Statement on Jammu and Kashmir Issue
The most unfortunate controversy regarding the Shri Amarnath Shrine Board has now dragged on for several weeks, and has already caused tragic loss of life, massive destruction of property and acute inconvenience to common citizens both in the Jammu region and in Kashmir. The situation is repeatedly deteriorating and unless urgent measures are taken to bring about an amicable solution, the whole matter may well spin out of control. I have been anxiously following developments and would now like to suggest a 5-point formula that, in my view, could help to defuse the situation and restore peace and tranquility in this crucial and sensitive border state.
I am making these proposals not in any party or partisan capacity, but because I have been associated with this sacred Yatra for six decades and am still Chairman-Trustee of the Mahadev Veer Dashnami Akahara Trust where, near the Badshah bridge in Srinagar, the Chhari Mubarak (the Sacred Mace) of Lord Shiva resides under the care of the Mahant. It is the movement of this Chhari which is still considered to be the major religious function connected with Yatra, leaving Srinagar on Naga Panchami and reaching the holy cave on Raksha Bandhan Purnima. Let us remember that this whole issue revolves around a sacred cave dedicated to Lord Shiva, and must therefore be approached with humility and devotion. It is in this spirit that I am making the following proposals.
1) Unfortunately, the arrival of the new Governor Shri N.N.Vohra marked the beginning of the second phase of serious unrest, this time in Jammu, which is showing no signs of abetting. I have high personal regards for Shri Vohra, but under the circumstances I am obliged to suggest that he should be considered for some other state where his administrative experience and skills can be better utilized.
2) I suggest that in his place Gen. J.J.Singh, who is at present Governor of Arunachal Pradesh, be appointed as Governor of Jammu & Kashmir. Apart from his outstanding professional qualifications, he also happens to come from the State, with his family home being in Marwah in Doda District.
3) The relevant Act states, inter-alia that “the Governor of the State of Jammu & Kashmir, if he be a Hindu, shall be the ex-officio Chairman of the Board, and if the Governor be not a Hindu, then he may nominate any eminent person of the state, professing the Hindu religion, and otherwise qualified to be a Member to function as the Chairman of the Board.” With the appointment of Gen. Singh, the Amarnath Shrine Board can be reconstituted under a new Chairman with Members drawn from the Hindu community in Jammu & Kashmir including Kashmiri Pandits. For Chairman of the Board I suggest the name of Chief Justice (Retd.) A.S.Anand who also belongs to Jammu & Kashmir.
4) While the land continues to remain with the Forest Department, the State Government should work out and announce a time bound programme for construction of adequate facilities for pilgrims including shelters, cooking, sanitary and other arrangements. These should preferably be completed before the Yatra begins next year. The Yatra itself used to be traditionally for one month culminating in the Shravan Purnima on Raksha Bandhan day which falls in August. However, in view of the tremendous increase in the number of Yatris, the pilgrimage should be extended to two months starting from 1st July and ending on 31st August every year. During this period the entire management of the pilgrim facilities as well as arrangements for the Puja in the holy Cave should be given to the Shrine Board and the land itself could be leased on a temporary basis to the Board for these two months.
5) Victims of police firing in Kashmir and Jammu during this agitation should be paid suitable compensation to the next of kin of those killed, as well as to those injured. Blockade of the National Highway is not acceptable under any circumstances, and should be lifted immediately in the larger interest of the nation and its security.
I appeal to all concerned in Jammu as well as in Kashmir to now defuse the situation and not allow it to escalate further. I am acutely aware of the very strong feelings that have emerged on this issue in both regions. In a way these are a symptom of a deeper problem involving the relationship between the three regions of the State still with India – Kashmir, Jammu and Ladakh.This fundamental problem needs to be looked into carefully and a national consensus arrived at, but that can be done only after the next round of national and state elections. Meanwhile, the immediate imperative is to bring the law and order situation back to normal, so that people who are suffering acutely can once again resume their normal activities. Already tens of crores of rupees worth of tourism, trade and property have been damaged in both the regions. Enough is enough, and we must now return to the path of peace, harmony and cooperation. I sincerely hope that the 5-point programme I have outlined above will expedite this process.
