A hot debate is now going on regarding the abrogation of Article 35A. Article 35A is of ultimate importance to Jammu and Kashmir. The case has been filed in the supreme court by an NGO, “We the citizens” and was enlisted for hearing on the 6th of August, 2018. The hearing was deferred till the 27th of August, 2018. We the people of Jammu and Kashmir are caught in a very critical situation: sometimes it is put on hearing and sometimes just deferred. It seems like we are going through various tests, and if we remain silent and show least apparent concern about this issue, they will find a chance to tinker with it as they like. It is ironical on the part of those parties who have the nerve to say that we only acceded to India with access to just three of our domains i.e Foreign affairs, defense and communication. But actually on the ground level their involvement can be seen in the smallest issues too.
What is the justification, then, to tinker with the article every now and then. Is it that they don’t want to have peace here and is it a mere coincidence that these things happen especially in the tourist season when the common Kashmiri earns the most. They kept doing everything behind the curtains to keep it inconspicuous but now have nerve to do it publicly. One finds it hard to understand which way to remain so as to satisfy their “collective consciousness”. Without giving an ear to the most reputed academic and research universities in our state, our land is being grabbed in the midst of chaos.
This is a moment of pride for all of us that people from every section of the society: Resistance leaders, mainstream political parties, traders, academicians, media persons, Ulma, Islamic Scholars, brothers and sisters from minority sections were all in unison for the protection and safeguarding of Article 35A. If the mainstream political parties had done any iota of justice with this issue when they were at the helm of affairs, one shouldn’t have been able to dare to touch anything at this juncture. But it is very unfortunate on their part that when they are in power, they forget everything except to protect and safeguard their own chairs. Some people say that this is the duty of mainstream politicians not the resistance leaders, but it touches every issue and is directly linked with the dispute of Jammu and Kashmir, as there will be a demographic change by the abrogation of the article and one can easily judge the motive behind it. The citizens of Jammu and Kashmir will be in minority and the referendum will have no relevance.
A clear lesson is brought to focus by our collective effort this time: We could have protected everything by raising our voice against the Armed forced special powers act (AFSPA) and other draconian laws. If we start showing concern for every little thing, time will come that we will be able to safeguard our everything from our honour to economics, to environment. But our human heart desires a lot in one go even when that seems difficult and distant. If we could have made a multilayered system in our leadership and kept assigned duties to lawyers to protect us from legal attacks, environmentalists and ecologists to protect our wetlands our forests and other ecologically sensitive areas, economists to protect our economy , no such laws could make way into our state which could potentially weaken our economic system; we could keep our media fraternity ready to defend ourselves by any media war, if any media channels would be blocked, we could stop watching any of other channels. We have to be ready to sacrifice big and small things when needed in these crucial junctures and rest safe- guard our young generations which are our future , our ray of hope.
I came across one of my friends who told me the heart wrenching story of his brother being hit by a stone in one of the incidents when he was out because of an emergency. Now his one eye is completely damaged. This is just a small illustration why is it important that we show a disciplined way during every protest and focus on how to save ourselves from the big enemies rather than opting for self destruction. It is time we go for introspection and come up with a strategy which will announce in a strong way that tinkering with our protective laws must not not be permitted even if it demands collective sacrifice.
Write is Assistant Professor SKUAST (K)