Dismiss Abdullah or Risk
Losing Kashmir!!
Vishwas Varghese
Dismiss Abdullah or Risk Losing Kashmir!!
An incredibly dangerous and ominous development took shape in the
Indian State of Jammu and Kashmir. Last Wednesday, the state
cabinet headed by Chief Minister Farooque Abdullah approved
implementation in full of the state autonomy committee
recommendations. Implementation of these recommendations would be
nothing short of declaring Jammu and Kashmir as an independent
nation!
The recommendations severely limit the Union government's
jurisdiction in the state to only defense, finance and external
affairs. According to the cabinet's decision on autonomy, postings
of all- India cadre officers in J&K will NOT be accepted and
the governor's nomenclature would be changed to "Sadar-e-Riyasat''
and the CM's to "Prime Minister". This horrifying
suggestion is equivalent to declaring Kashmir an independent
Islamic State! It has become increasingly apparent over the last
few months, that it is none other than Chief Minister Farooque
Abdullah who is responsible for the utter chaos in law and order
in the state. His cabinet's approval of such offensive and
anti-national recommendations clearly indicates that this man is
knee deep in the involvement of the National Conference's long
cherished ambition to sever Kashmir from India, so that it can
become a puppet regime controlled by the Islamic terrorists of
Pakistan.
According to the so called recommendations, the Election
Commission and the Supreme Court will have NO jurisdiction in the
state and the Jammu and Kashmir High Court will be the only
appellate authority. The state judiciary will be subordinate to
the state executive. Consequently over 300 Central laws would be
repealed!! This move is nothing short of an attempt to take
Kashmir's status back to what it was before 1954, thereby
completely nullifying the Government's control since then.
Farooque Abdullah has said that these recommendations will soon be
ratified by the state legislature in the coming session. Earlier,
he had said it would to be sent to all state legislators for a
debate, but as he was "in a hurry", he had got it
approved by the cabinet. This so called "Autonomy
Committee" was initially led by Karan Singh, who later left
it to fight for the Lucknow seat under the Congress mantle. Later,
Abdullah had appointed urban development minister G M Shah as
chairman of the committee.
The state cabinet's "sudden" decision to endorse the
report out of the blue is the direct consequence of Abdullah's
fear that BJP would be dismissing him soon. The original
recommendation was submitted in 1998, and ignored by most of the
country as simply another outrageous instance of sabre rattling.
The day after these recommendations were "approved" by
Abdullah's kitchen cabinet, a BJP delegation led by state BJP
chief Daya Krishna Kotal had met governor G K Saxena and submitted
a memorandum seeking immediate dismissal of Farooque Abdullah.
The BJP delegation was enraged at the NC government for advocating
greater autonomy and told the governor that as there was a
complete and total breakdown of law and order in the state and the
NC government and Farooque Abdullah should be dismissed. The
delegation also told the governor that enforcement of the
"autonomy report" would lead to widespread communal
riots as it would be nothing short of restoration of the pre-1953
status.
Abdullah of course claims that his government is in command of the
situation in the state. He said he had asked the governor to
personally assess the situation in the Valley. According to
Abdullah, the governor is now taking an interest in law and order
matters and even presides over the unified headquarters meetings.
First of all, it was incredibly shocking that such a move was not
pre-empted by the BJP government. However the Government wasted no
time in shooting down this outrageous suggestion by Abdullah and
his stooges. Notwithstanding the fact that the J&K National
Conference party headed by Chief Minister, Dr Farooq Abdullah, is
an ally of the BJP-led coalition Government at the Center, Prime
Minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee, has opposed the demand favoring
full restoration of the 1952 autonomous status to Jammu and
Kashmir.
A copy of the report of the J&K Autonomy Committee was
delivered to the Union Home Ministry by a top official of the
State Government, in an apparent bid to force the government's
hand. Top officials from the Union Home Secretary made it
sufficiently clear that: "New Delhi is keen on assisting the
J&K Government in the gigantic task of bringing about peace
and normalcy in Kashmir. But the question of restoring the
pre-1953 constitutional position in Jammu and Kashmir just does
not arise".
The Home Ministry official also made it clear that the BJP
government's promise of "maximum" autonomy to Kashmir
" did not mean accepting such an
unacceptable demand, namely, full restoration of the 1952
constitutional position in Jammu and Kashmir". According to
the Daily Excelsior newspaper when he was asked to comment on the
National Conference claim about a proposal to adopt the resolution
in both Houses of J&K Legislature for full restoration of the
1952 constitutional position, he declared: "Let them do what
they want to, but I wish to make one thing very clear-that is
Parliament just cannot be ignored when vital constitutional
matters are to be decided upon".
There have also been unconfirmed reports that a quiet initiative
has been taken by some "pro-Government militants" for
"unconditional" talks with the Government of India.
Secret contact has been established with some of these Islamic
terrorists and at least a couple of quiet meetings have already
taken place between them and some officials.
This outrageously anti-national act on Farooque Abdullah's part,
demands immediate dismissal. If the BJP led government has the
slightest shred of concern for the country's integrity and
security, it is imperative that the dangerously subversive
activities by the National Conference be curtailed. Central Rule
must immediately be clamped on the state, before it is too late.
Having talks with "pro-government Militants" is an
extremely foolhardy step, as it implies inherent recognition of
such Islamic terrorists.
It is obvious that the situation in Jammu and Kashmir is extremely
urgent and calls for a strong, no-nonsense attitude on the
government's part. What is most shocking of all, however is the
fact that things have been allowed to degenerate to such a state
of affairs. Even as we Indians sit in drawing rooms discussing how
best to defend Kashmir, the constitutional status of this integral
part of India has been brought to the brink of disaster.
It is a shocking reflection of the media's priorities, that hardly
any of the major Indian newspapers featured this story as one of
their main headlines.
Has India already resigned itself to losing an integral limb in
the form of Kashmir, the ancient land of our forefathers, without
even giving it a fight?
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