Tags: Amarnath, Amarnath Yatra, Jammu, Kashmir, Peace
This entry was posted on Monday, August 18th, 2008 at 12:34 pm and is filed under Harmony, Kashmir, Politics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
Deepak Rau Says:
August 26th, 2008 at 6:59 pm
Honourable Sir,
Even though i fully sympathise with the difficulties faced by the people of jammu and kashmir for me the attitudes of certain so called leaders is totally un acceptable,My only visit to kashmir was in the year 1967. where i stayed for nearly 40 days and there i saw the amount of money being spent for maintaining security was mind bogling i was shocked by the attitude of some of the people living there,they were behaving as if we had taken over another country, the family with whom i spent was following islam and i am a brahmin by birth . i never knew that they were cooking veg food for me in new utensils . i was surprised , i told themthat i was born in mumbai and i completed my education in bangalore studied at catholic institution where rev. fathers inculcated that all are gods children and religion is a personal matter. it is high time the people of kashmir took over the matter of developent of the state,instilling good human values , and ambition to their children as it might be too late as the teenagers will be drawnby people who are least interested in the devolopment of the state. these guys are in the guise of struggle must be having their own private agenda . ( Iam sorry ihave just penned my thoughts i have got lots to write and address the peope of kashmir and i hope to get some forum where i can do this.
I hope the hopes of kashmiris, just like maharashtrians (people living in maharashtra) is fulfilled let god be with them.
With kind regards,
Deepak rau
Abhilash Chaudhary Says:
August 27th, 2008 at 5:57 pm
Very respected Sir,
I think that the one of the major factor to make kashmir a problem; that has inflicted the subcontinent for past half century, was irresponsible behaviour of leaders of that time and offcourse your father Raja Hari Singh whose mope eyed vision couldn’t anticipate the danger of pakistani attack and people resentment against him and rather chose to remain independent. This was the starting of a humiliating fiasco which is now consuming a massive part of our revenue and has caused lakhs of people to loose their kins. Steady transformtion of sufiana Islam to hardcore conservative islam also made people intolerant to be with Hindu majority india or under any hindu ruler.Nehru’s was too inimidated with events going in kashmir, this caused him to move to UN and get listed it to disputed land list of UN.
Right from then all of the events are caused due this erratic start by indian leadership.Be it the ethnic cleansing of pandits from valley or rise of separatism at centre stage of kashmiri politics all things are caused by inability of india to erase the sense of victimhood from kashmiri people. People like Mehbooba and hurriyat are playiga all their dirty games to be cynosure of all eyes.
Recent developments in regard of Sri AmarNath Shrine Board has really shook my conscience and the question that hits my mind is that why cant we all shed our all identities else than of our nationality to progress with the sole aim to create a caste less and class society. The western model of secularism is the best way to achieve this aim.
What i conclude about Kashmir contention is that it is the cost our country is paying for its integrity after some incorrigible mistakes by our leaders.
As far as my opinion about you is that you are really brilliant stateman and luminary which can re4ally in fluence the youth of this young country. I am deeply influenced by your essay included in CBSE 12 syllabus.
Yours sincerely,
Abhilash Chaudhary
Abhilash Chaudhary Says:
August 27th, 2008 at 6:29 pm
honourable sir,
i also appreciate ur clear understanding on kashmir issue which i come to know in an editorial The Hindu. There i read that once u put forth an idea to include jammu area under himachal pradesh,I myself hailing from HP think that it is a brilliant idea as jammuites have cultural cognisanse with himachalis in language as well as culture and customs. So it would help to mitigate tussle going in between jammu and kashmir which never had any cultural ties with each other.
With warm regards,
Abhilash Chaudhary
Mayank Mehta Says:
August 28th, 2008 at 8:48 pm
Respected Sir,
With all due respect, I feel the root cause of all the trouble is not Kashmiris but Article 370, enforced by our cowardly first Prime Minister. Had it not been for Sardar Patel even the then provinces of Hyderabad, Junagarh and in due course many more would have been in the same state of affairs as Kashmir is today. The whole problem is of a homogenous (muslim) society.
While our ’secular’ media will leave no oppurtunity to highlight the ‘misery’ of a few hundred Gujarat riot victims there is hardly a voice or face to the plight of lakhs of Kashmiri Pandits living a refugees life in their own motherland. This can ONLY HAPPEN IN A COUNTRY LIKE INDIA.
