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| Autonomy demand will lead to disintegration of J&K | | | RUSTAM
EARLY TIMES REPORT
JAMMU, July 24 : If the suggestion of the working committee of the NC that the so-called political prisoners be released is fraught with dangerous ramifications, its suggestion that the state be granted "greater autonomy" is no less dangerous. The suggestion makes it abundantly clear that the NC think-tanks are not prepared to adopt a holistic approach taking into consideration the fact that J&K State consists of three historically, ethnically, geographically, linguistically, politically and economically three distinct regions, which house a highly diverse population. The suggestions also leaves none in any doubt that the NC has no place whatsoever in its religio-political and ideological scheme of things for the miniscule minority of Kashmiri Hindus, who have been languishing in various camps outside Kashmir since January 1990. In other words, the autonomy suggestion of the NC establishes yet again that the NC think-tanks will neither allow democracy and secularism to grow and prosper in Kashmir nor will they allow the emergence of a situation in Kashmir that bridges the wide gulf between the Valley and its Muslim population and New Delhi.
What exactly the NC leadership mean by greater autonomy? By greater autonomy the NC think-tanks, ideologues and top-ranking party leaders mean a political system that is outside the constitutional framework of India. They want the Government of India to withdraw all the Central laws and Central institutions from the state; they want the Union Government to withdraw from the state all the IAS and IPS officials, barring those belonging to the state; they want the Central Government to withdraw from the state Army, paramilitary forces and all the anti-terror laws; they want New Delhi to dispense with the offices of Governor and Chief Minister and replace the same with the nomenclature of Sadar-e-Riyasat and Wazir-e-Azam; they want New Delhi to allow Kashmir to have a elected and committed Sadar-e-Royasat, committed judiciary and committed Press; and they want New Delhi to restrict its jurisdiction over the state to just three subjects - defence, foreign affairs and communication.
In effect, the NC think-tanks, ideologues and top-ranking party leaders want New Delhi to negate the very constitution of India and declare J&K state as a semi-independent state or they want new Delhi to empower the political elite in Kashmir to re-establish in the state a local oligarchy not accountable to anybody and any institution in New Delhi. To be more exact, they want New Delhi to allow the Kashmiri political elite to exercise extraordinary, unbridled and absolute legislative, judicial and executive powers and set up a system under which the common masses will not be entitled to exercise even those normal civil and political rights they have been exercising since January 26, 1957, when the Kashmir-centric and highly unitary J&K Constitution was enforced with the full backing of New Delhi.
Remember, the acceptance of the autonomy demand would not only automatically mean what has been said earlier, it would also automatically mean the repeal of the J&K Constitution and revival of the J&K Constitutional Act of 1939 under which the "Council of Ministers", and not the judiciary, was the "final interpreter of the Constitution."
The truth, in short, is that the NC ideologues and party bosses are not prepared to abandon their communal approach and that they still believe in primitive ideology. Since they are not prepared to deviate even slightly from the path they have charted for themselves and since the people of Jammu and Ladakh and the Hindu refugees are vehemently opposed to what the NC ideologues want India to do, it would be only appropriate for New Delhi to de-link Jammu and Ladakh from Kashmir and bifurcate the Kashmir Valley in such a way that meets the demand of the Kashmiri Hindus and the Kashmiri Muslims. The Kashmiri Hindus want a separate homeland within Kashmir and the Kashmiri Muslim leadership wants to get out of the constitutional framework of India. There is no meeting ground between the two fundamental strands.
One thing is very clear: The insistence of the NC on greater autonomy will hasten the process of the state's disintegration - process that is already on. Even otherwise, there is no logic in keeping this state intact. The association of Kashmir with Jammu and Ladakh and the vice-versa has created more problems for everyone in the state as well as New Delhi. (Concluded) |
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