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Despite CBMs, situation still volatile in J-K: Report
Respond to AFSPA issue positively, MoD urged
Will react after examining report, says Omar; Hurriyat rejects it
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Ansari: People should read report objectively
Omar’s joke on petrol price hike draws sharp reactions
plight of Pandits Part II Tents allotted to the Kashmiri Pandits in Jammu after their exodus from the Kashmir valley.
Interlocutors’ report fails to enthuse people of Jammu
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Despite CBMs, situation still volatile in J-K: Report
New Delhi, May 24 The interlocutors admit that confidence-building measures initiated in 2010 have borne fruit but caution the Centre, “Despite some progress on CBMs, it would be foolish to deny that the situation remains very volatile. Alienation runs very deep in the Valley, anger still bubbles close to the surface, and the risk of violence breaking out again is still present.” Taking human rights abuses in Sopore and Poonch (alleged rape and custodial death in late July 2011; a youth’s killing in August 2011) as reference points, the interlocutors point out how the bulk of popular aspiration relates to the need for human rights’ protection. Almost 75 per cent of the memoranda the interlocutors received reflected the need for an end to curfews, security checks and hartals. Only 25 per cent of the memoranda were of political nature. In their analysis of volatility, the interlocutors call for immediate resolution of the issue of unmarked graves and involvement of Pakistan in the issue. “Bulk graves relate to the period of armed conflict and both the armed groups and the Government of Pakistan will need to cooperate for the identification of bodies. Without such identification, the people will doubt the investigation. The CM’s promise of DNA testing is welcome as it offers the hope of closure but because large numbers of the buried are likely to be militants from across the LOC, the question of closure for their families remains to be resolved.” The report reveals another disturbing trend -- a growing communal polarisation in Jammu and Ladakh vis-a-vis Kashmir and within regions. In the Valley, unemployment and nepotism stand identified as the biggest contributors to the alienation of youth. “The alienation of youth… is the strongest in Srinagar city, Sopore, and parts of Pulwama, Baramulla, Kupwara, Anantnag and Shopian. Interestingly, it is also strong amongst Kashmiri students studying in other parts of India, including Delhi. Unemployment and nepotism are the common complaints of all youngsters in the state,” the report says. The report recommends three separate regional councils for Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh (which should not remain a division of Kashmir) to address these concerns and warns, “Communal polarisation has gone quite far in Jammu and Ladakh. The Muslim and Hindu majority districts of Jammu are drawing apart rather than coming together. Muslim and Buddhist districts of Ladakh are becoming increasingly distant, even acrimonious,” the report says. The two Autonomous Hill Development Councils in Ladakh haven’t held a single joint meeting, it adds. With mutual distrust reigning, there’s a sentiment in Jammu and Ladakh that they need to be ever more strident in their expression to have their grievances heard by the state and the Centre. “The impression is that most new jobs would go to Kashmir.” Media and
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Respond to AFSPA issue positively, MoD urged
New Delhi, May 24 The reports cites the Prime Minister’s Working Group on confidence-building measures (CBMs) which had also recommended reviewing the Disturbed Areas Act and the AFSPA and, if possible, lifting the former and revoking the latter. The Prime Minister had appointed the Jeevan Reddy Commission to look into the AFSPA. The commission had proposed the repeal of the AFSPA and the incorporation of some of its provisions into the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act. (UAPA). The Ministry of Home Affairs has also recommended several amendments to the AFSPA, which will bring it in line with the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) while allowing for the protection of armed forces that exists in every democratic country. The report has told the MoD, “These proposals should be reviewed and a decision taken at the earliest”. It goes on to say that “the AFSPA is more than a symbol of a problem than its cause”. But symbols are important for peace processes, it says and adds that “the Ministry of Defence needs to consider how to respond positively to this issue rather than negatively”. This issue has been on the agenda of the Unified Command for several months now. The Army is opposed to the removal of the AFSPA and often cites the example of Manipur where the AFSPA was removed from certain parts and that led to fresh problems. The interlocutors have called for ending bureaucratic stalemate in cases of court martial. “A speedy and transparent court martial would be an immense CBM,” the report says. Reference to Gilgit-Baltistan |
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Will react after examining report, says Omar; Hurriyat rejects it
