Sir,
I support the demand ‘Give Paddar’s Buddhist a Legislative voice’ (DE 17 Dec) by Rinchan Namgyal from Paddar. A small Buddhist locality in a sequestered Himalayan valley in Paddar area of Kishtwar has historical as well as cultural significance.As a Buddhist enclave located in somewhat inaccessible locale, these people deserve to be empowered with representative provision. They are not able to send their representative to the legislative assembly for technical reasons. But the government must overcome the technicalities by options that can be exercised keeping in mind the objective of lifting the backward areas/communities to join the national mainstream. The option has been observed in the case of Gujjars and Bakarwals or the Paharis in the State. The case of the Buddhists of Paddar is almost identical and should be treated with the same measuring rod.
Furthermore, the case of allowing the internally displaced Pandits a constituency in exile is also a genuine and legal demand. They are the equal citizens of the Indian Union and should be treated as such. It is incongruous with the provisions of the Indian Constitution to ask an Indian citizen to vote for a candidate whom he has neither seen nor interacted with. Asking the displaced Pandits to vote in these circumstances is tantamount to abusing the constitutional provision. The Pandits have the option to file his candidature from the constituency to which he belongs but he has been forced out three and a half decades ago and is denied the right to return and resettle. Kashmir is ethnically cleansed of his presence. It is the responsibility of the Union government to make constitutional provisions accessible to him.The Constituency in Exile could be a temporary measure and conditional to the mass return of the displaced persons to the valley. But truncating their.constitutional rights would be abusing the Constitution.
Essentially, the demand of the Paddar Buddhists or the Kashmir IDP has a broader dimension. These fall under the demographic imperative called The Minority Rights. The Constitution of India, which is now effectively operative in the UT of J&K, recognises various minorities on religious, linguistic and cultural basis. However, the J&K State constitution, that was operative till 2019, did not recognize any group as a minority and rejected the recommendation of the National Minority Commission to recognize the Hindus and Sikhs of Kashmir as a minority. This mindset must change and the rights of the minorities under UT arrangement should be conceded.
K N Pandita
Jammu
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