Politics

Wedlock between Jammu and Kashmir is unnatural

The truth is that the wedlock between Jammu and Kashmir is unnatural and the time to break it has come

July 7, 2023

Are the Kashmiri politicians really well-wishers of the people of Jammu?

Subversive Kashmiri politicians, including Farooq Abdullah, Ghulam Nabi Azad, Omar Abdullah, Mehbooba Mufti, and Altaf Bukhari, have unleashed a no-holds-barred propaganda blitz to motivate Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah to hold Assembly elections in the Jammu and Kashmir Union Territory (JKUT). They are not only making statements and speeches in Kashmir in support of their demand. They are also touring Jammu at regular intervals and telling the Modi government and people of Jammu province that to restore democracy in the region, Assembly elections are imperative to meet the needs of the people. They are arguing that the Governor administration is no alternative to a popularly-elected government.

Besides, they are also urging the Modi government to fulfill its August 5-6, 2019 promise that full state status would be conferred on the JKUT at the appropriate time and instigating the people of Jammu province to rise in revolt against the August reform scheme, like the Buddhists in Ladakh have revolted, saying the withdrawal of the erstwhile state’s special status and conversion of the region into two Union Territories have hurt Jammu more that Kashmir as the 2019 developments have all the potential of inducing the non-Jammu residents across the country to settle in Jammu and grab their land, jobs, business and contracts. They are frightening the people of Jammu province to the extent that any failure on their part to defeat the August 2019 reforms would only enable non-Jammu residents to enter the Assembly and mar their political and democratic interests.

Are the Kashmiri politicians really well-wishers of the people of Jammu province and believers in the concept of democracy and secularism, as opposed to theocracy and secularism? The answer is a big NO. This is what a peep into the history of the region post-March 1846 clearly suggests. Let me catalogue a few examples of what the Kashmiri Muslim clergy and religio-political leadership of Kashmir did after March 1846, when Kashmir was merged with the Dogra Kingdom and Jammu and Kashmir State came into being. Such an exercise is imperative to call the Kashmiri Muslim leadership’s bluff, put things in perspective, and enable the Modi government and its think tanks/ policy planners/ trouble-shooters/ conflict managers to understand the nature, ideology, and programme of Kashmiri separatists and those Kashmiri politicians who masquerade as champions of democracy, secularism, diversity and pluralism and well-wishers of the people of Jammu province.

