Trifurcation of
J&K State
Sir,
Mr. Pramod
Mahajan, Union Minister of Parliamentary Affairs,
who has choosen to allay the anxiety of National
Conference M.P, Mr. Ab. Rashid Shaheen for
dividing the Jammu and Kashmir on communal lines,
has disfavoured the idea trifurcation of J&K
State (D.E. March, 2nd, 2001 captioned J&K
won't be trifurcated). It looks incredible but it
is a fact that people of Jammu and Ladakh regions
have been demanding a separate State for Jammu,
Union Territory i.e for Ladakh irrespective of
their caste and religion which is fast picking up
pace in both the regions to get rid of the
hegemony of Kashmiri leaders.
The view of the
Union Minister of Parliamentary Affairs that it
would have the dangerous repercussions all over
the country and NC ruling party's observation
that it would pave way for disintegration of
Indian Union like the erstwhile Union of Soviet
Socialist Republic, however, do not seem well
founded because dividing and trifurcating States
is not a new experiment. Eversince its inception,
the independent India has been dividing States to
make the administration more effective and never
at any point of time danger to the integrity of
the country was felt. It India did not
disintegrate when seven sister States, were
created or Punjab was trifurcated into Haryana,
Punjab and Himachal or even when Jharkhand
Chhittisgarh and Uttaranchal were respectively
carved out from Bihar, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar
Pradesh, it should not even disintegrate even now
when it comes to trifurcating Jammu and Kashmir
State.
One can easily
find out that neither demand is a political
gimmick nor have they become anti-national. On
the other hand, to have their own administrative
set up it has become their necessities. For
example, the number of Lok Sabha and assemblies
contituencies in Kashmir is Three (3) and Forth
six (46) respectively. Whereas this number in
Jammu is two (2) and thirty seven (37) only. The
Cabinet Minister in Kashmir is twelve as compared
to three in Jammu despite the fact that Kashmir
has been reduced from majority to minority status
due to migration of 6 lacs Hindu and Muslims to
Jammu region in the wake of militancy.
The Govt. service
which is the major source of livelihood is also
not fairly distributed among various regions of
the State. In the Civil Sectt. Jammu and Ladakh
Regions have a total ten percent share of
employment rest leaving for Kashmir. In this
Divisional-level aslo, the share of Jammu and
Ladakh region in govt. service is meagre. Still
people of Kashmir are not satisfied with what
they have got and want more and more.
On the other hand,
the grievances of Jammuites and Ladakhies against
Kashmir in the backdrop of above facts are fully
justified. Still they do not resort to those
tactics against Kashmiri discrimination which
people from Kashmir have been resorting to
against Centre. They are expressing their
resentment cautiously. But if the step motherly
treatment of Kashmiri Leadership against Jammu
and Ladakh does not end soo, the unrest so caused
may snow-ball into a violent agitation to finally
get rid of the uncalled for discrimination. It is
high time that the Centre and State Govts.
realize and give Jammu and Ladakh due share.
Yours etc...
Vidhya Dhar
Pir Mitha, Jammu
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