JOIN USDelhi needs to revisit its Kashmir policy
There is a growing clamour in Kashmir, urging the Centre to revisit its Kashmir policy. It is felt and also voiced that Delhi failed to live up to its promise of emotionally integrating the people of Kashmir with the rest of the country after it abrogated Article 370 in August 2019, which was described as a watershed moment then. The quarrel is less about what happened on that fateful day when J&K lost its special status and statehood and more about the sense of loss among the people who feel their opportunities are being handed over to "others" (outsiders) by a highly domineering bureaucratic system.
The Centre was supposed to have accomplished its long-awaited goal of demolishing the constitutional barriers between J&K and the rest of the country by doing away with Article 370. The objective was that the deprived sections in J&K - West Pakistan Refugees, Valmikis, Gorkhas - would get their citizenship and rights as available to all citizens of India. The permanent residents of J&K had exclusive rights to jobs, scholarships and voting in the local bodies and the state legislative assembly. These were not available to these deprived sections though they had lived in the erstwhile state for over seven decades. The non-permanent residents from the rest of the country were given the entitlement to buy land and start business establishments in J&K.
Over the past three years, what has irked the locals most is that mining contracts have been awarded mostly to "outsiders", and similar is the case with contracts in other sectors. Even the liquor business (mostly in the Hindu-dominated Jammu region) has gone to the cartels from outside. Most of the top official positions have been filled by bringing in officers from outside of J&K. Not only the local officers have been sidelined, but also the original J&K cadre IAS and IPS officers are feeling the squeeze.
Some political leaders, particularly from the Kashmir Valley, are complaining loudly. Others, including those of the BJP, have given expression to it in whispers. Some reasons are common to both the camps, for they feel that the locals are getting marginalised. Apart from bringing in officers from outside, the institutions of higher learning and universities are now headed by academicians from other parts of the country. The chairman of Jammu and Kashmir Public Service, which historically was from J&K, has also been brought from outside.
People want these policies reversed. The way out, they feel, is to allow a democratically elected government to replace the current dispensation. This, they insist, is also mandatory for peace to return to the Valley, which has been perforated by a series of targeted killings of the majority and minority communities. Fear spawns many quarters, especially minorities, and they want to quit Kashmir, demanding relocation of their posts outside the Valley. The majority community in the Muslim-dominated Valley have no choice.
Farooq Abdullah, the tallest leader of Kashmir, who heads the National Conference, the foremost regional party in Kashmir, and the People's Alliance for Gupkar Declaration – a common platform of the parties devoted to demanding restoration of the special status of J&K – is quite forthright in demanding Delhi to change its Kashmir policy. Abdullah has warned the Centre that the peace will not dawn in the Valley unless it changes its attitude and approach toward Kashmir.
Others have also articulated this demand, including Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) chief Mehbooba Mufti, Apni Party chief Altaf Bukhari and Sajjad Lone of People's Conference, deemed an ally of BJP, for he was a minister in the BJP-PDP coalition government from 2015 to 2018. Lone has gone to the extent of mocking the policy and the thought process of those devising it, stating, "The stage has come when non-Kashmiris and non-Muslims have become Kashmir experts."
Elections to the Assembly are seen as a way forward in mitigating these "sufferings" of the people. Still, the schedule is wrapped in speculative terms – the possibility of polls by the year-end but no word on a concrete timeline. Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, during his visit to J&K last week, hinted that the elections could be held by this year-end. However, he added, "This is the possibility."
The delay in elections is causing anxiety as the political parties are yearning for the elected representatives who can understand their language, dialects, geography and grievances without rolling their eyes.
(Arun Joshi is a senior journalist based in Jammu and Kashmir and writes about South Asia's political and geo-strategic affairs)
Disclaimer: The views expressed above are the author's own. They do not necessarily reflect the views of DH.