[Reader-list] Don’t turn back the clock in J&K - Jagmohan, former Governor J&K

[Aditya Raj Kaul]

Don’t turn back the clock in J&K
*The Asian Age*
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*Link - **
http://www.asianage.com/columnists/don%E2%80%99t-turn-back-clock-jk-917*<http://www.asianage.com/columnists/don%E2%80%99t-turn-back-clock-jk-917>

One of the tragic pointers of Indian history is that more often than not
Indians have themselves proved to be their worst enemies. This stands
reinforced by what the negative forces in our country did in early 1990.

It should be clear from the analysis of major events connected with
Kashmir’s post-1947 history that there is an overwhelming need to learn from
each and every lapse and evolve a new framework of thought and action.
Unfortunately, no one is attending to this need. With regard to the
stone-throwing mobs that are now daily appearing on the streets of most
urban centres of the Valley, old attitudes rooted in superficiality and
“short-termism” are once again at display. So far, about 69 persons have
died. But there is no sign of a sustained crackdown on the ringleaders,
financers and those who are spraying the virus of militant fanaticism in the
Valley.

What is worse, another “appeasement card” is being put forward in the form
of a political package and additional autonomy, without bothering to
consider that in the long run such a package and such an autonomy could
provide stronger muscle to the forces of subversion and separatism in the
Valley. Further, no one is showing any inclination to raise certain basic
and pertinent questions in this regard.

Are the Kashmiris, like the citizens of the rest of India, not already free
under the Constitution of India? Do they not have all the fundamental rights
which individuals in modern liberal democracies enjoy? Has their identity,
culture, religion or language been undermined in any way by the
constitutional arrangements that have been in operation for the last several
decades? How would a common Kashmiri be benefited by changing the
nomenclature of chief minister to Prime Minister or of governor to
Sadar-e-Riyasat, or by ousting the jurisdiction of Supreme Court, the
Election Commission and the Comptroller and Auditor General of India? What
would happen if the so-called pre-1952 position is restored and only
defence, foreign affairs and communications are kept within the jurisdiction
of the Union Parliament/government and all the remaining items are assigned
exclusively to the state legislature/government? How would the state
government then meet its requirements of finances which at present are
provided by the Union government to the tune of 74 per cent of its needs?
Could the “nuts and bolts” of objective reality and the need to have smooth
and workable relationship between the state and the Union be dispensed with?

To these and allied questions, no satisfactory answers can be provided by
the proponents of autonomy and the “political package”. They merely harp on
the promises supposed to have been made to Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah,
forgetting that what matters is not the individual but the state government
without whose concurrence nothing was done. They take advantage of the
widespread ignorance that prevails in the country about the rather complex
manner in which constitutional relations between Jammu and Kashmir and the
Union have evolved. They hide the fact that Jammu and Kashmir already
enjoys, albeit unjustifiably, far more powers than are available to other
states of the Union. They also forget that at the time of the 1975 Kashmir
Accord, Prime Minister Indira Gandhi had made it clear that “the clock could
not be put back”, and that the “provisions of the Indian Constitution
applied to the state of Jammu and Kashmir ‘without adaptation or
modification’ were unalterable”.

The only concession made in 1975, in the spirit of bonhomie, by the
Government of India was to consider changes in the “adapted and modified”
provisions, if a specific proposal in this regard was received from the
state government. But neither the government of Sheikh Abdullah nor that of
Dr Farooq Abdullah could send any proposal, primarily because the changes
earlier made were all necessitated by practical consideration.

The State Autonomy Committee Report (1999), sent to the Union government 24
years after the Kashmir Accord, is nothing but a broad repetition of what
was said on behalf of the National Conference in 1975. It ignores the huge
volume of water that has since flowed under the bridges of Yamuna and
Jhelum, and does not indicate how the changes that are being advocated now
would improve the lot of the common man and how the expenditure on the state
Five-Year Plans would be met. Nor does it care to explain how certain
security and other contingencies would be dealt with? What, for instance,
would happen if Article 356 is not applicable and if the state refuses or
fails to comply with any requirement of the Union in respect of defence,
foreign affairs or communication? Would this not cause an intractable
constitutional deadlokck?

The acceptance by the Union government of any of the phoney ideas contained
in the aforesaid report would add another blunder to the series of blunders
committed in the past, which have so far cost the nation over 50,000 lives,
besides several thousand-crores of hard-earned taxpayers’ money.

While it is not likely to make even a slight dent in the criticality of the
present situation, it could strengthen the forces of disarray in the Valley,
give rise to fresh agitations in other regions of the state and become a
precedent for separatists in other part of the country to quote and demand.
Even otherwise, the unfortunate history of Jammu and Kashmir in the
post-1947 period warns us in no uncertain terms that the decision taken
under momentary pressures and on short-term considerations have proved
disastrous in the long run. Too many infections have already accumulated in
the body politics of Jammu and Kashmir. If we do not have the skill or will
to drain them out, let us at least not add more to them.

The need of the hour is that we should make a new beginning, educate our
brothers and sisters in Kashmir about the true position in respect of their
political, social and cultural freedoms and tell them that we as fellow
countrymen have already helped them to the tune of `95,000 crores from
1989-90 to 2009-10, and would continue to discharge our obligations in this
respect in future to make them a happy and prosperous community of the
Union.

This concludes a two-part series
Jagmohan is a former governor of J&K and a former Union minister


-- 
Aditya Raj Kaul

India Editor
The Indian, Australia

Web: http://activistsdiary.blogspot.com/