“New hopes and expectations have been generated by removal of Art. 370”
The biggest achievement here is that the locals are not motivated any more to join these terrorist forces.
Aasha Khosa is a senior journalist from Kashmir and has covered the region for decades, including at the height of militancy there. She spoke to IAR’s Moumita Layek and Deepankar Mukherjee on the first anniversary of the abrogation of Article 370 and Jammu and Kashmir’s special status and bifurcation of the state into the union territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh.
A year has passed since India revoked Art. 370 of the Indian Constitution which gave Jammu and Kashmir it’s special status. Can you give us an assessment of the situation till now?
This one year of Article 370 removal has fundamentally given clarity to everyone what Jammu and Kashmir is all about. It’s about India and there is no other side to it. One of the reasons for unrest and wide popular support to secessionists in Kashmir was people’s belief that they should be with the stronger side and that side was the separatists’ camp. Now, since there is clarity and people see the government means business, their confusion is gone. This is the biggest fundamental change on the ground. Besides, hopes and expectations have been generated by this move; the government seems to prioritize development over everything. Unfortunately, due to Covid-19 things have slowed down. However, the removal of Article 370 is not a random move; it’s well-planned and each follow up action plan has been drawn well in advance. I am sure, in the coming days we will see results on the ground.
There has been criticism of the central government for the lockdown and communication clampdown and human rights violations of the people of Jammu and Kashmir for the last one year. Your opinion on this?
In a democracy, there will be different voices from political parties on all issues. Yes, it’s a fact that initially this move came as a shocker to everyone, including journalists. There was a total clampdown on the movement in Kashmir for a few days. Even internet was shut for a couple of months. It was done with the purpose of avoiding deaths and violence and not allowing terrorists and their over ground network to get active into organizing violence. As long as the lives were saved the restrictions served a purpose.
In a place like Kashmir, the internet has been misused very badly. Therefore, the moves by the government were the need of the hour. And it’s expected that high speed internet service will resume very soon.
Has the revocation of Art. 370 and bifurcation of Jammu and Kashmir into the union territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh benefitted the people of Ladakh in any way?
Ladakh is the biggest gainer in this whole scenario.
Ladakh had been demanding union territory or separate status for long as they wanted to come directly under the rule of the central government. The wish for separation from Kashmir was very strong.
Now, their aspirations have been fulfilled. However, the issues of restructuring the union territory will surely prevail for some time. Again things have slowed down due to the pandemic. Meanwhile, the people of Jammu are happy as well. They are looking forward to getting equitable political power with Kashmir. There are worries about outsiders preferring Jammu over Kashmir for land to set up industries. However, that is the only way for a region to develop and job generation.
Has militancy in Kashmir increased or decreased following the revocation of Art. 370?
In the last few months we have witnessed security forces eliminating terrorists on a daily basis. Meanwhile, Pakistan is trying to push in terrorists in large numbers and that is on expected lines. With the experience of three decades, the Indian armed forces are well aware of Pakistan’s modus operandi. We have raised our firewalls against intruders and they get eliminated sooner or later. The biggest achievement is that the locals are no longer motivated to join terrorist groups. Also the terrorists are being killed in surgical operations because of the accurate information that obviously comes from locals.
There are fears that revocation of Art. 370 will cause demographic changes to Jammu and Kashmir. What is your view on the issue?
Nothing of that sort has happened so far, though some people do express such fears. They have just started giving domicile certificates to the people who had been deprived of their rights since independence. The guidelines on who gets domicile are very clear. An outsider qualifies for a domicile certificate after spending 15 years in J&K. This is the law in most other states as well.
Do you think statehood to Jammu and Kashmir should be restored soon?
I strongly believe that there’s no point in restoring statehood at least for a few years. This is because J&K is a sensitive border State and Pakistan is out to grab it. After terrorism started the situation worsened and the state government put the blame for it on the Center. Besides J&K is a revenue deficit state and is heavily funded by center. In the past, center would always blame the state for corruption and pilferage of central funds while State would crib about receiving lesser funds. As such the security of J&K has been Delhi’s responsibility. It’s only proper that Center take full responsibility and people can hold it accountable for lapses. Statehood would mean acrimony between Delhi and Srinagar and that is not needed in such a sensitive place.
