SEMINAR ON
REORGANIZATION OF JAMMU & KASHMIR STATE
HELD IN DELHI ON
3RD MARCH 2013
1. Panun Kashmir (PK), a frontline
organization of Internally Displaced Kashmiri Hindus organized a Seminar on “Political
Reorganization of Jammu & Kashmir State – A way forward” on March 3 at New
Delhi's prestigious India International Centre (IIC).
2. The prominent speakers, on
the occasion included BJP chief spokesperson and former Union Minister Ravi
Shankar Prasad, former Head of Jammu University's History Department and a
prominent political analyst Prof Hari Om, Panthers Party Chief Patron and
Supreme Court Senior Advocate Prof Bhim Singh, former Union Minister of State and
Senior Congress leader from Ladakh, P Namgayal, former Congress MLA and former
Chairman Ladakh Budhist Association T Samphel, and Panun Kashmir Chairman Dr
Ajay Chrungoo.
3. Dr. Subramanian Swamy, who
was to board a flight from Trichi could not make it to the programme because of
sudden cancellation of flight.
4. The seminar was organized
to project before the opinion makers in Delhi an imperative need to recognize
the political aspirations of Jammu, Ladakh and Hindus of Kashmir for a lasting
solution to Kashmir impasse:
- solution that strengthens Indianness,
- a solution that defeats Pakistan,
- a solution that defeats Muslim identity politics,
- a solution that augments secular nation building in the
region.
5.
All
the speakers emphatically brought out the diversity of the state and stressed
that it was unfair and unjust to lump all regions of the State with the
disturbed Kashmir region, and to perpetuate its brazen hegemony over much
larger regions and their peaceful inhabitants in Jammu and Ladakh. The speakers presented statistics and
arguments to show the area, population and other factors in the three separate
regions, to bring home the discrimination rampant in the State.
6.
The
speakers spoke at length about the aspirations of the people in all the regions
of the State and established that it was only an overwhelming sections of the
Muslim population in Kashmir region that had aspirations, both political and
regional, which were at gross variance with the aspirations of people of Jammu,
Ladakh and that of the internally displaced Hindus of Kashmir. The speakers
asserted that it was wrong to keep the people of the entire state hostage to
the aspiration of one region which was only 18% of the area of the present
state and constituted less than 50% of the population.
7.
Speaker
after speaker criticized and lambasted the Indian Government for recognizing a
problem in one region of the State, as if it was a problem of the entire State,
and neglecting all other regions and their people. There was a unanimity that
the Indian State is indirectly provoking non-Kashmiri regions and people to
look beyond peaceful means of protest.
They also censured the people and leaders of Kashmir Valley for pushing
the entire State into a state of uncertainty regarding its position in the
Indian Union and on the issue of accession and integration.
8.
Speaking
on the occasion, Sh. Ravi Shankar Prasad, Former Union Minister and Chief
Spokesperson of BJP assured those present that the BJP is committed to
addressing the issues which were raised by various speakers. He added that he would discuss all these
important issues with the party high command. At the same time, he stated that the issue of
reorganization of Jammu, Kashmir,
Ladakh is “sensitive”, which needs a
thorough discussion; adding that the “issue of decentralization of power
deserves serious consideration as there are regions in the state which have
suffered owing to the wrong and discriminatory policies.” In this context, he
referred to the issues facing the people of Jammu province and Ladakh region
and reassured the internally-displaced Kashmiri Hindus that the BJP stood and
worked for them in the past and will continue to support their cause. He said:
“Your cause is my cause”.
9.
Referring
to the Kashmir issue, Prasad said that it was time to fix responsibility on
those who created mess in Jammu and Kashmir, which, like other 560-odd princely
states, had acceded to India as per the constitutional law on the subject. He
said Sardar Patel handled all the princely state, barring Jammu and Kashmir,
and there was no problem. He, in fact, held Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru responsible
for mishandling the state. He said it was
mandatory now to hold an “audit” into the “historical blunders” and the
“governance deficit” that has plagued Jammu and Kashmir, irrespective of which
parties ruled the State.10. The BJP chief spokesperson questioned the
rationale behind the retention of Article 370 even after 60 years and stated
that a discussion and debate on the consequences which followed on the
implementation of Article 370 has become imperative. He said Article 370 has
deprived refugees from West Pakistan of their citizenship rights in Jammu and
Kashmir. “It is ironical that some of those who migrated to India after 1947
could become Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister of India and those who
migrated from Sialkot (Pakistan) to Jammu have been deprived of even their
normal rights, including the right to own even a small house in the state,” he
said, adding that it was only because Article 370 that they, and similar other
sections of society, are suffering.
