As the war on the ‘special status’ of Jammu and Kashmir escalates, the whole Kashmir reels under distress. People have shown that they want to safeguard the remnants of state’s special status. Before one defines the already known Article 35-A and its significance to a common Kashmiri, there arises a question. Can there be a bigger tragedy for a state that graciously acceded to India by its own choice, after negotiating the terms of its entry into the Union?
A familiar and most spoken term synonymous with Kashmir politics, ‘betrayal’ with J&K began on August 9, 1953, when police arrested Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah from Gulmarg, and his government was dismissed in broad daylight on the charge that he had lost the confidence of his cabinet. Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru reciprocates the point man of Jammu & Kashmir’s Accession to India for his loyalty. This marked the beginning of a never-ending, cruel, systematic and continued betrayal. In the course of which, almost every commitment made by New Delhi while negotiating J&K’s entry into the Union was rescinded.
In a country engulfed with hyper-nationalism, it may be very convenient for the majority to overlook that J&K’s Accession was conditional where the terms and conditions of its entry into the Union were clearly negotiated. Having its own Constitution to be drafted by its own Constituent Assembly being one of them. Also Article 370, which determines the broad contours of J&K’s relations with the Centre and exists as the constitutional cord between Kashmir and Delhi. All of it was introduced in the Indian Constitution only after Abdullah and Nehru discussed it and arrived at an agreement after five months between May and October 1949.
However, without caring much for the necessity of this special status, which is symbolic of our identity and aspirations, New Delhi defined its attitude. Nehru is on record, having said on the floor of Parliament that the government did not want to completely end Article 370, rather, it would allow its gradual erosion. Call it a veiled revelation or announcement of an open onslaught on J&K’s special status, what we see today, Article 370 was not just eroded by the efflux of time but by conscious executive acts on Prime Minister’s advice through Presidential Orders. A year later, Home Minister Gulzari Lal Nanda candidly admitted that Article 370 had already been emptied of its contents, and it remains only a hollow shell.
While Congress governments silently chipped away at J&K’s constitutionally guaranteed special status, the BJP government also seeks to disempower the state further, at the cost of peace and tranquility in the Valley which already bears the brunt of a deeply estranged and alienated youth population. The RSS and its affiliates have long eyed abrogation of this Article to achieve their agenda and they ideologically proclaim that settling people from outside the state, with rights to acquire land and property is the only way forward to permanently end the ‘Kashmir dispute’ and ensure its integration into the Union.
Today the anger on the streets of Valley is not visible to them, the cries of their aspirations remain unheard, the resentment of a civilized academic society seems unjustified to them only because they have embraced the territory and not the people yet. With a severely disempowered mainstream and the possibility of more youth taking to extremes, J&K stands on the verge of an upheaval that would be nearly impossible to bridge. The question here remains can New Delhi afford this misadventure with a politically sensitive state, making it a scapegoat for staging a come back in 2019.
Tailpiece:
The remnants of J&K’s special status need to be protected and for that, the clash of ideologies and political differences must be kept aside. It’s the time when all need to unite against this systematic persecution on our identity and honor. The legal and political recourse must clearly define our mood and temper. When a Muslim majority state, Acceded to India with trust, the nation has to repose that faith. We all have to stand with strength to ensure that the people of Kashmir are not defeated again, while Delhi holds an opportunity to bridge the age-old void by inspiring trust.
Nahaq ham majburon par ye tohmat hai muḳhtari ki.
Chahte hain so aap karen hain ham ko abas badnam kiya.
(The author is a Srinagar based practicing Advocate)