Conspiracy: Only 17 questions for destroyers of Jammu who today are beating their chests for Jammu

Prof Hari Om

The July 17 Ikkjutt Jammu-sponsored demonstrations at all district headquarters in Jammu province in support of its demand seeking statehood for the politically-marginalized and economically and socially neglected region has evoked response on expected lines. The friends and well-wishers of Jammu province have openly and in private welcomed the demand, saying if the disempowered and colonized Jammu province is to be regenerated socially, economically and politically, it has to be separated from Kashmir. Contrarily, the loud clamour for separate Jammu State has rattled, disturbed, alarmed and upset the applecart of those in Kashmir, who destroyed, fleeced, exploited, drained and systematically disempowered the people of Jammu province for 75 years after 1947.
Take, for example, former powerful minister and pro-self-rule PDP’s ideologue Altaf Bukhari. A day after demonstrations in Jammu (July 18), he, inter-alia, in Jammu itself said: “Apni Party will continue to fight against the divisive forces. We will not allow such elements who are creating division among the people. We will continue our struggle for the Unity of J&K. Those speaking for separate statehood are trying to divert attention of the people from the real issues. The people who want to create division in the name of region and religion are the enemies of peace and unity of historic Dogra State of J&K. Jammu has become a victim of divisive campaigns, which have ultimately hit the development, business and tourism sector in Jammu”.
What he said was nothing but a desperate attempt of the essentially separatist and fundamentally Kashmir-centric Kashmiri parties to mislead and hoodwink the long-suffering people of Jammu province and pit vested interests in Jammu province against the ardent believers in the concept of national integration and Jammu’s freedom from the oppressive Kashmiri leadership. They are simply beating their chests to fool the people of Jammu province but all their ill-motivated, ill-designed and ill-intentioned attempts are destined to fail. Will he or any other Kashmiri leader answer thirteen questions?

1. Why did Kashmiri leadership snatch the age-old Jammu city’s capital status and make Srinagar permanent capital of J&K State? Why?
2. Why all the J&K CMs till June 2018 were from Kashmir belonging to one particular religious sect? Why?
3. Why did the Sheikh Abdullah divide the Hindu-majority Udhampur district and create out of it Muslim-majority Doda district in 1948? Why?
4. Why did the PM Nehru-backed J&K Wazir-e-Azam Sheikh Abdullah let loose a reign of senseless brutalities on the integrationists in Jammu, who had launched “Ek Nissan, Ek Vidhan and Ek Pradhan” movement in 1952 to ensure J&K’s full integration into India? Why? The state oppression left almost two dozen integrations dead and many others wounded across Jammu province. The Kashmiri Muslim leaders, without any exception, dismissed as “reactionary, communal and anti-national” the Jammu movement.
5. Why did the GM Sadiq Government reject the 1968 Gajendragadkar Commission report, which had, among other things, recommended three Statutory Regional Development Boards, one each for Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh? Why?
6. Why did not the Farooq Abdullah Government adopt the 1999 Singhal Committee Report that candidly acknowledged that the share of Jammu in professional colleges was just negligible? Why? The report had suggested that all the seats available in the Jammu-based professional colleges will be the sole preserve of the Jammu youth and all the seats available in the Kashmir-based such colleges will be the sole preserve of the Kashmiri youth? The ratio of Kashmiri youth and Jammu youth, respectably, in medical colleges in 1987 was 46.5% and 53.5%; in 1988, 52.97% and 47.03%; in 1989, 55% and 45%; in 1990, 40% and 60%; in 1991, 48% and 52%; in 1993, 48% and 52%; 1994, 62% and 38%; in 1995, 59% and 41%; in 1996, 64% and 36%; and in 1997, 80% and 20%.
7. Why did the Ghulam Nabi Azad-led government apply the 1983 Wazir Commission Report in a wrong way to hurt Jammu? Why? The Commission had recommended three new districts for the vast and difficult Jammu province and only one for the small Kashmir Valley, but the Azad Government created four districts in Jammu and four in Kashmir in 2007.
8. Why did the Azad-Mufti government adopt private member’s divisive and communal bills on Shari laws and state flag in 2007 and reject outright bills on secularism, national flag, due representation to Jammu in the assembly, citizenship rights to the Hindu-Sikh refugees from Pakistan, temple protection etc etc? Why?
9. Why did the Azad Government violate the J&K High Court’s unambiguous directions in 2008 and snatch from the Shri Amarnath Shrine Board that small piece of land at Baltal in Kashmir meant for creating some additional facilities for the Amarnath pilgrims? The uncalled move outraged the religious sensitivities of the Hindus across the world, led to over 2-month-long massive agitation across Jammu province and in other parts of India and martyrdom of more than a dozen devotees of Lord Shiva in Jammu province.
10. Is it not a fact that the Mufti Syed-led coalition Government imposed 12.5% tax on chopper service to the Hindus’ places of worship, including Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine and Baba Amarnath Shrine? Why did all the Kashmiri leaders support the official move?
11. Is it not a fact that NC President Omar Abdullah abused the hero of the Jammu Dogras, Maharaja Hari Singh, in the Samba-Vijaypur belt while addressing election rallies in 2002?
12. Is it not a fact that the Kashmiri-dominated successive governments in the state every year earmarked 90% funds for tourism development in Kashmir and only a paltry 10% for Jammu?
13. Is it not a fact that the successive Kashmiri-dominated governments in the state wilfully allowed the Dogra heritage, including the historic Mubarak Mandi, to decay, to become a story of the past?
14. Is it not a fact that the Kashmiri-dominated governments created an environment that helped many Kashmiris to set up big business houses, big show rooms and big industrial units in Jammu and grab major contracts, thus grievously hurting the economic interests of the people of Jammu province, including the Jammu-based business community?
15. Is it not a fact that CMs like Farooq Abdullah, Mufti Sayeed, Azad, Omar Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti ruthlessly implemented the 2001 atrocious Roshni Act under which many vested interests grabbed almost 20 lakh kanals of state land in Jammu province to change the Jammu’s demographic landscape?
16. Is it not a fact that the successive Kashmir-dominated Governments excluded the Jammu youth from the vital service sector to the extent that the unemployment rate in Jammu province rose to over 69%, as against less than 30% in Kashmir?
17. Is it not a fact that the J&K Governments after 1996 settled thousands of Rohingyas and Bangladeshis in Jammu province, especially Jammu and Samba districts, and not in Kashmir? Why?
    What these are only seventeen questions. One can ask hundreds of similar other questions to Kashmiri leaders, all establishing that what they did to Jammu was not a mere lapse, but a part of meticulously devised policy calculated to disempowering and destroying Jammu province and its residents. It’s time for the people of Jammu province to ask Kashmiri leaders these questions and expose them and their politics of deceit.
    (The opinions expressed in this
    write-up are those of the author and not reflect the views of STATE TIMES).