakh and religious and ethnic minorities in the state constitute more than 78 per cent of the state’s population, which occupies more than 90 per cent of the state’s geographical area. In other words, the solution to the so-called Kashmir problem has to such as is acceptable to everyone in the state, more so to those who have been suffering since 1947 at the hands of a particular segment of Kashmiri society.
The Union Home Minister would do well to look all these facts in the face and reformulate his Kashmir policy. He is the Home Minister of the country and people expect him to not only take on those working for the disintegration of the country, but also inspire the nation by airing inspiring views. He should remember that his policy, if pursued any longer, would cause political explosions outside Kashmir. In other words, his Kashmir policy has all the potential of creating more problems than resolving the existing ones. Jammu and Kashmir has to remain with India, as it is an integral part of India. (Concluded)
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