{"id":2317,"date":"2015-04-13T10:24:39","date_gmt":"2015-04-13T04:54:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/peacewatchkashmir.com\/blog\/?p=2317"},"modified":"2015-04-14T11:09:09","modified_gmt":"2015-04-14T05:39:09","slug":"the-ghetoo-politics-a-dangerous-game-plan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/peacewatchkashmir.com\/blog\/editors-take\/the-ghetoo-politics-a-dangerous-game-plan\/","title":{"rendered":"The Ghetoo Politics A Dangerous Game Plan"},"content":{"rendered":"<\/fb:like>

Punchline<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

Dangerous Game Plan <\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

Z.G. Muhammad<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

New Delhi\u2019s proposed plan for creating \u2018ghettos\u2019 for migrant \u2018Kashmir Pandits has drawn fl\"Nehru<\/a>aks across the political divide in Jammu and Kashmir and harsher reaction even from some Indian newspapers.\u00a0\u00a0 Leading and prestigious newspaper the Hindu in its editorial on April 10, (Friday) wrote \u201cthe proposal to create enclaves for them in the Valley is a misconceived element of tokenism that would do great harm and no good\u2026.. Without ensuring a peaceful climate for Muslims and Pandits to live together in Kashmir, creating clusters for Pandits would amount to little more than further dividing the State on religious lines. While religious polarization might work for the parties in government, the BJP and the Peoples Democratic Party, it could have disastrous\u00a0\u00a0 consequences for efforts to find a negotiated settlement to the Kashmir dispute taking into account the concerns of all stakeholders.\u201d<\/p>\n

For this valuable comment from the Hindu, let me say advisory cum warning, \u00a0\u00a0the raison d’\u00eatre\u00a0 was not in some \u2018figment of imagination,\u2019 but in the meeting and deliberations on the subject\u00a0 on April 7, (Tuesday) between Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister, Mufti Muhammad Syed and Home Minister of India, Raj Nath Singh. The official handout issued after this meeting which was quoted by most of the newspapers in New Delhi and Srinagar stated that Home Minister asked Syed to provide land in the state for composite townships for Kashmiri Pandits and the Chief Minister \u201cassured the Union Home Minister that the State Government will acquire and provide land at the earliest.\u201d\"Bakshi<\/a><\/p>\n

The news had not only cause a flutter in political parties across the political divide but also generated resentment amongst the people. Sensing, the news boomeranging<\/b> thunderously and having the potential of snowballing into major crisis as that of 2008, Amaranth land row that had led to crumbling of the PDP-Congress coalition government,\u00a0 the Chief Minister in cleverly crafted statement did not disown the official handout about raising of new township but subtly endorsed it by stating that the\u00a0\u00a0 \u201ccomposite townships\u201d for Kashmiri Pandits in the Valley would be \u201cinclusive, not exclusive.\u201d\u00a0 Semantics\u2019 are of no consequences in such politically volatile decisions. The idea of creating a separate township is a ticking bomb, that could explode at any time and trigger political disasters of far greater magnitudes that would not only wash off the present dispensation\u00a0 in the state like a drift in Lidder Nallah but bring in\u00a0 more miseries to flood devastated multitudes.<\/p>\n

On April 9 Thursday, he assured the Assembly that no \u201cIsraeli-type colonies\u201d would be created in the Valley for return of the migrant community. No sooner, his assurance to the House were circulated by the wire services, the Home Minister, was heard on television channels stating that there was \u2018no going back on separate settlement of KPs. The decision remains the same. We had a good talk with the Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir on this issue.\u2019 It may be a good cop bad copy strategy. Nevertheless, such strategies rarely work in Kashmir and have more than often dangerously rebounded.\"mufti\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The idea behind such a township, as articulated from time to time by the BJP and the RSS leadership will be nothing but creating bigger garrisons in the middle of general population.\u00a0 When the BJP government had allocated Rs. 500 crore in the 2014-15 Union budget for constructing a separate township and asked Omar Abdullah government for allotting suitable land for it, \u00a0statements for settling of ex-servicemen alongside the KPs in these towns were issued by a couple of leaders from the tribe. Subramanian Swamy a top BJP leader at a public meeting had suggested \u2018settling of 10 lakh ex-servicemen in the Kashmir Valley, who would create the circumstance conducive to the return of the Pandits, and end the strife there to his party\u2019. And also proposed that \u2018the ex-servicemen should be given the money and arms, and tasked with retrieving the property of the Pandits.\u2019 He is not the only person who has made intentions and plans\u00a0 behind creation of such townships public but many other leaders who hold responsible positions in the Modi government have also made similar statements.<\/p>\n

