Author: G. Parthasarathy
Publication: The Hindu Business Line
Date: October 14, 2010
URL: http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2010/10/14/stories/2010101450230800.htm
The Hurriyat leadership and its mentors in
Pakistan know that with the army no longer in the valley, the writ of the
Indian State can be challenged with impunity.
There has been a basic flaw in New Delhi's
"internal dialogue" with people in the multi-ethnic, multilingual
and multi-religious state of Jammu and Kashmir. This "internal dialogue"
has been almost exclusively with the leadership of the Hurriyat Conference
based in the Kashmir Valley.
This, despite the fact that roughly 45 per
cent of the people of Jammu and Kashmir are not "Kashmiris", who
live in the Kashmir Valley, but are Dogras, Punjabis, Paharis, Bakarwals,
Gujjars, Buddhist Ladakhis and Balti Shias in Kargil.
The Charter of the Hurriyat Conference explicitly
proclaims its aim as "the build-up of a society based on Islamic Values"
in keeping with "the Muslim majority character of the state". The
Hurriyat's primary objective is described as a "struggle to secure for
the people of Jammu and Kashmir the exercise of the right of self-determination
in accordance with the UN Charter and the resolutions adopted by the UN Security
Council, however, the exercise of the right of self determination shall also
include the right to independence".
It is in the Kashmir Valley alone, which boasts
of a proud history of secular "Kashmiriyat", that 400,000 members
of the minority community have been forced to flee from their homes by a Pakistani-sponsored
"Jihad", backed indirectly by the Hurriyat Conference.
Every major outfit in the Hurriyat, which
has splintered and split periodically, is associated with terrorist groups
across the LoC - ranging from the Al Umar Mujahideen, which backs the "moderate"
Mirwaiz Omar Farooq, to Hizb ul Mujahideen of the "radical" Syed
Ali Shah Geelani. Pakistan's military leadership in Rawalpindi decides who
leads the Hurriyat Conference.
IMPLICATIONS OF 'AUTONOMY'
Both the PDP and National Conference have
sought to match the rhetoric of the Pakistan-backed separatists, by demanding
a return to the position that prevailed in 1953, before the provisions of
the Indian Constitution were made applicable to the state.
Some misguided "liberals" too, advocate
conceding "maximum autonomy". They forget that what is being asked
for by a section of the people of the state, exclusively from the Valley,
with little or no support from people in the Jammu and Ladakh regions, is
a framework where the permit system for the entry of people from other parts
of India into Kashmir could be revived, the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court,
Election Commission and the Auditor General of India will no longer extend
to the state and duties could be imposed on goods imported into Kashmir from
the rest of the country.
Jammu and Kashmir will become the only part
of the country where the provisions of Article 356 and 357 of the Constitution
will not be applicable and the Governor will be appointed not by the Union
Government, but by the State Legislature. Just before the Mirza Afzal Beg-G
Parthasarathi Accord was signed on August 23, 1974, Sheikh Abdullah told Indira
Gandhi's representative: "I hope I have made it clear to you that I can
assume office only on the basis of the position as it existed in 1953."
Gandhi merely agreed to discuss this with
Sheikh Abdullah, who assumed office soon thereafter. She certainly had no
intention of reversing all that had been done to integrate Jammu and Kashmir
into the mainstream of the pluralistic national ethos of India.
AZADI AND PoK
The recent demonstrations in parts of the
Kashmir Valley have had no resonance elsewhere in the state. They are being
orchestrated to gather momentum and reach full throttle when President Obama
is in India. The salient demand has been the revocation of the Armed Forces
Special Powers Act, being advanced vigorously at a time when the army is no
longer deployed for internal security anywhere in the valley.
The Hurriyat leadership and their mentors
across the LoC know that with the army out of the security equation, the writ
of the Indian state can be challenged with impunity.
The sort of autonomy being demanded by the
Hurriyat is seen in Jammu and Ladakh as an instrument to achieve permanent
hegemony of the Valley population and fulfil the Hurriyat's aspirations for
a "society based on Islamic values". Any initiative to reach out
to people across Jammu and Kashmir has to be based on securing a consensus
in all regions of the State.
While demanding "Azadi" for "Kashmiris",
the Hurriyat has been remarkably reticent on what is happening in Pakistan
Occupied Kashmir. Surely, those demanding "Azadi" should be asked
whether their espousal of "Azadi" also covers the people of Gilgit
and Baltistan.
The Resolution passed by the European Parliament
on May 24, 2007, slams the domination of officials appointed by Islamabad
in the affairs of Pakistan Occupied Kashmir.
The Resolution notes that while the "Gilgit-Baltistan
region enjoys no form of democratic representation whatsoever" the state
of "Jammu and Kashmir (administered by India) enjoys a unique status
under Article 370 of the Indian Constitution, granting it greater autonomy
than other States of the Indian Union".
India needs to drive home these facts to people
in the Kashmir Valley and to the international community, rather than being
on the defensive about deliberately-engineered violence in the Kashmir Valley.
- (The author is former High Commissioner
to Pakistan.)
