The Kashmir Conundrum by General N.C. Vij

Author:General N.C. Vij
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: null
Publisher: HarperCollins India
Published: 2021-02-15T00:00:00+00:00

9

Curtain Falls on

Articles 370 and 35A

‘We do not create terrorism by fighting the terrorists. We invite terrorism by ignoring them.’

– George W. Bush

The Birth of a Naya (New) Kashmir

Was Article 370 a bridge that linked Jammu and Kashmir with India or a chasm that prevented the full integration of the state with the nation? This is the question that has rankled in the nation’s mind since the article was introduced in 1949. While there may have been different answers and different solutions to the question, nobody doubted the fact that Kashmir was an integral part of India.

There can also be no doubt that India spent more than seventy years attempting dialogue, promoting cultural exchanges, setting up democratic processes and even taking on the rehabilitation of militants and separatists in order to move towards the final goal of the full integration of Jammu and Kashmir with India. Yes, there was always a minority view that Kashmiris should be given a semblance of autonomy under the umbrella of the already much-diluted Article 370. Within the state, perhaps some political parties would have accepted this view, but it would have found very little favour and perhaps even hostile reactions from other political parties outside the state in mainland India.

Readers might also recall that a draft autonomy bill was prepared by a State Autonomy Committee during the tenure of J&K’s chief minister Farooq Abdullah in 2000. This report, which was approved by the J&K Legislative Assembly, drew harsh reactions from India’s mainstream political parties. Except for some Left parties, all others rejected it outright, with differing degrees of condemnation. As a matter of fact, this episode left lingering doubt about Farooq’s loyalty to India. Obviously for Indians, accepting a solution that proposed anything less than the total integration of Jammu and Kashmir with India was just not palatable.

Going further back in history, at times many may have scoffed at what they termed the Nehruvian liberal weakness of granting a special status to the state, or called the act a historic blunder. But the fact is that it served the purpose at the time of India’s independence. It was important for India at that time to secure the loyalty and unstinting support of Sheikh Abdullah, the unquestioned leader of the Kashmiri masses. It served its purpose as a temporary arrangement, but having it in force for over seventy years was a bit too much. If the retention of Article 370 was considered so important, one can rightly question why it was not turned into a permanent arrangement. The answer is that it was never meant to be a permanent arrangement. Even Nehru had no such intentions as he used to say quite often that the act would keep getting diluted until it disappeared altogether.

The Jammu and Kashmir Reorganization Act 2019, and the Days Thereafter

A bold and historic decision was thus taken by the Narendra Modi government on 5 August 2019. With the home minister’s presentation of the Jammu and Kashmir Reservation (Second Amendment) Bill, 2019, and the J&K Reorganization Bill, 2019, the die was cast.

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