I will boycott the Independence day!
Kashmir and Kashmiri people need to be respected and not pushed to the wall
PM Modi has stated that the Centre will go the whole hog in terms of development of Kashmir. At the same time, Centre is deploying an additional contingent of paramilitary forces to “deal” with the situation in Kashmir. The word “ deal” is key here. Historically, it would appear that all that the Centre can think of vis a vis Kashmir is to “deal” with it. Significantly, the additional deployment comes in the wake of the Government’s reassurance to the Supreme Court that conditions in Kashmir are improving. If conditions are improving in Kashmir, why and what is the need for additional forces? The Centre here is saying one thing and doing another. And this cacophony between word and deed has been a continuing hallmark of the Centre’s approach towards Kashmir.
If there is a theme that cuts across the Centre’s approach towards Kashmir and its politics, it is that of the politics of manipulation- right from engineering a coup against Sheikh Muhammad Abdullah to what it is now. The asymmetric federalism that binds Kashmir to the Indian Union has been observed in the breach with the Centre manipulating the politics of the state of Jammu and Kashmir by virtue of power. The consequences, are the mass protests and the killings that have ensued in 2016.
Kashmir is a political issue and it needs to be viewed along these lines. The problem largely then is the prism with which Kashmir is viewed. Common sense, even in dealing with issues of a pedestrian nature, let alone a complex one such as Kashmir, suggests that people’s approach to a problem or issue is determined by how they look at it. The same hold true for the Centre vis a vis Kashmir.
The situation we have witnessed lately is not an emotional outburst as some would make us believe. I think it was volcanic in many respects. Accumulated anger, New Delhi’s continued political blunders, ignoring people’s democratic aspirations and presuming that putting the real issue under carpet, offering occasional doles or telling people that development and good governance were the answers all these and many more decisions taken in the name of restoring normalcy ultimately burst the dams of patience and the consequences one can see on the streets of kashmir today.
It stretches naivety to believe that no one has pointed this fallacious way of looking at Kashmir to the Centre. While I will not go into the reasons for this but I will point out that the mistakes by the Centre towards Kashmir that need to be remedied. A relook is must. And it is the 2016 protests and the ensuing conditions in Kashmir that must render this re-look.
So what does Kashmir need?
First, a narrow security prism must be discarded. Primacy must be given to politics and a political approach over a narrow security one. This political approach must not be exclusive: it must be inclusive and take in to its fold a cross section of the Kashmiri political spectrum. Third, the unique status to Jammu and Kashmir must be respected in both letter and spirit. The reference, to be specific here is to Article 370 of the Constitution and the state’s state subject laws. To start with autonomy must be restored to rebuild the trust. The relationship between the people of the state and the Indian Union needs to be respected. Abrogating or even fiddling these means violating a pact and contain within them seeds for disaster.
This is by no means an exhaustive list. There’s much more that the Centre must and can do. But, above all, what is the need of the hour is to develop a new paradigm for Kashmir- the kind that is beneficial to all; not merely what the Centre thinks what works. In the final analysis, Kashmir is a political issue and it needs to be seen accordingly. If the Centre is getting advice that suggests a contrary approach, then it is being led down the primrose path.
Kashmir and Kashmiri people need to be respected and not pushed to the wall, if the Prime Minister’s ‘Mann ki baat’ covered entire gamut of issues from Independence day celebrations to Rio olympics, the same “Mann” should have felt a little for the lives lost in the cycle of violence in Kashmir. Given the situation Delhi should understand that not many people will celebrate the Independence day here in kashmir, I personally wouldn't and would rather boycott it because I feel Delhi is not being fair to us. Even then I will still be an optimist, because I feel a fresh beginning is still possible but what is key here is sincerity of purpose, which till now lacks big time.
(Tanvir Sadiq, former spokesperson of the Jammu and Kashmir National Conference party, is political secretary to former Chief Minister Omar Abdullah. The views expressed are personal)
http://m.greaterkashmir.com/news/opinion/story/225469.html
if u need burnol....i can export with 100% subsidy to u....
