Beta

Blogs home

What Ails Kashmir?

Aug 18 2008 | Views 510 | Comments (40)

I was reading with interest the Counterpoint made by Vir Sanghvi in Hindustan Times on... Expand

I was reading with interest the Counterpoint made by Vir Sanghvi in Hindustan Times on Sunday 17th August 2008.

Some of the facts pointed out by him were interesting enough for me to post in this blog.

Per capita central assistance to Kashmir is ten times more than that given to Bihar. The funds allotted to the tiny state is Rs. 9754 as against the one given to Bihar is a mere Rs. 876.

While in Bihar and other states, this assistance is mainly in the form of loans to the state, in Kashmir 90% is an outright grant.

Kashmir’s entire Five Year Plan expenditure is met by the Indian taxpayer. In addition, New Delhi keeps throwing more and more money at the state; in 2004, the PM gave Kashmir another $ 5 billion for development.

Kashmir is the only state that enjoys special status. Under Article 370 of our Constitution, with the exception of defence, foreign policy and communication, no law enacted by parliament has any legitimacy in Kashmir unless the state government gives its consent. Even the President of India cannot issue directions to the State Government tin exercise of the executive power of the Union as can do in case of any other state.

Kashmiris are Indian citizens but Indians are not necessarily Kashmiri citizens for we cannot vote for elections to their assembly nor own any property in Kashmir.

The military cost to the state is a whopping one. Right from the hijacking of IC 814 to the attack on parliament have Kashmir links.

Operation Parakram, cost, in ten months, Rs 6,500 crore and 800 army lives (Kargil cost us 474 lives)

Each day, our troops and paramilitary forces are subjected to terrorists attacks, humiliation, stress and ridicule.

The question Sanghvi asks is why are we hanging on to Kashmir? If it is allowed ‘azadi’ (as it wants), it couldn’t survive a year without the money India is wasting on it.

The points I want to make is –

Should a state that declares its allegiance with Pakistan be given so much money when other states are denied the same?

Shouldn’t there be an equitable distribution of the tax payers’ money?

If Kashmir is a state of India why should there be a special constitution and why should other citizens be deprived of the opportunity to buy property there? I think the simplest solution would be to scrap Article 370 and allow others to settle there so that there is a homogenous mix of population and that would also stop the extremists from occupying centre stage.

It is like the ‘Animal Farm’ where some animals are more equal than others.

If the President is the sovereign head of the state, why should his orders not apply to a certain state that is a part of the country?

It is certainly time to re-examine the entire issue once again. Maybe what held good sixty years back doesn’t hold good now.

I am forced to update this post after reading a newspaper report -
Police looking for Dr Farhan Khan who is believed to have stolen the four Maruti cars from Navi Mumbai, two of which were used in the blasts:

One of the stolen cars laden with explosives that was found in Surat .

While the Gujarat police claim to have cracked the Ahmedabad blasts case on Saturday, they and the Maharashtra police are still frantically searching for two Mumbaikars — a doctor and a techie — both vital connections to the blasts.

The doctor, identified by police sources as Farhan Khan is believed to have stolen the four Maruti cars from Navi Mumbai, two of which were used in the Ahmedabad blasts while two were found laden with explosives in Surat.

The techie, identified as Abdul Subhaan alias Taufiq, is suspected to have hacked into American national Kenneth Haywood's wi-fi network to send an email on behalf of 'Indian Mujahideen' minutes before the serial blasts on July 26.
According to the Gujarat police and Maharashtra ATS sources, Farhan Khan who was studying medicine in Indore, is a resident of Juhu. The ATS team that visited his residence on a tip-off from the Gujarat police found his residence locked.

Khan, who is a SIMI member, is suspected to have been assisted by two professional car thieves who were hired specially from Madhya Pradesh to execute the car thefts.

Sources said the last they had heard, Farhan had been studying medicine. Police sources said Farhan’s arrest would help them unravel the bigger conspiracy behind the Ahmedabad blasts. Abdul Subhaan alias Taufiq, a resident of Mira Road, worked with a Direct Sales Agency of Wipro in Mumbai between 1996 and 1998.

He quit Wipro in 1998 and joined Datamtics, a software firm in Andheri, before joining SIMI. Taufiq was last traced to Bangalore. In SIMI, Taufiq's job was to provide technical support to SIMI missions and is believed to be ranking high in the SIMI leadership.'

Our only hope was that the educated and intelligent brothers from the muslim community would stand up against terrorism but now that seems to have been negated since the new face of the terrorist is that of an urbane, educated and intelligent muslim.

I am not surprised that people like Shabana Azmi, so called intelligent person, has also made statements which point towards the above surmise.

God Help This Country!!!

Close