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| Kashmir Settlement: Duggar Pradesh also has a say | | Volcano Of Discontent | | Neha
JAMMU, Aug 31: The explosive situation in the Valley should focus attention on the miserable plight of the two other regions of Duggar Pradesh (Jammu) and Ladakh, which have been groaning under the Kashmiri yoke for decades. While Duggar Pradesh has been sitting on a volcano of discontent, convinced that only separate statehood can end its neglect, the Ladakhis have been clamouring for Union Territory status for the trans-Himalayan Ladakh to overcome the threat to the identity of its people. In other words, Duggar Pradesh and Ladakh are keen on entering mainstream politics by snapping their political links with the Valley.
Their misgivings have been deepened by New Delhi's moves to negotiate a settlement with the Kashmiri leadership. The absence of any reference to Duggar Pradesh and Ladakh in the reported moves for evolving a consensus on Kashmir is interpreted as a sign of the Centre's refusal to learn any lesson from the past mistakes and review the Kashmir policy it has pursued hitherto to end the apathy shown towards the inherent constitutional and economic rights of the people of Duggar Pradesh and the cold-desert Ladakh.
What has added fuel to the fire is the impression that the Congress at the behest of National Conference is keen to amend the constitution to restore the 1953 political set-up, with the Centre handling only defence, foreign affairs and communication, in a bid to mollify the militants. Afraid that their case might go by default again, the people of Duggar Pradesh have shed their differences, political or otherwise, and started speaking in one voice to obtain their constitutional rights. The initiative to solve the Kashmir tangle could yield results only if the conflicting and mutually exclusive aspirations of Duggar Pradesh, Kashmir and Ladakh are satisfied within the framework of the constitution.
The current phase of "alienation" of the people of Kashmir (read Kashmiri Sunnis) could be traced to the disastrous Rajiv-Farooq Accord of 1987, which made the National Conference forfeit its position as the representative of the Kashmiri ethos, and the wholesale rigging of the 1987 elections which denied the Muslim United Front (MUF) its due. More than Farooq Abdullah's abdication, the damage done to the sanctity of the democratic process set the stage for the rise of secessionist militancy and terrorism in the Valley.
Farooq Abdullah's insinuation - "The anti-India feelings among the people of the Valley" have "their roots in the growing economic backwardness and unemployment" and that "we have to tackle them before we can win their confidence" - may or may not succeed in moderating the militants' anger, but it has unambiguously reflected his total bias against Duggar Pradesh and Ladakh, the two hapless "hostages" of Kashmir, which are unworthy of any consideration under the present dispensation. Both these regions have suffered gross discrimination and political neglect during the past more than 63 years at the hands of the State and Central Governments.
The Congress-led UPA Government must not overlook the ferment that has gripped the whole State. There is every reason to fear that unless some concrete move is made and the genesis of the debacle in Kashmir and inter-regional acrimony and rancour analyzed objectively and dispassionately, the best opportunity for salvaging the situation would be lost for ever.
While welcoming any sincere move on the part of the Centre to tackle the issues in the sensitive border state, which has become the playground of Pakistani agents, the people of Duggar Pradesh would like to point out that any negotiation with the Kashmiri Muslim leadership must also take cognizance of their political aspirations, compulsions and needs. The warning that no scheme of reform or concession would meet the real requirement of the situation if it does not make adequate provision for representing Duggar Pradesh and Ladakh, which under the existing arrangement have little inducement to enter political life, must not be ignored. |
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