Violence is turning out to be good business

The Pioneer Edit Desk

Rewarding terrorists 

The decision of the Government of Jammu & Kashmir to adopt the controversial ‘surrender policy’ for Kashmiris who had crossed over to Pakistan-occupied Kashmir between 1989 and 2009 for training in terrorist camps and are since believed to have had a ‘change of heart’ comes as a rude shock as in essence this would mean granting amnesty to anti-national elements. It is astonishing that the Congress-led UPA Government and the National Conference which rules Jammu & Kashmir are willing to forgive fanatical Islamists who have been in the forefront of a hideous assault on our idea of nationhood. These are the men who are responsible for the murderous attack on Kashmiri Pandits which forced them to flee their ancestral land. These are the killers who helped drench the Kashmir Valley in the blood of innocent men, women and children; they have killed our security personnel in cold blood. It is absurd to suggest that there is nothing wrong with extending the proverbial olive branch to men who were ‘misled’ into terrorism by Pakistani terrorist organisations and their patron, the ISI. Or that the state is honour-bound to help yesterday’s killers return to their families and lead a normal life. What about their victims who will never return to their families? And survivors who will never get to lead a normal life? There is also the possibility that the ‘change of heart’ which is being claimed is no more than a charade, a cover to fool the authorities and lull the security forces into believing that the tide of separatist and Islamist terror in Jammu & Kashmir has begun to turn. Feigning remorse would give these trained terrorists a chance to enter India without getting killed and then sabotage the peace process from within the country. Union Minister for Home Affairs P Chidambaram has sought to address these concerns by saying there will be a “cooling off period” during which these men will be monitored by security forces and given counselling and vocational training. These are noble intentions which may not quite work with hardened criminals for whom nobility means nothing.

Interestingly, Union Health Minister and former Chief Minister of Jammu & Kashmir Ghulam Nabi Azad has expressed doubts over the efficacy of such a policy. He should know as he was able to deal with separatists and their foot soldiers without succumbing to their pressure tactics or adopting measures that reflect an irresolute state which no longer has the will to fight terror. The reform-and-resettle policy that is now being adopted is an extension of the strange ongoing transmogrification of the Indian state into a giant NGO which squanders taxpayers’ money on bogus welfare schemes and measures. During UPA1, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had promised to compensate the families of slain terrorists with financial assistance, as if the had died in service to the nation. He had also issued a veiled threat to security forces not to go after those waging war on India in the guise of protecting the human rights of inhuman murderers. With the advent of UPA2, those policies have coalesced into rewarding men who chose to pick up guns against the state, murder innocent citizens and make separatism into an instrument of jihadi terror. There is no percentage in such an approach. But who’s to tell the Government this?

(Courtesy : http://www.dailypioneer.com, 24/11/2010)

Neither Azad Nor Kashmir

Luv Puri

While emphasising the involvement of Pakistan in any initiative on Jammu & Kashmir, Centre-appointed interlocutors recently expressed a desire to involve the people and leadership of Pakistan-administered J&K (PAJK) in the resolution process. It is an idea that has remained integral to several official as well as civil society initiatives between India and Pakistan. While the Indian side of J&K has hogged international attention for the recent youth unrest, there seems to be a paucity of scholarship and information about the political, ethnic and economic aspects of PAJK.

The region known as 'Azad Kashmir' in Pakistan has a population of more than three million and comprises one-third of the erstwhile princely state of J&K. At the world stage, the region has come into focus during the 2005 earthquake or as one of the bases of militant outfits like the Lashkar. However, the region's impact on South Asian politics and even outside has remained a less studied subject of contemporary scholarship, though it has one of the largest South Asian diasporas living in Britain which has played a central role in internationalising the Kashmir issue since the early 1990s.

Some sections of the Pakistani and pro-Pakistan PAJK elite have often marketed PAJK as an independent state. PAJK, officially known as "Azad (independent)  Jammu and Kashmir" in Pakistan, has its own Supreme Court, high court, flag and legislative assembly comprising 49 members, of whom 41 are directly elected and eight are nominated by the government. The head of the government in PAJK is known as prime minister and the head of the state is designated as president.

In January 2006, Sardar Abdul Qayuum Khan, the former president of PAJK and father of the region's current prime minister, Attique Khan, told me at Muzaffarabad that the struggle of his party, the Muslim Conference, would continue till the Indian side of J&K gets the same degree of political freedom as he enjoyed in his own region. Some of the basic myths about PAJK need to be demolished before discussing the politics of the region. The region is quite distinct from the Kashmir valley and the majority of the people are Pothwari-speaking, which on the Indian side is referred to as Pahari. Except religion, linguistically and ethnically there is hardly anything in common between the Kashmir valley and PAJK.

In January 2009, Sardar Attique Khan, the then prime minister of PAJK, blamed the loss of his majority in the legislative assembly on the Pakistani state and remarked that democracy has been slaughtered. More than a year later, Attique Khan is back again as the prime minister of the region. Farooq Haider, the deposed prime minister, accused the Pakistan Peoples Party-led federal government of uniting with his political rivals in the state, which resulted in his resignation. This is the third time in the last four years that the sitting prime minister has lost his majority in the assembly.

An objective study will better explain the patron-client relationship between the ruling Pakistani elite and the PAJK political elite. In 1949, the Muslim Conference, one of the political outfits in J&K, was recognised as the permanent representative of PAJK, with powers to strike agreements with the sovereign country of Pakistan. It was seen as a political reward for the Muslim Conference, a political outfit that supported J&K's accession to Pakistan in its July 1947 executive body session at Srinagar. In the political system that existed from 1947 to 1960, the person at the helm of the Muslim Conference was nominated as the president of PAJK. The major constitutional change came in 1970 when adult franchise was introduced to elect the president. In 1974, the parliamentary system was introduced in PAJK. The democratic leadership of Pakistan continued the tradition of military dispensation to bring arbitrary executive changes in the region. In 1990, PAJK prime minister Mumtaz Rathore was 'escorted' to Islamabad in a helicopter and forced to sign a letter of resignation by the Nawaz Sharif government.

Moreover, there are visible contradictions between the Pakistani and PAJK constitutions. For instance, Article 257 of the Pakistani constitution holds that the "people of Jammu and Kashmir will define their relationship with Pakistan after obtaining freedom". However, under section 5(2)(vii) of the PAJK Legislative Assembly Election Ordinance 1970, "a person will be disqualified for propagating any opinion or action in any manner prejudicial to the ideology of Pakistan, the ideology of state's accession to Pakistan or the sovereignty and integrity of Pakistan". The Islamabad-based "Azad Jammu and Kashmir Council" is headed by the prime minister of Pakistan. This key institutional body shapes the economic policy of the region.

The post-1990 phase has opened up space for new political players in the region with demands for democratisation and respect for autonomy of the region's institutions by the federal government. Any developments in this respect will impact Pakistan's Kashmir policy, which has defined the country's overall strategic and tactical calculations since its creation. The understanding of various aspects relating to PAJK, a less studied subject, and other factors in Pakistan is a prerequisite for any constructive and result-oriented dialogue between India and Pakistan.

(The writer is the author of a book based on field study in Pakistan and Pakistan-administered Jammu & Kashmir.)

(Courtesy : www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com, 24/11/2010)

Western Air Command to strengthen airbases in J&K

New Delhi : To add strength and operational capability to its fleet along the borders with China and Pakistan, the IAF's Western Air Command (WAC) today decided to develop its airbase and landing ground infrastructure in the entire northern region, particular in Jammu and Kashmir. On the last day of the two-day commanders conference of the WAC, the 'sword arm' of the IAF, it was also decided to provide a robust air maintenance operations for the Army's Commands operating in the region under its control.The WAC has nearly 20 airbases in the region covering Rajasthan, Punjab, Haryana, Jammu and Kashmir and Uttarakhand. It has in the last two years opened three strategically important Advanced Landing Grounds in Daulat Beg Oldi, Fuk Che and Nyoma in the Ladakh region of Jammu and Kashmir to provide quicker access to troops during emergencies.

It is also the lifeline for several lakh soldiers deployed in the high altitude areas of the region, carrying them to the forward areas, apart from supplying them fighting equipment, food and other essential items throughout the year. The WAC commanders conference also debated issues regarding induction of new equipment and platforms, including the C-130J transport aircraft for Indian special forces that would be based in Hindan near Ghaziabad, Airborne Early Warning and Control Systems, Aerostats and critical radar systems for the hilly regions.

