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| Distrust between Jammu and Valley can be removed provided… | | News analysis | | Early Times Report
JAMMU, Mar 28: The PDP president and Chief Minister-designate Mehbooba Mufti on March 26 made a significant statement on the relations between Jammu and the Valley. After her meeting with Governor NN Vohra in which she, along with BJP leader Nirmal Singh, staked claim for formation of the PDP-BJP coalition government, she told the waiting media persons outside the Raj Bhawan that it would be her endeavour to remove the distrust between Jammu and the Valley.
"CBMs are not meant for Kashmir only. It means whole of Jammu and Kashmir. The basic purpose of Agenda of Alliance is to keep J&K together and put them on the same page and the distrust that exists between Valley and Jammu and the distrust between J&K and New Delhi needs to be removed".
To fill this gap, Mufti Sahib took this step and formulated Agenda of Alliance and took initiative of good governance and development apart from reconciliation and peace", she said.
Her statement only indicated that she was fully aware of the complexities of the situation as well as the nature of relations between the people of Jammu province and Kashmir Valley. Indeed, the history of relations between the two regions post-1947 is one of distrust, bitterness and animosity of an extreme form. There are reasons for that. Four of them are fundamental in nature. One is that it is Kashmir that has been ruling the roost in the state ever since its merger with India. All the Chief Ministers of the state till date have been from the Valley's majority community despite the fact that the Jammu houses almost equal population, has land area two times bigger than Kashmir and contributes almost 75 per cent revenue to the state exchequer every year. The grievance of the people of Jammu province is as genuine as it is democratic and worth consideration as they are part and parcel of the state society. Sadly, both the Indian political leadership and the Kashmiri leadership have never appreciated this fact and the result is the inter-regional animosity. The people of Jammu province want a political framework that rotates the office of Chief Minister between the two regions.
The other fundamental reason is the insistence of Kashmiri leadership on a dispensation that is virtually outside the political and constitutional organization of India. It wants New Delhi to limit its jurisdiction over the state to only defence, foreign affairs and communications and also meet the Kashmir's all financial needs, genuine or otherwise. In other words, it hates and abhors the central laws and institutions and pitches for a limited accession or loose type of relations with New Delhi. This insistence on such a dispensation has always irked the people of Jammu province as they are the ardent believers in the concept of national unity, country's territorial integrity and sovereignty. They want New Delhi to do away with all those provisions which have driven the state away from the national mainstream and denied the people of the state all those democratic rights which are available to their counterparts in other parts of the country. In other words, they want New Delhi to bring the state at par with other states of the Union - a most cherished desire that doesn't appeal to the Kashmiri leadership.
The third reason is the insistence of the Kashmiri leadership on a regime that treats New Delhi and Islamabad equally in this part of the state. The people of Jammu province, unlike Kashmiri leaders of all hues, believe, and very rightly, that J&K is an integral part of India, Pakistan is an aggressor, theocratic and intolerant state, Islamabad has no locus standi in the state and POJK and Gilgit-Baltistan the only issues between the two countries, which needed to be resolved so that India reintegrates them with this part of the state.
The fourth fundamental grievance of the people of Jammu province is that they have a microscopic representation in the civil secretariat (seat of power), inadequate share in the legislative assembly, far less share in the vital service sector and technical and professional institutions and inadequate funds allocations for the development of infrastructure, including roads and bridges, in their backward and hilly and mountainous region.
Yet another cause of irritation between the people of Jammu province and Kashmir is that concerted attempts were made, and are being made, to change the demographic profile of Jammu, Kathua and Samba districts by vested interests and communal forces by grabbing forest and state land to achieve their sinister design. Their complaint is that the concerned authorities in the state are not taking any action against those who have encroached, and continue to encroach, the state and forest land to set up colonies and change the Jammu's demography for evil purposes.
It is very nice that Mehbooba Mufti has taken note of the nature of relationship between the two regions. It is hoped that her regime will appreciate all these reasons behind the inter-regional tension and bitterness and evolve policies that address all the issues facing the people of Jammu province without causing any harm to the interests of the people of Kashmir. In fact, this is the only option available. |
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