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| Calling non-Kashmiris Kashmiris an insult to non-Kashmiris | | MINCING NO WORDS -- III | | NEHA
EARLY TIMES REPORT
JAMMU, Jan 3: Apart from Dogras and the Mangolite Ladakhis, who are racially, culturally, religiously and politically different from Kashmiris, the state is also inhibited by a number of other communities as, for example, Gujjar and Bakerwals and Paharis. Gujjars and Bakerwals are all Sunni Muslims. They are nomads and they constitute the third largest social group in the state after the Dogras and Kashmiris. They, like the Dogras and the Mangolite Ladakhis, do not have anything common with the Kashmiris. In fact, only recently, Syed Ali Shah Geelani had dismissed them as non-Muslims. These Gujjars and bakerwals inhabit the mountainous areas of Jammu province and Kashmir region.
What is very important to note is that they are all against the Kashmiri-dominated state’s polity. They want New Delhi to treat them differently or like their brethren in the rest of the country and entitle them to the same rights and privileges as are available to their brethren in the rest of the country. In fact, they are for the Indian Constitution and they want political reservation as well as reservation in government services and technical and professional institutions in proportion to their total population. They have clearly told the Delhi-appointed interlocutors that they are opposed to autonomy, self-rule and freedom as demanded by the Kashmiri leadership. They have expressed similar views during their interaction with members of the Special Task Force.
The Paharis also, like the Gujjars and Bakerwals, inhabit the mountainous areas of Jammu province and Kashmir region. Their political demands are similar to the ones being made by the Gujjars and Bakerwals. They are culturally and ethnically like the Dogras and the Punjabis. They speak Pathowari or Pahari language. They are approximately one million and there is a fierce struggle going on between them and the Gujjars and Bakerwals as far as their empowerment is concerned under the Indian Constitution. It is, however, true that there are certain Gujjars and Paharis who are politically close to the Kashmir’s ruling class. The reasons are personal and one of the reasons is their lust for power and money. These are the elements who have been responsible for the miserable plight of their communities, leave alone a few privileged and well-connected families belonging to these two social groups. The fact of the matter is that the Gujjars, the Bakerwals and the Paharis are non-Kashmiris.
As for the Sikhs, less said the better. Yes, there are Sikhs who, like the Kashmiri Hindus, are ethnically Kashmiri. But they do not share the political perceptions of those in Kashmir who are calling the shots or who are involved in anti-India activities. A very vast majority of the Sikhs in Kashmir is out and out pro-India. That’s the reason the Sikhs in Kashmir have been suffering from all kinds of depredations. Some of them have already migrated to Jammu and there are reasons to believe that if the situation remains as it prevails today in the Valley all of them would quit Kashmir and would, like the displaced Kashmiri Hindus, become refugees in their own motherland. Their number in Kashmir as of now is approximately 60,000.
Jammu and Kashmir houses several other religious and ethnic minorities. Taken together, they and the Dogras, the Mangolite Ladakhis, the Gujjars, the Bakerwals and the Paharis, constitute almost 72 per cent of the state’s population. In other words, it is the leadership of the remaining 28 per cent of the state’s population to which Gulam Nabi Fai also belongs that wants segregation of the state from India on purely religious grounds. Remember, the leaders of this segment of society, called Kashmiri, are also a divided lot. They represent four strands and they do not see eye to eye with each other.
The moral of the story is that the state houses approximately 72 per cent non-Kashmiris and to call them Kashmiri is nothing but an affront to their self-respect. Don’t call them Kashmiri. Fai can fool the illiterate American students. He cannot fool the non-Kashmiris. It would be better if the likes of Fai stop preaching falsehood and present things as they are. (Concluded)
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