Resolution No. 2 on theKashmirReport

The report is a dishonest document, which will make the problem of secessionism and terrorism in theKashmirValleyworse than what it is. At a time when the people in the Valley have realised that the terrorism has made life worse for them, and have decided to live in a peaceful manner, the report will give courage to the terrorists to renew their destructive campaign with greater vigour.

Given the past writings of the two of the so-called interlocutors, Dileep Padgaonkar and Radha Kumar, the recommendations in the report are no surprise. The time that the team spent of the various people that they met, of the government machinery inDelhiand in Jammu & Kashmir, etc., was a farce since the content of the report was already in their minds even before they started this wasteful exercise. The emoluments of Rs 1.5 lakhs per month that each of the ‘interlocutors’ received, and the expenditure for their office, etc., was a gross misuse of public funds.

While the exercise was going on, it was revealed that these two members of the team had been specially selected by the ISI of Pakistan to attend a conference organised by their agent Ghulam Nabi Fai. Clearly the selection was made on the basis that the two, citizens ofIndia, had been projecting thePakistan’s view point during their careers.

To propagate their personal agendas, the team had invited the secessionists and terrorists to meet them. The latter refused. Instead of ignoring them, the team went to their residences to beg them to attend the meetings. At the same time, they did not invite the true patriots in the state, who had to gate crash into their meetings and also had to beg to be heard.

Given this background, the supposed objective – namely to bring peace in theKashmirValley– has been clearly vitiated. It will increase the misery of the people of the state, who will now have greater uncertainty.

The report states that the heading of the Article 370 should be changed from ‘temporary’ to ‘special’. By using the term ‘temporary’, those who framed the constitution had decided that the article would eventually get abolished. This sentiment was confirmed by Jawaharlal Nehru in the Lok Sabha in the early 1960s. Atal Bihari Vajpayee wished to introduce a private member’s bill to abolish the article. Nehru dissuaded Atalji saying that much of the article had already been done away by various amendments, and that it was slowly being eroded. Nehru’s words were ‘woh ghiste ghiste ghis jayega’ (it is being eroded and will soon vanish).

In 1994, Atalji wanted to propose a motion reiterating that the whole of Jammu & Kashmir is an integral part ofIndia. The then prime minister, Narsimha Rao, suggested to Atalji that the motion be proposed by the speaker of the then Lok Sabha, Shivraj Patil. Atalji readily agreed, and, after discussions, the motion was unanimously passed. All the MPs from the state of Jammu & Kashmir voted for the motion. This motion also demanded that the POK be recovered from the illegal occupation byPakistan. The report pretends that this motion does not exist.

In justifying the change of the term from ‘temporary’ to ‘special’, the report says that many states inIndiahave special provisions applied to them, as per Article 371. They have tried to give a deliberately false impression that these states have large autonomy that other states do not have. Article 371 provides for special provisions only on certain specific aspects relating to each state. For example, the section onGoareads as follows: “Notwithstanding anything in this Constitution, the Legislative Assembly of the State ofGoashall consist of not less than thirty members.”

The report makes no mention about the situation in the Pakistan Occupied Kashmir. The people in POK have never had a chance to exercise their democratic rights, as the ones inIndiahave had. Furthermore, by changing the laws of land ownership,Pakistanhas ensured that the demographic character of POK has been changed beyond recognition from what it existed when it invaded the state.

The ‘interlocutors’ uses pompous words like stake-holders. But, for them the only people to be concerned with are the very few terrorists and secessionists. They are not concerned with the people of Jammu and Ladhak, the 14 lakh refugees who had to flee from POK and other areas but now settled in Jammu & Kashmir without even rights of citizenship, the sentiments of the people of the rest of India, the misery the Kashmiri Pandits have to suffer on account of ethnic cleansing of the Kashmir Valley, etc.

Though the government has said that it has not accepted the report, it has not said that it has rejected it either. The government knows that the people ofIndiawill never accept what is a essentially a seditious document, but continues to play the politics of vote bank. The government wants to appease those who call themselves as leaders of the Muslims, and believe that this will be a means of winning elections. It is not concerned that such an action is causing serious harm to the whole nation.

For the government to allow these three people to play with the sentiments of the people ofIndiais a criminal action. It also shows that the government has no intention of trying to find enduring solutions to our problems.

This is a dishonest report, prepared by a group of dishonest people, to whom the job was entrusted by a dishonest government. It is a fraud on the nation, and the Vishwa Hindu Parishad demands that the report be consigned to the dustbin immediately.