The Muslim clergy and its followers in Kashmir opposed tooth and nail the March 1846 Treaty of Amritsar under which Kashmir became part of the Dogra Kingdom. The upshot of their whole opposition to the Treaty was that Raja Gulab Singh purchased the life, dignity, and honour of Kashmiri Muslims by paying Rs.75 lakh to the British Indian government. They submitted petitions to the British Indian government from time to time seeking abrogation of the Treaty, so that Kashmir became independent of Jammu. In October 1924, they went to the extent of calling Governor General Lord Harding “God” and asked him to either annul the Treaty and order segregation of Kashmir from Jammu or take over the state’s administration in his own hands. And, in 1946, they — Sheikh Abdullah, his National Conference, and others — not only came out with the subversive “New Kashmir Plan” but also – apart from adopting a resolution against the Treaty — started the “Quit Kashmir Movement” against the Dogras. The Muslim clergy in Kashmir worked hard between 1847 and 1932 for the abrogation of the Treaty.
In 1934, Sheikh Abdullah and his NC vehemently opposed Maharaja Hari Singh’s well-meaning democratic reform: The establishment of Praja Sabha consisting of 75 elected and nominated members. Instead of taking part in the democratic processes, they demanded the separation of Kashmir from Jammu calling the Dogra rulers “aliens, oppressors and aggressors”. They said that they would not accept anything short of a separate Kashmir. The Congress and Jawaharlal Nehru swung solidly behind the Sheikh and ilk in Kashmir termed their movement as a “freedom movement” and condemned Maharaja Hari Singh.
In 1939, Sheikh Abdullah and his party opposed the Jammu and Kashmir Constitutional Act of 1939, which sought to democratize the state polity by ensuring the people’s participation in the law-making processes and in matters relating to governance.
Between 1946 and October 1947, the Sheikh and close associates like Bakshi Ghulam Mohammad and G M Sadiq flirted with Jinnah and his Muslim League and their whole objective was to merge Kashmir with the yet-to-be-formed Pakistan and achieve Kashmir a semi-autonomous status, but failed. Thereafter, they turned to Nehru to achieve what they had proposed to Jinnah and Liaqaut Ali Khan. Nehru obliged them happily by complicating the issue of accession, making Sheikh Abdullah a party to the accession violating the Indian Independence Act of 1947, creating an impression the world over that Jammu and Kashmir was a different ball game, treating the Kashmiri Muslims as a race apart and driving the state away from the national mainstream through seditious Article 370 and discriminatory Article 35A, making Kashmir the capital of the state in 1948, empowering the Sheikh and ilk in Kashmir to exercise veto power and colonize Jammu and Ladakh and loot, fleece, and drain Jammu. Article 35A was the brainchild of Pakistan and Nehru.
As a result, the Sheikh and ilk changed their goal post: They abandoned the abrogate-Treaty-of-Amritsar-crusade and, instead, started working for the segregation of the whole of Jammu and Kashmir State consisting of three disparate regions of Jammu, Kashmir, and Ladakh. In 1951, the Sheikh Administration rigged wholesale the Constituent-cum-Assembly elections and set up all NC House so that it could run roughshod and further drive the state away from the country. As was expected, it formulated a constitution that gave a quasi-independent status to the state.
In 1952, the Sheikh rose in revolt against India and he raised the banner of revolt at Jammu’s R S Pura indicating his insatiable lust for a “Switzerland-type independent Kashmir”. Such was the situation that even his friend Nehru had to intervene. He had him dethroned and arrested in August 1953 under the charge of sedition.
Between 1953 and 1974, Sheikh Abdullah and his close associates unleashed a campaign in support of a plebiscite in Kashmir.
In 1976, Sheikh Abdullah’s government set up a three-member cabinet sub-committee to review the central laws and institutions extended to the state after August 9, 1953. Two of his cabinet colleagues, including his son-in-law Gul Shah, recommended wholesale withdrawal of central laws and institutions, saying these had “eroded the internal autonomy the state exercise under Article 370”.
Between October 1947 and January 19, 1990, the Kashmiri- dominated and headed successive governments in the state changed Kashmir’s demography and the Valley became almost 99.99 percent Hindu/ Dogra/ Punjabi-free. New Delhi backed to the hilt all these governments. Their social, religious, economic, administrative, trade and transport, industrial and recruitment and transfer policies left non-Kashmiri Muslims with no other option but to quit Kashmir on January 19, 1990.
On March 5, 2002, the Farooq Abdullah government adopted a resolution on autonomy. The resolution urged the Vajpayee government to grant pre-1953 politico-constitutional status or semi-independent status, saying Jammu and Kashmir was a Muslim majority region and it needed special treatment.
Between 1996 and 2018, the successive governments in the state altered Jammu’s demography on an unprecedented scale through dubious legislative and executive routes and used the Police, Law, Revenue, and Forest Departments and the office of the Advocate General to create a Kashmir-like situation in Jammu. Besides, they created five Muslim-majority districts in Jammu and Ladakh out of Hindu-majority districts of Udhampur and Reasi in Jammu province and Leh district of Ladakh and rendered Hindus, Buddhists, and Sikhs unreal and ineffective.
After 1964, the Kashmiri Muslim politicians left no stone unturned to promote the Pakistani cause in Jammu and Kashmir. In 2006, Mufti Sayeed and Mehbooba Mufti went to the extent of passing a resolution on self-rule, which vouched for a regime in which Pakistan and India will exercise co-equal sovereign powers in the state. The same year, Ghulam Nabi Azad also batted for shared sovereignty. And, on December 5, 2016, Farooq Abdullah directed his followers to join and support the Hurriyat Conference-sponsored pro-Pakistan/ Azadi movement, and on October 12, 2020, he went to the extent of seeking China’s support for the restoration of Article 370 in the Valley.
And, ever since August 2019, all the Kashmiri Muslim politicians, without any exception, have been opposing the 2019 reforms, new domicile and land laws, creation of six more assembly seats in Jammu, voting rights to those from other parts of the country, who have been working and residing in Jammu since decades; and leaving no stone unturned to provoke Kashmiri Muslims to rise in revolt against India and vitiate the socio-religious and political atmosphere in Jammu. Their single-point agenda is to re-establish the Islamic Republic of Jammu and Kashmir within the Indian Republic and make Hindu-Jammu Hindu-free.

The whole truth is that the wedlock between Jammu and Kashmir is unnatural and the time to break it has come. The Modi government would do well to separate Jammu from Kashmir without losing a moment and converting Kashmir into Chandigarh-type Union Territory.

Note:
1. Text in Blue points to additional data on the topic.
2. The views expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily represent or reflect the views of PGurus.

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