Srinagar, May 24 Except for the separatist leaders, who had refused to meet the team, the interlocutors had met almost all sections of society across the state, including youth, women, intellectuals, traders, panches, sarpanches, jailed youth and stone-throwers. Chief Minister Omar Abdullah has reserved his comments on the interlocutors’ recommendations, saying he would first examine the report. “Will take a few days to examine the report, discuss it with senior colleagues and then react. Thanks for your patience,” Omar wrote on the micro-blogging website, Twitter.Apparently reacting to queries from reporters seeking comments over the report, Omar added: “Dear friends in the media I will not be reacting to the interlocutors’ report for the time being. Will let you know when and if I'm ready to.” “We had rejected their (interlocutors) appointment and we reject their report,” said chairman of the moderate Hurriyat faction Mirwaiz Umar Farooq. Terming the report an attempt to “complicate” the efforts towards the resolution of the Kashmir issue, Mirwaiz said “it is a time-buying and time-wasting tactic”. He said there was a need to “go beyond” the recommendations and his conglomerate was seeking a resolution to the entire Jammu and Kashmir that included areas under the control of Pakistan. Regarding the recommendation that the government should talk to the separatists, Mirwaiz said: “Our suggestions have been mentioned in the report but these can be confidence-building measures (CBMs) just like (cross-LoC) trade and travel. But such CBMs, including the AFSPA revocation, can only create a conducive atmosphere for talks. It will not resolve the issue.” He alleged that the report was an attempt to divide the state, which he said was “unacceptable” to the majority of people in the Valley. He alleged that the Centre was not serious about resolving the Kashmir issue. “The issue is not confined to New Delhi and Srinagar. Islamabad and Muzaffarabad too are a part of the issue,” Mirwaiz added. Aim to mislead world: Geelani The hardline faction of the Hurriyat Conference led by Syed Ali Geelani has rejected the interlocutors’ report on Kashmir saying that the conglomerate had “not recognised” the constitution of the team. A spokesman for the APHC, Ayaz Akbar, said the report was “on expected lines” without concerning the basic issue of the resolution of Kashmir. Several such attempts had been made in the past also which did not yield any results,
he added. The report, according to the APHC spokesman, was aimed at “misleading” the international community and it did not serve any purpose. “The report is not surprising,” the Hurriyat spokesman said. |
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Ansari: People should read report objectively
Srinagar, May 24 While the interlocutors spent at least one week every month interacting with various sections of society in all the 22 districts of the state, Ansari maintained that the time constraint had left scope for including “everything” related to the issues. “Now the report has been made public and it is upto the people to examine it objectively,” Ansari said.
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Omar’s joke on petrol price hike draws sharp reactions
Srinagar, May 24 However, the joke led to pointed reactions. “So, @abdullah_omar shared a joke on petrol price hike, 2 reasons 1) Coalition politics 2) He doesn't have to pay for it anyway,” wrote Mohit Sharma. In reply, Omar tweeted: “That’s where you are wrong, I pay for the fuel that goes into my personal vehicles.” Another follower of Omar on the Twitter wrote: “You are safe for now.. Your Audi-Safaris-Land Rovers run on diesel.” |
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plight of Pandits Part II
Jammu, May 24 With the return of normalcy to the Valley, Kashmiri Pandits like other non-Kashmiris are visiting the land as tourists, but they have a sense of belonging and attachment with the it. The question that remains unanswered is will the Pandits permanently return to the Valley and if they return then who among them will return to Kashmir now, when the Pandit community enters into it 22nd year of exile. Most of the Pandit youth are well-settled in various parts of the country and abroad where they are earning good money with dignity. There is a discourse among the Kashmiri Pandit community on their return to the Valley. But if one looks deep into the situation and who will return to the Valley permanently, then one understands that not many Pandits want to return to Kashmir, barring some retired persons, who want to spend the rest of their life in the Valley. Krishan Lal Raina, a retired government teacher, said, “Given a chance I will definitely return to my native place Anantnag. I have spent 45 years of my life there and I still miss it. But my children always oppose my decision. They are working outside the state and say that how can they feel safe at a place from where they were once dragged out. They have not lived there much”. A decade back the word ‘return’ of the Kashmiri Pandits was often used by Kashmiri migrant intellectuals, leaders, writers, but in the last one decade its frequency has considerably reduced in the discourse of the exiled community. The word ‘homeland’ has rather replaced the former word. The fact is that the new generation of the Kashmiri Pandits has moved on, most of them are earning well, living in good condition, but not all the Kashmiri Pandits have totally lost the attachment with