These apart, the two-day conference, inaugurated by IAF Chief Air Chief Marshal P V Naik yesterday, carried out a data-based review as well as focus on key issues such as Aviation and Maintenance Safety and Welfare of Air Warriors. "The concept of operations of Western Air Command including those in support of three-affiliated Army Commands were also reviewed," a WAC officer said here. With the underlying theme 'Enhancing Operational Capability of Western Air Command', the annual conference was addressed by its Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief Air Marshal N A K Browne, who asked the commanders to give highest priority to the air warriors' welfare and high morale.

Addressing the commanders, Browne said, "IAF is undergoing major modernisation process and WAC occupies a unique position in this transformation drive. The need of the hour is speedy operationalisation of newly-inducted equipment with a commitment to preserve and maintain what we already have to the highest possible standards." He also recalled the successful completion of the recent WAC exercise, Gauntlet III, when excellent operational standards were achieved. Browne also asked the commanders to keep operations as the main focus area of WAC for the year

(Courtesy : http://www.deccanherald.com, 23/11/2010)

China appears to be changing its J-K policy

NEW DELHI: China appears to be finally responding to India's concerns over the issuance of stapled visas to people of Jammu and Kashmir, a matter taken up recently by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh with his Chinese counterpart Wen Jiabao .

In a move indicative of shift in Chinese policy on Jammu and Kashmir, Tanya Gupta, a singer from the state has been issued a stamped visa, instead of a stapled one, to travel to perform at the closing ceremony of the ongoing Asian Games in Guangzhou on November 27. The Chinese have been issuing visa on a separate sheet, stapled to the passports of residents of Jammu and Kashmir for more than an year, thereby questioning state's status as the integral part of India.

When contacted, Chinese embassy officials here said, "it might be an indication of a shift in visa policy of China for the Jammu and Kashmir residents." The officials were also quick to mention that the issue was once again expected to be raised by India during Wen's visit here next month. "Though it is for two sides to come to terms with the matter. But the development might be an indication of a shift in policy," they said. However, they said Gupta was invited by the Organising Committee of the Asian Games and was issued a photo pass to travel to China.

Singh stressed the need for India and China to show sensitivity to each other's core issues while meeting Wen in Hanoi last month on the margins of ASEAN summit. Though National Security Adviser Shivshanker Menon did not spell these core issues while briefing the press in Hanoi, it is clear that the border dispute and policy shift of China on Kashmir are crucial for India and Tibet is a core concern for China.

Beijing also appears not to be much bothered about a prestigious Indian University Jamia Millia Islamia conferring an honorary doctorate on Tibetan spiritual leader Dalai Lama, with officials maintaining that "it is an academic decision and not a government decision." With the Chinese premier scheduled to visit India on December 16, the move to honour the Dalai Lama is seen as a signal by New Delhi that it will be less sensitive to Beijing's concerns if its own concerns are not addressed.

(Courtesy : http://economictimes.indiatimes.com, 23/11/2010)

China stamps visa surprise

OUR SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT

New Delhi : India’s protests against China issuing stapled visas to Jammu and Kashmir residents may have had some impact. Tanya Gupta, a singer from the state, has been issued a stamped visa. Gupta will be in Guangzhou on an invitation from the Chinese to perform at the Asian Games closing ceremony on November 27. “It might be an indication of a shift in China’s visa policy for Jammu and Kashmir residents,” an official of the Chinese embassy said. But other sources cautioned that this might be a one-off incident.

“Unlike in the case of Arunachal Pradesh (the Chinese issue stapled visas to everyone travelling from that state), they have not been consistent about Jammu and Kashmir. There have been instances of them issuing stamped visas to people they have invited,” a source said. The Chinese have for a couple of years been issuing the visa on a separate sheet stapled to the passports of Jammu and Kashmir residents. New Delhi sees this as China’s way of questioning the state’s status as a part of India.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is expected to take up the issue of stapled visas with Wen Jiabao when the Chinese Premier visits New Delhi in mid-December. Indications are that the Chinese may relent on Jammu and Kashmir. National security adviser Shiv Shankar Menon will be in China at the end of this month for boundary talks. Earlier this month, foreign secretary Nirupama Rao had raised the issue with her Chinese counterparts in Beijing.

Sources said the Indian delegation had relayed a veiled threat that if Beijing continued to issue stapled visas to Jammu and Kashmir residents, Delhi might do the same for the Chinese from Tibet. The external affairs ministry has already given the Jamia Millia Islamia the go-ahead to confer an honorary doctorate on the Dalai Lama. “It is an academic decision and not a government decision,” a ministry official insisted. However, the ministry had in the recent past asked universities not to award such degrees to the Tibetan spiritual leader to avoid ruffling Beijing’s feathers.

(Courtesy : http://www.telegraphindia.com, 23/11/2010)

BJP Opposes Rehabilitation of Kashmir Youth

Jammu, Nov 23: The right wing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Tuesday slammed the Jammu and Kashmir government for approving what it termed an "anti-national" policy which will allow return of Kashmiri youth from Pakistan-controlled Kashmir back to their homes to live a peaceful life.

Responding to the government's approval of a surrender scheme for the youth who have gone across to other part of Kashmir for arms training during past two decades and facilitate their return, BJP's legislature party leader Chaman Lal Gupta said: "It's an anti-national act, and we will oppose it tooth and nail."

BJP has also called for a ‘Wheel Jam’ in Jammu for 3 hours on Saturday morning to protest the move.

State unit president of the party Shamsher Singh Manhas said the state government had made it a habit to go in for one anti-national act after another.

"First, Chief Minister Omar Abdullah challenged accession of the state with India and now his government is bent upon importing all the terrorists from across," he added.

Meanwhile, activists Bhartiya Janta Yuva Morcha burnt the effigy of Omar Abdullah and held demonstration against the move. Agencies

(Courtesy : www.kashmirobserver.net, 24/11/2010)

Omar Abdullah for apolitical, impartial administration in the country

Jammu : Emphasising the need for an administration free of political influences, Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah today said an apolitical bureaucracy is necessary for steering the country to new pinnacles of social justice, rule of law and transparency. Addressing civil servants at a function in Mussorie in Himachal Pradesh this morning, Omar asked IAS, IFS and IPS officers to always keep their doors open to the public.

"In your career in the civil services, you have to face different challenges and come across troublesome situations. This will help you to get first hand information about the requirements of people as also to address their grievances positively and effectively," he said at the Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy. He said that in the present political scenario, the image of politicians and bureaucrats has been tainted due to cases of corruption, and even efficient bureaucrats are recognised as masters of red tape.

"Both have to endeavour to come out of these categories and prove their mettle by their deeds and service", he said. Stating that majority population of India is below 30 years of age, the chief minister said young bureaucrats have to give new dimension to the functioning of the bureaucracy and their association with young politicians would give new impetus to the socio-economic development of the country.

"When dynamism, sincerity, honesty and zest work together there will be no two opinions about the country achieving new highs in all respects," he said. Stating that Jammu and Kashmir is diverse not only geographically but also ideologically, Omar said while most people of the state are "broad-minded and emancipated", there is a minority who is reluctant to change their mindset.

He said his government has adopted a policy to address both political instability and economic distress, and much headway has been made on both fronts. "The biggest crisis I face presently is that of unemployment. In a state like J&K where private investors are unwilling to venture for unpalatable political situation, creation of job market in the private sector is more complicated," he said.

The government is the only organisation providing jobs in the state, Omar said, adding, his government has taken new initiatives to rope in the private sector and give fillip to skills development programmes in the state. The chief minister said an important feature of his day to day functioning is to constantly build rapport with the public. "Ministers and officers at all levels have been directed to make public meetings a necessary part of their working schedule," he said, referring to the Awami Mulaqats and video conferences he has initiated to get first hand information about political situations and development works.

(Courtesy : http://www.dnaindia.com, 23/11/2010)

BJP calls for Jammu bandh; burn effigy of Omar

Jammu: BJP called for a three-hour bandh here on Saturday against Chief Minister Omar Abdullah's remarks on Jammu and Kashmir's accession with India as the party youth wing burnt the effigy of the CM for his approval to the rehabilitation of militants, who want to return from PoK.

"We have announced a complete bandh on November 27 for three hours in the morning in protest against the statement of Omar on the floor of J&K Assembly last month over accession of J&K with India and also return and rehabilitation of the militants in PoK," BJP state president Shamshir Singh Manhas told reporters. The 'Chakka Jaam' would be from 8am to 11 am, he said.

Manhas said decision of the party to observe 'Chakka Jaam' been also taken to protest Omar Abdullah's alleged continued discrimination against Jammu region and for avoiding fresh "delimitation" of constituencies.

