Saturday, May 26, 2012

Interlocutors report makes no headway

The interlocutors- Dileep Padgaonkar, Rahda Kumar and M M Ansari- have finally made their report public. The report rules out a return to the pre-1953 position, but at the same time it suggests for reviewing of all central laws extending to the state of Jammu and Kashmir made after the Delhi Agreement with Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah in 1952. That makes the interlocutors’ report all confusing. What is need of reviewing all central laws extended to J & K? Do the interlocutors feel that the existing facilities provided to the people of Jammu and Kashmir are not enough? Interlocutors have recommended to uphold the Article 370 but here also they have suggested to replace the word ‘temporary’ with the ‘special’ as is in the case of several states other than Jammu and Kashmir which enjoy some additional facility. To build on the consensus that exists in the state, the interlocutors have recommended that a Constitutional Committee (CC) be set up to review all central acts and Articles of the Constitution of India extended to the state after the signing of 1952 agreement. The report also says that no more central laws and Articles of the Constitution should be extended to the state by Presidential order. It has also suggested that Parliament will make no laws applicable to the state unless it relates country's internal and external security and its vital economic interests, especially in the areas of energy and access to water resources. The main opposition Bhartiya Janata Party as well as the separatists has rejected the interlocutors’ report. It is also correct that the purpose for which the three interlocutors was appointed has not been served, though no reaction has come from government side. Interlocutors have failed to bring the main separatist leaders and the people who have been worst victims of terrorism to the table to talk with them to know their feeling and discuss how to create an atmosphere of peace and development in the state. Interlocutors have nowhere thrown light on the burning issue of Pak-sponsored terrorism in the state of Jammu and Kashmir. They have rightly said that clock can not be set back, their suggestion that due to erosion in Article 370 over decades needs appraisal has no meaning. On the whole, interlocutors have not recommended anything that could bring about any change for betterment in the state of Jammu and Kashmir. Jammu and Kashmir is the integral part of India and it will remain so. It is reality that any improvement whatsoever can be achieved by considering the ground realities prevailing in the trouble-torn state in the first place. Interlocutors have nowhere dwelt on the issue of the return of Kashmiri Pandits to their homeland. Kashmiri Pandits fled Kashmir when terrorism was at its height in 1990. Thousands of them became the prey of terrorists’ bullets. They were displaced on large scale. They are minority in Jammu and Kashmir. And minority community in the state has been the worst victim of terrorism in the state exported from across the border. Interlocutors have not suggested anything about the rehabilitation of the displaced pandit community living in different parts of the nation.

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