mishandling of Kashmir - 10

 

10. The mishandling of Kashmir

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi today attacked the Modi government over its Kashmir policy, accusing it of mishandling the issue and turning the state, which was the country's "strength", into its "weakness".

In late March 2003, terrorists thought to bemembers of Pakistan-supported Islamic groups killed 24 Hindu villagers in Kashmir. This incident evoked memories of the suicide attack by Muslim terrorists on the Indian Parliament in New Delhi in December 2001. Events like these raise the potential threat of war between India and Pakistan. South Asia is thought by many observers to be the most dangerous place in the world, with both antagonists armed with nuclear weapons. Kashmir has been in dispute between India and Pakistan since the time of the partition in 1947. Itis a site where both countries constantly face off. In January and June of 2002, India was poised to attack Pakistan because of terrorist military action against Indian targets in Kashmir. Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf said last December that if India had, indeed, invaded, its armies would have met with an “unconventional response.” India’s defense minister, George Fernandes, responded saying, “We can take a [nuclear] bomb, or two or more … but when we respond there will be no more Pakistan.” This is an alarming level of discourse between neighbours ,because it indicates that men in positions to make nuclear war happen are suggesting that one or the other can prevail in a nuclear confrontation. This is a level of self-delusion that can have only the most catastrophic consequences for the people of both countries. It suggests that the lessons of the U.S.-Soviet balance of terror and the absurdity of mutually assured destruction have been lost on the governments of India and Pakistan. Furthermore, the rise of the religious right in both countries creates a political environment that verges on the apocalyptic. Islamic factions in Pakistan’s border provinces with Afghanistan won in the last parliamentary elections. And elements of Pakistani military intelligence continue to support terrorist activity in Kashmir. Analysts believe that President Musharraf has limited ability to curb this action. At the same time, as the election season approaches in2004, the ruling party in India, the (BJP), resorts increasingly to the concept of Hindutva, a belief that India is not a secular, pluralist state, but the sacred place of Hindu ascendancy. Any student of religion and politics knows that when either party in an ethnic or sectarian conflict invokes God or gods on its side, the potential for major loss of life in war simply soars. After hosting a two-day workshop earlier last November on the respective roles of Track 1, official diplomacy, and Track 2, unofficial diplomacy, in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the Carter Center’s Conflict Resolution Program chose the Kashmir issue for its next subject. Reflecting its commitment toin-depth political, psychological, and historical analysis as a prerequisite to building any plausible strategy on Track 1/Track 2 approaches, the Centerconvened native-born Indian, Pakistani, andKashmiri experts on the conflict with senior retireddiplomats from the subcontinent and the UnitedStates and conflict resolution specialists to developan approach to peace making in Kashmir. This report is the fruit of this preliminary effort.Three states, India, Pakistan, and China, control parts of Kashmir, which despite a large Muslim majority is host to important Hindu and Buddhist minorities and seven major language families. One of the many ironies in the conflict is that while the Vale of Kashmir is the violent centre of the conflict that could precipitate nuclear war, it amounts to just.25 percent of the territory, population, 

Article 370 of the Constitution of India provides a special status to the state of Jammu and Kashmir. The state owes its origin to the rapid accession of the province of Jammu and Kashmir to India amidst invasive fear from Pakistan.

The 1954 Constitution Order, by inserting Article 35A into the Indian Constitution, gave the Jammu and Kashmir State Legislature “complete authority” to decide the 'permanent residents' of the State and grant them special rights and privileges in State public sector jobs, acquisition of property within the State,

New Delhi: The state of Jammu and Kashmir has transitioned into two Union Territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh today, on the birth anniversary of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, the freedom movement leader who persuaded 562 princely states to accede to newly-independent India. The process of transition begins with the swearing-in of the two newly-appointed Lieutenant-Governors in Srinagar and Leh. Former Defence Secretary RK Mathur was sworn-in as the first Lieutenant Governor of the Union Territory of Ladakh earlier this morning. IAS officers Girish Chandra Murmu will be appointed as Lieutenant Governor of the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir later today.

The bifurcation of the state into Union Territories comes into effect two months after the special status to Jammu and Kashmir under Article 370 of the constitution was removed by an order from President Ram Nath Kovind. Article 370 gave Kashmir its own constitution and restricted the centre's powers to deciding matters of defence, communications and external affairs. For any other area, the centre had to get the state legislature's approval.

Here's a look at how Jammu and Kashmir for special status through Article 370:

In 1947, Hari Singh, who was the last ruling Maharaja of princely state Jammu and Kashmir, acceded to India after signing the "Instrument of Accession" on October 26.

Hari Singh, who was the Hindu king of a Muslim-majority state, had initially wanted to stay independent, but decided to go with India after Pakistani army regulars and tribesmen invaded the state and India agreed to help if he acceded.

Per the "Instrument of Accession", only defence, external affairs and communications were handed over to the government of India. These conditions were peculiar to Jammu and Kashmir's accession to India, unlike the other 565 princely states that had chosen to integrate fully with India.

At that time, Sheikh Abdullah, the founder of state political party National Conference, had supported Jammu and Kashmir's accession to India. Sheikh Abdullah believed that Kashmiris had a better future in a secular, democratic India rather than an Islamic state like Pakistan.

In 1949, Hari Singh appointed Sheikh Abdullah as the Prime Minister of Jammu and Kashmir, who in turn joined the Indian Constituent Assembly to negotiate a special status for the state. This is how Article 370 was born and underlined Jammu and Kashmir's autonomy within India.