(Courtesy : www.indianexpress.com, 23/11/2010)

आतंकियों को दबोचने को व्यापक अभियान

किश्तवाड़। जिले के केशवान इलाके में एसटीएफ के इंचार्ज की मां की हत्या करने वाले लश्कर-ए-तैयबा के जिला कमांडर हबीब गुज्जर उर्फ सलमान व उसके साथियों को दबोचने के लिए सुरक्षाबलों ने व्यापक अभियान चलाया है। इस मामले में पांच आतंकियों के साथ उनकी मदद करने वाले स्थानीय लोगों के खिलाफ भी मामला दर्ज किया गया है। पिछले कई दिनों से किश्तवाड़ के केशवान इलाके में लश्कर-ए-तैयबा के आतंकी हबीब गुज्जर उर्फ सलमान ने आतंक फैला रखा है। जो उसका साथ नहीं देता उसकी सरेआम पिटाई की जाती है। चाहे औरत, बच्चे या फिर बूढ़े ही क्यों न हों।

इलाके में इतनी दहशत है कि स्थानीय लोग सलमान तथा उसके साथियों की कोई भी खबर सुरक्षाबलों को देने से कतराने लगे हैं। उसे दबोचने के लिए सेना तथा पुलिस ने कई बार घेरा डाला, लेकिन हर बार विफल रहे। उसके बच निकलने का एक कारण, अपने कुछ स्थानीय लोगों को लेकर चलना भी है। गत शुक्रवार रात को भी सलमान ने अपने चाचा मोहम्मद शफी को साथ रखा था। मुठभेड़ में उसके चाचा की मौत हो गई थी, लेकिन सलमान व उसके साथी मौके से भागने में सफल हो गए थे।

अपने चाचा की मौत से बौखलाए आतंकी ने रविवार रात को नागनीगढ़ पोस्ट इंचार्ज कासिमदीन की मां गुजरा बेगम की गोली मारकर हत्या कर दी थी। इसके बाद से पुलिस तथा सेना ने आतंकियों को दबोचने के लिए एक व्यापक अभियान चलाया है। एसपी किश्तवाड़ डॉ. हसीब मुगल का कहना है कि सलाम सहित उसके पांचों आतंकियों को जल्द ही दबोच लिया जाएगा। जिन लोगों ने शनिवार को पुलिस तथा सेना पर पथराव किया था उनके खिलाफ मामला दर्ज किया गया है। उन्हें भी दबोचने का काम शुरू हो गया है। गुजरा बेगम की हत्या के मामले में आतंकी हबीब गुज्जर उर्फ सलमान, मोहम्मद सुलतान उर्फ नुमान, मोहम्मद इशाक उर्फ मुवशर, जावेद हुरेरा तथा अख्तर के साथ इन आतंकियों की मदद करने वाले कुछ स्थानीय लोगों के खिलाफ मामला दर्ज किया गया है। मौके पर एसडीपीओ तथा एसएचओ को भेजा गया है।

(Courtesy : www.in.jagran.yahoo.com, 23/11/2010)

हालात ने लटकाई पंडितों की वापसी 

जम्मू। छह माह से घाटी के बिगड़े हालातों के कारण कश्मीरी पंडितों की घाटी वापसी का मुद्दा भी अधर में लटक गया है। घाटी में अल्पसंख्यकों में फैली असुरक्षा की भावना से पंडित समुदाय भी असमंजस में है। प्रधानमंत्री पैकेज के अंतर्गत वापसी को लेकर सुनिश्चित की जाने वाली सुविधाओं को लेकर पंडितों में यह धारणा आम हो गई है कि वादी में उनको दी जाने वाली सुरक्षा के दावों में कोई दम नहीं है। इतना ही नहीं सरकार भी पंडितों की घाटी वापसी के मुद्दे को लेकर चुप्पी ही साधे हुए है। जहां तक कि प्रधानमंत्री पैकेज के अंतर्गत 2700 सरकारी नौकरियों के लिए चुने जाने वाले पंडित युवाओं को भी सरकार घाटी में नियुक्तियां नहीं दे पाई है।

वहीं, रिलीफ संगठन कार्यालय में भी घाटी वापसी के लिए दी जाने वाली आवेदनों की संख्या मात्र चार हजार तक ही पहुंच पाई है। हालात खराब होने के चलते जो लोग घाटी जाने की इच्छा भी रखते थे उन्होंने भी अल्पसंख्यकों के साथ होने वाले दु‌र्व्यवहार को देखते हुए अपना इरादा बदल लिया है। रिलीफ कमीश्नर विनोद कौल के मुताबिक सरकार प्रधानमंत्री पैकेज के अंतर्गत घाटी में पंडितों को बसाने की पूरी मंशा रखती है। अभी उनके पास जिन परिवारों के वापसी के लिए प्रार्थना पत्र हैं वे भी जाने से परहेज करते हैं। उधर, वापसी को लेकर समुदाय में भी आम राय नहीं बन पाई है। समुदाय के कुछ संगठन जिनमें जम्मू कश्मीर विचार मंच, जम्मू कश्मीर यूनाइटेड फ्रंट, ऑल इंडिया कश्मीरी समाज व ऑल पार्टीज माइग्रेंटस कमेटी शामिल है, घाटी में सिंगल टाउनशिप की मांग करते हैं। ऑल स्टेट कश्मीरी पंडित कांफ्रेंस, कश्मीरी पंडित कांफ्रेंस, पनुन कश्मीर जैसे संगठन होमलैंड की बात करते हैं।

(Courtesy : www.in.jagran.yahoo.com, 23/11/2010) 

आजादी के जश्न में डूबे पुंछवासी

पुंछ। 1947 में भारत-पाक विभाजन के बाद कबाइलियों ने पुंछ पर कब्जा जमा लिया था। 22 नवंबर को भारतीय सेना ने पुंछ को कबाइलियों से मुक्त करवाया। इस जंग में सेना के कई जवानों व अधिकारियों ने अपने प्राणों की आहुति भी दी थी। उसके बाद हर साल 22 नवंबर को पुंछ में सेना द्वारा पुंछ लिंक आप- डे मनाया जाता है। इस दिवस के अवसर पर सोमवार को सेना के जवानों द्वारा कार्यक्रम का आयोजन किया। साथ ही सेना के हेलीकाप्टर ने भी एयर शो पेश किया। इस अवसर पर डाग शो व हार्स शो भी प्रस्तुत किया गया।

इस अवसर पर 25 डिवीजन के जीओसी ओम प्रकाश ने कहा कि सेना के जवानों ने अपनी प्राणों की आहुति देकर दुश्मन को क्षेत्र से खदेड़ा था। उन्होंने कहा कि उस समय स्थानीय लोगों ने भी सेना के साथ कंधे से कंधा मिलाकर कार्य किया था। अगर स्थानीय लोग सेना की मदद न करते तो दुश्मन को खदेड़ने में काफी मशक्कत करनी पड़ती। उन्होंने कहा कि अब आतंकवाद के सफाए के लिए भी स्थानीय लोग सेना का पूरा सहयोग कर रहे है, जिससे क्षेत्र में काफी हद तक आतंकवादियों को सफाया कर लिया है।

इस अवसर पर सेना के जवानों के साथ साथ विभिन्न स्कूलों के बच्चों ने भी सांस्कृतिक कार्यक्रमों पेशकर दर्शकों को मंत्रमुग्ध कर दिया। साथ ही हेलीकाप्टर ने भी हवा में कई कलाबाजी दिखाई। इस अवसर पर एसएसपी मनमोहन सिंह, जिला विकास आयुक्त कुलदीप खजुरिया, विधायक एजाज जान, एमएलसी जहांगीर मीर के अलावा काफी संख्या में स्थानीय लोग मौजूद थे। 

(Courtesy : www.in.jagran.yahoo.com, 23/11/2010)

Let’s stop pandering to bleeding hearts

Swapan Dasgupta

If some media reports are to be believed, the Government has sent out a message to the three-member team of interlocutors for Jammu & Kashmir to be more circumspect in their public pronouncements. Maybe this sage advice will have some impact. But, unfortunately, first impressions tend to be more enduring than others. The team whose composition invited scepticism and even ridicule may find that the spate of controversies it generated during its first trip to the Kashmir Valley has cost it the legitimacy it so desperately craved for.

