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| An overwhelming majority in Jammu wants separation from Kashmir | | Wrong Assessment | | Neha
EARLY TIMES REPORT
JAMMU, July 10: Chief Interlocutors Dileep Padgaonkar yesterday once again asserted that no one in the state wants trifurcation of the state. His assessment is wrong. The fact of the matter is that an overwhelming majority of people of Jammu province, like the people of Ladakh, want the state to be reorganized on a regional basis so that each region becomes a master of its own fate. They may not be using the term trifurcation, but they are consistently demanding reorganization of the state. Reorganization of the state would mean trifurcation and nothing else.
Those who say that the people of Jammu are not for the state's reorganization are blissfully ignorant of the situation as it has been prevailing in this province since decades. It would be better if they look at the 2002 and 2008 results of the assembly elections to know what the people of Jammu province want. In the 2002 assembly elections, the people of Jammu province returned to the assembly no less than 23 legislators belonging to the parties which had held out a solemn promise that, if returned to power, they would work for the reorganization of the state's politico-administrative set-up. The Congress and the BJP had promised regional council/regional development board. The Panthers Party had promised reorganization. The people had also elected two independent candidates who had promised statehood for Jammu province. In the 2008 assembly elections, the people of Jammu province returned to the assembly 28 legislators. They voted for them because they had fought elections on the planks ranging from the state's reorganization to amendment in the state constitution calculated to set up an adequately empowered regional council in Jammu to statehood. Had the parties like the Congress, the BJP, the Panthers Party and the Jammu State Morcha not promised reorganization, the people of Jammu province would have rejected out-of-hand the candidates belonging to these parties. This is a hard fact that needs to be recognized. These parties knew what the people of Jammu province wanted and, hence, the commitment in their respective election manifestos. The story of Leh district in Ladakh was, and is, no different. The people of Jammu and Ladakh are fed up with the Kashmiri-dominated and Kashmir-centric politico-administrative and constitutional structure.
If the interlocutors still feel that the people of Jammu province are not for the state's reorganization, then they have another alternative to ascertain the people's wish. The alternative is referendum. It appears the interlocutors are not meeting those who know the ground situation in the state. Only certain vested interests are opposing the idea of trifurcation as they do not represent Jammu. They are agents of the Kashmiri leaders. The interlocutors need to revise their approach to reach the right conclusion.
The memoranda contained three specific alternative proposals:
1. "The Maharaja should govern Ladakh directly without tagging it on to Kashmir Valley";
2. "Our homeland be amalgamated with the Hindu majority Jammu and should form a separate province in which adequate safeguards should be provided for distinctive rights and interests of Ladakhis";
3. and"Ladakh should be permitted to join East Punjab."
It bears recalling that the Maharaja could not respond because certain developments had in the meantime worked against him, and he had to abdicate his authority in favour of Sheikh Abdullah who enjoyed the full backing of Jawaharlal Nehru. The result was that the Ladakhis decided to "merge with India straightway" and the decision to that effect was communicated to the Prime Minister of India on May 4, 1949, by the President of the Ladakh Buddhist Association (LBA) Chhewang Rigzin. (To be continued) |
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