Chidambaram is not batting for a solution to the so-called issue concerning Jammu and Kashmir
The Congress think-tank’s member and former Union Home and Finance Minister P Chidambaram’s January 7 essay “Revisiting Jammu and Kashmir” (Indian Express) has been both appreciated and criticised. It has been appreciated by the Congress leaders like Kapil Sibal and the so-called mainstream Kashmir-based parties for obvious reasons and criticised by the ruling BJP and bulk of electronic media.
What did Chidambaram say in his highly controversial political essay? He said many things. He talked about the BJP’s “hard, muscular and militaristic position” and its so-called limitations; Government of India’s Special Representative Dineshwar Sharma; Hurriyat leaders, stone-pelters and those demanding “Azadi”; Kashmir and Pakistan policy of Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Manmohan Singh; demilitarisation; Lahore Bus, Kargil, Pervez Musharraf, Mian Nawaz Sharif and many other things.
he was referring to the unsettling and break-India Musharraf’s 4-point formula: self-governance, demilitarisation, Indo-Pak joint-control of Jammu and Kashmir or shared sovereignty and porous Line of Control
Obviously, he also recommended a methodology to find a “political solution” to what he called the issue concerning Jammu and Kashmir. His methodology to find a solution was: Dismiss Mehbooba Mufti Government, bring Jammu and Kashmir under Governor Rule, appoint interlocutor for dialogue with “all stakeholders” and reduce footprints of Army in Jammu & Kashmir. By all stakeholders, he meant Hurriyat, Azadi brigade, stone-pelters, Pakistan, recognised student unions, politically active youth groups, trade unions, Congress, National Conference and CPI-M.
Highly appreciative as he was of Vajpayee and Manmohan Singh, Chidambaram said those were the best times. Things were moving in the right direction during those times, but the circumstances played an adverse role and the issue of Jammu and Kashmir remained unresolved. Obviously, he was referring to the unsettling and break-India Musharraf’s 4-point formula: self-governance, demilitarisation, Indo-Pak joint-control of Jammu and Kashmir or shared sovereignty and porous Line of Control.
Obviously, he referred to the fall of Vajpayee in 2004 and his resultant inability to force down the nation’s throat the Musharraf’s formula. Obviously, he referred to the fall of Pervez Musharraf in 2008, when, according to former Pakistan Foreign Minister Khursheed Kasuri, was “just a signature away”. Manmohan Singh himself had bemoaned the fall of Musharraf.
I will not reflect on any of the points mentioned above. I leave it to the judgement of the countrymen. I will only add that Chidambaram rejected out-of-hand the BJP’s no-talk-with-Pakistan, Hurriyat, Azadi brigade and stone-pelters stand, saying this inflexible stand would not lead to “political solution” to the issue concerning Jammu and Kashmir.
In this regard, he had said: “The government — and the BJP — had branded the Hurriyat as secessionists and asserted that there will be no talks with them, ever. The government — and the BJP — had branded the demand for Azadi as no different from the demand for secession and asserted that there will be no talks with those who demand Azadi. The government — and the BJP — had branded the stone-pelters as anti-nationals and cracked down on them using the army, the paramilitary and the police.The government — and the BJP — had after the attack on the Pathankot Air Force Base in January 2016 ruled out talks with Pakistan”.
It shows that Chidambaram has become a mouthpiece of Pakistan and jihadis in Kashmir
I will only reflect on what he said about the political status of Jammu and Kashmir vis-à-vis India and his unflinching support to the barbarous methodology terrorists in Kashmir have been adapting to reach their goal: Annexation of Jammu and Kashmir and its conversion into an Islamic State.
What did Chidambaram say about the political status of Jammu and Kashmir and the terrorists’ methodology? He, inter-alia, said: “Infiltration and militancy, supported by Pakistan, have caused turmoil in Jammu and Kashmir. But it would be wrong to think that the issue is infiltration and militancy. Infiltration and militancy are the consequences of the issue. The issue is the long-pending dispute concerning the accession of Kashmir. The state of Jammu and Kashmir was forcibly divided following the first war between India and Pakistan in 1947 and remains divided until this day. Four wars have been fought over the issue. No purpose will be served by pretending that there is no issue or there is no dispute between India and Pakistan”.