With a Parliament session due immediately after the visit of US President Barack Obama, it may become necessary for the UPA Government to discreetly wash its hands of the team — without, of course, admitting any such thing. On paper, the three interlocutors will remain occupied and it is entirely possible that three Ambassador cars, three peons and a generous travel budget will also be kept aside for their use. Politically, however, the appointment of the three-member panel looks like becoming another still-born initiative. They may yet produce a report but few are likely to treat it seriously. To blame Dileep Padgaonkar or, for that matter, Radha Kumar, for the mess is tempting. Both set themselves up as soft targets by (perhaps unwittingly) conveying the impression that their job was to solve a problem that has been festering for six decades. Padgaonkar didn’t say anything original by alluding to a Pakistan dimension of any lasting solution. However, it was the tone of self-importance and the boast of “no red lines” that contributed to the furore. Likewise, Kumar’s purported comment about amending the Constitution to accommodate azadi was seen to be politically presumptuous.

It speaks volumes for the Government’s non-application of mind and its flawed judgement that a political initiative should have been outsourced to a group of well-meaning free thinkers. The people of Jammu & Kashmir can’t be faulted for believing that the whole thing smacks of insincerity and amateurishness. It would not have mattered if the clumsy garrulousness of the interlocutors had just been treated as an amusing aside and something to keep the talk-show hosts of TV channels occupied. It could then have been seen with about as much seriousness as the contrived SPG ‘displeasure’ over Rahul Gandhi travelling in the second class bogey of a train. Unfortunately, the indiscretions of the interlocutors conveyed one dispiriting message: That there was something fundamentally illegitimate about the present status of Jammu & Kashmir and India’s collective handling of it. Beginning with Sonia Gandhi’s appeal to recognise the “legitimate aspirations” of the stone-throwers and culminating in Arundhati Roy’s strident deification of secessionism, there are grounds for believing that Liberal India is being overwhelmed by a streak of capitulation.

Padgaonkar has apparently asked students in Srinagar to prepare a precise, time-driven roadmap for azadi which he hopes to discuss at his next visit. For India’s sake I hope that he is restrained from negotiating the modalities of azadi with impressionable minds and giving them the impression that what has hitherto been a slogan is actually a realisable political project. Likewise, I am fearful of the constitutional changes Kumar contemplates to accommodate azadi. The only one I can imagine is an amendment notifying the non-applicability of the Constitution to Jammu & Kashmir. Willy-nilly, Kumar has conveyed the message that the “legitimate aspirations” of the State cannot be accommodated within the Constitution, as it exists today. These are worrying signs that become even more worrisome if we explore the specifics of the ‘autonomy’ that is at present enjoyed by Jammu & Kashmir. The meaning of Article 370, according special status to Jammu & Kashmir, has a direct bearing on the distribution of power between the Centre and the State.

For the rest of India, there is a Central List, a State List and a Concurrent List that is tilted in favour of the Centre. For J&K, there is a Central list that covers defence, foreign affairs, currency and communications. After 1953, the Constitution also extended the jurisdiction of the Election Commission and the Supreme Court to the State. That is it. All other powers are enjoyed by the State Government. And, in the case of J&K, there is no Concurrent List. The State Government has the right to make its own laws, subject to the ratification of the President. What modifications to the Constitution are the interlocutors seeking? The withdrawal of the Supreme Court and Election Commission? A separate currency for Jammu & Kashmir? The complete withdrawal of Indian forces from the Line of Control? Should India share sovereignty over Jammu & Kashmir with Pakistan, as Mehbooba Mufti’s PDP has often argued? Are these the constitutional changes the interlocutors or, for that matter, the Congress president, think is desirable? Arundhati Roy is at least honest: She wants India’s azadi from Jammu & Kashmir and vice-versa. The others are being wilfully disingenuous: The azadi imagined by the ‘Go-India-Go brigade’ can’t be accommodated within India as we know it.

The Government must play with a straight bat. After the visit of the all-party parliamentary delegation to Jammu & Kashmir, it was agreed that the Government must clearly define what is not negotiable (the accession of State to the Indian Union) and what needs to be urgently addressed (overbearing policing and human rights violations). By attempting to pander to bleeding hearts whose stake in India is negotiable and seasonal, it has extended the crisis of liberalism into a crisis of the state.

(Writer : Swapan Dasgupta is a eminent journalist)

(Courtesy : www.dailypioneer.com, 22/11/2010)

The Instrument of Accession 1947- The story of Kashmir

By KANAYALAL RAINA 

What does October 26, 1947 mean for us? I still have the memories of October 1947, although I was still a kid. I could see the aircrafts flying over Srinagar. I did not know why such aircraft were hovering over the city. I only knew then that Kabalies (tribal invasion - raiders) from Pakistan had invaded us and were killing all Hindus and Sikhs.

I still remember the day we left our home, in four hired tongas (horse drawn carriages), with some of our belongings and family members of over 26 persons, in the middle of the night, to save our lives from the invaders from Pakistan. I still remember how our houses were burnt down and looted no sooner we were a few miles away from our village.

I had no answers to what was going on then. Being a Kashmir Pandit, many Indians and Pakistanis settled in Canada, and Canadians here ask me questions frequently about what is going on in Kashmir. A prospect to find an answer to it, 63 years on, is indeed heart-rending. Is it a matter of joy for us, or a sad legacy of the partition? Till today, we don't have an answer to it. For some it is a day to celebrate, while for others it is an eminently forgettable day. The truth lies somewhere between the two.

Gulab Singh acquired the title to Kashmir pursuant to the Treaty done with the British, at Amritsar, on March 16, March 1846. He consolidated his reign and established the State of Jammu&Kashmir's boundaries, whereof extended to far North-West in the Indian Subcontinent. That is history. We, however, need to extract and focus on the period of Rule by Maharaja Hari Singh, because that is germane to the present discussion. Hari Singh ascended the throne in 1925. The period coincided with the rise in political and economic aspirations of the Kashmiris, the majority of who were Muslims. Reading Room Party, of which the late Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah was a leading light, was formed by a few educated Muslim young men to deliberate upon their future.

The explosion of 1931 turned that into a political party called the Muslim Conference. This was a time when modern politics was taking shape around the world. The Indian Subcontinent was also experiencing it. The Muslim Conference articulated the demands of the Muslims ie jobs for the educated and re-opening of some of their closed religious places. With the passage of time a big political churning unfolded which attracted a good number of non-Muslims, from all the regions, to the anti-Ruler campaign. Sheikh Abdullah, too, reached out to them. Then a trend developed to open the doors of the Party to every community.

That resulted in transformation of the Muslim Conference into the National Conference, in 1938. Abdullah pioneered the move. His meeting with the leaders of the Indian National Congress, a party spearheading the freedom struggle against the British, acted as the catalyst for the changeover. A new relationship, based on common agenda and values, developed between the leadership of the National Conference and the Indian National Congress. The relations got cemented in the Sopore General Council meeting of the National Conference, in 1945, in which Jawaharlal Nehru, Khan Abdul Gaffar Khan ('Frontier Gandhi'), Saif-uddin Kichloo, Samad Khan of Balochistan and Dawood Gaznavi of Sind participated as guests. An alignment between the two parties came into existence.

The seeds of Kashmir's association with India were, thus, sown. No wonder. Both the parties held many things in common. They believed in pluralism and the democratic way of governance. Along with the National Congress, Muhammad Ali Jinnah came up with his Muslim League on the Indian political firmament with a vengeance. He propagated a political creed which went quite opposite to the one held dear by the National Conference and the Congress. Jinnah propounded the 'Two-Nation Theory' and claimed a separate homeland for the Indian Muslims after the British left India. Sheikh and his National Conference were totally against it. They opposed Jinnah tooth and nail. It was not that Sheikh Abdullah made friends with the Congress at the first go. Even after he had converted the Muslim Conference into National conference (NC), some of his erstwhile comrades revived it and aligned with Jinnah and his Muslim League (ML). Sheikh was conscious of it. He wanted to strike at the roots.

Jinnah ignored Abdullah

David Devadas tells us in his well-researched book 'In Search of Future - The Story of Kashmir': "...Sheikh Abdullah told his biographer how he had first gone to Bombay in Feb 1944 to invite Muhammad Ali Jinnah; the League icon had said he was too busy to visit Kashmir but he could meet him again when Assembly session took place in Delhi. How Abdullah had taken Bakshi with him to Delhi in April the same year. How he had sent Bakshi to Banihal at the edge of the Valley to receive the brilliant Solicitor - after Gulam Abbas had received him warmly in Jammu.... Jinnah was not in Kashmir to bask in flattery.... He began to extol the Mirwaiz's piety and hector the NC to merge with the Muslim Conference â?¦." (P43).

Then he describes how Sheikh Abdullah was dismayed and frustrated at the behaviour of Jinnah. Jinnah nursed a pathological hatred for the Sheikh. So their relation never took off. Nehru meanwhile lent great support to the NC in its fight against the Maharaja. We know Abdullah wanted a relationship with India. Here we relate a foreigner's account. Sandeep Bamzai in his book 'Bonfire of Kashmiriyat - Deconstructing the Accession' records a report of Ihsan Abdel Koddous, a member of the Egyptian press delegation which visited India after the independence, thus: "Koddous, writing in Rosa El Youssef, said he asked Sheikh Abdullah why he had chosen to accede to India? While endeavouring that Kashmir might be made an Asian Switzerland?

