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| Kashmiris not averse to fresh delimitation | | What have Chief Ministers from Valley done for them? | | Early Times Report
Jammu, Jan 18: Contrary to popular belief in Jammu, the commoner in the Kashmir Valley is not averse to the idea of a fresh delimitation commission that would provide additional Assembly seats to the Jammu region. Citing the history of what he called state oppression, Ghulam Muhammad Khan, the son of a former activist of the Plebiscite Front who earns a living at his Maharaj Gunj shop said: "What have Chief Ministers of Kashmiri origin done for the hapless Kashmiri? When Sher-e-Kashmir assumed power in 1975, it took him just three years to frame the dreaded Public Safety Act (PSA). This legislation has been recklessly and indiscriminately used to crush dissent. Even boys in the age group of 12-14 have been detained under this draconian legislation." In 1984, when Sher-e-Kashmir's son-in-law, Late Ghulam Muhammad Shah dethroned Dr Farooq Abdullah, he extended the Terrorist and Disruptive Activities Prevention Act (TADA) to the state. "Hundreds of political activists were booked under this law in the three years he stayed in power", he said. Khan added Dr Farooq Abdullah constituted the `notorious' Special Operations Group (SOG) in 1996. "This force wreaked havoc in the state. Soon after, he became he extended Prevention of Terrorism Act (POTA) to the state. In fact Jammu Kashmir became the first state to extend and implement this law. In my state it was extended when it was still an ordinance. Then it was called POTO", he lamented.
Khan said Mufti Muhammad Sayed suspended POTA and the SOG. "While POTA still remains suspended, the SOG continued to operate in his regime and it is operational even now. And when Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) and Disturbed Area Act became operational in Kashmir, Mufti Sayed was the Home Minister of India ", he said.
When asked whether a Chief Minister from Jammu would be any different, he had a handy `diplomatic' answer. "Why should I or any other Kashmiri for that matter agitate for a Chief Minister from the Valley especially when they have subjected the people to inconvenience?" Khan's tone attracted the attention of many a person. One of them identified himself as a government teacher. He said: "Nobody cares for such issues in contemporary Kashmir. I have no hesitation in admitting that Kashmiris were better placed during Dogra rule." |
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