their motherland. Despite being busy in earning livelihood in various cities, they keep in touch with Kashmir through Facebook, Twitter, media and occasionally go on a short visit to the Valley. Akshita Razdhan, an architect, said, “You cannot blame me for this. There are better job opportunities outside and we will never opt for the conditions which our parents once faced. Kashmir is beautiful and I love that place, but the sense of insecurity and the gap in the ideologies will never allow us to go back to the Valley. I may go back in future but not now.” Fed on anti-Muslim rhetoric There is a popular saying that ‘a generation changes in two decades’. This is what has happened to the Muslims living in Kashmir and the Kashmiri Pandits living outside the Valley for the last two decades. The new generation in the Valley and among the exiled Pandits hardly believes that both the communities were once part of same society and culture. Today, new generations on both the sides are strangers to each other. The generation next has been fed on anti-Muslim rhetoric, that the Valley is the land where from their parents and grandparents were thrown out. They might be nostalgic about Kashmir, but they don’t see any future there. Aditya Raj Koul, a young Kashmiri Pandit activist, said, “The gap has widened and the root cause is the exodus. Without any political bias, the youth living in the Valley do not know anything about the Pandits except what they have read in books or newspapers and same is the case with the Kashmiri Pandits.” There has not been much effort on the part of the government to reduce the gap between the Muslims and the Pandit youth of Kashmir, as no confidence building measure has been started by it to bring the Pandit youth closer to the Valley. |
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Interlocutors’ report fails to enthuse people of Jammu
Jammu, May 24 Political and civil society members said an attempt had been made to “disintegrate” Jammu and Kashmir by the Indian state. Jammu-based political analyst Prof Hari Om said: “The report has recommended a limited accession for Jammu and Kashmir. It has tried to give an impression that the Indian state has a limited control over the state. The report is practically based on the National Conference’s autonomy, PDP’s self-rule, Sajjad Lone’s achievable nationhood proposals and so-called 1952 Delhi agreement which is not existent as of now.” “To expect a rational, democratic and a secular solution for Jammu and Kashmir from a person who attended the conference of Ghulam Nabi Fai is impossible,” he said and took strong exception to the use of word “dual character” for the state. Panthers Party working chairman Harsh Dev Singh described the report as an “exercise in futility” and an “damp squib” affair. “They (interlocutors) were appointed to make recommendations for the issues raised by various political and social groups of the state. The report is completely silent on the discrimination against the Jammu region, as it has made no specific and concrete recommendations for redressing specific issues like discrimination and delimitation of Assembly segments,” Harsh Dev Singh said. He said, “It has absolutely nothing for people of Jammu.” MLA Chaman Lal Gupta said the entire exercise was an attempt to “unsettle” the already “settled issues” in Jammu and Kashmir. “Instead of raking up the already settled issues, the Centre should make sincere efforts to take the state on the path of development and prosperity,” Gupta said. He said he had not yet gone through the report, but the recommendation for the constitution of three regional councils in Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh was a welcome proposal. Jammu State Morcha (JSM) chief Prof Varinder Gupta, who favours separate statehood for Jammu, said the suggestion for the replacement of word “temporary” from Article 370 with “special” would hurt the national interests in the state. “As far as the proposal for setting up of a Constitutional Committee is concerned, there will be no use of this exercise, as it has already been reviewed during the accord between Indira Gandhi and Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah. The issue has already been settled once for all,” Prof Varinder Gupta said. The JSM leader said the suggestion for the appointment of Governor on the recommendation of the state legislature with the limited role of the Centre will set a wrong precedence in the country. Chief Executive Councillor, Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council (LAHDC), Rigzin Spalbar wasn’t much enthused by the recommendations of the report. “There is nothing new in the interlocutors’ recommendations for the status of a regional council to the Ladakh region (with no territorial control of Kashmir division on Ladakh). We, including all the people, are unanimous over the demand for a Union Territory (UT) status to the Ladakh region,” Spalbar said. He, however, said he would comment only after going through the document. (Contributed reporting
by Yangchan Dolma from Leh)
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It was in December 2011 when Amit Raina and Kavita Raina landed at the Srinagar airport for their honeymoon in the Kashmir valley. It was their first visit to their homeland. But the irony was they were tourists in their native land and had no home and no people to welcome them.
