Open letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi – No to State Status and Darbar Move in J&K

Dear Prime Minister,

The situation in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir is deteriorating with each passing movement. The newly-formed and Omar Abdullah-led government, instead of working for peace, prosperity, and development, and harmonizing the age-old bitter inter-regional relations, has started indulging in activities that have all the potential of further complicating the situation in this frontier region; which are calculated to negating your government’s August 5, 2019 path-breaking reforms. The atrocious November 7 special status resolution passed by the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly in a surreptitious manner was just a trailer.

Your November 8, 2024, Maharashtra statement that the I.N.D.I. Alliance got the opportunity to form government in Jammu and Kashmir and after forming the government, they started conspiring against the nation, speaking the language of Pakistan and promoting fissiparous tendencies only hit the nail on the head. Indeed, the intentions of the I.N.D.I. Alliance government are not pious. It is committed to playing mischief to keep its Kashmir constituency in good humour by striving to promote its sinister agenda.

It wants to accomplish its break-India goal step by step and I wish to bring to your kind notice its two immediate demands.

Sir, the election manifestos of all the Kashmiri parties, without any exception, and of the Kashmiri Muslim-headed Congress and the statements these parties made during the days of the election campaign and after the formation of the Omar Abdullah-led government established that their immediate goals are two: Restoration of statehood and revival of the bi-annual Darbar Move practice. Their intentions are dangerous.

They want full State status for Jammu and Kashmir because such a status will once again empower them to re-establish their stranglehold over all the vital departments, including Finance, Home, Revenue, Law, Forest and General Administration, and the crucial office of Advocate General. These were the departments and offices that the Kashmiri Muslim ruling class exploited to the hilt to damage the national cause in this frontier region; subvert the polity; promote fissiparous tendencies; further widen the already rather wide gulf between Jammu and Kashmir and the rest of the country; shield, protect and help separatists and Islamist terrorists of all varieties; Islamise Kashmir and parts of Jammu province and Ladakh; destroy Jammu and Ladakh and erode their distinct identities; and weaken the nationalistic constituencies in the erstwhile State.

They want full State status because they believe, and very rightly, that such a status would (1) help them negate with utmost ease your August 5, 2019 nation-building reform scheme, (2) restore the pre-August 5, 2019 politico-constitutional status, (3) create a Kashmir-like situation in Jammu province – a situation which led to the wholesale exodus of all non-Muslims from Kashmir in January 1990 — (4) further help them restart the movement calculated to separating Jammu and Kashmir from India, and (5) reintroduce the obnoxious Jammu and Kashmir State Land (Vesting of Ownership to the Occupants) Act (Act No. XII of 2001) and grab the State and Forest lands.

According to various official reports, nearly 24 lakh kanal of State Land and over six lakh kanal of Forest Land, mostly in the Hindu-majority areas in Jammu province, and along the International Border and National Highways and strategic mountainous areas, have been grabbed.

The March 6, 2020, Jammu and Kashmir Law Commission chairman Justice (Retd) M K Hanjura’s 53-page report and the October 11, 2020, Jammu and Kashmir High Court’s judgment established that. The High Court had declared the Roshni Act “unconstitutional” and Justice Hanjura had recommended immediate retrieval of land transferred in favour of illegal beneficiaries. It was on October 31, 2020, that Jammu and Kashmir Governor, Satyapal Malik, declared the Roshni Act “null and Void.”

They want revival of the bi-annual Darbar Move practice because they want to further (1) change the Jammu province’s demography to accomplish their sinister agenda; (2) grab contracts and jobs; (3) further control trade, commerce, industry and transport in the region; (4) set up new colonies in and around Jammu City meant exclusively for the followers of one particular religion; and (5) help overtly and covertly Kashmir-based anti-State actors expand their area of activities and influence in this strategically vital region.

