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| 'To isolate separatists, dialogue with nationalists a must' | | Learning lessons from past | | Early Times Report
JAMMU, July 4: J&K acceded to India way back on October 26, 1947 as per the law on the subject. Ever since then, the nation has been facing one problem after another in the Kashmir Valley. And, this, despite the fact that Kashmir is the most powerful and most prosperous region in the country, as also despite the fact that New Delhi's policy towards Kashmir, Kashmiri separatists and "mainstream" Kashmiri leadership has been very friendly.
The attitude of the Kashmiri leadership towards India has not changed also despite the fact that the Indian political class that has been at the helm of affairs in New Delhi consistently and in a most brazen manner sacrificed Jammu and Ladakh and their legitimate interests hoping its patently pro-Kashmir approach will produce the desired results.
It bears recalling that the Indian political class held parleys with Kashmiri leadership umpteen times and concluded a number of truces with it in the past over the heads of Jammu and Ladakh, but with no result. The situation remained unchanged in Kashmir. While the policy of the Indian political class failed to impress the Kashmiri leadership, it also created unrest in the state's two other regions - Jammu and Ladakh.
In fact, New Delhi alienated Jammu and Ladakh in its desperate bid to please and appease Kashmiri leadership and the results are there for anyone to see. In Ladakh, the people have been demanding separation from Kashmir and also the status of Union Territory for their trans-Himalayan region. Similarly, in Jammu, people are virtually up in revolt against New Delhi. Ask anyone in Jammu what does he/she want and the instant reply would be: Separation from Kashmir and a dispensation that is their own and that is within India and under the Indian Constitution.
The point is that the people of both the regions, barring vested interests, have turned against New Delhi and their argument is that it is New Delhi, and not the Kashmiri leadership, which is responsible for their woes. "Kashmiri leaders do not pose any problem as they are the creations of New Delhi; the problem is New Delhi which never recognized the ground realities in the state and which always followed a lop-sided policy without realizing that the state consists of three distinct regions housing people having different political perception," they say, and very rightly.
Now that the New Delhi's Kashmir policy has failed to produce the desired results or restore peace in the Valley, it is time for it to engage with the people of Jammu province and Ladakh region to ascertain as to what exactly they want. Such an approach will, on the one hand, isolate and weaken the Kashmiri separatists and, on the other, go a long way in strengthening the nationalist constituency in Jammu, which is the backbone of the Indian nation, and Ladakh, which is equally strategically very crucial region of the country.
It is hoped that New Delhi will learn from past mistakes and refashion its whole approach towards the state. Late CM Mufti Sayeed was absolutely right when he described Jammu as South Pole and Kashmir as North Pole. His statement was very significant and it would be only appropriate if what he said is appreciated. Nothing would be more desirable then that New Delhi should completely change its Kashmir policy. |
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