Editor's Mail   Autonomy for Kashmir

S N Tiku                                    

Dear Sir,

Apropos of Shri Jagmohan's Articles 'Autonomy for Kashmir' & 'Extension of Federal Laws' (HT Aug. 14 & 15) and Syeed Suhrawardy's rejoinder Squint eyed on Kashmir Autonomy (HT. Sept 2). Shri Jagmohan is quite right to observe that decision makers of the fate of a country should always be aware of the past when it is really the well known fact that not to know what took place before one was born, is to remain forever a child. The responsible leaders of the UF Government have made various conflicting statements about the grant of autonomy to the J&K State which is virtually raised by a single leader of the State National Conference. While the matter has now been deferred to be decided by the new State Assembly, Home Minister Inderjit Gupta has totally denied his earlier statement as per media reports for the grant of autonomy to the three regions of the State wherein he had categorically admitted that the two regions of Jammu and Ladakh were opposed to the grant of autonomy to the State. The State is virtually a semi- independent under Article 370 which provides that no Central law passed by the Parliament will be applicable to the J&K State unless the State Government or its Legislature approves it. The broad basis of the greater autonomy have not been spelt out in detail. It is stated that the demand of pre-1953 status would be reiterated under which the Head of the State would be designated as Sadr-i-Riyasat and the Chief Minister as Wazir-i-Azam. While the latter would be elected by the State Assembly and would remain in office at the pleasure of the President. But there would be constitutional crisis in case the elected Head of the State would be dismissed by the President in grave emergency.

The people of the State desire economic prosperity and peace and are happy with the extension of the jurisdiction of Supreme Court, Comptroller and Auditor General of India and the Election Commissioner of India to the State under amendments made in the State Constitution by the State Government under G M. Sadiq's Chief Ministership in mid-sixties. The system has served well to the State as nobody has opposed it. In case this constitutional structure is altered, there will be chaos in the State while the Pakistan propaganda on its electronic media would be; re-doubled announcing every time that the State can never be called an integral part of India when it has a separate Constitution, separate flag and now with separate Head of the State and now separate designated Prime Minister (Wazir-i-Azam).

In his rejoinder referred to above, Syeed Suhrawardy's suggestion that the Kashmiri Pandits being in a minority but having talents could have been protected by the Central Government by arming them to defend themselves against pro-Pak militants who have driven them out of the Valley. The suggestion has only amused us while the functions of the previous Congress Governments and others are known to all in such bold policy decisions, vis- a-vis vote-bank politics.

The Government of India should know that out of the less than four million people of the Valley there are 7 lakh Shia-Muslims, 4 lakh Gujjars, 3 lakh Kashmiri Pandits and other Hindus, 1 lakh Sikhs besides lakhs of nationalist Muslims who are out and out pro-India elements there, and do not in any way wish to align themselves with so-called pro- Azadi groups. The State has no financial resources of its own and without financial integration with India, its development would have come to nought. Apart from entire Central funds for the State Five Year Plans, the Reserve Bank of India Bulletin (1994) reveals per Capita Central Assistance to J&K State at Rs. 2,291/- as against Rs. 192/- for Bihar, Rs. 233/- for Tamilnadu, Rs. 304/- for Rajasthan, Rs. 331/- for U.P. In the case of J&K State 90% assistance is in the shape of grants and 10% as loans, while in the case of all other States, it is 30% grants and 70% as Loans. Let the autonomy people ponder over it and address themselves to these concrete positions.

Yours faithfully,

S.N. Tiku,

September 7, 1996

DISCLAIMER: 

The views expressed in the Article above are Author’s personal views and kashmiribhatta.in is not in any way responsible for the opinions expressed in the above article.                                                                                                                  Courtesy:   Koshur Samachar, November, 1996