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| Kashmiris’ attitude towards Dogra certificate in the words of a Kashmiri | | Hatred For Jammu | | MINCING NO WORDS
NEHA
EARLY TIMES REPORT
JAMMU, Apr 22: It was some 28 days ago that the Revenue Ministry headed by the Jammu-based Congress leader Raman Bhalla directed the concerned revenue authorities to issue Dogra certificates to those approaching them and desirous of joining the central paramilitary forces. The order, it may be mentioned, dealt with two relaxations in the recruitment rules – height and chest expansion. Ever since then, the vested interests in Kashmir or the anti-Dogra forces in the Valley have been carrying on a vicious campaign with a view to forcing the state government to withdraw the said order.
It would be only desirable if the attitude of the Kashmiris towards the Dogra certificate is described in the words of a Kashmiri. Such an approach would help clinch the whole issue and make everyone in Jammu province believe that the Dogras of Jammu and the Kashmiri Muslims just cannot co-exist or live under one unified system.
What, according to a Kashmiri, is the attitude of the Kashmiri Muslims towards the Dogra certificate? Read and decide. “Prior to the killing of Moulana Showkat Ahmad Shah, the Dogra Certificate controversy hogged the headlines of media, inviting simultaneously the attention and stiff reaction from the political circles and civil society in Jammu and Kashmir. That the issuance of this Certificate is an attempt to divide Jammu and Kashmir on ethnic lines was something unanimously echoed by the political circles, including leaders from the ruling National Conference, and the civil society members. The senior National Conference leader, Dr Mehboob Beg, minced no words in asserting that the move is ‘an attempt to divide the state on communal lines, which is completely unacceptable to the party’, while legal experts vehemently opposed it as something ‘which would help in the final dispensation of the state, as and when it takes places.’ The news stories invited columns, letters and discussion in the concerned quarters, forcing the Jammu and Kashmir government—in a damage control exercise — to ‘amplify the order’ (God knows what ‘amplification’ means to them). However, unable to convince media persons on the need to issue the Dogra Certificate, the Congress Minister Taj Mohi-ud-Din finally made a statement (in Srinagar in the presnce of Raman Bhsalla) to take the issue to the state cabinet for discussion. There was hardly a person who didn’t voice his concern for the Dogra Certificate. Even the separatist circles opposed the decision tooth and nail, with Syed Ali Geelani, the Hurriyat Conference (G) Chairman, calling for a day-long shutdown and a seminar against the move. However, notwithstanding the ‘sensitivity’ of the issue, the opposition Peoples' Democratic Party, not surprisingly though, maintained a criminal silence on the matter all along. From its president, Mehbooba Mufti, who would otherwise harp on soft-separatism card, to the party patron, Mufti Muhammad Sayed, who often attempts to woo public sympathy on K-resolution, didn’t utter a word on Dogra Certificate. If there was anyone to oppose it from the PDP circle, it was the former deputy chief minister, Muzaffar Hussain Baig who, in personal capacity, called the issuance of Dogra Certificate as a ‘divisive step.’ The PDP’s silence on such a vital issue reflects some of the important assertions that point to the ‘hollow talk’ that the party pursues on Kashmir, whose identity, as per the political leaders, columnists and observers, is under threat due to Dogra Certificate. The issue, for a moment, needs to be examined in the light of recent ‘pro-Kashmir resolution rallies’ by the PDP in Jammu and Kashmir. What is essentially being argued with regard to the Dogra Certificate is that the state government or the centre is aiming at ‘creating a parallel nationalism strain in Jammu’ to ‘simultaneously subvert the identity of Kashmir and Pir Panchal—Doda, Rajouri, Poonch’ (read Muslim identity). This clearly signifies the divisiveness in the plan and the larger conspiracy that is being hatched against Kashmir —which is the identity of entire Jammu and Kashmir in and outside the state. So if the Dogra Certificate touches the skin of every individual in Kashmir, how is PDP’s silence justified, especially in the backdrop of its so-called pro-resolution rallies? Why should people of Kashmir believe that the PDP president, who often sheds pro-Kashmir tears, albeit crocodile ones, that her party stands for K-resolution? Without beating about the bush, the PDP’s silence over the issue can only have two reasons: either it doesn’t want to annoy Jammu or it doesn’t want to annoy the Congress High Command, which is being accused by many of being ‘hand-in-glove’ with the state Congress leaders in taking the Dogra Certificate move…The PDP’s silence should be a loud call for people to understand opportunistic politics in clear terms. While for the National Conference, this silence should be an opportunity to regain its lost image in Kashmir by revoking the controversial Dogra Certificate order, for, a grassroots level party should have the courage to call the shots rather than take dictations.”
No need to reflect on what this Kashmiri Muslim has written on the issue of Dogra certificate. Suffice it to say that it’s time for the Dogras, Hindus, Muslims and Sikhs included, to sit down and work out a strategy to neutralize the senseless opposition in Kashmir.
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