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| Addressing 'internal dimension of Kashmir issue' | | Inter-Regional Bitterness | | Neha
JAMMU, May 8: Addressing reporters yesterday on the occasion of re-opening of move offices in Srinagar, Chief Minister Omar Abdullah once again asked New Delhi to address the "internal and external dimensions of Kashmir issue", opining such an action on the part of the Union Government has become imperative in order to forge a lasting peace in Jammu and Kashmir and the region as a whole. He didn't say the issue of Jammu and Kashmir; he said the Kashmir issue. Quite understandable. After all, he, like all the Kashmiri leaders, takes people of Jammu province for granted overlooking the fact that they constitute one of the three most important factors in the political situation in the state, as also overlooking what the people of Jammu province did between June 28 and August 31, 2008. The two other factors are Kashmir and trans-Himalayan Ladakh.
It needs to be emphasized that no Kashmiri leader worth his/her name had visited Jammu for months in 2008. They were so afraid of the people of Jammu province. The attitude of the people of Jammu has not undergone any change. Yes, they have gone somewhat dormant and there are some reasons for that. The Jammu psyche will reassert itself again and once it happens the nation would witness in this land of the brave Dogras a scene similar to the one the world witnessed in this part of the country in 2008. Kashmiri leaders like NC president Farooq Abdullah know what had happened to them at the Jammu Airport. They also know how they had reached the Raj Bhawan, Jammu. Chief Minister Omar Abdullah also knows what kind of response his July 2008 Lok Sabha statement on Baltal land in Kashmir had evoked in Jammu. He had said, "Kashmir belongs to us and we will not give an inch of our land to the Shri Amarnath Shrine Board" and it was this statement that had caused a revolt in the entire Jammu province leading not only to the collapse of the Congress-led coalition Government but also to the diversion of the said piece of land on a permanent basis to the Shrine Board for creating facilities for the Amarnath Yatris. Similarly, the memories of what had happened in Jammu during those eventful days are still fresh in the minds of the Jammu-based NC and Congress leaders. It is a different story that they have been treading a path since January 2009 they had treaded before July 31, 2008. I am referring to the Congress leaders and Congress Ministers. I am not referring to the NC leaders and the NC Ministers, although they, like the Congress leaders and Congress Ministers, had also not ventured out of their houses for months fearing backlash.
Any way, by external dimension of the "Kashmir issue" he meant Pakistan and the Pakistani concerns in Jammu and Kashmir. He expressed the view that both New Delhi and Islamabad would resolve the issue through discussion and dialogue taking into consideration the concerns of the people of Kashmir (in this case the followers of a particular religion and members of a particular religious sect). By internal dimension of the "Kashmir issue" he obviously meant restoration of greater autonomy or pre-1953 politico-Constitutional status or withdrawal of all the central laws and Central Institutions from the State. By internal dimension he didn't mean the empowerment of the marginalized and grossly discriminated against people of Jammu province and Ladakh, as also a mechanism that would satisfy the political urges and aspirations of the people of these two regions, including their age-old demand seeking full merger with India or their urge for linking their destiny with New Delhi for better, for worse.
However, to say all is not to suggest that New Delhi should not tackle the issues facing Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh. New Delhi has to address the concerns of the people of Jammu province and Ladakh on priority basis because they have little or no say in the governance of the State. Because they constitute the most neglected and marginalized segment of society in the State. Because there is no love lost between them and the Kashmiri leadership. Because the Kashmiri leadership has converted Jammu and Ladakh into Kashmir's colonies and rendered them ineffective. Because their political needs and urges and the political needs and urges of Kashmiri leadership are totally different and contradictory. Because Kashmir, which is over-fed, over-pampered and highly privileged and prosperous, has established its domination and hegemony over the State's all political, economic and social institutions. Because there exists in the State an extreme form of inter-regional bitterness and animosity. Because the State of Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh is an unnatural formation, as also because it is not desirable from any angle to maintain this State consisting of disparate regions as one political unit. In other words, it is imperative to address the issues facing different people inhabiting different cultural regions - Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh. These are the real internal dimensions of the situation as it has been prevailing in the State since decades. |
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