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| Karan asks Jammu not to reject interlocutors' report | | GULAB SINGH'S BIRTH ANNIVERSARY | | Early Times Report
JAMMU, Oct 22: Scion of Maharaja Gulab Singh and former Sadar-e-Riyasat of J&K, Karan Singh, addressed a distinguished gathering yesterday at Royal Retreat Banquet Hall, Jammu. The occasion was the 219th birth anniversary of founder of the state Maharaja Gulab Singh. Addressing the gathering, Karan Singh urged the audience not to reject the interlocutors' report on the state. He asked the people assembled there to study the report before expressing their opinion. His argument was that the report might contain positive recommendations aimed at redressing the grievances of the people of Jammu province, as also the grievances of the people of Ladakh. He also argued that the report might contain recommendations designed to end unrest in the Kashmir Valley. Fair enough.
However, what was surprising was his admission that he had not yet studied the report. He is a man with connections at right places. He is an important member of the Congress party. It would have been better, had he procured a copy of the report, studied it and then informed the audience as to what exactly the report contains for Jammu, for Kashmir and for Ladakh and for India on the whole. You just cannot segregate the national interest from the interest of the people of Jammu province, Kashmir province and Ladakh. That he asked the audience not to reject the report did intrigue many a people gathered to participate in the memorable event. They were taken by surprise when Karan Singh made such a suggestion. Why did he make such a suggestion? It is a riddle. Karan Singh alone can tell people why he made such a suggestion.
One cannot form an opinion on the interlocutors' report, which is still not in public domain, unless one studies it in minute details. In fact, what Karan Singh said in this regard was the opinion of people and political parties functioning in the state. People and political leaders, cutting across party lines, have, of course, expressed their views on the basis of what appeared on October 13 in various dailies, local and national. Some rejected the report outright saying the report is Kashmir-centric; some expressed their disappointment saying the interlocutors' have failed to appreciate the sentiments of the people of Kashmir (read Kashmiri Muslim leadership); some expressed their views quite vaguely saying they would give their definite opinion only after going through the report; and some even commended the interlocutors' effort.
But the reaction was by and large was one of dissatisfaction. The people of Jammu expressed the view that the report may contain recommendations calculated to divide Jammu province along Chenab River and enable the Kashmiri leadership to set up Greater Kashmir consisting of Kashmir Valley and Muslim-majority areas of Jammu and Ladakh provinces. They also expressed the view that the interlocutors might have suggested pre-1953 position in the name of "meaningful autonomy". It was also their belief that the interlocutors might have urged the Union Government to make Article 370 a permanent feature of the Indian Constitution.
The Kashmiri leaders belonging to the so-called mainstream parties expressed the view that the recommendations of the interlocutors might not come up to the expectations of the people of Kashmir. According to these Kashmiri leaders, greater autonomy/self-rule, coupled with a mechanism that empowers Pakistan to share co-equal powers with India in the Indian Jammu and Kashmir and withdrawal of the Army from the state and revocations of legislations like the Armed Forces Special Powers Act, the Disturbed Areas Act and the Public Safety Act, alone could satisfy the aspirations of the people of Kashmir (in this case Muslims).
One can only hope that Karan Singh would soon procure a copy of the interlocutors' report. And it would be better if after obtaining a copy of the said report he arranges a meeting in Jammu to discuss threadbare the recommendations/suggestions as contained in the report so that a definite opinion is formed. He needs to play the role he is required to play. In fact, it is the complaint of the people of Jammu that Karan Singh has not played the kind of role he should have played by taking into account their sufferings and miseries and deliberate affront to the self-respect of the Dogras caused by the Kashmiri political elite on almost daily basis. |
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