K N Pandita
One compulsion for CM Omar Abdullah to orchestrate for restoration of J&K statehood is the pressure mounted by hardline Valley-based MLAs. More vocal and petulant among the lot are those who still nurse the phantasma of “Azadi” or “khud-ikhtiyari” or “kashmiriyat.”
Omar Abdullah seems to have surrendered to these elements in the LA. This is evident from a litany of grievances he recounted while addressing the crowds assembled for the inauguration of the repaired structure of the Bone Hospital at Barzalla.
Of course, restoration of full status of the state was an important item in NC’s election manifesto. During the hustings NC candidates made it the focal point for the election campaign. The reason is that the masses of Kashmir were given the subtle impression that after regaining full status, the way would become clear for a majority vote for autonomy and greater Kashmir in terms of demographic complexion.
Making tall promises during the hustings is a general phenomenon of leading national political parties. It is not anything exclusive to Kashmir. But good democracy is run by saner elements of the ruling parties for many practical reasons. A majority consensual leader has to think beyond the claptrap ofelection shrieks and shouts. He is to lead and not to be led.
In the case of J&K, reorganization of the state had become a necessity owing to special political reasons and their far-reaching impact. An unprecedented situation was created by external as well as internal elements both aiming at the separation of the state from the Indian Union.
It has to be remembered that there was a democratically elected Government in the State when armed insurgency surfaced with strength, so much so that the elected Government resigned and quit the scene. Six years later, in 1996, the leading political party again won the election and formed the Government. From 1996 to 2014, a period of eighteen years, the state was ruled through democratic mechanism.
The militancy was not considered a priority by the democratic regimes during those eighteen years. Rather the political parties adopted an equivocal attitude of not even once asking the militants to lay down their arms and resume normal life. They maintained Sphinx-like attitude towards acts of militancy, mayhem, stone throwing and maligning the security forces. Sections of people were engaged in extending covert help to separatists and militants by providing them logistic support and financial facility. The hawala transactions and illegal transfer of monies injected life and longevity into the separatist movement.
This necessitated bringing in the 2019 Reorganization Act by virtue of which the state was converted into a Union Territory. Now reconversion of the State to its original status means among other things bringing back the constitution of the state prior to its change to UT. Reorganization Act of 2019 was the instrument through which the state had been converted into Union Territory.
Re-conversion of the State to its original status has to go through the parliamentary process. The Prime Minister or the Home Minister has no powers to revive the status. Omar Abdullah has to make certain whether in light of events that have shaped in the political scenario in the subcontinent recently, the parliament will pass any bill that recommends reversal of the UT status of J&K.
I doubt it particularly when during last decade the NC has always been recklessly fraternizing with the opposition INDIA conglomerate. Joining the conglomerate has been something like a guarantee to NC that all their aspirations will be fulfilled when it comes to power at the Centre. Omar Abdullah will have to wait till 2029 for fresh parliamentary election though with uncertain outcome. It is a long wait but of his party’s own choosing.
It has to be reminded that nearly four lakh members of Kashmiri Hindu minority were hounded out of their homes and hearths from Kashmir in 1990 because they professed a faith different from the faith professedby the majority community of Kashmir. The exiled people are the Aboriginals with nearly five thousand years of written history. No Government either in Srinagar or in New Delhi took cognizance of the consequences of prolonged displacement of this chunk of Kashmirian citizenry and its abandonment from the national narrative.
Recently, owing to the fighting between Iran and Israel, the Government of Omar Abdullah became panicky, and of course rightly, about the well-being of about a score of Kashmiri Muslim students studying in Iran. He emphasized on the EA Ministry to ensure their safe return to Kashmir. The matter was resolved in days. But in the case of Kashmiri Pandits, thirty-six years have gone by yet its resolution is nowhere in sight. Why? Is it because when it is us, we are concerned but when it is they, we are not.
Omar Abdullah has first to decide and act what his Government is to do about the return and rehabilitation of the minority community forced out of their homes at the point of the gun. This question is closely linked to the revival of the original state. The question is of identifying the Kashmirian religious minorities and ensuring their constitutional rights. For that the Kashmir constitution will have to be amended and requisite clauses inserted. That has to be a condition for reversal of the status of the UT with a commitment by the ruing Government. Omar Abdullah has to get a resolution passed by a majority vote in the assembly that in case of restoration of full statehood, necessary amendment will have to be made to revise the constitution and remove its angularities that are detrimental to the interest of the minorities. He has to issue a public assurance that identification of religious minorities has to be done and a necessary clause will be inserted into the Constitution of the State. The clause will have to define the mechanism for safeguarding the rights of religious minorities of the State. The original State was not just to the minorities and restoration of full statehood carries the most essential caveat of fortification of minority rights of religious denominations.
Omar Sahib has no way to wriggle out of the responsibility of restituting the Kashmir Hindu minority in their place of birth if he seriously wants to revive the old state by which he swears day in and day out. But if he and his partymen are reluctant to read the writing on the wall, they will be paving a way for a homeland for the minority community because of the incomplete accession of J&K to the Indian Union.
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