'Organiser' Editor participates in Kashmir Accession day

When Chennaities learnt that Jammu And Kashmir State is not a Muslim Majority state

Inspiring and consummate lecture on Jammu & Kashmir involving various perspectives of opinions about the ‘so-called problems’ was presented by Sri Prafulla Ketkar, Editor of oldest, nationalist  news magazine from Delhi ‘Organiser’ English Weekly  at Chennai on October 26, the 'Kashmir Accession Day', followed by an interactive session.

The crux of the J&K issue: Mis-information in Kashmir and lack of information in the rest of India. He stressed on the importance of knowing accurate details and updates and to convert that information into knowledge which leads to understanding of intricacies of such an issue. Apart from political and historical aspects of Kashmir knowledge regarding geography and demographics make one understand political and socio-economic situations.

Connecting directly to the core of the topic, Praful Ketkar threw light on four important points that destabilized Kashmir. The list included,

·         UPA 1 ‘s agenda to descale the presence of security forces in Kashmir,

·         Constitute- a group of interlocutors to hold “sustained dialogue” with all shades of valley life,

·         release of 245 persons detained for stone-pelting,

·         removal AFSPA in certain districts

He highlighted on different misconceptions about the issue with major perspectives including Nehru’s Spearhead of Secular India and a notion that socio-economic problems were the causes for terrorism in Kashmir.

The latter was completely refuted in the course of the lecture with relevant statistical evidence stating that Kashmir receives nearly 50% greater financial aid than even the biggest state Uttar Pradesh for its development and that this support is completely misused to aggravate and sustain the problem through mass media mainly due to lack of forces to ascertain the authenticity of the information spread. This was followed by a brief discussion on the strategic perspectives, the planned plots of Europeans to wane the growth of India and the cultural perspective highlighting that the source of the name “Kashmir” is derived from the name of Rishi Kashyap and the importance of the festival “Hairat” (celebrated on Maha Shivratri day) which substantiated the main discussion topic that Kashmir is an integral part of India.

The history of Jammu and Kashmir beginning from Akbar’s reign in 1586 when the rulers of Kashmir were quite nationalistic upto the signing of accession to British in 1819 to corroborate the fact that Kashmir was no different from the rest of India, and that the escalation of problems in Kashmir occurred only after mid1980s. There is no myth of plebiscite as issue with UN got over in 1964 itself. Besides, by Shimla agreement, all issues between both countries will be decided bilaterally.

Quoting on the human rights acts which pardon terrorists and do not seem to care a fig about common people suffering in POK, Siachin and other parts of Kashmir, he stressed on the point that these acts do not fit into the Indian context.

Myth: Jammu and Kashmir is a Muslim Majority State with Muslim culture.

Jammu and Kashmir is not a Muslim majority state, where Ladhak is Buddhist dominant, Jammu is Hindu and Sikh dominant, Kashmir has just 65% muslim population concentrated in the valley only.  Kashmiriyat is as much part of Hindu as Punjabi/Marathi culture. More than 3 lakh Kashmiri Pandits were displaced in 23 years.

Myth: Kashmiri people are anti-India:

Muslims among whom separatist sentiments and separatist violence are generally confined, constitute a minority in the state. Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists and non-Kashmiri Muslims like Gujars, Bakarwals and Kargil Shias are nearly 60 percent of the state's population. They do not nurture any anti-India sentiments. (Lord Avebury plebiscite) 6 percent Kashmiris wanted to join Pakistan, 61 percent wanted to remain in India and 33 percent were undecided.

Myth: Army has been unjust to Kashmiri people:

Operation Sadbhavana was launched by the army in 1998 in remote areas of Jammu & Kashmir where terrorists and antinational elements had wrought havoc by large scale destruction of government property and public assets like schools, bridges, electricity supply system etc. causing severe hardships to locals. An insidious attempt was also made to alienate the common man from the national fabric.

 

Spreading awareness amongst the public and various approaches will solve the problem. The solution that was commonly accepted to be most pragmatic is to connect to various major organisations such as women’s development, academia, journalism, administrative departments and to like to improve their cognizance regarding the issue and encourage them to extend their support for the development of people in Kashmir. Another important concern is to protect Jammu and Ladhak which are currently vulnerable to similar incidences due to increasing infiltrations. The lecture, in totality, strongly recommended the removal of article 370, which will serve as the final and complete solution for the “so called problem” in Jammu and Kashmir and it brought in confidence amongst the participants that complete integration of Jammu, Kashmir, Ladhak and POK with India and better administration and living conditions for Indians in these regions will be achieved in the near future. 

Sri Vishnu Vijay, ex-military Officer, Chennai shared his experience while working in Kashmir as Army Officer. Sri Ramkumar South Chennai Jilla Sanghachalak presented a momento to the delegates.

(Based on Report by Nivedita for VSK Tamilnadu)