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| Regional tensions in Jammu, Kashmir | | Needed: Holistic policy | | Early Times Report
JAMMU, Nov 9: Things in J&K are far from normal. It is not just the ongoing violent movement in Kashmir that is posing a challenge to the unity and integrity of the state. It is also the inter-regional tensions which are facilitating the task of those who are working over and beneath the surface for the disintegration of the state, some for right reasons. Another factor that is working in favour of those who are seeking the state's dismemberment is the insistence of certain forces in Kashmir on separation from India, essentially on religious grounds.
There are - apart from the demand in Kashmir for independence, greater autonomy, merger into Pakistan and India-Pakistan joint control over J&K -- many factors responsible for the existing tensions between Kashmir and Jammu and between Kashmir and Ladakh.
Some of the most notable include the complaint of the people of Jammu and Ladakh that they are not being treated fairly by the state government; that they are being denied their due share not only in the service sector but also in the technical and professional institutions; that their regions are being deliberately ignored while allocating funds for developmental activities; that they have all through been deprived of their due representation in the assembly and the civil secretariat, the seat of the government; that their regions are not being brought on the tourist map of the state and the world; that the state government doesn't do anything for the growth of agriculture sector and sericulture in their regions; that the unemployment problem in their regions is very acute; that their regions have very poor road-network and communication system; and that they are not being considered part and parcel of the state in the real sense of the term.
Another grouse of the people of Jammu province is that each time they have to struggle and come on the streets to get their demands conceded. In this context, they refer to their struggles for the establishment of Jammu University, Medical College, Engineering College, Central University, Ayurvedic College and so on.
What has aggravated the inter-regional relations further are the two recent decisions - one taken by the Central Government and the other taken by the state government. The Central Government decided to appoint 10,000 more SPOs and all from Kashmir with the BJP in Srinagar taking credit for it. The other was the latest selection list of selection for the department of statistics. Jammu got only one while Kashmir walked away with 25.
The complaints and the grievances of the people of Jammu and Ladakh cannot be brushed aside. The available official statistics and records of the state legislature do indicate that there exist regional imbalances in almost all spheres. Reports of the various commissions appointed by the state government from time to time also suggest that the complaints of the people of Jammu and Ladakh are genuine and these need to be looked into and redressed.
Take, for example, the Gajendragadkar Commission, which was set up by Chief Minister G. M. Sadiq to look into the complaints of regional discrimination and suggest remedial measures. Though the commission submitted its detailed report decades back, the state government didn't take any concrete step to implement its recommendations. Recommendation regarding the establishment of Jammu University perhaps was the only recommendation that was accepted by the state government. The university was established in 1969 but not before at least four students laid down their lives for this cause and other causes. The memorial in their honour is there in front of the GGM Science College.
The people of Jammu and Ladakh regions also have their grievances against the Union Government. The major grouse against the Union Government all along has been that it, like the state government, also treats them shabbily and ignores their political aspirations and economic and social needs. Their specific complaint against the Union Government is that it considers Kashmir and the people of Kashmir as the only factors in the state and that it grants concession after concession to them regardless of their "genuine" needs.
The authorities in the state and at the Centre need to take note of the complaints of the people of Jammu and Ladakh. It is a must. Besides, the authorities need to understand that any move on their part to give autonomy or some such thing at the behest of the Kashmiri leadership would simply mean rise of more tensions in Jammu. This eventuality has to be averted as the things in Kashmir are already far from normal. |
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