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| Omar must tell truth to his co-religionists in Kashmir | | | RUSTAM
EARLY TIMES REPORT
JAMMU, Aug 30: Chief Minister Omar Abdullah will, it seems, not learn any lesson from the mistakes he has committed during all these 18 months of his (mis)rule. It was expected that the disturbing developments which unfolded in Kashmir after June 20 would make him a wise man and that he would avoid making controversial and unsettling comments. But it has not happened. He continues to be a rabble-rouser; he continues to indulge in what may be termed as politics of worst kind of communalism. Instead of telling the truth to his co-religionists in Kashmir about Jammu and Kashmir, he continues to feed them with wrong information, thus directly and indirectly promoting separatists like Syed Ali Shah Geelani and Mirwaiz Umar Farooq. This is bad politics. How else should one describe what he said at Tangdhar on Sunday while addressing a public meeting?
What did he tell the people at Tangdhar? He, among other things, told the people that "the Union Government is actively working for a political solution to Jammu and Kashmir-centric issues"; that "right from the day first…he (has) been strongly advocating (the need of) addressing…political issues of the State politically and restoring both external and internal dialogue channels"; that "his Government is working as an active facilitator in this regard"; that "my Government has proved instrumental in granting passports to the separatist leaders giving them opportunity to discuss their view points across the border or anywhere else"; that "Kashmir issue has political genesis and it has originated with the independence of India and the birth of Pakistan" and that (the Kashmir problem) requires sustained political efforts by all the stakeholders through a dialogue process to resolve it as per aspirations of the people of the State."
Even a naive would take no time in reaching a conclusion about the implications of what Omar Abdullah told his audience. And, his conclusion would be: The Chief Minister, who is constitutionally bound to protect and advance further the country's paramount sovereign interests, is doing exactly the opposite; the Chief Minister is feeding the people with wrong information; Omar Abdullah is virtually supporting those who have unleashed the hate-India "go India Go" movement in the Valley; and the bottom-line of the Chief Minister's whole formulation is secession on the basis of religion.
That Chief Minister is not telling his co-religionists in Kashmir the truth can be seen from his own Tangdhar statement that reads: "Kashmir issue has political genesis and it has originated with the independence of India and the birth of Pakistan." This statement of his creates more confusion among the people of Kashmir (read Muslims) than clearing the cobwebs of confusion about the true nature of the problem the nation has been facing in Kashmir. Omar Abdullah's statement does convey an impression that Jammu and Kashmir is a "disputed territory"; that its political future has yet to be decided and that the accession of the state to India was not as per the constitutional law on the subject.
It would be an exaggeration to say that what Omar Abdullah told his audience was an off-the-cuff remark. It was not an off-the-cuff remark. What he said was well-calculated. It was designed to hoodwink and further mislead his co-religionists. He willfully suppressed the truth and told his audience that he is not only the one who can give maximum possible freedom to the Kashmiri separatists and communalists, but he is with them when they say that the state is an unsettled issue.
Will Chief Minister find some time out of his busy schedule to study the history of partition of India, emergence of Pakistan as an independent and sovereign country on the basis of the pernicious two-nation theory and integration of the princely states into the Indian Dominion and Pakistani Dominion?
The Chief Minister must know that there were two Indias at the time of partition -- British India and Indian India or princely India consisting of 560-odd princely states. It was the British India that was to be divided into two Dominions - Indian and Pakistani - as per the Indian Independence Act of 1947. As for the princely states, their princes/rulers alone had the power in terms of constitutional law on the subject to take a decision on the political future of their respective states. The Indian Independence Act nowhere said that the Princely India also had to be divided on communal lines, with the Muslim-majority areas going to Pakistan and the Hindu-majority areas going to the India. Under the Indian Independence Act, the princes were free to join any of the two Dominions taking into consideration the contiguity factor. There was no compulsion. Besides, the Indian Independence Act didn't provide for independence of any princely state on any ground whatsoever. The princely states had only two choices - accede to India or accede to Pakistan.
The fact is that the issue of Kashmir got settled the moment the maharaja of the state took a decision to link the political future of his state with India. His decision was final, legal and non-negotiable. Omar Abdullah must tell the truth to his co-religionists so that all the cobwebs of confusion about the political status of Jammu and Kashmir are cleared. He should also tell them that the Kashmiri leadership has been seeking secession from one or the other since March 1846, when the State of Jammu and Kashmir came into being under the Treaty of Amritsar between Raja of Jammu great Gulab Singh and the British Government or when Kashmir became part of the Jammu Kingdom and not the vice-versa. He should tell his co-religionists that before 1947, the Kashmiri leadership had sought secession from the Jammu Kingdom and after 1947 it has been seeking secession from India on the basis of religion.
Will Chief Minister Omar Abdullah muster courage and tell truth to his co-religionists in Kashmir? And, will the Congress, which is sharing power with him, start a movement aimed at educating the people about the true story of Jammu and Kashmir and its integration into India or will it continue to play the role of second fiddle to enjoy the loaves and fishes of office? The role of the Congress has not been inspiring. It has to assert its authority and tell its coalition partner to behave or get itself prepared for the worst. |
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