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| Don't expect a fair deal for Jammu from interlocutors | | Kashmir, Kashmir & Kashmir | | Neha
JAMMU, Sept 24: Interlocutors Dileep Padgaonkar, Radha Kumar and MM Ansari were in the state last week. They addressed a press conference in Jammu and they talked to reporters in Srinagar before concluding their final visit to the state as interlocutors. In Jammu, the people were given to understand that their approach would holistic while devising a roadmap for the state and that no reform scheme would be practicable unless the same was acceptable to the people of Jammu and Ladakh. In Kashmir, they expressed almost identical views, but, at the same time, emphasized the need for a political settlement of the "Kashmir issue". In a way, they linked peace to the resolution of the Kashmir issue". It was an indication as to what they were contemplating. Still, however, there was a hope that the interlocutors would see reason, take into account the national sentiment and suggest a rational, national and secular roadmap.
The hope today stood totally belied. Look at the edit page of the today's edition of The Times of India and read Padgaonkar's article "A sliver of hope on Kashmir's horizon" and see for yourself the direction the interlocutors are moving towards. The article under scrutiny lays bare the disparities between what he said in Jammu and what actually was in his mind. His article is nothing but a concerted attempt on his part to reassure the people of Kashmir (read a section of Muslims) that they should not lose faith in him as he is there to appreciate their problems and recommend measures as per their aspirations.
There is no reference to the people of Jammu province whose human rights have been ruthlessly violated by the successive governments in the state and at the centre and whose life is not one of political, economic and social aspirations. There is no reference to the woes and the agony of the refugees from West Pakistan, who have been denied even the basic social, economic and democratic rights. There is no reference to the sufferings of the refugees from Pakistan-occupied-Jammu and Kashmir. There is no reference to the border migrants whose life has become a veritable hell on earth. There no reference to those who quit their homes and hearths in Kashmir to become refugees in their own country. The fact of the matter is that all these persecuted sections of population are conspicuous by their absence in his article. And, don't forget these sections of population constitute more than 50 per cent population in the state and occupy area two times that of Kashmir. This is one side of the story and it must cause alarm.
The other side of the story is not just biased but also frightening. What exactly has he written in his article? "The previous summer had witnessed violence on an appalling scale. Over a hundred youngsters, who took to pelting stones at the security forces to protest the killing of a boy, had been gunned down. Thousands were rounded up under the Public Safety Act. They joined the ranks of 'political prisoners', many of whom had languished in jail for years without a proper court trial. To add insult to injury, those responsible for certain high-profile cases of alleged abuse of human rights, including charges of torture, had not even been booked, ostensibly on account of the much dreaded Armed Forces Special Powers Act," writes Padgaonkar.
"At the root of these feelings of rage, however, was an over-powering sense of victimhood. It surfaced with the dismissal and imprisonment of Sheikh Abdullah, Kashmir's tallest leader, in 1953 and gained salience in later years after several bitterly contested developments: the installation of pliant chief ministers, rigging of elections, poor governance, corruption on a humongous scale, the choking of voices of dissent, lack of development and, not least, the 'erosion' of the special status of the state guaranteed under Article 370 of the Indian Constitution. By 1989, matters had reached such a state of despair that several hundred youth crossed over to Pakistan where they received training and arms to engage in terrorist actions in the state and beyond," writes Padgaonkar.
"Small wonder, then, that the blame for just about everything that goes wrong in Kashmir is placed at New Delhi's door even today. And the remedy to set things right, articulated by the separatist outfits and their sympathisers in the media and the intelligentsia, is 'azadi.' To ask them to define the word is to invite a contemptuous snigger," writes Padgaonkar.
"Peace in the Valley remains fragile. A single incident can spin everything out of control. The positive developments Kashmir has witnessed over the past 11 months cannot therefore be hailed as a trendsetter. That requires a political settlement in the state - one that upholds its special status in full measure and empowers the people of its three regions - Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh - to address their diverse, even divergent, aspirations," writes Padgaonkar.
"Kashmiris, who have borne the brunt of the violence of the past two decades, seek a political settlement rooted in 'insaniyat' (humanity), 'insaf' (justice) and 'izzat' (honour). This is a perfectly legitimate demand. They must be persuaded that the national and state Constitutions are flexible enough to accommodate it. This alone will nip attempts to define the 'majority' and the 'minority' in the state along religious lines - an obsession of 'hard' and 'soft' secessionists - in the bud. The phantom of the two-nation theory must not be allowed to bare its fangs," also writes Padgaonkar.
And, what does what Padgaonkar wrote suggest? Everything is crystal clear and self-revealing. It only suggests his concern for Kashmir and a section of Kashmiri people. It suggests he has nothing to do with what the people across the country think about Jammu and Kashmir and the supreme sacrifices the Indian Army has made to defend borders and preserve national unity. It suggests his full faith in the two-nation theory and in the demands the separatists have put forth. It suggests that the Indian constitutional framework as anti-Kashmir. It suggests that New Delhi has maltreated Kashmir and the Kashmiri Muslims. It suggests that he is not prepared to accept that the ongoing struggle in the all-powerful Kashmir is communal, and not for empowerment and development. It suggests that he, like the extremists and separatists in Kashmir, believes that the anti-terror laws are draconian and anti-Kashmiri. It suggests that his heart bleeds for Kashmiris and what he calls feeling of rage, victimhood of and atrocities on Kashmiris, political prisoners (read extremists, secessionists and law-breakers), agony of Kashmiris, despair, discontent and what not. It suggests his endorsement for the azadi demand. It also suggests that he wants an autonomous Jammu and Kashmir and within the autonomous state a few illusory and petty concessions. In other words, it suggests that the people of Jammu and Ladakh will have to remain under the Kashmiri yoke and that they have no other alternative but to lick the shoes of those whose ideology they hate and despise. It, in fact, suggests many, many things, all highly frightening.
Now that Padgaonkar has opened all his cards and made public his stand through a leading national daily, it is time for everyone in Jammu and elsewhere in the country to evolve a strategy to controvert the Padgaonkar effect. This is a must. He needs to be isolated, exposed, countered, defeated and excommunicated. |
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