Author: Hari Om
Publication: The Indian Express
Date: June 7, 2003
URL: http://www.indianexpress.com/full_story.php?content_id=25321
In his 'Letter from Islamabad' (IE,
May 29) Congress ideologue, Mani Shankar Aiyar, has said: That ''weaning
the Kashmiri away from the causes of his discontent will decisively determine
the course and content of the external dialogue''.
Let us now very briefly examine
the status of the "alienated" Kashmiris. Take, for instance, their total
control over the state's politics as well as an effective say in New Delhi.
In October 1947, when the state acceded to the Indian Dominion as per the
stipulations of the Indian Independence Act, they plainly told Nehru that
they would endorse Maharaja Hari Singh's decision on the state accession
only if the political power is transferred from Jammu to the Valley-based
National Conference. And Nehru obliged them.
Ever since, they have been ruling
over the state, with the people of Jammu and Ladakh being reduced to a
nullity. The factor that has helped them most to retain control over the
state policy is the mechanism they diligently evolved in 1951 which could
always enable them to capture nearly 50 per cent of the seats in the Assembly
and three of the six seats in the Lok Sabha.
Again, it was at their behest that
Article 370 was incorporated in the Indian Constitution. It is under this
Article that the solitary State of J&K enjoys the right to have a separate
constitution and a flag other than the national Tricolour and is invested
with residuary powers of legislation, including taxation. As for their
share in the vital service sector, they hold over 2,30,000 positions out
of a nearly 2,40,000 positions in the government and semi-government organizations
in the Valley. In addition, they corner nearly 30 per cent of the jobs
in the regional services of Jammu and Ladakh.
Interestingly, a vast majority of
them do not pay a single penny to the state in the form of revenue due
to it. It is only Jammu and Ladakh which contribute over 80 per cent to
the state exchequer. A major part of this money is spent not in the extremely
backward and under-developed region of Jammu and Ladakh but in the already
highly prosperous and developed Kashmir Valley. The oft-repeated charge
that New Delhi has consistently ignored the state's financial needs has
no basis whatsoever. The fact is that J&K is a ''Special Category State''
which receives Central assistance on the basis of 90 per cent as grant
and 10 per cent as loan.
What more does Aiyar want for Kashmir
in order to resolve the Indo-Pak dispute?