"Sheikh during the conversation recognized the impossibility of that endeavour, that designs against his country were too strong to be resisted, and that as one is given by him to understand, it will ultimately have to join either Hindustan or Pakistan.... This would leave one in (no) doubt as to Sheikh Abdullah's preference that his country should join India and not commit suicide through accession to Pakistan. "Throughout the stage of his struggle against the British and Maharaja, the only support he received was from Congress Party, Gandhi and Nehru. The late M.A. Jinnah, the creator of Pakistan, had on the contrary considered him as an extreme leader who is more deserving of imprisonment rather than support..."

Then came 1947, along with joy and horror. The British, while preparing to leave India, announced on June 3, 1947 the plan to partition the country into two Dominions. As per the Memorandum issued by the Cabinet Mission on May 26, 1946 the rights surrendered by the Princely States to the Crown would revert back to them when two new Dominions are created. Princely states would not be transferred to the Indian Government until then. Mountbatten addressed the Chamber of Princes on July 25, 1947 and advised them, although they had become independent, to accede to one of the Dominions, keeping certain considerations in mind. He told them that accession was to be under Cabinet Mission Memorandum of May 16, which meant the surrender to the Central Government of only three subjects: Defence, External Affairs and Communications.

Accordingly, a draft Instrument of Accession was circulated. A State could accede to either Dominion by executing an Instrument of Accession signed by the Ruler and accepted by the Governor-General of the concerned Dominion. While accession of 564 States to the Indian Dominion was a smooth affair, it encountered problems in regard to J&K, Hyderabad and Junagadh States. The difference in the religions of the Rulers and the subjects may have been the reason. The Maharaja of Jammu&Kashmir proposed a Stand-Still agreement to the two Dominions. Pakistan agreed to it only to tear it apart soon after. India paid no heed to it. Maharaja Hari Singh was in a dilemma, whether he should accede to Pakistan or India. Most of his subjects were Muslims. His State was physically well connected with Pakistan. But for the Radcliffe award it lacked connectivity with India.

The NC and Sheikh Abdullah meanwhile wanted association with India, while the Muslim Conference lead by Gulam Abas and Mirwaiz Yousuf Shah favoured a relationship with Pakistan. Within Muslim Conference there was also a section lead by Ch Hameedullah which preferred an independent state. The Maharaja too had a similar preference. His Prime Minister R.C. Kak shared this view. Jinnah tried to influence the Ruler through his next PM, Meherchand Mahajan, to settle for Pakistan. Whatever the decision Mountbatten, in Srinager, was also pressing Hari Singh to accede to either Domonion before August 14.

Failing in their effort to coerce the Maharaja to accede to Pakistan, an economic blockade of the State followed by the tribal invasion was resorted to. In consequence the Maharaja approached the Government of India for help. He was told that in the absence of accession it would not be possible for them to render military aid. Therefore the Maharaja deputed Mahajan to Delhi with a letter offering accession to India.

Accession signed Oct 26

Mountbatten's press attache Alan Campbell-Johnson writes in his book 'Mission With Mountbatten': "Mountbatten said in the defence committee meeting on Oct 25, which considered Maharaja's request, that in the absence of accession of the State to India, military assistance could not be sent to the State. Moreover, accession should only be temporary prior to a plebiscite" (P189). The Instrument of Accession was, then, signed by the Maharaja on Oct 26, Oct 1947 and accepted by the Governor General of India. So the day became momentous for the nationalist forces, a day to commemorate. The Constituent Assembly of the State ratified it.

Sorrow, however, followed. The Indian Army landed in Srinagar on Oct 27 and, at great cost, repelled the tribal attack, which by then had the support of the regular Pakistan Army. But even after, Pakistan remained in illegal possession of some part of the State known as POK (Pakistan Occupied Kashmir). Meanwhile India lodged a complaint with the United Nations Security Council against Pakistan regarding withdrawing her forces from Kashmir. Thus an intervention of the world body had international arbiters like Owen Dixon, Gunnar Jarring and Frank Graham coming onto the scene. A plebiscite was mooted. Before that, however, Pakistan was required to vacate that part of Kashmir that it had occupied illegally. That did not happen.

From 1947 until now three major wars have broken out between India and Pakistan. Since 1990 Kashmir - and India - have been facing the brunt of Pakistan-sponsored militancy, which has consumed thousands of people and given rise to a convoluted discourse, besides turning hundreds of thousands of people homeless. The most tragic part of it is that the pro-Pak publicists like Alastair Lamb, Stanley Wolpert and Victoria Schofield have the audacity to challenge the very existence of the Instrument of Accession, and the eye-witness accounts of dramatis personae like V.P. Menon, Alan Campbell-Johnson and the then Prime Minister M.C. Mahajan.

Let there be a dispassionate and sincere debate on the nature of the issue. We may not be sure how things would turn out exactly for the people of the State but we can hope that, regardless of how they turn out, they would make some sense for the people to live here.

(Guest Columnist Kanayalal Raina is a Brampton-based engineer by training, project consultant by profession and freelance writer by passion)

(Courtesy : www.southasianfocus.ca, 26/10/2010)

पूर्ण विलय के पश्चात जनमत संग्रह का औचित्य ?

पवन कुमार अरविंद

जम्मू-कश्मीर में आत्मनिर्णय या जनमत संग्रह कराने की मांग का कहीं कोई औचित्य नहीं है। ये मांगें किसी भी प्रकार से न तो संवैधानिक हैं और न ही मानवाधिकार की परिधि में ही कहे जाएंगे। अलगाववादियों द्वारा इस विषय को मानवाधिकार से जोड़ना केवल एक नाटक भर है। क्योंकि इससे विश्व बिरादरी का ध्यान ज्यादा आसानी से आकृष्ट किया जा सकेगा। यह सारा वितंडावाद विशुद्ध रूप से कश्मीर को हड़पने के लिए पाकिस्तानी नीति का ही एक हिस्सा है।

अमेरिकी राष्ट्रपति बराक ओबामा के भारत आगमन से पूर्व पाकिस्तान प्रायोजित आतंकी गतिविधियों में यकायक बढ़ोतरी हुई है। यहाँ तक कि कश्मीर घाटी के अलगाववादी संगठन और उसके नेता भी ज्यादा सक्रिय दिखने लगे हैं। अलगाववादी हुर्रियत नेता गिलानी का नई दिल्ली में “आजादी ही एक मात्र रास्ता” विषयक सेमीनार में शिरकत करना विश्व बिरादरी का ध्यान आकृष्ट कराने के अभियान का ही एक हिस्सा है। सेमीनार की खास बात यह रही कि इसमें कश्मीरी अलगाववाद के समर्थक कई जाने-माने बुद्धिजीवी भी भारत के खिलाफ जहर उगलने के लिए उपस्थित थे। सेमीनार में गिलानी के बोलने से पहले ही उनके सामने कुछ राष्ट्रवादी युवकों ने जूता उछाल दिया। इससे भारी शोर-शराबा हुआ, जिसको देखते हुए सेमीनार बीच में ही रोकना पड़ा। इस कारण से अलगाववादियों की सारी सोची-समझी रणनीति धरी की धरी रह गई।

ओबामा की भारत यात्रा के मद्देनजर पाकिस्तानी विदेश मंत्री शाह महमूद कुरैशी रणनीतिक दृष्टि से अमेरिका में थे। यहां पर कुरैशी ने अमेरिका से कश्मीर मसले के समाधान के लिए भारत-पाकिस्तान के बीच दखल देने का अनुरोध किया। लेकिन अमेरिका ने पाकिस्तान के अनुरोध को सुनने से ही इन्कार कर दिया। अमेरिका का कहना है कि कश्मीर मसला दो देशों के बीच का मामला है। इसलिए दोनों देशों के बीच में दखल देना या मध्यस्थता करना उसके लिए संभव नहीं है। इस तरह से अमेरिका ने कश्मीर मसले पर भारत के रुख का ही समर्थन किया है।

