Chhewang Dorje
With the coming to end of this election season for the parliamentary seats, many issues have emerged on the political scene of Jammu and Kashmir making us realize that Jammu and Kashmir is a pluralistic state with diverse demands ranging from self-determination to Union Territory for Ladakh. Different regions of Jammu and Kashmir have been dominated by different electoral issues during election to this parliamentary election so we can say that diversity of Jammu and Kashmir is visible in the diverse electoral issues of the state. In the state of Jammu and Kashmir four major parties — NC, PDP, Congress and BJP — are fighting for the six Parliamentary seats in the state. While that may be a small number but the results of this Lok Sabha election could decide the future course of politics in the state as the state is going for assembly election this year. It is the season of election and many issues started to emerge on the political platform of Jammu and Kashmir and from these issues we can also analyze the political situation of the state and its diverse perspective for the resolution of the Kashmir problem. Electoral battles are not only battles among the candidate who are fighting to get elected for rather it is also a fight between diverse ideas of India in general and Jammu and Kashmir in particular. The electoral season of Jammu and Kashmir and its battle for the idea of India started with the open letter by Mirwaiz Umar Farooq published in The Hindu on Apr. 9, 2014 under the title of ‘An open letter to the people of India on the Kashmir issue’. He seems to have a biased attitude on Kashmir issue as it is not only about Kashmir rather it is about Jammu and Kashmir including Ladakh which has very different aspirations from the main land kashmiri as Ladakh itself is struggling to get Union Territory status. And he (Mirwaiz) was stressing on the self- determination for Jammu and Kashmir but does his language of separatism represent the whole Jammu and Kashmir that needs to be debated? Pinak R. Chakravarty, a former secretary in the MEA is right when he says that “I find the statement the same old tired and clichéd articulation, anachronistic and out of touch with reality” He really seems to be out of touch of the reality of Jammu and Kashmir. If you analyze the electoral issues in whole of Jammu and Kashmir then it is clear that Mirwaiz Umar Farooq represents miniscule population of Kashmir and majority of the population is not with his idea of Jammu and Kashmir. Internally the state of Jammu and Kashmir has always given different views with regards to Kashmir solution. Ladakh has been crying for UT and Jammu is demanding a separate state. So under the present conditions, this letter by Umar Farooq is nothing but his personal view rather than public opinion of Jammu and Kashmir. The differences in the region of state are visible in the different electoral issues in the state. For many voters of Ladakh the most important demands were all-weather connectivity (Nimmo-Paum-Darcha Road) and union territory status for the region and not self-determination as talked by the Mirwaiz Umar Farooq. In Kashmir it is revolving around the issue of autonomy and the strengthening of article 370 and its provision. But in the other parts of the state issues are just the opposite as people are for the full integration of Jammu and Kashmir within the framework of Indian constitution. In Ladakh it is the issue of gaining Union Territory status for Ladakh and all-weather connectivity (Nimmo-Paum-Darcha Road) that dominated electoral issues in Ladakh. Union territory status for Ladakh was one of the main electoral issues of both the parties in Ladakh be it BJP or Congress. The entire debate on Kashmiri solution and also the recent emergence of the debate over autonomy, pre 1953 status, the Article 370 and recent letter by Umar Farooq on the solution of the Kashmir problem has substantially ignored the enormous plurality of the State of Jammu and Kashmir. To some extent, the regional identity of Jammu and the plight of the exiled Kashmiri pandits have received limited (though entirely inadequate) attention in the media and in some of the ill-informed political debates on the subject. But in the larger framework of Kashmir resolution, the complex and discriminatory relationship between the Kashmiri dominated administration at Srinagar and the Ladakh sub-region has been entirely neglected, not only in the public debate, but also by the political class both in Srinagar and in Delhi. Recently students from Ladakh studying in Jammu demanded separate pooling booth for the Ladakhi students outside their constituency but this demand was not heard by the administration in Delhi as well as Srinagar, is a recent example of negligence of Ladakh and its migrants youth. If administration can accommodate polling booth for 4 Kashmiri migrants in Delhi then why not for the students studying outside Ladakh get this right. It is also neglected by the various departments and commission that were supposed to be monitoring the situation in this forgotten Himalayan hinterland. Ladakh has been uneasy part of Jammu and Kashmir ever since it was annexed by the Dogra army led by Wazir Zorawar Singh in 1834. Ladakh has always protested against the transfer of power from the Dogra Maharaja, Hari Singh, to Kashmiri administration under Sheikh Abdullah. This is also evident in the letter written by the Chhewang Rigzin, who was President of Buddhist Association of Ladakh at that time. At the occasion of the dethroning of the Maharaja Hari Singh in 1949, Chhewang Rigzin wrote to the Prime minister of India, in which he demanded the right to self-determination for the people of Ladakh. Ladakhis, he asserted, “are a separate nation by all tests- race, language, religion and culture- determining nationality”.
The letter by the Umar Farooq tried to homogenize the concept of self-determination in Kashmir but the real problem of Jammu and Kashmir is not about self-determination rather it is about unemployment and appeasement of particular section in the state. All Parties Hurriyat Conference chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq is projecting self-determination as a common demand of the people of Jammu and Kashmir but according to strategic analyst Alok Bansal ” I do not think that there is a common aspiration among the Kashmiri people” he said, ” Different sections think differently. At this stage, it should meet the people’s aspiration, but within the norms of the constitution. Legally and historically, Jammu and Kashmir is an inalienable part of India. As regarding Pakistan, it comes into play only as far as PoK is concerned” (The Hindu, Apr. 9, 2014). India is a diverse country. It largest democracy has the potential to accommodate diverse demands of the region but only within the sovereignty and unity and integrity of the county. Jammu and Kashmir is integral part of India and this has been recognized by the people of Jammu Kashmir through its constituent assembly in 1956. Overall development is the only solution of the so called problem of Jammu and Kashmir, and it should be equal development of the region otherwise we could end up seeding another Kashmir problem.
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