M Form abolition a welcome step
P. L KHUSHU
By removing the barriers in voting by the Kashmiri migrants, the Election Commission of India, has sent a powerful message of generosity and equity in the electoral process, for the displaced Kashmiri pundits, living as displaced persons in their own country. Better late than never. It has come, yet, after about 35 years of exile of KP’s. This decision reaffirms the commitment of the present governance to uphold the rights of the KP’s at least in the issues of electoral processes.
The decision by the ECI comes in response to longstanding demands by Kashmiri migrants, in this regard. Sincere efforts, coupled with constructive dialogue with election authorities, have culminated in a significant policy change that addresses the concerns of Kashmiri migrants and respects their easy participation in elections of the nation. Such a step will equally help and smoothen the process of exercising voting process for the migrant KP’s in the ensuing elections of the union territory of Jammu and Kashmir, as and when such elections are held. This move, aimed at making the electoral process more inclusive and hassle-free, signifies a crucial shift towards recognizing and addressing the problems faced by Kashmiri migrants in exercising their right to franchise. For decades, Kashmiri migrants have grappled with complex bureaucratic procedures, particularly the requirement of filling out M Forms, which often acted as barriers to their participation in the electoral process.
Under the modified voting scheme, Kashmiri migrant electors residing in various camps and zones in Jammu and Udhampur will no longer need to go through the arduous process of filling out M Forms. Instead, they will be provided with special polling stations based on their registered zones of residence, streamlining the voting process and eliminating unnecessary bureaucratic hurdles.
This pragmatic approach by the ECI not only simplifies the voting procedure but also evinces intentions of the government to address the other concerns of Kashmiri migrants, due to their forced displacement from Kashmir. Furthermore, the decision to allow self-attestation for filling out Form M for migrants residing outside Jammu and Udhampur, such as in Delhi or other parts of the country, is another progressive step towards ensuring accessibility to the electoral process. Additionally, with the continuation of the postal ballot facility through Form 12C it ensures that all migrants, regardless of their place of residence, have the option to vote by postal ballot as well. This provision caters to the diverse needs of Kashmiri migrants and also reflects the ECI’s commitment to cater to their various voting circumstances. The amended arrangement, which provides special polling stations to specific zones, underscores the ECI’s meticulous approach towards ensuring equitable access to polling stations for Kashmiri migrants. By ensuring that each zone has at least one special polling station and delineating intra-zonal jurisdictions, the ECI has prioritized the convenience and accessibility of electoral facilities for Kashmiri migrants.
According to records from the last election, although 17,000 M forms were issued, only 7 percent of those who received them actually voted. Voting represents the most effective means to choose one’s representatives, the votes of Kashmiri migrants can potentially be decisive. ECI has sincerely fulfilled its responsibilities by implementing necessary procedural changes.
It is certainly a welcome move by the government of the day to have such an encouraging relief granted to the KP’s in regard to their voting rights, but should it be weighted as per the quantum of time consumed by the policy planers to do so. Should it be called as an eye wash unless it is not followed by taking existential measures about the perpetual and the final rehabilitation of KP’s back in Kashmir with honor and dignity.
It is almost two and a half terms of ” Lord Ramas – Vanwas”, of 14 years each, which makes it 35 years for the Kashmiri Pandits, to be in exile now, for no fault of theirs. This is the apathy which KP’s have been facing after their forced exile from Kashmir. It can be said that the ” Vanvas” ( Exile) of KP’s, in their own country, which has crossed almost 35 years, may continue further, as there is hardly any positive development visible in this regard from the government side. What is their fault? Yes their fault is that they kept the Flag of India, flying in Kashmir at the cost of their existence and comforts of sorts, when India was not acceptable to the majority of people within the majority community of Kashmir, which was exploited as a tool to rule the Jammu and Kashmir for ages, by some political dynasties of Kashmir and its progenies from time to time. Dynasty based political leadership dominance is still in existence in Kashmir, who will never like and allow Kashmiri Pandits to return to Kashmir perpetually and permanently.
The issue of the forcibly displaced KP’s is not of mere return back in Kashmir only. What is needed is that they should be rehabilitated back in Kashmir with dignity and honor. A demand for their return to Kashmir is highly referential and important for seeking vital remedies for the venomous and irreparable damages, which have occurred to this miniscule community with this forced exodus that was a well knit conspiracy of the fundamentalists and extremists elements in Kashmir aided and abetted by prominent regional political leaders of Kashmir for their vote bank politics to retain their dynasty based political power and rule J & K perpetually and equally ensuring the cleansing the valley from the presence of KP’s.
The Kashmir Pandits are seriously alarmed about their extinction as an ebb original community known as Kashmiri Pandits ( Battas), who been shattered by the tyranny of the times since last 35 years, when no one is listening to their woes with concern and appropriate remedies. The authorities in power have no causative concern about KP’s, as KP’s are not a vote bank treasure and tag, due to our minuscule and displaced status.