Even in our history we have time and again paid severe price for letting off invaders from the west. I firmly believe that the Kashmir problem along with Pakistan is absolutely like a DOG’s TAIL, that will never get straight. They are actually even worse than dogs, as dogs are atleast faithful to the one who feed them.
The ONLY SOLUTION IS ABOLITION OF ARTICLE 370, BRUTE FORCE AND FORCED SETTLEMENT IN KASHMIR. We need a governor like Jagmohan to solve the problem. Even now Kashmir is not with us out of any love for India but due to the daily sacrifices made by our Jawans. Kashmiris are eating into the progress made by the rest of the country and merely enjoying the bounty from the Centre for decades now. I honestly believe that Kashmiris are REAL CROOKS, who will always pretend to be crying despite getting huge subsidies from Govt of India. We should spare a thought for states like Orrisa, Bengal and Bihar, who despite much worse economic conditions have never had a single voice of dissent from India.
My words may be harsh but I fully mean every bit of it.
apurva kumar Says:
September 1st, 2008 at 8:27 pm
respected sir,
the events that has been taking place in jammu and kashmir for past couple of months has sent a clarion call to the divisive forces in india.
but thinking of an “azad kashmir” is not a feasable plan.brothers of kashmir are as close to india as their jammu counterparts.its high time that we shed our regional.ethnical and religious identity and be a part of just one idea ,that is a secular and pluralistic india.
with regards,
apurva kumar
Rajendra M.Trivedi,M.D. Says:
September 7th, 2008 at 2:09 am
Dear Dr. Karan Singh,
We wish that under your leadership in the remaining time of life we free Jammu-Kashmir from disputed region and see it as part of Bharat.
We are living with that dream.
By the Blessing of Pandit Kapindrajee Ramayani of Ramayanvidyapith and Ramayan Samelan and Bhagawan Shri Ramaji this will be done.
Regards
Rajendra And Trivedi Parivar
Chandra Rangnath (Mr) Says:
September 27th, 2008 at 4:33 pm
Dear Mr Karan Singh,
I’m a Hindu from Mumbai, settled in Canberra, Australia for the past 18 years. In this small city, there are 3 Kashmiri Pandit families, all my good friends and from them I’ve got to know vividly how Muslim ‘rowdyism’ and the work of Jehadi infiltrators from Pakistan has wreaked havoc. The hope now is that there emerges a “Sardar Patel” bloc within the Congress who join hands with the BJP in striking down article 370, forcibly repatriate Muslim families out of Kashmir into India and fill the valley with Hindu and Sikh. History has taught loudly and clearly that we cannot afford to have a Muslim majority state (Nay not even a town) within India…in fact the Muslim community in Sydney and Melbourne are getting increasingly fanatical and militant…for no reason. They live in perhaps the most peaceful nation on earth and enjoy all the benefits of a benevolent democracy and yet constantly agitate over alleged ‘discrimination’ and ‘profiling’. Appeasement of such a religious community has never worked and will never work.
nadim Says:
October 11th, 2008 at 11:44 am
SIR
i am a kashmiri and i being at the ground zero feel that many indian think tanks have got the real picture of kashmir issue & are advocating what majority in kashmir were demanding from 1947, complete independence (poorn swaraj) from indian colonisation which india had promised to the people of kashmir. our voice is not pro pakistani but pakistani voices are pro kashmiri. well everyone can make comments on our issue but people (kashmiris) who really face indian army(state terrorists) who murder unarmed peaceful protestors are not heard. indian authorities imposing curfews on days of peaceful marches shows the people in the world that kashmir is really under imperialistic rule of india but india still says that they are having a democratic rule over kashmir (which in reality is absolute lie from india).
WE WANT FREEDOM FROM INDIAN AGRESSIVE COLONISATION.
AND WE WILL SNATCH IT ……
THANK YOU
Yeswant Jamwal Says:
December 9th, 2008 at 3:01 pm
Sir
Jai Dev
You can understand the feeling of young Nadim. who is asking for FREEDOM FROM INDIA then whey are residing in J&K The only way to get rid from the KASHMIR ISSUE is to ABOLITION OF ARTICLE 370 so that every indian can settle in our State. As of date there are thousands from other part of our mother settled in J&K though on illegal document. Why not we can abolish the article 370 so that everyone can settle here