KASHMIR and IDPs

The grave situation in Jammu has the potential of escalating into dangerous polarization

By K.N. Pandita

No relent is in sight in the six-day old bandh and curfew in Jammu city and some of the towns in the region, which have brought life to thorough stand still. This is reminiscent of historic Praja Parishad agitation, the first mass movement in Jammu against discrimination by the populist regime.

Protest rallies were initially brought out in various parts of Jammu region against the government, which succumbed timidly to communal pressures and withdrew  Sshri Amarnath Shrine Board land allocation deal. But the ongoing bandh and curfew are a sequel to NC chairman, Omar Abdullah’s trust vote speech in the parliament on 22 July. Jammu protesters have labeled it a speech laced with communal and regional undertones. Surprisingly, the Prime Minister and the Congress Chief both were shown on live Lok Sabha channel clapping their hands in appreciation of Omar’s contentious statement.

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Kashmir jihad is closely connected to developments in Waziristan

K.N. Pandit

PPP leader Mr. Zardari’s past bluff of putting Kashmir on the backburner had caused deep revulsion among Kashmiri separatists, jihadis and ambivalent mainstream political leadership. Muzaffarabad-based Kashmir Jihad Council chief Sayyid Salahud-Din had lost no time to rubbish the idea and asserted that armed efforts to “liberate” Kashmir would be intensified. Uniting all armed groups of jihadis under KJC umbrella was his first reaction.

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(KNP wrote: nearly eight years ago I had written a longish article titled Kashmir Question … Today I suddenly found it at Kashmirherald website. I have copied it and attached it here. Please put it on my blog).

Editor’s Note: Readers are recommended to take a look at Chandrashekhar Dasgupta’s ‘War and Diplomacy in Kashmir, 1947-48, for a detailed expose of why India could not drive out Pakistani forces from J&K and why India went to the UN Security Council. The review of that book is available in our Herald archives at War & Diplomacy … available also as book on amazon; and as review on SAGE; on Vedam’s books; and on questa.

The article, by K.N. Pandita,

Retrospect:

As the British withdrew from the Indian subcontinent on 15 August 1947, their policy planners worked out a strategy of joint defence for India and Pakistan called Auchinleck Plan after the name of the then Indian Army Chief. It was a defence strategy against the Soviet Union.
With Nehru a known socialist, Anglo-American lobby cultivated Pakistan as a dependable bulwark against communism in South Asia. British policy planners working through their lobbies wanted independent Jammu & Kashmir to remain within the sphere of their influence. It was part of the policy of containment of communism.
Ramchand Kak, the Prime Minister of the State, was a key figure. A section of commentators believes that Kashmiri lobby in Delhi contrived the dismissal of Kak more as vendetta than political reprisal. Kak’s removal was followed by an armed uprising in Mirpur by the WW II disbanded Sudans with promptings from outside. This was a precursor to an incursion by the tribesmen of Pakistan’s North West Frontier Province meticulously planned and executed by the Pakistani military and civilian combine.

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Situation is gradually on the downslide in Kashmir

By K.N. Pandit

In a bid to offer sops to the electorate in forthcoming parliamentary elections, the Amarnath land deal, hanging fire for over three years, was hastily concluded. Then there followed the storm of protests in the valley. Notwithstanding its initial bravado, the Congress-led government succumbed, and, in a state of frustration, induced the newly – appointed Governor to sign the withdrawal notice.

Things went haywire. When the PDP pulled the rug, the government crumbled and the bravado became a mock show. The question is when the Chief Minister knew he would not be able to cobble majority in the assembly, what was the urgency to persuade the Governor to withdraw the deal? What followed was even worse.

In Jammu there was reaction: reaction to the decision of the Governor and reaction to the response of the Jammu-returned Congress members in the house and in the Council of Ministers to the happenings in the valley. The Congressites behaved like a stupefied lot.

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By K.N.Pandita

Recent events have once again exposed the much-touted ’secular’ credentials of mainstream political parties in the Kashmir Valley. It would be incorrect to link the response of these parties to the Government’s decision, which now stands cancelled, of temporarily allotting land to the Sri Amarnath Shrine Board to this year’s Assembly election in Jammu & Kashmir.

On hindsight, the PDP, a coalition partner in the Congress-led Government in the State till it pulled out on Saturday, has hardly been cooperative after it handed over power to the latter three years ago. Its performance during the first three years of the coalition’s tenure hardly bears testimony to its claimed non-partisan style of governance.

Under the guise of ‘respect for the wishes of the people’, the PDP has in the past blatantly played the pro-separatist card on issues such as demilitarisation of Jammu & Kashmir, joint regional council with Pakistan occupied Kashmir, inflow of Pakistani currency, lifting of all restrictions on trans-border movement, etc.

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