J&K needs collective efforts

Sir,

I have read with interest the interview with Mr Rafiq Sadiq  I had the good fortune of coming into contact with late Sadiq Sahib. I met him once or twice before he became the Chief Minister and once when he was Chief Minister. In view of immense respect he commanded because of his uprightness and his views, I felt proud of my acquaintance with him.

The interview should help your readers to form correct views regarding what has come to be known as the Kashmir problem though one may not agree with everything said by Mr Rafiq.

I am generally at one with views expressed by Mr Rafiq about the plight of Pandits of Kashmir forced out of their State as refugees. I have had the opportunity to see the conditions in at least one of the camps in which many Pandit families had been lodged. These were extremely bad and even shocking. It is in their interest as well as in the interest of Kashmir and of India as a whole that they go back. However, I agree with Mr Rafiq that conditions have to be created for that.

It is also true that plight of Kashmiri Pandits has not attracted that much attention as it should have by the rest of the country. In this connection, there is a highly controversial demand which Mr Rafiq has not discussed i.e. the demand for a Union Territory for Pandits in the Kashmir valley.

My own view is that this is not a correct demand. Firstly, it will not be conducive to the type of harmony and unity between all Kashmiris-Muslims as well as Kashmir Pandits, which is needed and which is desired  by all sensible people. Secondly, it may give rise to similar demands by the Muslim minority in U.P., Bihar and some other states. And this will not be good for India’s unity-in-diversity. All demands for administrative units based on religion cannot but weaken secularism as well as India’s unity-in-diversity. Kashmiri Pandits too should not dream of the very dominant positions they once held when the state was ruled by an autocratic Hindu Maharaja and when Muslims were overwhelming poverty-stricken and extremely backward in the matter of education. Of course. Pandits must be treated justly and have a place in Kashmir society which they deserve. Neither the Kashmiri Pandits nor the Muslim Kashmiris must suffer any injustice.

True, whole system has collapsed. Let us all work to build a new system based on justice, fairplay and abolition of oppression and exploitation, with all citizens being free to profess any religion and worship according to the same, with followers of every religion respecting the religious feelings of all and with the state of J&K as well as Indian state as a whole having no official religion.

- Satya Pal Dang

Ekta Bhawan, Chheharta (Amritsar).

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