While Making a Political Demand.

Ajay Bharati  

(Shri Bharati, Secretary, Jammu Kashmir Vichar Manch, Jammu, appeals to the community to stand united against machinations of the powers that be to lure some migrants back to the Valley to show that the situation has improved in Kashmir Editor)

Sh. Vijay K Sazawal in a beautifully written article titled "The Making of a political demand (KS Oct. 1994) has rightly stressed the need to implement unitedly political strategies to transport the community into the centre-stage of J&K politics The article is timely not only in the sense that more people and groups feel its need today but also that if it is not done at this stage, we may not get such an opportunity for a long time to come. It is evident even to a lay-man that Kashmir issue has transited from gun-dominated days to negotiation-based period of settlement. Subversives in the valley are also realizing (for whatsoever compulsion) the need to have negotiations round the table after taking gun to the back-ground So it is high time that we as a community unite and consolidate ourselves, under one umbrella organization to "navigate through this turmoil". If it is not immediately possible to create an united organization, let us start with what is called "floor coordination in parliamentary language and begin organizing programmes of common interest unitedly Without any further delay.

As far as unanimity among the community is concerned, it is needed to achieve also constitutional guarantees to ensure our full and meaningful participation in the state's political management, economic development and other human activity Since we agree that no community can ever get a 100% consensus on political issues, we safely can say that there is near unanimity in the resolve to return to the land of our birth. That a little percentage of Biradari members who must be feeling otherwise is not because they do not wish to return but they do not feel confident about the capacity of those who are at helm of affairs to eradicate the reasons responsible for extirpation of the whole community.

 

The difference, if any, lies in the perception about physical rehabilitation in the valley. While supporters of the separate home-land, believing it to be the only political demand of the community, ask for division of our place of birth, others feel that whole of Kashmir is the homeland of the community. The latter section asserts that Kashmir belongs to Kashmiri Pandits as much as Kashmiri Pandits belong to Kashmir. They caution that no one, not even the gun, is going to kill the determination of the community to return to the land of its origin and destiny. There is a vast chunk of politically conscious Biradari members who dis-favour projecting Kashmiriyat of the community as a separate nationalism and instead seek to keep it as sub nationalism within parameters of Indian Nationalism, and hence support the nation's resolve to liberate POK and can't think of compromising with a small part of the whole. For them it will only be the reflection of a defeatist mindset. But without discussing who is right and who is wrong, one thing is definite that all these political goals seem to be distant dreams under present conditions. Immediate political threat to the community comes from some other side. There are forces already active in Jammu and Delhi who are trying their best to see that the relief commissioner's office is closed and somehow a semblance of return-back of the displaced community is recorded in camera to demonstrate that the situation in the valley has returned to normal. They are interested in washing the black dots of communal colour from the projected secular face of Kashmiri Muslims. They do not care if these proposed returnees are expelled very next morning after their arrival in the valley as was done to a few such families who had dared to visit Baramulla earlier. These secular forces will ensure that these people are not registered again as even "Migrants" when forced to get out and will instead be portrayed as people moving out for better opportunities. Another motive behind such an exercise is to see that the community does not assert as a whole mass but is divided into smaller sections. The community in general and its leadership in particular has an immediate task before it to prevent vulnerable sections of the community from being lured to return back to the valley. If such a thing happens all of our efforts at different levels by different people, unitedly or separately, during the last five years will be white-washed with just one stroke. The forces which are bent upon neutralising our community as an important factor in the overall settlement of J&K imbroglio have devised different methods to achieve their goal. And the most dangerous one is to divide the displaced community by projecting the camp dwellers as the only & real victims of displacement. People in responsible official positions are also involved in such a nefarious design. So let us join our hands to achieve our political demands, but while making a political demand let us ensure that long term objectives do not over-shadow the immediate urgencies. Let us not allow political expediency and other considerations to dominate our thoughts and ignore the danger signal. Let us make it a community commitment and differentiate it from organisational stand. Let us convey firmly, boldly and politely to the forces that be, that the whole community particularly the displaced one will return back definitely but not as a divided house; they will return on their own terms and conditions and as one unit.

Courtesy:- Ajay Bharati and December 1994 Koshur Samachar

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