Jammu suffering due to jihad in Kashmir, grant her statehood: Prof Hari Om

JAMMU, Nov 24:  Why should the people of Jammu province suffer for the politics of jihad being played by the Abdullahs, the Muftis, and the ilk in Kashmir since decades? If the people of Jammu are not to suffer anymore and if they have to have their own elected and stable government, the Narendra Modi Government has to treat Jammu like Ladakh, separate her from Kashmir, and grant her full state status. It must remain a matter of regret that established political actors in Jammu have failed to raise the real issues, including the issue that Jammu will be 100% out of the State Council of Ministers as and when constituted after the assembly elections took place on the basis of new delimitation based on the 2011 fudged census figures. This was stated here today by the patron of Ikkjutt Jammu, Prof Hari Om, during the press conference held at party headquarters.
Prof Hari Om said J&K has been witnessing Governor/President Rule at regular intervals since 1977. Making the point, the Ikkjutt Jammu Patron said: “The Governor’s Rule was first imposed in J&K on March 17, 1977, and it remained under Governor Rule for 114 days (March 17, 1977-July 9, 1977). The Governor’s Rule was imposed by PM Indira Gandhi, saying that the Sheikh Abdullah Government had become ‘a threat to national security. J&K again was brought under the Governor/President Rule on March 6, 1986, and the Governor’s Rule continued for 246 days between Mar 6, 1986, and Nov 7, 1986. The Governor’s rule imposed by PM Rajiv Gandhi on the ground that the GM Shah-led coalition government had become ‘a threat to national security. Earlier in 1984, PM Indira Gandhi brought down the Farooq Abdullah Government, saying that ‘Farooq Abdullah had become a threat to national security. J&K again remained under the Governor/President Rule for six years and 264 days between January 19, 1990, and October 9, 1996. Mortally afraid CM Farooq Abdullah had fled away to the UK on January 19, 1990, to escape the Kashmiri Muslim wrath and the wrath of jihadis including Syed Salahuddin. The Kashmiri Muslims had been chaffing and seething with anger because Farooq Abdullah in collaboration with PM Rajiv Gandhi rigged wholesale the assembly polls in 1987. J&K witnessed Governor’s rule for the fourth time for 15 days between October 18, 2002, and November 2, 2002) because Farooq Abdullah refused to function as caretaker CM and because Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and Congress took time to manage the required numbers for forming a coalition government.
J&K witnessed the Governor’s Rule for the fifth time for 178 days between July 11, 2008, and January 5, 2009. Governor Rule had to be imposed because the Congress-led coalition government collapsed after the Muftis-led PDP withdrew its support to the government on June 28, 2008, over the Amarnath land issue. J&K was brought under Governor Rule for the sixth time on January 9, 2015, and it remained under that dispensation for 51 days between Jan 9, 2015, and February 28, 2015, because the BJP and the PDP took 50 days to work out what could be termed an unsettling power-sharing formula. Governor Rule had to be imposed because the defeated CM Omar Abdullah refused to continue to function as caretaker CM. Governor Rule was imposed in J&K for the seventh time after the death of CM Mufti Sayeed on January 7, 2016. The state remained under Governor Rule for 87 days, till April 3, 2016. J&K had to be brought under Governor Rule because Mufti Sayeed’s daughter Mehbooba Mufti wanted the BJP to give her unbridled power to misrule and destroy the state. She took an oath of office only on April 4, 2016, after the BJP assured her the fullest possible support. And J&K has been witnessing Governor/President Rule since June 19, 2018, when the BJP withdrew its support to her government, citing security reasons and asserting that her government was anti-Jammu. Governor Rule continued till December 19, 2018, when J&K was brought under President Rule”.
Prof Hari Om said that all this only served to prove that J&K had to be brought under Governor/President Rule for national security reasons and for the politics of jihad being indulged in ruthlessly by the Abdullahs, the Muftis, and who not in Kashmir. He further said that the party politics between the Congress and the NC and between the BJP and PDP also led to the imposition of Governor/President Rule. “It was not nationalistic Jammu, which was responsible for the imposition of Governor/President Rule in J&K; it was divisive and unsettling politics in Kashmir, which led to the imposition of Central rule in J&K at regular intervals,” asserted Prof Hari Om.
The Ikkjutt Jammu patron urged the Prime Minister to recognize the stark realities in J&K and bring a Bill in the forthcoming winter session of Parliament separating Jammu from Kashmir and granting Jammu statehood status. He said any failure on the part of the Union Government to do so would be only to provoke
political explosions in Jammu like the ones the nation witnessed in Jammu in 1952-1953, 1967-1968, 1998, 2008, 2011, and 2015. He further said that the separation of Jammu from Kashmir will, on the one hand, strengthen the nationalist constituency in this strategic part of the country, and on the other, enable the Union Government to tackle more effectively the menace of jihad in Kashmir.