Author: Editorial
Publication: The Pioneer
Date: August 8, 2008
Centre must keep an open mind
The Sri Amarnath Sangharsh Samiti, which is
spearheading the ongoing protest in Jammu, cannot be faulted for dismissing
Wednesday's all-party meeting as "meaningless". In retrospect, it
would appear that the meeting, called by the Prime Minister, was meant to
provide a platform to Muslim leaders of Kashmir Valley to criticise the protesters
and reiterate their communal views under the garb of 'secular' concern. Hence,
National Conference patron Farooq Abdullah was heard wondering whether his
family had done the right thing by deciding to stay back in India after partition
while PDP chairperson Mehbooba Mufti was at her shrieking best, hurling invectives
at Jammu's Hindu protesters and shedding ersatz tears over the 'plight' of
Kashmir's Muslims. Others, not to be outdone by either Mr Farooq Abdullah
or Ms Mehbooba Mufti, waxed eloquent on how the protest has turned 'communal'
in 'secular' Jammu & Kashmir and similar gobbledygook. Had it not been
for the interventions by BJP president Rajnath Singh and his colleague Arun
Jaitley, the all-party meeting would have become a conclave for unrestrained
Hindu-bashing; since the Prime Minister chose not to set the record straight,
we can only assume that this is what he and the Congress had hoped for. Indeed,
Mr Jaitley has pithily summed up the crisis that continues to snowball with
each passing day: If Muslim-majority Kashmir has a 'psyche' of which we should
be mindful, so does Hindu-majority Jammu have a 'psyche', which has been trampled
upon in the most grotesque manner by those who insist Jammu & Kashmir
is only about pandering to the Valley's Muslims. Governor NN Vohra's astonishing
decision to snub Hindu aspirations and ignore Hindu sensitivities, obviously
to either please his patrons in Delhi or carry out their instruction, by asking
the State Government to cancel the order allotting 97 acres of land to the
Sri Amarnath Shrine Board, as well as divesting the board of its responsibilities,
is only the latest instance of Jammu's Hindus being given the short shrift
in order to appease Kashmir's Muslims. In a sense, the Amarnath shrine land
dispute has proved to be the tipping point. Jammu's Hindus, smarting under
Srinagar's high-handedness for decades and tired of brazenly biased Governors
deaf to their appeals for justice, have decided that enough is enough: Latent,
simmering anger has boiled over into uncontrollable rage.
However, it is instructive to note that the
protest in Jammu remains anchored in nationalism; this is in sharp contrast
to violence in Kashmir which is firmly rooted in separatism. Faced with an
economic blockade, whose merits are no doubt debatable, the Valley's Muslims
are looking towards Muzaffarabad and not New Delhi for succour, and threatening
to use the Srinagar-Muzaffarabad highway to transport their orchard produce
-- this is sheer blackmail and must be met without any leniency being shown
to them. Seen against this backdrop and in the context of the Congress's partisan
politics, it is doubtful whether the proposed all-party delegation, led by
Minister for External Affairs Pranab Mukherjee, will be able to break the
deadlock that prevails in Jammu. The protesters have made it abundantly clear
that they will settle for nothing less than the land being restored to the
Sri Amarnath Shrine Board and Mr Vohra being recalled. This is not a maximalist
position. If the Government is genuinely interested in an honourable and fair
settlement, it should be willing to consider these demands with an open mind.