Why the insistence on State Status for Jammu and Kashmir?

Rahul wants to review Central laws, Omar to release anti-State operatives

“We (Supreme Court) are conscious of the fact that these are matters of national security. We understand that ultimately, the preservation of the nation itself is the overriding concern…Let’s face it, whether it’s a State or Union Territory, all of us survive if the nation survives. If the nation itself doesn’t survive, there is no relevance to the State or Union Territory…Should we not give that allowance to Parliament to postulate that for a certain period, in the interest of the preservation of the nation itself, in the interest of the preservation of the Union itself, we want, for a certain stipulated period, that this particular State (Jammu and Kashmir) should go in the fold of Union Territory”: Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud.

Assembly elections

The Assembly elections in J&K and the installation of Omar Abdullah-led I.N.D.I Alliance government would help radical Islamists unleash a process calculated to restore a situation as it existed in this sensitive frontier region before June 2018 was not altogether unexpected. In fact, many friends and well-wishers of the nation consistently held the view that the time was not ripe for the Assembly elections in J&K and the need of the nation was to further isolate and weaken the forces of subversion in Kashmir and strengthen the nationalistic constituency in the region by limiting the area of communal strife to the Valley.

Sadly, the powers-that-be in the South and North Blocks ignored the ground situation and went by the Supreme Court’s December 11, 2023 direction to the Election Commission to hold Assembly elections by September 30, 2024.

The result

The result was on the expected lines. The developments that took place after the installation of the Omar Abdullah-led government on October 16 vindicated those who believed that Assembly elections in J&K would only strengthen the forces of disintegration. The adoption of resolution on full state status by the Omar Abdullah Cabinet on October 17, the adoption of special status resolution by the Assembly on November 6 seeking restoration of the pre-1953 politico-constitutional status and the manner in which all the Kashmiri legislators behaved in and outside the Assembly between November 4 and 8 and the BJP MLAs were thrown out of the House by the Marshals further established that the intentions of the Kashmiri Muslim parties, including the Congress and the National Conference, were not pious.

Review Central laws

That the intentions of these Kashmiri parties are evil could be seen from what Rahul Gandhi’s Congress said on November 17 and the Abdullahs’ National Conference said on November 18.

On November 17, the JKPCC chief and MLA Tariq Hamid Karra said in Jammu that the grant of full state status to J&K was imperative to review the Central laws. “Our focus is on restoring statehood because only then the laws, which are not people-friendly, imposed previously can be reviewed…Statehood is essential to address these concerns,” he, inter-alia, said[1].

Against national interest

Karra not only said what he said about the restoration of full state status. He made another atrocious statement. He said Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha chairing security review meetings was not in the national interest. “I do not know whether the review of security is taking place today or not but when the first time the L-G reviewed the security situation we expressed suspicion about attempts to create two power Centres in J&K which is not in national interest”[2].

Release anti-state operatives

And, a day later (Nov 18), the National Conference’s chief spokesperson and MLA Tanvir Sadiq said in Srinagar that there was but one way in which prisoners (in this case those booked for anti-state activities) could be released and those put in jails outside J&K brought back and that was by restoring full state status.

“Restore the statehood to J&K so that decisions on the detainees who are not facing serious charges can be initiated. There are two things as a government it does not have a Home and law and order…We repeatedly appealed that the Law and order decision should be taken by the elected government so that those detainees who have been booked and do not have committed serious crimes should be shifted here and get released,” he, among other things, said[3].

What the Congress and the National Conference said on November 17 and 18 should clear all the cobwebs of confusion and establish that the decision to hold Assembly elections in J&K was not a politically correct decision. It’s hoped the Narendra Modi government and its think tanks would think a hundred times before taking a decision on the issue of statehood.

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.

Reference:

[1] J&K Congress chief terms governance in UT ‘hazy’ – Nov 18, 2024, The Tribune

[2] BJP lacks concern for Jammu: Farooq – Nov 18, 2024, Daily Excelsior

[3] Restore Statehood To J&K To Initiate Decision On Detainees Facing Less Charges: Tanvi Sadiq – Nov 18, 2024, Daily Excelsior

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