This conspiracy of evicting the KP’s from Kashmir along with their genocide had apparently a hidden go ahead from most of the fanatic Muslims of Kashmir believing in the establishing of “Nizame- Mustaffa”, the pure Islamic Rule in Kashmir. Unfortunately the concept of Islamic fundamentalism was always a ring desire of almost each and every Muslim of Kashmir, right from the day when the power got transferred to democratic governance in 1947, after the same was snatched away from Maharaja Hari Singh, under the well planned conspiracy hatched by the prominent leaders of ” Quite-Kashmir-Movement”, with the sorrowful blessings of most of the then congress leadership of India which was led by Nehru. Kashmiri Pandit was always an eye sore in Kashmir ever since the emergence of so called ” Naya-Kashmir”. The rigmarole about the duping the KP’s of their fundamental right to live in Kashmir with dignity and honor, started in this period only, when the exodus of KP’s started from Kashmir
With the mass forced exodus of the KP’s in 1989-90, the Kashmiri Pandits are on the path of extinction, as a historic age old community of the “Kashap-Rishis’s” Kashmir. Apart from losing their properties, their base, homes and hearths, culture, language, social set up, life pattern, living standards, educational base, religious places, monumental abodes of their spiritual saints and Godly persons, etc, the KP’s have lost their identity in all respects. It is a big issue for the KP’s, when right from 1990, till date nobody has ever bothered about this extinction problem of the KP’s from the map of Jammu and Kashmir.
KP’s are being applied fragile balms like petty job packages that too with suicidal moratoriums, when our youth who opt for such jobs under situational circumstances have to work in Kashmir only under the threat of Islamic gun, which has taken so many precious lives of our meritorious young men . Reserving two seats in the legislative assembly for KP’s, as per latest salvo in this regard, will not carry all of us to our snatched away homes and hearths with honor and dignity. This is no favor to us. It may be a glittering crown for some blue eyed boys of the BJP, who claim themselves as the representatives of KP’s, when most of them are not known at all , nor have they ever bothered about any issues of the KP’s agonies and distresses of sorts due to their forced migration from Kashmir. These are petty sops as political Lollypops, for national consumption by the present ruling dispensation for its use in the coming general elections.
The persistent demand of KP’s for the creation of a separate homeland for them is being overlooked with no genuine reason or cause behind it. What is stopping the governance of the day to create a union territory for the displaced KP’s, as a separate home land for KP’s, within Kashmir, to live as respectable citizens with honor and dignity and not as refugees in their own country, or as political victims under the Islamic dominance and fear of the gun, in the valley of Kashmir.
KP’s link with Kashmir with a minority status for KP’s is the need of the hour, if the government of the day is really inclined to restore the lost status of KP’s. It is not their return and rehabilitation back in Kashmir only. It has to be with their status as a minority one, for their better growth in all the areas of developments including their economic development. KP’s have suffered a lot for the last 35 years of their forced exile. To get back their original entity and recognition, the KP’s have to be declared as a minority community in Kashmir for a better and a proper attention by the government in all the core sectors of development.
KP’s want a return to their “homeland”, but not to the servitude of a Muslim State, as Kashmir has become now. Under such grave circumstances, the only solution left for the rehabilitation of the KP’s is to create a “separate homeland” for the KP’s, with in Kashmir, having a status of “Union Territory”, with a minority status for the KP’s. Such a call is not any political proposition. It is in fact the only way to ensure the return of the KP’s to their “homeland” securing their return with safety and dignity, when they will be able to salvage their lost identity of sorts within the valley of Kashmir.
Since the displaced KP’s are now deprived of their properties in Kashmir, either having been forced to sell their properties under distress or having been divested of their properties due to gun culture in one or the other form, appropriate remedial measures shall have to be adopted by the authorities in power to provide residential housing facilities to the displaced KP’s, to make them live securely and safely in Kashmir. Similarly, where ever their properties have been encroached upon or usurped, these shall have to be got restored back to the affected KP’s. Employment packages of various sorts to absorb the youth of KP’s in this union territory for KP’s within Kashmir shall have to be introduced to ensure that the governance of this union territory is fully managed by KP’s mostly. Similarly other major issues like financial assistance packages etc, are afforded to such persons who choose to adopt small trade and commerce as their source of living. There will be other major reforms to be introduced in the sectors like education, agriculture, horticulture, tourism and the like, for the displaced Kashmiri Pandits within Kashmir once a union territory is created for them in Kashmir.
A new organization of relief and rehabilitation for the migrant Kashmiri Pandits shall have to be created within this union territory to look after all the major problems of the rehabilitation of KP’s, under the superior monitoring of senior most bureaucrats.
In fact there is presently an organization known as Relief and Rehabilitation (Migrants), organization operating from Jammu, which is looking after about some issues of the displaced KP’s. Unfortunately this organization did not grow beyond a certain limit to be really called as an organization which affords real relief and rehabilitation to the displaced KP’s. By relief is not meant the cash relief. Relief here is referred to the facility of providing of easy and quick administrative decisions for various issues related to this organization for the KP’s. Citing an example in this regard, if a ration card holder even under non relief category wants to have his or her migrant ration card bifurcated asking for issuing a new migrant ration card for his or her progeny, even under non relief category, it mostly becomes a nightmare for the person concerned.
Its role in the rehabilitation of KP’s so for is almost negligible. Probably this organization needs better qualified officers and officials at the ground levels, who are competent enough to deliver better and quick.
The old traditional lot of office hands manning this organization for decades need now to be replaced with fresh and young blood of better merit and knowledge. This organization has still enough scope to provide enough relief and rehabilitation to the displaced KP’s, if reorganized properly. Relief here is again not meant the cash relief. It is the element of comfort for the KP’s in their various issues of migration and displacement through this organization which is missing presently.
(The author is a chartered consultant civil engineer, passionately attached and devoted to his mother land – Jammu & Kashmir)
