Discourage new slogans
Men, Matters and Memories

By M L Kotru

My first impulse is to dismiss the Jammu and Kashmir Finance Minister Tariq Hamid Qarra's suggestion that the State might be better off with a currency of its own as pure hogwash. He believes that a separate currency for the State is inherent to the process of self-rule which he presupposes will be the outcome of the now stalled Indo-Pak dialogue on resolving the issue of Jammu and Kashmir. Yes, self-rule on regional basis etc etc topped by a joint Indo-Pak management mechanism is what the retired General Musharraf of Pakistan has suggested and which many of the separatist groups- and the People's Democratic Party of J&K as is reconfirmed by Tariq Qarra's astounding statement have accepted as the solution.

As far as my recollection goes New Delhi has never accepted- not as yet to be exact the military ruler's proposal as the solution. Yes, in its own supine way the UPA Government has been talking in terms of out-of-the-box solution leading to a situation in which ‘‘borders would become irrelevant’’. That's as far as Manmohan Singh has gone. The confidence building measures that followed the earlier rounds were indeed considered a precursor to a more relaxed future.

If the State's mainstream parties, apparently swearing by their loyalty to the country's constitution, have chosen to reinterpret the CBMs as a fore-runner of regional autonomy for various parts constituting the State of Jammu and Kashmir it is their view and not the view either of the entire population of the State nor, as far as I am ware, is it the stated policy of Government of India to accept the Musharraf plan which foretells according to many a communal partitioning of the State.

Mr Tariq Qarra has since explained that what he meant by his reference to separate currency for the State was only a restatement of what certain SAARC organs had already spoken of SAARC, he went on to say, had spoken of a common currency for the countries of the region. Everybody who knows the working of SAARC, and I have seen it first-hand from its inception, would tell Mr Qarra that a common SAARC currency must indeed remain a very very distant dream. Most countries of the region have not bothered even to expand bilateral trade let alone multilateral trade all these years of the SAARC's existence.

Having known Mr Qarra, a decent young man with impeccable political credentials dating back to times when the PDP of the Muftis was not even born, I am surprised that he should be beating about the bush. Why can't he say that his party leaders had advised him to drop this red herring if only to stir up public opinion in the valley. Elections in the State it is known to everyone are due and time later this year and it is important for the valley parties to emphasise the lines of ‘‘distinction’’ between them in relation to New Delhi. All of them, I dare say, would love to be on the right side of New Delhi and using that as an advantage they must also make sure of their footing in the valley. Their politics must remain valley-based it. It's a limited space they must vye for, too limited a space for meaningful manipulation. The CBM card has been overplayed and people are far from impressed. So they must coin ever newer slogans, set unattainable goals and finally try to arouse the baser instincts of the humankind.

The latter is applicable as much to the politicians in the valley as it is to most malcontents there.

But when Mr Qarra speaks as the State Finance he appears to forget the implications his utterances can have for the entire State. Is he aware of the back-lash a silly statement like his can have in the State and the country as a whole? Does he believe that his own constituents in the valley are stupid enough to believe this 21st century Bachha Sakka when he talks of Kashmir's own currency ? Will Jammu or Ladakh accept a currency which from word go would be dead as the dodo ? His senior party man in the Government, Muzaffar Baig, the Deputy Chief Minister and an eminent Constitutional lawyer, has pooh-poohed Qarra's indiscretion, saying that the Finance Minister had overstepped his brief. To my mind he has done much more than that. He has strengthened those who question the State's accession to the Union.

Even the founding father of the accession, alongwith Maharaja Hari Singh, the tallest Kashmiri of them all, Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah had conceded foreign affairs, defence and currency to the Central domain. Yet we have Mr Qarra, who has taken an oath to defend the constitution of India and the State's own constitution, virtually telling us he and his party care two hoots for the oath he has taken and even less for the constitution.

I would expect a man of his calibre and his peers, including Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, the former Chief Minister, to come into the open, as they have on many occasions in the past, and endorce the Musharraf plan as part of PDP's manifesto. Why.... they say that they want the valley separated from the rest of the State ? Why don't they ask for an independent valley ? Or, borrowing a leaf from the Zimambwean book, declare unilateral independence like the last white ruler of the country, the lay Ian Smith did, cocking a snook, as it were, at the British colonial rulers of whom he was one ? I am sure such a demand would find PDP many like-minded friends among the separatists within the valley and their mentors in Pakistan? But them Pakistan for the present cannot be considered an option, given the fluidity of the country and its long history of colonising distinct ethnic communities like the Balochis, Sindhis (saved somewhat by their larger numbers), the Gilgitians et al.

And if an independent Muslim valley indeed be the objective of anyone in the valley they should be prepared to pay heed to voices of the lakhs of Kashmiris forced out of the valley these past few decades. The communal tones of some of the valley leaders become obvious when you find them seeking the right of return to the valley of Kashmiris who had migrated to Pakistan before or after the partitioning of the sub-continent. Why don't they talk of the right of the five lakh or so Kashmiri Pandits who were driven out of their homes in the early 90s?

If indeed there is to be zonal self-rule in the valley, the Kashmiri Pandit organisations which had a meeting in New Delhi a few days ago may not have been off the mark in asking for the establishment of homeland of their own in the valley. Most of them have lost their homes and hearths post-terrorist incursions of 1989-90; give them a chance at least now to build a home for themselves afresh within the valley in a clearly demarcated zone, as urged by the New Delhi meeting of the Pandits. The Centre can surely find additional funds to give the homeland of their dreams a concrete shape. As it is hundreds of crores have been spent by the Union Government in the name of the migrant Pandits and one was even told once about some housing blocks having been built in some parts of the State for their rehabilitation.

The time may have finally come for the Union Government to think in terms of a separate homeland in the valley for the Pandits. Do not forget that Kashmiri Brahmins have been around in the valley for over 2500 years, long before the Buddhist and Islamist advent.

I don't quite understand why my heart is expected to bleed for the Albanians of Kosovo or the Chechens when I should really be expected to think more in terms of the Kashmiri Pandit migrants from the valley. Why doesn't someone speak for them ? Why do they talk only of Kashmiri currency ? Of Azadi? Of zonal self-rule ?