They want the revival of the bi-annual Darbar Move practice because they want the re-rise of a situation that helped them change Jammu’s face beyond recognition – a process that was started by the Farooq Abdullah-led government after 1996. In fact, it was none other than Farooq Abdullah himself who started the demographic invasion by grabbing the State and Forest Lands in Jammu’s Bathindi area and constructing it a palatial bungalow. Thereafter, almost four dozen colonies were constructed in different parts of Jammu district. Not just this, the Jammu district also witnessed the setting up of a number of markets with the followers of one particular religion from Kashmir playing the lead role. All this happened due to the official patronage and under the nose of the concerned departments.

It was on June 20, 2021, that Lieutenant Governor, Manoj Sinha, announced that the Jammu and Kashmir administration had been completely transitioned to e-office and ended the practice of the bi-annual Darbar Move. “Now both the Jammu and Srinagar secretariats can function normally for 12 months. This will save the government Rs.200 crore per year, which will be used for the welfare of the deprived sections,” he had then said.

Even the Jammu and Kashmir High Court had recommended the abolition of the Darbar Move practice. It was on May 5, 2020, that the Jammu and Kashmir High Court delivered its judgment on the Darbar Move practice. It was delivered by a division bench consisting of Chief Justice, Gita Mittal, and Justice Rajnesh Oswal. It asked the Union Home Ministry and Jammu and Kashmir government to examine the issues, saying that the 148-year-old practice was not desirable and suggested that the Centre must take a decision keeping in view huge financial implications.

Sir, its ruling, inter-alia, read like this: “Both the Jammu as well as the Srinagar regions equally require administration and governance round the year without interruption. It is unfair and opposed to public interest to deprive either region completely of access to government machinery for six months at a time…For a period of almost six weeks annually, the entire governance and administration in the Union Territory comes to a grinding halt creating a governance deficit. The sensitivity of the issues with which the Union Territory government is engaged can ill afford this gap in governance…Valuable documents and resources of the Union Territory in the nature of important and sensitive government documents are put at tremendous risk in the process of their transportation as they are packed in trunks and carried in hired trucks over a distance of 300 kilometers. This practice may have the consequence of imperilling State and National security…On account of technological advancements and the availability of electronic modes, maintenance of records, and communication, there is no need for physical conveyance of assets…Thousands of government employees are compelled to live apart from their families for six months at a time resulting in physical and emotional pressure not only on the employees but spouses, parents, children, and dependants…The administrative requirement of the biannual shifting of the employees year after year as part of their conditions of service to effectuate the Darbar Move was manifestly arbitrary and against Article 14 of the Constitution. The Darbar Move places a huge burden on the police, and security forces in the Union Territory…Valuable resources of the State – financial and physical – cannot be diverted to completely non-essential usage…There is unwarranted disruption of the movement of traffic and personnel on the National Highway for four days on each Darbar Move…Jammu and Kashmir is already suffering from a high fiscal deficit…The expenditure on the Darbar Move is an unwarranted burden on the depleted resources of the Union Territory and a drain on the public exchequer and taxpayer’s money…The Darbar Move results in a waste of time, effort, and energy on inefficient and unnecessary activity- packing of records. The same nurtures inefficiency and leads to a lack of governance…It also has a huge financial cost in terms of salary paid to employees who spend weeks on this unproductive work. It is a practice which works to the detriment of the larger interest of all the people…The Darbar Move causes delays in justice dispensation as government records are not available to the pleaders in one region for six months at a time…Non- availability of the record with the government pleaders in the Wing other than the Main Wing, compels them to seek repeated adjournments as they are unable to file their responses in civil cases or conduct criminal prosecutions for want of government record. The Darbar Move therefore adversely affects the fundamental right of access to justice of the public as guaranteed under Article 21 of the Constitution”.

Sir, I considered it my duty as a man on the spot to bring to your kind notice these facts for your consideration. I have only discharged my obligation towards the nation.

Yours Sincerely

Professor Hari Om

Note:
1. Text in Blue points to additional data on the topic.
2. The views expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily represent or reflect the views of PGurus.

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