Kr Swarn Kishore Singh
“Only 117 persons have returned since 1947, but we can’t deny them their rights, they are free to return to their home anytime” said Sheikh Abdullah, while defending a Bill which later became “The Jammu and Kashmir Grant of Permit for Resettlement in (or Permanent Return to) the State Act, 1982. This Bill was aimed at bringing back the people who had fled for Pakistan in 1947. The most interesting part of his pursuit was the fact that Sheikh Abdullah was going to make the people returning from Pakistan as state subject of Jammu and Kashmir while leaving the decision to give them Indian citizenship at the hands of Union Government; which means while not fiddling with their citizenship of Pakistan, Sheikh Abdullah, the then Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir was aiming at letting them sneak in and become state subjects of Jammu and Kashmir. So, what we call intrusion these days, Sheikh Abdullah was trying to legitimise it via a legislation. Look at the tyranny, this Bill was passed as well with Congress party on their side. Sheikh Abdullah was worried about the 117 deserters while the pain of the hundreds of thousands of people from Valmiki Samaj & Western Pakistan refugees went unnoticed or wilfully ignored. While the honest ignorance can be condoned but the wilful incomprehension can be a conspiracy that too of a communal nature. When the rights of so-called 117 person were so very dear to Sheikh Abdullah, why wasn’t the case of people of Valmiki Samaj and Gorkhas being considered by him? Was it because the deserter who left for Pakistan were Muslims and the people of Valmiki Samaj & Western Pakistani refugees are mostly Hindus? Jagmohan in his book “My Frozen Turbulence in Kashmir” had rightly said, “for them power is everything, fairness nothing. They have created a land without justice, a land full of crudities and contradictions.”
Way back during Maharaja’s rule, when Jammu & Kashmir was an oligarchy; a state subject law was enacted by the Maharaja to ensure economic protection of his realm. But back then Jammu and Kashmir was a princely state and was supposed to decide for its subject just like we have Part II in constitution of India. Just after independence when this archaic law was supposed to doom, to the contrary it was further blessed with credibility by the government of India by allowing the state executive to decide over the state subject. Tyranny! Was it done just to protect the muslim majority of the state or to legislatively evict the Hindu minority? If yes, were we a democracy or some primitive tribe ?
On March 31, 2020, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) issued the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation (Adaptation of State Laws) Order, 2020, an order as per which 109 legislations were amended and further 29 laws were repealed. A new concept was introduced via a new section in Jammu and Kashmir Civil Services (Decentralisation & Recruitment) Act, 2020 i.e. a section defining domicile of the State. According to this new law all those who have lived in J&K for 15 years, as well as those who have studied here for at least seven years and appeared for Class 10 and 12 exams from an educational institution in Jammu and Kashmir will be recognised as a domicile. The new law has expanded the definition to include “children of those Central Government officials, all India services officers, officials of Public Sector Undertakings children of Central Government employees, public sector banks, officials of statutory bodies, officials of Central Universities and recognised research institutes of central government who have served in Jammu and Kashmir for a total period of ten years or children of parents who fulfil any of the conditions…”. Subsequently J&K Government notified the J&K grant of domicile certificate procedure rules, 2020; as per these rules now the “Tehsildar” had been given the power to issue domicile certificate while as it was the Deputy Commissioner earlier. The seriousness of the Government can be ascertained with the fact that their was a provision of penalty of Rs. 50 thousand to the issuing officer if the certificate isn’t issued within prescribed 15 days. Also a provision of getting the certificate online was there. Indeed this will bring a lot of new people as domicile of Jammu & Kashmir, but they all are going to be those people who were already in Jammu and Kashmir.
When the people of Kashmir and some people of Jammu were embracing the Rohingyas and even helping them procure ration cards and Aadhar cards, aren’t they hypocrites when they are protesting this domicile thing. The illegal immigrants of Burma and Bangladesh who have reached here few years ago are welcomed by the Kashmir based politicos but the people who came here to serve the people of Jammu and Kashmir i.e. Valmiki Samaj and the people who were forced to leave Pakistan because of their respective religious faiths are given a cold shoulder. What is this? Mafia style majoritarianism ?
See the tyranny there are around 4 lakh West Pakistan Refugees who are citizen of India but were not state subjects of Jammu and Kashmir but the then NC Government led by Sheikh Abdullah ensured that the 117 person who were Pakistani citizen were legally made state subjects of Jammu & Kashmir by virtue of a full fledged legislation passed by State Assembly. See the ratio; 4 lakhs: 117 but something which outweighs all is the religious denomination of those 117 person and here we were comforting ourselves thinking that we too had a tryst with destiny.
A few of us will be knowing Justice Attau Rahman Masoodi, as a young man from district Kupwara who graduated in law from Lucknow University and started practising law there only. He then gets elevated as High Court Judge 2014 at Allahabad High Court. This is real India, where anyone can come from anywhere and make a choice of living anywhere and succeed in life. When we condemn Raj Thackeray’s party Maharashtra Navnirman Sena’s activities for targeting north Indians and his ideology that Maharashtra is only for Marathas; how can we justify Kashmir for Kashmiris? This could be abject hypocrisy! The people of Kashmir purchase properties in Delhi, in south India, in Punjab but the people of Kashmir will only allow Rohingyas into Kashmir when even Kashmiri Pandits were persecuted, evicted and forced to migrate. How come Kashmiris claim fiefdom over Kashmir when the guys who have protected this land from invasion are spread all over India; so it won’t be an exaggeration if it is being said that every inch of Kashmir is owned by very Indian.
Much before the local identity of a particular place emerges every particle of Indian territory is India and every Indian has a right over it irrespective of their territorial identity. Our founding fathers have made us like that, otherwise formation of a rigid federation was also discussed while framing of constitution This is the ideology for which people like Dr Shyama Prashad Mookerjee laid down their lives. And yes, there is a fashion of protest going on in the country wherein people are protesting Citizenship Amendment Act, I just wish to ask one question to you all. Do you people know anything about “The Jammu & Kashmir Grant of Permit for resettlement in (or Permanent Return to) the state Act, 1982 ? If no, then educate yourself and it yes, then don’t do you think we have got addicted to appeasement ? Give it a thought!
(The author is an advocate and a political and legal analyst)
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