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| Minorities in JK up against the failed system | | Abandoned Sikhs | | Rustam
Jammu, Aug 19: The State of Jammu and Kashmir houses a large number of religious and ethnic minorities. The main non-Muslim minorities include Hindus, Buddhists and Sikhs. Their population is more than 4 million. The State also houses over 1.5 million refugees - all in Jammu. They migrated to Jammu from time to time. The process started with the communal partition of India in 1947. There was migration from Pakistan-occupied-Jammu and Kashmir and there was migration from West Pakistan. From POJK Hindus and Sikhs migrated. From West Pakistan Hindus mostly members of the depressed communities migrated. All of them migrated to Jammu to escape the fanatics' wrath and save their culture, civilization, life and dignity. The State itself witnessed migration of its own people after 1947. A large number of Kashmiri Hindus migrated to Jammu and other parts of the country after the State acceded to India because the religio-political environment in Kashmir was such. However, it was in early 1990 that Kashmir witnessed wholesale migration of Hindus. Earlier, the Jammu Dogras had quit Kashmir in large numbers. As for the Ladakhi Buddhists, they had little or no presence in Kashmir Valley. They always preferred their own region. However, after 1947, many Buddhists made Jammu their second house and the phenomenon continues.
Not a single non-Muslim minority in the State is happy with the political system that was handed down to the people almost 65 years ago. The people of Jammu Pradesh rose in revolt against the system as early as in November 1947, just a few days after the State's accession to India. Some of them demanded separation from Kashmir. The demand for separation from Kashmir continues to steal headlines in the local press from time to time. The grouse of the minorities in Jammu Pradesh is that they have no place whatsoever in the Kashmiri rulers' scheme of things and that the existing system has all the potential of eroding their very identity and personality. They have many complaints and the rulers in Kashmir and their cronies in Jammu as well as the powers-that-be in New Delhi are fully aware of the problems of these non-Muslim minorities, but they have never ever appreciated their concerns. On the contrary, they have consistently snubbed them to keep Kashmir and its people, barring Kashmiri Hindus, Sikhs and Shiite Muslims, Gujjar, Bakerwal and Pathowari-speaking Muslims, in a good humour.
The people of Ladakh, including Buddhists and Shiite Muslims are somewhat better placed. They got in 1989 a political instrument in the form of Autonomous Hill Development Council after bringing the region to a grinding halt. They are not fully satisfied, but, at the same time, the level of discontent that prevails in the trans-Himalayan Ladakh is not that frightening. Besides, they know how to make the authorities in New Delhi listen to them and take steps aimed at mitigating their hardships. Their advantage is that the country's two main parties - Congress and BJP - are with them. Their other advantage is that they, without any exception, are one against Kashmir and Kashmiri domination. Not only this, they have many other options to exercise. They have on many occasions threatened to sever ties with India and embrace Chinese nationality. Before China annexed Tibet, the Ladakhis used to threaten that they would turn to the Himalayan Kingdom Tibet in the event of New Delhi granting greater autonomy to the State. Kushak Bakula, Head Lama of Ladakh, had administered this threat a number of times. After China annexed Tibet, Ladakhis started warning India that they would turn to China in case New Delhi conceded the Kashmiri leadership's demand seeking greater autonomy or in case New Delhi failed to grant the UT status to Ladakh. Rani Parvati, Queen of Ladakh and mother-in-law of former MP Thupstan Sheewang, had administered threat to this effect in the early 1990s.
What about Kashmiri Sikhs whose number is not more than 70,000? Their plight is as miserable and pathetic as that of the non-Muslim minorities in Jammu Pradesh. They are as insecure as the people of Jammu Pradesh are. They have no say in the governance of the State. In fact, they are not considered part of the Kashmiri society. What transpired during the two-day-long Ethnic Sikh Conference in Srinagar held on August 17-18 puts things in perspective and demonstrates that the Kashmiri Sikhs constitute that segment of society in Kashmir which, like the Shiite Muslims, has no say whatever in the governance of the State.
That the Kashmiri Sikhs decided to organize march to Parliament in New Delhi on foot from Srinagar's Lal Chowk in case their demands are not conceded forthwith is a clear indication that the authorities in Kashmir and New Delhi have abandoned them. Their demands include grant of minority status, reservation in Government jobs, appointment of Punjabi lecturers in colleges and security. Remember, a week ago, the All-Party Sikh Coordination Committee chairman Jagmohan Raina, along with other Sikh leaders, had threatened that the entire Sikh community will migrate from Kashmir and that the process had already started with Sikhs from villages migrating to safer places in cities.
All this shows that the non-Muslim minorities in the State are leading a miserable life. The authorities in New Delhi need to take cognizance of their miserable plight and accord a very special treatment so that they are protected against exclusion by the majority sect and the Government that is dominated by the members of a particular sect. But it is difficult to say if New Delhi would do so. It is controlled by those who do not care even for the majority community in the country. They take the majority community for granted and believe that if they are to remain in power, they have to play a communal card. |
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