जम्मू-कश्मीर के संदर्भ में पाकिस्तान समर्थित अलगाववादियों की मांगे विशुद्ध रूप से भारत के एक और विभाजन की पक्षधर हैं। आत्मनिर्णय के अधिकार या जनमत संग्रह और मानवाधिकार की बड़ी-बड़ी बातें तो अलगाववादियों का महज मुखौटा भर है। क्योंकि जम्मू-कश्मीर का “सशर्त विलय” नहीं बल्कि “पूर्ण विलय” हुआ है। जम्मू-कश्मीर रियासत के तत्कालीन महाराजा हरिसिंह ने 26 अक्टूबर 1947 को एक विलय पत्र पर हस्ताक्षर करके उसे भारत सरकार के पास भेज दिया था। 27 अक्टूबर 1947 को भारत के गवर्नर जनरल लार्ड माउंटबेटन द्वारा इस विलय पत्र को उसी रूप में तुरन्त स्वीकार कर लिया गया था। यहाँ इस बात का विशेष महत्व है कि महाराजा हरिसिंह का यह विलय पत्र भारत की शेष 560 रियासतों से किसी भी प्रकार से भिन्न नहीं था और इसमें कोई पूर्व शर्त भी नहीं रखी गई थी।

प्रथम प्रधानमंत्री पंडित जवाहर लाल नेहरू ने देशहित को अनदेखा करते हुए इस विलय को राज्य की जनता के निर्णय के साथ जोड़ने की घोषणा करके अपने जीवन की सबसे बड़ी भूल की। कश्मीर के संदर्भ में नेहरू की दूसरी बड़ी भूल 26 नवंबर 1949 को संविधानसभा में अनुच्छेद-370 का प्रावधान करवाना है, जिसके कारण इस राज्य को विशेष दर्जा प्राप्त हुआ। विशेष बात यह है कि राज्य को अपना संविधान रखने की अनुमति दी गई। भारतीय संसद के कानून लागू करने वाले अधिकारों को इस राज्य के प्रति सीमित किया गया, जिसके अनुसार, भारतीय संसद द्वारा पारित कोई भी कानून राज्य की विधानसभा की पुष्टि के बिना यहां लागू नहीं किया जा सकता। इन्हीं सब कारणों से उस दौर के केंद्रीय विधि मंत्री डॉ. भीमराव अम्बेडकर ने इस अनुच्छेद को देशहित में न मानते हुए इसके प्रति अपनी असहमति जताई थी। संविधान सभा के कई वरिष्ठ सदस्यों के विरोध के बावजूद नेहरू जी ने हस्तक्षेप कर इसे अस्थाई बताते हुए और शीघ्र समाप्त करने का आश्वासन देकर पारित करा लिया।

हम सब जानते हैं कि भारत का संविधान केवल एक नागरिकता को मान्यता प्रदान करता है लेकिन जम्मू-कश्मीर के नागरिकों की नागरिकता दोहरी है। वे भारत के नागरिक हैं और जम्मू-कश्मीर के भी। इस देश में दो विधान व दो निशान होने का प्रमुख कारण यह कथित अनुच्छेद है। सबसे बड़ी बिडंबना यह है कि 17 नवबंर 1956 को जम्मू-कश्मीर की जनता द्वारा विधिवत चुनी गई संविधान सभा ने इस विलय की पुष्टि कर दी। इसके बावजूद भी यह विवाद आज तक समाप्त नहीं हो सका है।

तत्कालीन कांग्रेस नेताओं की अदूरदर्शिता का परिणाम आज हमारे सामने है कि महाराजा द्वारा किए गए बिना किसी पूर्व शर्त के विलय को भी शेख की हठधर्मिता के आगे झुकते हुए केन्द्र सरकार द्वारा ‘जनमत संग्रह’ या ‘आत्मनिर्णय’ जैसे उपक्रमों की घोषणा से महाराजा के विलय पत्र का अपमान तो किया ही साथ-साथ स्वतंत्रता अधिनियम का भी खुलकर उल्लघंन हुआ है। इस स्वतंत्रता अधिनियम के अनुसार, राज्यों की जनता को आत्मनिर्णय का अधिकार न देते हुए केवल राज्यों के राजाओं को ही विलय के अधिकार दिए गए थे।

ये बातें एकदम सिद्ध हो चुकी हैं कि 63 वर्षों बाद भी यदि जम्मू-कश्मीर राज्य की समस्या का समाधान नहीं हो सका है तो इसके जिम्मेदार कांग्रेसी राजनेता हैं। नेहरू का कश्मीर से विशेष लगाव होना, शेख अब्दुल्ला के प्रति अत्यधिक प्रेम और महाराजा हरिसिंह के प्रति द्वेषपूर्ण व्यवहार ही ऐसे बिंदु थे, जिसके कारण कश्मीर समस्या एक नासूर बनकर समय-समय पर अत्यधिक पीड़ा देती रही है, उसी तरह समस्या के समाधान में अनुच्छेद-370 भी जनाक्रोश का विषय बनती रही है।

इस विघटनकारी अनुच्छेद को समाप्त करने की मांग देश के बुद्धिजीवियों और राष्ट्रवादियों द्वारा बराबर की जाती रही है। दूसरी ओर पंथनिरपेक्षता की आड़ में मुस्लिम वोट बैंक की राजनीति करने वाले इसे हटाए जाने का विरोध करते रहे हैं। अस्थाई रूप से जोड़ा गया यह अनुच्छेद-370 गत 61 वर्षों में अपनी जड़ें गहरी जमा चुकी है। इसे समाप्त करना ही देशहित में होगा, नहीं तो देश का एक और विभाजन तय है।

अलगाववाद को शह दे रही है कांग्रेस

जम्मू-कश्मीर के मुख्यमंत्री उमर अब्दुल्ला ने हाल ही में अलगाववाद का समर्थन करते हुए जो बयान दिया था, वास्तव में उस बयान के बाद उनको मुख्यमंत्री पद पर बने रहने का कोई लोकतांत्रिक और नैतिक अधिकार नहीं रह गया है। उमर ने कहा था- “जम्मू-कश्मीर का पूर्ण विलय नहीं बल्कि सशर्त विलय हुआ है। इसलिए इस क्षेत्र को भारत का अविभाज्य अंग कहना उचित नहीं है। यह मसला बिना पाकिस्तान के हल नहीं किया जा सकता है।”

उमर के इस प्रकार के बयान से वहां की सरकार और अलगाववादियों में कोई अंतर नहीं रह गया है। जो मांगे अलगाववादी कर रहे हैं, उन्हीं मांगों को राज्य सरकार के मुखिया उमर भी दुहरा रहे हैं। आखिर, सैयद अली शाह गिलानी व मीरवाइज उमर फारूख सहित अन्य अलगाववादी नेताओं और राज्य के मुख्यमंत्री उमर अब्दुल्ला में क्या फर्क बचा है ?

यदि उमर अब्दुल्ला अलगाववादी भाषा बोलने के बाद भी राज्य के मुख्यमंत्री बने हुए हैं, तो इसकी प्रत्यक्ष जिम्मेदार कांग्रेस है। क्योंकि कांग्रेस के समर्थन से ही अब्दुल्ला सरकार टिकी हुई है। सबसे आश्चर्यजनक बात यह है कि जम्मू-कश्मीर मसले पर बातचीत के लिए केंद्र सरकार द्वारा नियुक्त वार्ताकार भी उमर अब्दुल्ला की ही तरह अलगाववादी भाषा बोल रहे हैं। इस पूरे मामले में कांग्रेस का रुख संदेहास्पद प्रतीत हो रहा है।

अब यह प्रश्न उठता है कि क्या कांग्रेस भी पंडित नेहरू के ही नक्शे-कदम पर चल पड़ी है ? सभी जानते हैं कि स्वतंत्रता के तत्काल बाद कबाइलियों के भेस में पाकिस्तानी आक्रमण के दौरान कश्मीर की जीती हुई लड़ाई को संयुक्त राष्ट्र में ले जाकर पंडित नेहरू ने ऐतिहासिक भूल की थी। ठीक उसी प्रकार की भूल कांग्रेस भी कर रही है। इतिहास गवाह है कि यदि पंडित नेहरू कश्मीर मसले को संयुक्त राष्ट्र में नहीं ले गए होते तो आज अपने पूरे जम्मू-कश्मीर पर भारत का ध्वज फहराता और ‘पाकिस्तान अधिकृत कश्मीर’ का कहीं कोई नामोनिशान नहीं होता।
(Courtesy : http://bhadas4media.com, 25/10/2010)

Tibet isn't Kashmir

By Claude Arpi

Before equating the ‘Kashmir issue' with the ‘Tibet issue', China should think twice. Unlike Jammu & Kashmir, Tibet has no autonomy To the surprise of many people, External Affairs Minister SM Krishna recently told his Chinese counterpart Yang Jiechi that New Delhi expects Beijing to change its position on Jammu & Kashmir by reciprocating the way India has handled Chinese “core issues”.

