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| Jammu and Kashmir State would disintegrate if? | | | RUSTAM
EARLY TIMES REPORT
JAMMU, Apr 7: The separatist movement in Kashmir has virtually failed. The Kashmiri separatists are desperate. They are fighting a last-ditch battle to remain relevant in the Kashmiri politics. They are fighting against one another. The situation has reached a point where APHC chief Mirwaiz does not talk to Yasin Malik of JKLF and the vice-versa. The situation has climaxed to the point that the Jamat-e-Islami has decided to boycott all the functions to be organized by Syed Ali Shah Geelani, who hitherto enjoyed full confidence of the Jamat-e-Islami. The differences among them have assumed alarming proportions. The angularities among them have sharpened. There is every possibility that Kashmir, which has already witnessed an orgy of death and destruction, might even witness a civil war. The situation in Kashmir is like this.
It was time for New Delhi to strike and bring everything in Kashmir under its complete control. It was time for New Delhi to tell the separatists, including the protagonists of autonomy and self-rule, to behave or face the consequences. It was time for New Delhi to make it loud and clear that it would not tolerate any non-sense and that it would reward those who talk about India and respect its institutions.
But it has not happened. New Delhi, it seems, is living in the air. It is not aware of the ground situation. It continues to tread a path that can split the state into four political zones, one each for the people of Jammu province, Ladakh, Kashmiri Muslims and the displaced Kashmiri Hindus. The April 5 Union Home Secretary GK Pillai's statement that "Centre is ready to give anything to Kashmir but less than Azadi" does suggest that it takes the Kashmir Valley to mean the entire state and it also takes the people belonging to one particular religion in Kashmir as the only factor in the state's political situation.
The Union Home Ministry is committing a serious mistake. Kashmir is not Jammu and Kashmir. Kashmir is a very small part of the state. Similarly, the majority community of Kashmir does not mean the entire population of the state. The Kashmiri community constitutes a minority social group when viewed in the context of the state's demographic profile.
The belief of the Union Home Ministry that meeting the aspirations of the Kashmiri leadership would be the same as meeting the aspirations and urges of the people of Jammu province, Ladakh region and those demanding the bifurcation of the Kashmir Valley or those demanding separate homeland for the displaced Kashmiri Hindus invested with the Union Territory status is highly flawed. These people would never accept anything short of their full integration into India and the application of the Indian Constitution in its entirety. Bulk of them even opposes Article 370 on the ground that it has harmed their political and economic interests and that it has not only promoted the politics of separatism in Kashmir, but has also deprived them of their right to enjoy the fruits of Indian democracy.
The history of relations between Kashmir and Jammu and between the former and Ladakh and the political perceptions of the Kashmir's majority community and the Kashmiri Hindus are a testimony of the fact that the contradictions between the Kashmir's majority community and all others are irreconcilable. To overlook this fact would be to play with fire.
The Home Ministry needs to review its stand on Jammu and Kashmir. If it continues to talk in terms of more political concessions to the faction-ridden Kashmir, the results would be disastrous. The Union Government would invite more trouble for itself. It must not forget that it has to reckon with and befriend the people of Jammu province, Ladakh and displaced Kashmiri Hindus, whatever it may think of them. They are the most important factor and they just cannot be taken for a ride. In fact, they are already on warpath.
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