And defending the terrorists’ methodology, Chidambaram said: “From time to time we are rudely reminded that there is an issue concerning the state of Jammu and Kashmir. The last reminder came on the night of 30-31 December 2017, when militants attacked the CRPF Training Centre at Lethpora in Pulwama district killing five CRPF personnel and injuring three”.
What does all this show? It shows that Chidambaram has become a mouthpiece of Pakistan and jihadis in Kashmir. It also shows two other things. One, he is negating the Indian Independence Act of 1947 under which Pakistan came into being on August 15, 1947, and all the 560-odd Princely States, including the Princely State of Jammu and Kashmir, acceded to the newly-created Indian and Pakistan Dominions.
Where is the dispute concerning the accession of Jammu and Kashmir with India? The Indian Independence Act had given only two options to the Princes: Accede to India or to Pakistan taking into consideration the contiguity factor. Maharaja Hari Singh exercised the power vested in him by the said Act and he acceded his State to the Indian Dominion on October 26, 1947.
And what about the Constitution of India and its Article 1? Article 1 defines the territories of India and the Indian Constitution, like the US Constitution, and, unlike the erstwhile USSR Constitution, doesn’t give the right to secede to any region of the country or any group of the people on whatever ground and under no circumstance. Leave aside the three unanimous Parliamentary Resolutions of 1994 and 2013, which said Jammu and Kashmir were, is and shall ever remain an integral part of India. For, these resolutions are the only reiteration of Article 1 of the Indian Constitution.
The fact of the matter is that Chidambaram has spoken the language of Pakistan and Jihadis in Kashmir. Worse still, was his support for the terrorists’ methodology. Instead of condemning the terrorists’ attacks on our jawans and the resultant killings, he outraged the nation by saying that the terrorists kill our jawans only to remind the Government of India that there existed an issue concerning Jammu and Kashmir that needed a political solution. And worse still was his unflinching support to infiltration from across the border and militancy. No sane person and no well-wisher of India and humanity would ever say that “infiltration and militancy are the consequences of the issue concerning Jammu and Kashmir”.
The only solution is an abrogation of seditious Article 370 and anti-Indian Article 35-A and Jammu and Kashmir’s complete integration into India
The short point is that Chidambaram directly promoted the cult of terrorism. How else would one interpret what he said about the terrorists’ methodology and infiltration and militancy?
The other thing is that Chidambaram, like Pakistan and Jihadis in Kashmir, has no place for the Hindus, Buddhists, Sikhs and Jains of Jammu and Kashmir in his scheme of things. They constitute over 40 percent of the state’s population and inhabit over 88 percent of the state’s land area. Muslims, Muslims and Muslims in Kashmir, who have been misruling the state and exploiting, looting, plundering and persecuting the non-Muslim minorities in Jammu and Kashmir since October 1947, alone are, according to the biased Chidambaram, the “stakeholders” in Jammu and Kashmir.
All in all, it can be said that Chidambaram is not batting for a solution to the so-called issue concerning Jammu and Kashmir. He is pitching for Jammu and Kashmir’s separation from India and for a regime that would lead to the annihilation of 6 million Jammu and Kashmir Hindus, Buddhists, Sikhs and Jains like it happened in Pakistan and Bangladesh. He wants to create another Pakistan. This is utterly unacceptable.
The only solution is an abrogation of seditious Article 370 and anti-Indian Article 35-A and Jammu and Kashmir’s complete integration into India and its four-way split: the creation of Jammu state, Ladakh State, Panun Kashmir state for the internally-displaced and persecuted Kashmiri Hindus within Kashmir and Kashmir state. This approach alone could help New Delhi confine Jihad to Kashmir and strength the nationalist constituency in the state through its four-way split. All other solutions lead to the balkanization of India.
Note:
1. The views expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily represent or reflect the views of PGurus.
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Chidambaram is not a separatists mouthpiece, it is the entire CONgress that is the separatists mouthpiece. Chidambaram is made to mouth these while Rahul, the janeau dhari is off visiting temples. Nice ploy of the CONgress and yet, I see the gullible Hindus fall for this.
If the problem cannot be solved ay the present govt headed by Modi, it will be very difficult for India as other national parties were interested in votes for which they wont mind even tohand over the territory to china and pak
It’s better that some problems be left unsolved (after the best of efforts), than to solve them the wrong way. Time will help solve them the right way.