11. Asserting the “Jammu and Kashmir shall ever
remain an integral part of India and BJP will not allow the state to go out of
India come what may,” Prasad rejected outright the demand seeking restoration
of pre-1953 status for the state. He said that no one would be allowed to with
draw central laws from the state and that it could not be allowed to go out of
jurisdiction of central institutions like the Election Commission and Supreme
Court.
12. The speakers from Ladakh, T Samphel and P
Namgayal (both senior Congress leaders) declared that Ladakh was a unique
region with a distinct and unique culture that had absolutely no commonality
with the Kashmir Valley. They also brought out the grim reality of Ladakh’s
exploitation by Kashmiri establishment and attempts through demographic
invasion and cultural vandalism to subvert and destroy the Ladakhi
identity. They demanded that the only
way to halt this erosion of the identity of Ladakh and to strengthen the
processes of integration with the Indian Union, Ladakh should be immediately
delinked from the political organization of Jammu and Kashmir and accorded the
status of a Union Territory. This demand,
they asserted, had become the hallmark of Ladakhi assertion right from 1947 and
was imperative for saving this most strategic part of India from the mischief
of Pakistan that had on occasions infiltrated its troops and mercenary Islamic
militias to wrest it and create trouble.
13. Mr. Samphel alluding to LBA’s past
experience of working with Panun Kashmir and other nationalist groups in Jammu
welcomed the initiative and assured a sustained co-operation in redeeming the
people of the State from the yoke of “oppressive Kashmiri regime”. He charged
that an overwhelming section of Kashmiri Muslim leadership was supporting Pakistan
and were hand-in-glove with the anti-nationals to destabilize the Ladakh region
and the strategic Northern borders of India.
He warned the Indian state and the political leaders in Delhi that their
anti-Ladakh approach and appeasement towards Kashmir region might force the Ladakhis
to rethink and to look up for alternative options of Ladakh’s security.
14. The speakers from Jammu were Prof. Bhim
Singh, former MLA, veteran leader, Chief Patron National Panthers Party, and a
Senior Supreme Court lawyer, and Prof Hari Om, former Head Department of
History (Jammu University), former Professor, Maharaja Gulab Singh Chair, a
prolific writer and a political analyst.
15. Prof. Bhim Singh while making an astute
presentation supported by facts criticized the approach of the Indian State
viz. a viz. Jammu Kashmir and Ladakh, terming it as timid and biased. He
described the formation of the state of J&K as unnatural. He stated that the Panthers Party is
committed to implement its agenda 2011 adopted in Jammu in January 2011 which
among other things advocates re-organization of the State, establishment of
three separate assemblies (one each for Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh), three
separate Chief Ministers for the three regions.
He also said that Article 370 was responsible for subversion of
democratic processes in the State and domination of Kashmir over Jammu and
Ladakh. Describing Article 370 as a huge
political blunder, he demanded an amendment to Art. 370 so that Indian
Parliament is empowered to legislate on behalf of the people of Jammu, Kashmir
and Ladakh, just like other states of the Union of India.
16. Prof. Bhim Singh dismissed the present
dispensation in J&K as anti-national and a threat to the national unity and
integrity and constitutional frame-work.
He stated that the only way out of the Kashmir mess, the only way out to
mitigate the scourge of discrimination, the only way out to solve the problems
of the refugees of 1947, the only way out for permanent return of displaced
Hindus of Kashmir, and for restoring peace in all the three regions and help
promote politics based on democratic and economic issues is the political
re-organization of Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh.
17. He shared the agony of the refugees,
including the West Pakistan refugees of 1947 and the Pandits. He struck a very emotional chord with the
Kashmiri Pandits reminiscing about his ancestral ties with Pandits, being
himself a progeny of Zoravar Singh. He
said, “My ancestor would always stand in respect and welcome before the Pandits
from Kashmir; I stand again before you, for all that you are – embodiment of
learning and culture. I am your soldier;
order me and guide me.” He also declared
his support for Panun Kashmir for creating a secure homeland for the displaced
Hindus in Kashmir with constitutional safe-guards and Provisions under UN
Charters.
18. Prof. Hari Om lashed out at Delhi for its
dithering and indecision on Jammu and Kashmir. He warned Delhi that its policy
of ignoring the nationalists in the state, its reluctance to deal with
anti-nationals and subversive elements, its invidious discrimination with the
Jammu region, and its willingness to accord disproportionate power in the hands
of Kashmir centric leadership in the state, has pushed the entire Jammu and
Kashmir to the imminent destruction and ruin.
Ably supported by facts and alluding to the historical blunders of the
Indian State, he enumerated instances and chain of events that has created
present mess and endangered national security and strategic imperatives.