It is the first time that India has equated Jammu & Kashmir with Tibet. This happened during a 70-minute bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the Russia-India-China trilateral conference. After the meeting, Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao was more explicit: “Our Minister referred to the need to show mutual sensitivity and that the Chinese side needs to be sensitive to our concerns in Jammu & Kashmir like India has been sensitive to Chinese concerns on Taiwan and Tibet.”

This issue started when China began issuing stapled visas for residents of Jammu & Kashmir. Apparently, by doing so China wants to make a point: Beijing does not recognise Jammu & Kashmir as an integral part of India. As former Foreign Secretary Kanwal Sibal says, “This would suggest that the Chinese now consider India’s presence in Jammu & Kashmir as lacking in legitimacy.”

Later, China denied a visa to Lt Gen BS Jaswal, chief of the Northern Command, to attend a scheduled defence meeting in Beijing. To make matter worse, the Chinese Embassy stated that the General was serving in the “sensitive location of Jammu & Kashmir” and “people from this part of the world come with a different kind of visa”. Interestingly, the position of Beijing has historically been quite clear: China wanted Pakistan and India to solve the ‘Kashmir issue’ bilaterally (even though Beijing’s favours have always heavily tilted towards Islamabad).

The recently declassified transcript of a meeting between Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai and the Pakistani Ambassador to China, Ahmed Ali, in February 1957, offers a good historical perspective. During the discussion, Zhou Enlai repeatedly asked the Ambassador, “Is there a danger of conflict breaking out over the Kashmir issue?” The Pakistani Ambassador wouldn’t reply even after Zhou Enlai clarified, “The two countries of Pakistan and India are sister countries; if a conflict occurs, it is not only disadvantageous to the two countries, it is also disadvantageous to the peace of Asia.”

When Zhou drew a parallel with Taiwan, the Ambassador retorted, “The Taiwan issue and the Kashmir issue are different. We hold that Taiwan is a part of China, and that this issue will eventually resolve itself. But the Kashmir issue is a point of contention between two independent countries.”  Zhou answered, “Of course the Taiwan issue and the Kashmir issue are different in nature. (But) we have always hoped that the two countries of Pakistan and India can peacefully resolve the Kashmir issue.”

In another interesting historical document, Zhou Enlai told another Pakistani Ambassador just a few weeks before the October 1962 attack on India: “(About our) attitude towards Kashmir, we have repeatedly demonstrated that China holds a neutral stance: (We) have not stated that Kashmir belongs to (this or) that side, but have advocated seeking a resolution for this issue through peaceful negotiation. We also listened to India’s opinion, but did not express any preferences. We respect the two sides’ resolution reached through negotiation.”

The Chinese Premier continued, “During my second visit to India (in 1957), Nehru repeatedly hinted about this issue (Kashmir). He deliberately invited a Kashmiri prince (Karan Singh) to a banquet; I did not take any notice of it. We adopted an extremely objective attitude.” This has remained Beijing’s policy for decades, but since a few months things have changed. China’s Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi was ambiguous in his response to Mr SM Krishna. Could it be otherwise? Today it is clear that it is not Mr Yang Jiechi who decides China’s foreign policy. However, the use of the ‘Kashmir card’ by Beijing is new, at least in this open and deliberate manner. How else can it be explained?

To understand the issue one should look at a larger perspective. India is not alone to face a problem emanating from China. In recent months, Japan, Korea and other neighbours of China have encountered Beijing’s change of mood. Most China watchers agree that it is due to the increasing interference of the People’s Liberation Army in that country’s foreign policy, sometimes in opposition to the ‘civilian’ State Council’s positions (the theory of the ‘Peaceful Rise of China’ seems, for example, to have been forgotten).

These developments are quite worrying. The Wall Street Journal published an article last month affirming “China’s Army Extends Sway”. The Wall Street Journal’s correspondent Jeremy Page wrote: “The Chinese military’s political clout is expected to grow as the Communist Party’s ruling Politburo Standing Committee prepares for China’s change to new leadership in 2012.”

Page added, “It is unclear to what extent the PLA is unilaterally expanding its traditional role — to defend the party and Chinese territory — or being encouraged by party leaders to redefine China’s broader national interests. But the military has become far more outspoken in recent months, frequently upstaging the Foreign Ministry and heightening concerns in the region and beyond about how China plans to use its economic muscle.”

In September, the China Brief of the Jamestown Foundation had noted: “While China and India have long sparred over the Dalai Lama and Tibet’s status, border incursions and China’s growing footprint in southern Asia, a perceptible shift in the Chinese stance on Kashmir has now emerged as a new source of inter-state friction. Throughout the 1990s, a desire for stability on its south-western flank and fears of an Indian-Pakistani nuclear arms race caused Beijing to take a more evenhanded approach to Kashmir, while still favouring Islamabad.” The jockeying for key positions in the next Politburo and its mighty Standing Committee as well as the coveted seats in the Central Military Commission probably explains the latest Chinese moves. However, Beijing should think twice before equating Jammu & Kashmir and Tibet. The ‘civilian’ or PLA leaders should not forget that Jammu & Kashmir lives under Article 370 of the Indian Constitution. Though a similar Article in the Chinese Constitution for Tibet would probably be the ideal solution for solving the Tibetan issue, it may not be to Beijing’s taste. For the Dalai Lama, it would undoubtedly be interesting to have a 370-type Article barring non-State subjects from other Provinces to settle or start businesses in Tibet.

Jammu & Kashmir also has its own Constitution, flag, Legislative Assembly and its own elected Government. Indian laws have to be ratified by the State Assembly before being implemented and several other features exist, providing a large autonomy for Jammu & Kashmir. This sounds close to the ‘genuine’ autonomy for Tibet on which the Dalai Lama insists. Suppose tomorrow New Delhi tells Beijing, “If you must club Jammu & Kashmir with Tibet, why don’t you have something like ‘Article 370’ for Tibet and all the Tibetan-inhabited areas? It will be to your benefit, the Tibetan issue will be settled, and after a ‘larger autonomy’ is granted to Tibet, one can certainly find an arrangement to sort out the India-Tibet border issue.” Perhaps Mr Krishna did not have this in mind, but whoever decides foreign policy in Beijing should think about it before unnecessarily upping the ante on the ‘Kashmir issue’. The views expressed in this piece are that of the author and the publication of the piece on this website does not necessarily reflect their endorsement by the website.

(Courtesy : www.phayul.com, 20/11/2010)

CPI(M) for political group as interlocutors in J&K

New Delhi : The Communist Party of India (Marxist) on Sunday expressed disappointment that the Central government has appointed non-political persons as interlocutors for Jammu and Kashmir suggesting that the task has to be done by a political group. “The Central Committee expressed its disappointment at the appointment of a group of interlocutors for Jammu and Kashmir who are non-political persons. If the political process is to be taken seriously, there has to be a political group which can initiate the dialogue process,” the Central Committee said at the conclusion of its three-day meeting here.

Report on J&K adopted

“The meeting discussed and adopted a report on the J&K problem which deals with the historical background of the issue and spells out the party approach for a political solution for the Kashmir issue,” party general secretary Prakash Karat said at a press conference.

It also noted that no steps were taken to remove the security structures, which were oppressing the people in the Kashmir Valley. It said though the eight-point initiative of the Centre talked about a review of the Disturbed Areas Act in force, nothing had been done in that direction.

Commenting on the recent arrest of the absconding Asimanand, main accused in the Hyderabad Mecca Masjid blast, he said this was further confirmation of the fact that some extremist Hindutva elements were responsible for terrorist activities. He said a probe should be held to uncover the full network. The argument of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh that Hindu religious figures and its activists were being framed for political reasons was disproved by the hard facts and evidence that had emerged. Noting that inflation remained at 8.5 per cent and prices of food items continued to rise, the Central Committee reiterated its demand that the deregulation of petrol prices be scrapped and speculation on foodgrains and essential commodities through futures trading be prohibited. The party will oppose the Seeds Bill, which was against the interests of the farmers and in favour of the multinational companies and corporates. The party units will also launch a campaign on eight issues, including opposing the entry of Foreign Direct Investment in retail trade.

Obama visit

The party said the purpose of the visit of U.S. President Barack Obama was to promote American business and commercial interests and draw India into a military and security relationship. It said opening up Indian agriculture and retail trade to American multinational corporations would be detrimental to the interests of crores of small and marginal farmers and small retail shop owners and traders. It also said the Manmohan Singh government seemed to be falling in step with the geopolitical strategy of the United States in order to earn the U.S. endorsement for India's permanent membership of the United Nations Security Council. “There is glee at the U.S. endorsement but Japan has been waiting for several years after endorsement,” Mr. Karat said, adding that permanent membership for India in the Security Council had to be on the basis of its independent role and influence when the United Nations structure was democratised.

