Don’t Chase the Tail !! Has anyone ever thought that what could had been the situation, had Pakistan and its raiders not attacked Kashmir post partition that resultantly led Maharaja to sign the Accession.? or Had Pakistan later withdrawn the occupation from POK and allowed the facilitation of recommended Plebiscite? and Did KP’s exodus actually got differed in 1947 to 1989? had Indian forces not come in for rescue after Instrument of accession getting signed? The Maharaja and Sheikh agreed for accession to India with certain guarantees that finally got moved into a temporary Article 370. The intent was that this temporaryness will go as situation normalizes, which actually our politicians never tried for. Every party has exploited this for their benefits in last 65 years. Kashmiri Muslims in the valley have been exploited in the name of religion and a sense of sepratedness has been always been kept alive and people outside valley have been exploited in the name of discrimination that Art 370 brings in. Though in and out responsibility was to seed the sense of integration that breeds the sense of one nation and prevents discrimination with other states in the long run. But what actually happened was that the every state and central government exploited this for their personal gains. GOI also kept getting exploited and taken for a ride in the name of sensitivity and Integration and their political compulsions. Perhaps Kashmiri politicians back home kept on playing with the emotions of Kashmiris and always used that as a card in their hand to exploit and negotiate with GOI. Had they put the right efforts, the situation could had been different and not discriminative. In last 65 years, center has pumped trillions of dollars into the state however when you closely look at the allocation of financial resources there is a clear discrimination within the state that Kashmiri Leadership has perpetuated. Kashmir valley’s allocation is between 65-69 percent, whereas both Jammu and Ladakh divisions put together gets about 31-35 percent. Not only is the discrimination in the regions but with other Indian states as well. As per reports and data, the per-capita subsidy provided to J&K is 16 times more than West Bengal and 12 times more than Bihar. J&K also gets special employment packages and prime ministers packages regularly but there is no accountability as none of this information is made public or is available under J&K’s RTI Act. The Kashmir politicians, leadership and governments have actually done this under the garb of Article 370 On a closer look , we will notice that this Article 370 that was introduced as an temporarory measure to build a sense of confidence, trust and integration has been used by polity for their personal petty political gains both inside and outside Kashmir and have promoted dissent in order to keep their political shops surviving in Kashmir. That is why today when the question of abrogation comes up it raises eyebrows on all sides. We need to collectively look at the deep rooted question and also understand where is the clamour of dissent actually lying, Is it in Art 370 itself or Political Ecosystem or the Policy of Appeasement that each government has practiced or something else? Also we need to ask is that how does Art 370 stay in the ways of State’s integration or is this used to rake up the sentiments of electorate, or religious segments to keep pot boiling inside and outside Kashmir? There are two school of thoughts where one who are against 370 say that it weakens the states accession to India and has done more harm than gain by perpetuating secessionist tendencies and also discrimination by state governments through undue favoritism amongst 3 regions. The other school of thought is that this article 370 is the condition to J&K’s accession to India and any attempt to abrogate will mean unsettling the foundation on which accession was agreed. Perhaps, technically Art 370 today is a strong legislative relation between Center and State, however the intent with which this temporary mechanism was brought in has been forgotten and selfishly used by our political system and consequently the entire nation including people of J&K have stayed mislead and misinformed. The question now is can Center Government unilaterally abrogate art 370?. Various constitutional experts feel that the abrogation is not as simple or straightforward process, it can only be done on the recommendations of state constituent assembly. Unilaterall abrogation may lead to various complications including Judicial , Social, Political and may be International complications and may give local politicians, secessionist tools in their hands to rake up the emotions of Kashmiris and revive bloodshed on the roads. The maturity of leadership is to come together and work on the steps of gradual erosion through policy of inclusiveness, good governance, no discrimination, safeguarding ethnic minorities and sustained all round development. Instead of following the rhetoric, let the policy be strengthening the bond of integration in the heart and minds without discriminating with other regions and religions in the state. Efforts of co-operation and not Confrontation. It is also important to note that as long as this issue is not addressed, the minorities in the state will continue to be subjugated to misery, apathy and discrimination. Both Central & State governments need to ensure the balanced approach given the uniqueness of state where besides Kashmiri Muslims, Shias we have Pandits, Dogras, Ladakhis,Sikhs and stop the policy of appeasement fOR one section This situation makes me to recall an inspirational story of a Cat and a Kitten. Once there was this kitten that was chasing its tail. It just chased it and chased. An older wiser cat came along and he watched this kitten. The cat watched the kitten for a long time. Then he asked the kitten, Kitten, why do you chase your tail? The kitten replied, Because I will find happiness in my tail. The old cat watched for a time longer then he said, I, too, use to chase my tail because I thought I would find happiness there. But I realized that I didnt need to chase my tail for wherever I went it seemed to follow. And the old cat got up and walked away with his tail whishing behind. In nutshell , Rather than chasing the tail, let tail follow you Raj Nehru
Posted on: Wed, 26 Nov 2014 09:05:18 +0000
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