In the backdrop of statements made by the BJP and the RSS leadership, the idea of separated homeland for Pandits with its identified territory as mooted and supported by the Sangh Parivar, and reiterated by Indian Home Minister time and again, \u2019 \u00a0stirring a\u00a0 hornets\u2019 nest in the state is a natural corollary.\u00a0 Ostensibly, there is no reason to doubt the intentions of the Chief Minister. That he simply wants the Kashmiri Pandits to return to their watan<\/i> and live harmoniously with other communities in Kashmir. Equally\u00a0 \u00a0there seems no reason to disbelieve him that he does\u00a0 \u00a0not\u00a0 favour creating ghettos for KPs but the question arises can he as a weak partner free himself from what a fellow columnist M. Ashraf described as the \u201cbear hug.\u201d Looking at this question in perspective of New Delhi\u2019s \u2018pound of flesh\u2019 policy from 1952 towards the Prime Ministers and the Chief Ministers of the State it seems, \u00a0if not an impossible but a difficult task for the new dispensation not to follow diktats from New Delhi.<\/p>\n

It is a hard historical reality, the \u2018pound of flesh policy\u2019 for installing people in power has brought desired political\u00a0 results to New Delhi in Jammu and Kashmir. \u00a0Sheikh Abdullah was installed in power in 1947, for extending some semblance of \u00a0 popular sanctity to the \u201cInstrument of accession\u201d and pitting him against Pakistan in the Security Council\u201d. \u00a0And after performing his role as per the script he was put in dungeon, so holds true about Bakshi Ghulam Mohammad, after performing getting accession ratified by the “Constituent Assembly” and\u00a0 \u00a0 removing permit system and strengthening India’s foothold in the state , he was imprisoned, commission was appointed to look into his misdeeds, and finally made to die in political wilderness. Sadiq after eroding Article 370, had also become a useless cog for New Delhi. Had he not died, he would also have met fate of his predecessor, he too could have even landed in jail.\"Millions<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

How long should “electoral politicians” enter into Faustian agreements for being in power in the state and stay in power by paying a pound of flesh.\u00a0 Someone from the \u2018electoral politics\u2019 has to say no to to the\u00a0 New Delhi \u201cpound of flesh policy\u201d. Let the present Chief Minister take the lead by out rightly rejecting the proposal of a separate township telling New Delhi that he wants to adopt his own \u201cBadshah Model\u201d for ensuring dignified return of migrant KPs to their place of birth and equally ensure rehabilitation of about one lakh internally displaced displaced Muslims who were coerced to migrate to other side of the LOC where they are l<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n<\/fb:like><\/span>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Punchline
\nDangerous Game Plan
\nZ.G. Muhammad
\n\u00a0
\nNew Delhi\u2019s proposed plan for creating \u2018ghettos\u2019 for migrant \u2018Kashmir Pandits has drawn flaks across the political divide in Jammu and Kashmir and harsher reaction even from some Indian newspapers.\u00a0\u00a0 Leading and prestigious newspaper the Hindu in its editorial on April 10, (Friday) wrote \u201cthe proposal to create enclaves for them in the Valley is a misconceived element of tokenism that would do great harm and no good\u2026.. Without ensuring a peaceful climate for Muslims and Pandits to live together in Kashmir, creating clusters for Pandits would amount to little more than further dividing the State on religious lines. While religious polarization might work for the parties in government, the BJP and the Peoples Democratic Party, it could have disastrous\u00a0\u00a0 consequences for efforts to find a negotiated settlement to the Kashmir dispute taking into account the concerns of all stakeholders.\u201d
\nFor this valuable comment from the Hindu, …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2103,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2317","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-editors-take"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/peacewatchkashmir.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2317"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/peacewatchkashmir.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/peacewatchkashmir.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peacewatchkashmir.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peacewatchkashmir.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2317"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/peacewatchkashmir.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2317\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2324,"href":"https:\/\/peacewatchkashmir.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2317\/revisions\/2324"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peacewatchkashmir.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2103"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/peacewatchkashmir.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2317"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peacewatchkashmir.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2317"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peacewatchkashmir.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2317"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}