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| Discrimination of different kind | | | Hari Om
It's not only the Kashmiri Muslim clergy and secessionists but also mainstream political parties like the PDP, NC and the Congress who have been vouching for an Islamic rule in the J&K. It would be in the fitness of things if New Delhi intervenes to protect the minorities
Minorities in Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh are feeling insecure. What has added to their worries is the oft-repeated assertion in Kashmir that Jammu & Kashmir is a Muslim-majority State, and must be governed by laws which are consistent with the Islamic tenets and religious beliefs of the majority community.
"We will not follow those laws, which interfere in our religious affairs and bar us from eating what we want to eat", they say day in and day out, to tell the nation that they are a race apart and cannot be governed by the Indian politico-constitutional and legal system.
It is not just the Kashmiri Muslim clergy and secessionists that have been vouching for an Islamic rule in the State. Mainstream parties such as the Peoples Democratic Party, the National Conference, the Congress and the Communist Party of India (Marxist) too have endorsed an Islamic-type rule in the State for the same reason.
NC working president and former Jammu & Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, who is also the leader of Opposition, has said so in so many words that, if the Hindu-majority States in the country can impose a ban on meat on certain occasions, to honour the religious sentiments of the majority community, the Muslim-majority in Jammu & Kashmir can also have a regime that permits the Muslims to eat whatever they want.
"In other parts of India, the interests of the majority community are protected. In Jammu & Kashmir, which is a Muslim-majority State, the sentiments of the majority community should be protected," Abdullah said on the floor of the Assembly and outside on October 8, while defending the beef party which was hosted by independent MLA from Kashmir, Engineer Rashid.
Rashid had hosted a beef party at the MLA hostel in Srinagar. This event provoked widespread protests in Jammu region and some BJP lawmakers thrashed him within the Assembly.
Rashid hosted a beef party after informing the authorities concerned, which included the police. Clearly, his objective was to hurt the religious sentiments of the Hindu community. He not only taunted the non-Muslim lawmakers present at that time in the hostel and hurt their religious sentiments, but also declared that no court or legislature or any other institution can prevent him from violating the 83-year old Sections 298A, B, C and D of the Ranbir 'Dand-Vidhi', which says that those found guilty of violating these laws can be sentenced to 10 years of imprisonment.
Not only Abdullah, but all the lawmakers from Kashmir defended Rashid. They denounced the laws regarding cow killing and consumption of beef and demanded repeal of Sections 298 A, B, C and D and asked the Speaker to punish the BJP lawmakers for the scuffle that took place in the Assembly.
Not a single Kashmiri lawmaker spoke for the establishment of rule of law. In fact, each one of them directly encouraged the Kashmiri Muslims to violate all those laws which they considered injurious to their religious sentiments. They created a scene to demonstrate that Jammu & Kashmir had already become an Islamic State, where the minorities had no other option but to follow its fatwas.
If the leader of Opposition in the Assembly sought to create anarchy and lawlessness in Kashmir valley by defending Rashid and denouncing Sections 298 A to D, PDP ideologue and Minister for Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs and Relief and Rehabilitation Basharat Bukhari declared that he would prefer to resign than succumb to any pressure on the issue of re-instating the services of Additional Advocate General and Deputy Advocate General - both BJP nominees.
"I will not succumb to pressure. Rather I will prefer to resign," Bukhari said. These two law officers had ably defended these laws and succeeded in convincing the Jammu Bench of the Jammu & Kashmir High Court to direct the Director General of Police to strictly enforce all the laws.
Bukhari unceremoniously and summarily dismissed these law officers on the ground that they failed to present the point of view of the State Government on the issue in the High Court. The dismissal of the two law officers from Jammu was a clear message to the Hindu community that it had to accept the Muslim-majority character of the State and lead their life like the minorities lead in Pakistan and Bangladesh.
As for those in the Congress, the CPI(M) and other lawmakers from Kashmir, the less said the better. Suffice to say that they spoke the language of separatist Syed Ali Shah Geelani, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and others of their ilk. They, like the PDP and the NC, batted for, and continue to bat for, the revocation of Sections 298 A, B, C and D. They say that these laws must be thrown lock, stock and barrel, to respect the religious sentiments of the Kashmiri Muslims and preserve the Muslim-majority character of the State.
There are reasons to believe that the State Government, through its legal officers, including the Advocate General, who is a PDP appointee, can urge the Bench of the Jammu & Kashmir High Court to scrap the law. The fear stems from the fact that it approached the country's apex court only a few days ago and obtained an order that kept in abeyance for two months, the verdict of the Jammu Bench of the State High Court and made it obligatory for the State Police to implement the RDB in letter and spirit.
The Bench of the Jammu & Kashmir High Court will meet on October 16, to hear the petition against and for ban on cow-killing and beef-eating.
The belief of the already economically ignored and political marginalised minority Hindu community, that they are in for a major trouble in the coming days, needs to be viewed in this context. The belief and fear are well-founded. Their fear should also be viewed in the light of the fact that the PDP-controlled Finance Ministry has imposed a whopping 12.5 per cent service tax on chopper services to the Hindu religious shrines, including the Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine and the Shri Amarnath Shrine.
The Hindu community has described this imposition as imposition of jizya tax and the Finance Minister has rejected outright the Hindu demand seeking withdrawal of the service tax. It would not be out of place to mention that the minorities in the State constitute more than 40 per cent of the population and the people of Jammu and Ladakh inhabit more than 88 per cent of the State's land area.
Besides, they contribute more than 75 per cent revenue annually to the State exchequer. The truth is that their life is not one of political, economic and social aspirations. It would be in the fitness of things if New Delhi intervenes forthwith to reassure the minorities that their rights shall be protected at whatever cost and that it will not allow the repeat of the development of the 1990 Kashmir-like situation in the Jammu region.
Early in 1990, the miniscule minority of Kashmiri Hindus quit their homes and hearths to save their life, dignity, culture and religion. The minorities constitute the nation's backbone in the separatist and terrorist-infested State.
(The writer is former Dean, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Jammu)
Courtesy: dailypioneer.com |
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