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| Interlocutors must not ignore the hard realities | | |
STARK REALITY
RUSTAM
EARLY TIMES REPORT
JAMMU, Apr 25: The new Delhi-appointed three interlocutors completed their seventh visit to the state yesterday. During their visit, they organized a two-day-long roundtable conference in Kashmir and met a number of delegations. They also met Hurriyat leader Abbas Ansari, who has been suspended by the APHC (M) chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq on the ground that his meeting with the interlocutors was against the party’s stand. From what they said yesterday during the press conference in Jammu, it was clear that they were still groping in the dark, that they have utterly failed to diagnose what ails Kashmir and that they are concerned more with Kashmir than with the very vast pro-India constituency in the state.
It needs to be noted that all shades of separatist opinion as well as of those in Kashmir who have been advocating solutions like greater autonomy and self-rule are the opinions which have nothing to do with the empowerment of the people of the state. These opinions are not about the rights of people but prescriptions of carving out and constitutionally fortifying communal domains – creating a Muslim republic within the secular and democratic Republic of India.
The separatist opinion and the protagonists of autonomy and self-rule simply want the interlocutors and the powers-that-be in New Delhi to fiddle with the vital national interests like territorial integrity of India in the state or the sovereignty of the nation. Any move on the part of the interlocutors/New Delhi to endorse what the Kashmiri leadership has been demanding will have a domino impact. It would not only hamper secular nation-building in the state but would also jeopardize the paramount national interests. Hence, what is being advocated by the autonomists or frank separatists is simply not acceptable to us at all, as these negate the very idea of India as a sovereign, democratic and secular state. Integrity of the nation and its sovereignty as well as secular nation-building has to be protected and it can be protected by rejecting out-of-hand the autonomists, rank separatists and votaries of self-rule. .
It is also important to note that the failure of the Indian State in Jammu and Kashmir is basically a failure to establish a non-discriminatory, balanced and just political set-up in the state. This failure has reflected itself predominantly in the form of marginalization of Jammu province, Ladakh and the minorities in the state. Over the years grave economic, political and social injustices have been willfully perpetrated on the people of Jammu, Ladakh and the minorities. The glaring example of this marginalization has been the imbalance in the legislative sphere as far as representation of the people of Jammu province is concerned. The situation has reached a point where the authorities, instead of respecting the constitutional requirements, have amended the very constitution itself to deprive the people of the province of their right to return to the assembly representatives in proportion to their votes. The implications are obvious. The BJP is a party to the anti-democratic and anti-Jammu amendment.
The real problem is in the Jammu province which has received refugees in millions from time to time after 1947. These refugees have escaped exclusivist and violent campaigns and have been languishing in conditions of marginalization, poverty and destitution, with some of them even denied the basic citizenship rights (read refugees from West Pakistan, mostly belonging to the depressed classes). Actually, this was the real human problem that should have been addressed decades ago. Paradoxically, the focus of the Government of India has been the Kashmir valley which has been over-empowered in all spheres. It speaks of the nature of the policies being evolved and ruthlessly pursued by the authorities in New Delhi.
And, the focus of New Delhi/interlocutors on the Valley despite the fact that the enthusiastic and very impressive participation of the people in the ongoing elections to Panchayats is a clear and loud indicator that people in the state want grass-root level empowerment and participatory democracy. Over 83 per cent electorate has exercised its franchise so far in the Kashmir valley itself defying terrorist threats and intimidation. This means that the Government of India is giving a disproportionate and undue importance to the otherwise insignificant separatist constituency.
Over the years it has been observed that the Government of India has almost granted a veto to the separatist opinion in the state. It has been seen umpteen times that those who stand for India in the state and for democracy and secularism eventually are abandoned by the Government of India itself. The perspective in New Delhi about Jammu and Kashmir is indeed flawed and unhealthy. In fact, this perspective needs a correction first before the Centre embarks upon the mission of talking to various shades of opinion in the state to find a solution to the problems in the state created by New Delhi.
New Delhi/interlocutors must remember that an overwhelming majority of the people in the state shall never be a party to any solution that compromises the Indian position in Jammu and Kashmir. It is high time that they realized the importance of giving Jammu province its due share and addressing the problems being faced by the abandoned refugees from Pak-occupied-Kashmir, Pakistan and Kashmir.
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