Restructure J&K

For once the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) deserves to be congratulated on its boldness in publicly demanding that the J&K State be restructured into a full-fledged Jammu State which will be like any other state of the Union, a Centrally-administered Buddhist-majority Ladakh and an area in Kashmir valley cleared of all terrorists for the secure resettlement of the Hindus who were kicked out of the Valley, also Centrally administered; and the fourth, an autonomous unit in the Kashmir valley. National Conference and the congenital, compulsive splitters of India, namely, the Communists are illogical, in demanding autonomy for J&K because it is Muslim-majority but denying the same dispensation for the Hindu-majority Jammu and Buddhist-majority Ladakh. If the Indian parties and governments are sincere in their belief that the territory of J&K is an inalienable and integral part of India, then just as Pakistan, holding the contrary belief, has settled Pakistanis and demobilized armed services personnel in Kashmir under its occupation, India also should remove all barriers and all restrictions between J&K and the rest of India, just as we have reorganised the north-east, carving different states for different ethnic groups, so should J&K be reorganised to create safe and secure states and governments for its different ethnic constituents. Not doing so is what is perpetuating alienation, separatism and secessionist terrorism in the state. We should follow the example of Communist China which suppresses all secessionist demands and is settling in the sparsely populated but Muslim-majority Sinkiang province and Buddhist-majority. Tibet the Han people from all over China in proof of its conviction that every part of China is its national territory where any Chinese citizen can settle at any time without any separateness and distinction. If we do not restructure J&K, then surely Jammu and Ladakh will be colonised by the furiously prolifering Muslim population, spilling over into Jammu and Ladakh to change the demographic composition.

--T.Mani Chowdary

8, P&T Colony, Secunderabad-9

II

Long ago Assam, which covered vast areas with different ethnic groups, was reorganised into a number of new States - Meghalaya, Nagaland, Mizoram, Manipur and Arunachal Pradesh. The unity of India was neither lost nor is its sovereignty compromised. People of different ethnicities and languages are happier now than they were before. From out of East Punjab, two new states of Haryana and Himachal Pradesh were created. We have now Jharkhand out of Bihar, Uttaranchal out of Uttar Pradesh, Chhatisgarh out of Madhya Pradesh. So the States, restructuring is neither a disaster nor a new urge. J&K, like the north-east, has different and distinct regions on the basis of ethnicity, language and geography. The demand for its trifurcation into Jammu, Ladakh and Kashmir valley is an eminently acceptable and desirable urge. But this is not sufficient. Just as Pakistan has cleansed out Sikhs, Hindus and Buddhists, just as Bangladesh is cleansing itself of all Hindus and Buddhists by discrimination and terror, the majority in Kashmir valley has made itself a party to the kicking out of Hindu Pandits. Some area in Kashmir valley contiguous to the proposed Jammu state should be set apart as safe and secure  resettlement area for Hindus and such other minorities as have been terrorised into exodus. This and Ladakh may be Union Territories. It may be recalled that when Sardar Patel was alive and Hindu exodus from East Pakistan was at its height, he declared that India would liberate a few districts from East Bengal and resettle all the Hindus and Buddhists in safety and security there. That declaration drove sense and fear and the terrible exodus stopped, though briefly. The cleansing was resumed with the death of Sardar Patel.

--Lingaiah Gunnala

102, Road No: 12, Sarita Apts

Banjara Hills, Hyderabad-500 034

III

RSS and VHP, both have suggested trifurcation of Jammu and Kashmir into three states of Jammu, Kashmir valley and Ladakh. Although the Dy PM has dismissed the idea, maybe due to complicated coalition politics, the suggestion deserves consideration on merit. These three regions are very much different from each other in their language, culture and geographical conditions. Even Punjab, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh which were created as separate States in 1966 are not so divergent, as Jammu, Kashmir valley and Ladakh. VHP has also demanded creation of a separate zone in the Kashmir valley for Kashmiri Pandits, which needs serious consideration, as it has not been possible to re-settle them for the last 15 years.

--Anand Prakash

72/Sector 8, Panchkula-134109

(Source: Organiser)

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