19. Prof. Hari Om blamed the Indian political
class for ignoring warnings, soft pedaling the communalists, encouraging
secessionists and compromising secular nation building process in Jammu and
Kashmir. He lamented the artificial
unity that has been perpetuated on the people of Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh as a
tool of political and communal blackmail to appease valley’s Muslim leadership
and to demoralize others. “All this has caused an irreparable damage to the
body politic and endangered India’s unity”stated Prof. Hari Om.
20. He deftly presented a forceful case for the
State’s political reorganization in order to secure and strengthen Indian
national interests, give justice to the people of Jammu and Ladakh and secure a
viable rehabilitation of exiled Hindus of Kashmir in their Homeland. He suggested that the State of Jammu and Kashmir
should be trifurcated. Jammu be
constituted as a State of the Union and Ladakh be made a Union Territory. As far Kashmir, he demanded that for
rehabilitating the half a million internally displaced Kashmiri Hindus, Kashmir
be bifurcated into Panun Kashmir as a Union Territory and rest of Kashmir as
another State of the Indian Union. He
also emphasized that Pakistan had no locus standi on Jammu and Kashmir; that it
was an aggressor and that the 1994 Resolution of the Indian Parliament be
implemented to secure and integrate the State’s territories occupied by
Pakistan in 1947 as well the territories illegally handed over to China by Pakistan.
21. The plight and voice of internally
Displaced Kashmiri Hindus, equally and forceful echoed through the
presentations made by Panun Kashmir organizers of the Seminar. Very competently lead by Panun Kashmir
Chairman Dr. Ajay Chrungoo whose address caught attention of the entire
audience as was clear from the applause he got from the audience. Dr Shakti Bhan and Sh. Shailendra Aima, the
Vice Chairpersons of the organizations lent a highly poignant tone to Panun
Kashmir’s presentation and focused on issues confronting the Diaspora.
22. Dr. Ajay Chrungoo stated that the problem
of the internally displaced Hindus of Kashmir is basically the problem of
reversing a genocide unleashed by the forces that not only have international
support structures but also the patronage of certain entrenched forces within
the Indian State. The genocide of Hindus
is a logical expression of a hegemony which has been allowed to perpetuate on
the State over the years. This hegemony
has been responsible for all sorts of discrimination and exclusion practiced by
the entire State. The core of this
hegemony is Muslim identity politics; and unless and until the regressive and
totalitarian content of it is exposed nationally and internationally, it will
be difficult to create an atmosphere in which all segments could co-exist in a
peaceful and dignified manner.
23. Dr. Ajay Chrungoo bemoaned that Indian State has been entertaining and
engaging with all variants of separatism formally without any reservation,
proclaiming it as a search for peace.
“Indian state has ruthlessly avoided engagement with all such opinion
which are nationalist and explore peace within frame-work of Indian integrity
and sovereignty”, he lamented, “When we talk about the reorganization of the
state, we are actually confronting a compromise which the Indian state has
brokered with communal separatist politics.
This compromise needs to be challenged and deprived of its legitimacy in
the name of strategy”.
24. Dr. Chrungoo said that the antinational and
communal character of this sinister compromise needs to be exposed and “we all
have to do it together”. He said that the creation of the Homeland of Panun
Kashmir with a Union Territory status in Kashmir valley for the rehabilitation
of the entire population of Kashmiri Hindus living in exile across the country
and outside, is not an attempt to create a new sub-national denominator. “It is basically a struggle to defeat the
forces of genocide and create an alternative within the valley that is in sync
with Indian civilizational ethos and the process of nation building. Kashmir is
not an extension of Arabia. Kashmir is
an integral part of Indian civilization. Creation of Panun Kashmir and
reorganization of J&K State is well laid down in Article 1 of the Constitution
of India. This demand is not at all
incompatible with the constitutional provisions. It is related to assertion of
a national will that considers Jammu and Kashmir as an integral part of India
and not a Muslim sphere of influence.”
25. Dr. Chrungoo said, “Destiny of Kashmiri
Hindus is linked to how they defeat the separatist maneuvers and contribute to
the transformation of the national will and vision about Jammu and Kashmir. The
entire diaspora is required to keep contributing to this transformation.” He also said, “It is a recognized fact among
the entire spectrum of political class in Kashmir valley that Kashmiri Hindus
have successfully thwarted the march of separatism and exposed its jihadist
character.”
26. There was a general consensus in the house
favouring State’s reorganization and the need to give a fillip to the struggle
to bring it to its logical end.
27. The participants were seen interacting with
the speakers and the organizers over tea, till late hours. Opinion makers,
academicians, senior faculty from DU and JNU, senior journalists and lawyers,
besides students from Jammu and Ladakh also participated in the event. Remarkable
was to see some known detractors of Panun Kashmir, sitting throughout the proceedings,
mixing and interacting with Panun Kashmir leaders over long chats on the lawns
till wee hours, in a new found bonhomie.
Shailendra AimaMarch 4, 2013
