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| Kashmiri Pandits await Delhi's decision | | J&K CM alone can have things done | | BL KAK
NEW DELHI, FEB 3 Much-talked-about members of the community of Kashmiri Pandits may differ with one another on several issues, but they seem united on one thing--that is, to continue to build pressure on the government of India in support of their demands, particularly the one calling for a separate census for the entire community within and outside the State of Jammu and Kashmir.
The list of demands also include (a) the need for fresh registration of Kashmiri migrants and (b) further increase in the monthly financial assistance to the 'uprooted' migrants. The list of demands is already with the Union Home Ministry. And different communications from different Kashmiri Pandit organisations submitted to the President, APJ Abdul Kalam, and Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh, and his predecessor, Atal Behari Vajpayee, have already been forwarded to the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) for "necessary action".
Technically, the issue of holding separate census for Kashmiri Pandits (KPs) is for the Department of Census to take care of. But administratively the Census Department cannot go ahead in this regard unless authorised by the Ministry of Home Affairs. Hence, the higher-ups in the Census Department are quite on the mark when they explain that the "final clearance" on the issue has to come from the Home Ministry. A well-placed source in the Census Department told EARLY TIMES that the organisation had already received a couple of communications from the Kashmir Samiti Delhi (KSD) in support of separate census for the Kashmiri Pandits. "A definite move in this connection can be expected only after the Ministry of Home Affairs mandates the Department of Census to go ahead", the source said.
It is official: Crores of rupees are spent by the government every month as relief to the displaced members of the community of Kashmiri Pandits. And it is also official: As of now the government of India's Census Department has no plans to conduct a separate census for the KPs. The Census Department has not so far received any concrete message or proposal from the Ministry of Home Affairs in relation to a separate census for the Kashmiri Pandits.
At a time when the Home Ministry has not reached any specific conclusion on the demand for a separate census, the Election Commission of India too has clarified that it cannot unilaterally on the demand for the registration of KP migrants. The Home Ministry's "advice", according to sources in the Election Commission, "is a must". Not long ago, the Kashmir Samiti Delhi called for President Kalam's intervention. All that followed was forwarding of the KSD's comunnication to President Kalam regarding the fresh registration of KPs to the Union Home Secretary and Cabinet Secretary.
Former Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir, Mufti Mohammed Sayeed, and his Deputy Chief Minister, Mangat Ram Sharma, are fully aware of how they were pressurised by the KP groups in support of separatre census of Kashmiri Pandits. If Mufti Sayeed knew the technique of how to go about in Delhi's power corridors, Ghulam Nabi Azad, present Chief Minister of the troubled State, enjoyed greater influence over and better equation with the people of consequence in Delhi's ruling political class and bureaucracy.
Even as some aggrieved migrants find fault with Azad's style of functioning, it is an acknowledged fact that he (Ghulam Nabi Azad) has the capacity and calibre needed to make things move in the UPA government, although he is currently stationed in J&K as the Chief Minister. The Union Home Ministry has under it an important wing, officially known as Department of Jammu and Kashmir Affairs. It is not mandatory for Ghulam Nabi Azad to make public his behind-the-scene contact with the 'key players' in the Department of Jammu and Kashmir Affairs. Neither will these 'key players' let out 'classified' information about Azad's 'inputs' to them from time to time since his 'coronation' as the Chief Minister of J&K.
EARLY TIMES was officially told that the Centre, while taking any decision or formulating opinion on any of the demands of the displaced members of the Kashmiri Pandit community, will have to consult the present Chief Minister, Ghulam Nabi Azad. And since Azad seems fully conscious of his importance both in the Prime Minister's camp and in the Union Home Ministry headed by Shivraj Patil, any expression or activity by any group or party of the minority community of Kashmiri Pandits, if found unfriendly towards him (Azad), can eventually prove counter productive.
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