(Courtesy : www.thehindu.com, 22/11/2010)

India equates Jammu & Kashmir with Tibet?

Wuhan : Barely a month ahead of Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao’s visit to India next month, New Delhi has made it clear that it expects Beijing to set the record straight on Jammu & Kashmir by reciprocating just the way India has done in the case of Chinese sensitivities in Tibet and Taiwan. This was conveyed by External Affairs Minister S M Krishna to his Chinese counterpart Yang Jiechi in the course a 70-minute bilateral conversation on the margins of the Russia-India-China trilateral meet here on Sunday.

However, Yang continued to be ambiguous in his response and did not even raise the issue of New Delhi having frozen high-level military exchanges after Beijing conveyed that the Northern Army Commander would have to be considered for a stapled visa as he is in-charge of a “disputed area”. Giving out details of these talks, Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao put it bluntly on record: “Our minister (Krishna) referred to the need to show mutual sensitivity and that the Chinese side needs to be sensitive to our concerns in J&K like India has been sensitive to Chinese concerns on Taiwan and Tibet.”

(Courtesy : www.indianexpress.com, 15/11/2010)

  

Separatists aghast as UN drops mention of J&K as a dispute news       

One may be forgiven for mixing ones metaphors by describing separatists from the mountainous state of Jammu & Kashmir as at sea –but that would best describe their condition as news began to spread that the United Nations had dropped mention of Jammu & Kashmir as a ''dispute.'' While yesterday they were still floating on a hope and prayer, that the UN's turnaround may have been an oversight of some kind, just as the Pakistani representative at the UN had suggested, today it turned it really bad for them as the technicalities of this decision by the UN emerged.

For the record it may be stated that the United Nations has indeed dropped mention of Jammu & Kashmir as a long-pending international ''dispute.'' On Monday, Pakistan's envoy Amjad Sial told the General Assembly debating the annual report of the UNSC that the absence of the J&K issue was "inadvertent". ''We understand this was an inadvertent omission, as Jammu & Kashmir is one of the oldest disputes on the agenda of the Security Council,'' Sial said during a discussion in the General Assembly on Security Council reforms.

He was taking objection to the fact that Kashmir did not figure in the latest annual report of the Security Council to the General Assembly. It now emerges that the ''India-Pakistan question'' has not been figuring in the annual reports of the Security Council since 2000. It was from this point of time that old issues before the council stopped being mentioned in the report if they were not discussed that year.

(Courtesy : www.domain-b.com, 16/11/2010)

Outdated info on govt websites in J-K

Srinagar: If you go by the official website of the Jammu and Kashmir government, the state has only 14 districts as against 22. Official websites of the state government, maintained by Information department and General Administration Department (GAD), also show outdated information about the council of ministers and the administrative set-up. Eight new districts were created in the state during the chief ministership of Ghulam Nabi Azad in 2006.

The districts that have not been mentioned in the website are: Shopian, Kulgam, Bandipora and Ganderbal in Kashmir division; and Kishtwar, Ramban, Reasi and Samba in Jammu division. According to the official website www.jammukashmir.nic.in, the Omar Abdullah-led council of ministers has not been expanded after it was sworn in on January 5, 2009. The council of ministers was, however, expanded to include 13 more faces in July last year.

The present strength of the council is 22. Then again, Finance Minister Abdul Rahim Rather continues to hold charge of Law and Parliamentary affairs, a portfolio given to Rural Development Minister Ali Mohammad Sagar after the expansion of the ministry in July 2009. The official website of General Administration Department, a department directly under the charge of Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, is full of old information about officials heading the Kashmir division and several district administrations in the state.

It says Naseema Lankar is still the divisional commissioner of Kashmir division. However, the officer was transferred as Commissioner Secretary in the School Education department in August. Two deputy commissioners have served in Kargil district in Ladakh region of the state since Riyaz Ahmad Sheikh relinquished the post in 2009. However, the GAD website still has Sheikh listed as the head of the district administration. The incumbent is N Raju who had taken over from Satish Nehru recently. M K Dwivedi was elevated to the rank of secretary during a cabinet meeting in October and posted in the department of Information Technology, while Deputy Commissioner Leh Sanjeev Verma was posted in his place as deputy commissioner Jammu.

While Dwivedi continues to be listed as deputy commissioner of Jammu, Verma is shown as deputy commissioner of Kathua -- a post he held before being transferred to Leh for overseeing the elections of the Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council -- on the website. M S Sheikh is the acting deputy commissioner Kathua but finds no mention on the official website. The website maintained by the Kashmir Divisional Commissioner's office has the newly created districts mentioned on it, but there is no information about the geography, demography or administration on the links to these districts.

(Courtesy : www.hindustantimes.com, 21/11/2010)

Karan echoes Omar, but ‘J&K part of India’

 Jammu: Facing flak for his remarks on accession of Jammu and Kashmir with India, Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Friday got support from an unexpected quarter — senior Congress leader and former sadar-e-riyast Dr Karan Singh. Singh said the state had acceded to India and not merged with it and that it why it has its own separate constitution and special status. The statement assumes significance as Singh is son of the last Dogra ruler of Jammu and Kashmir, Maharaja Hari Singh — who signed the Instrument of Accession on October 26, 1947 — and also because he was the state’s first and last sadar-e-riyast. “The factual position is that the Instrument of Accession signed by my father Maharaja Hari Singh was the same as signed by other states. However, after that other states ended in merger with India, but Jammu Kashmir did not merge with it as it had its own separate constitution. That is why the state has special status and Article 370,” Singh said.

(Courtesy : www.hindustantimes.com, 23/10/2010)

जम्मू-कश्मीर के लिए 1,618 करोड़ का पैकेज

नई दिल्ली। केंद्र ने कश्मीर घाटी में विस्थापित परिवारों के उचित पुनर्वास के लिए 1,618.41 करोड़ रुपए के एक प्रस्ताव को मंजूरी दे दी है। आज यहाँ यह जानकारी देते हुए राहत तथा पुनर्वास मंत्री रमन भल्ला ने कहा कि कश्मीर के कुल 4,218 विस्थापितों के लिए तीन हजार फ्लैट नागरोटा के जागती में 294 करोड़ रुपए की लागत से निर्मित किए जा रहे हैं। ये दिसंबर तक बनकर तैयार हो जाएँगे। आवंटन अगले वर्ष होगा। केंद्र सरकार ने वृद्धावास, आम सुविधा केंद्र, बाजार परिसर, पोस्ट ऑफिस और बैंक सुविधाओं सहित अतिरिक्त इमारतों के निर्माण के लिए 321.98 करोड़ रुपए के संशोधित प्रस्ताव को मंजूरी दी है। 
(Courtesy : www.hindi.webdunia.com, 19/11/ 2010)

जम्मू-कश्मीर पर हमारा रुख गया : भारत

नई दिल्ली।  भारत ने मंगलवार को कहा कि जम्मू-कश्मीर उसके और पाकिस्तान के बीच का एक द्विपक्षीय मुद्दा है और वह इस्लामाबाद के साथ सभी द्विपक्षीय मुद्दों पर चर्चा करने के लिये तैयार है.

भारत ने कहा है कि उसके रुख को अंतरराष्ट्रीय समुदाय ने व्यापक तौर पर स्वीकार किया है और सराहा है. संयुक्त राष्ट्र सुरक्षा परिषद में सुधार संबंधी वाषिर्क चर्चा में ब्रिटेन के एक शीर्ष राजनयिक द्वारा सुरक्षा परिषद के पर्यवेक्षण के अधीन रखे गये विवादों की सूची से कश्मीर मुद्दे को बाहर रखे जाने पर पाकिस्तान ने आपत्ति जतायी थी.

पाकिस्तान की इस आपत्ति के बारे में प्रतिक्रिया पूछने पर भारत के आधिकारिक प्रवक्ता विष्णु प्रकाश ने कहा कि जम्मू-कश्मीर भारत और पाकिस्तान के बीच का एक द्विपक्षीय मुद्दा है. उन्होंने कहा कि हमने पाकिस्तान के साथ सभी द्विपक्षीय मुद्दों पर सलाह-मशविरा और चर्चा की है और हम आगे भी ऐसा करने को तैयार हैं. भारत के इस रुख को अंतरराष्ट्रीय समुदाय के सदस्यों ने व्यापक तौर पर स्वीकार किया है और सराहा है.  
(Courtesy : www.aajtak.intoday.in, 16/11/ 2010)