For the attention of the governor

It is very sad to note that some elements are trying to disturb peace in Jammu by inciting sections of local population each other. These elements, though a minuscule minority, are carrying out their activities without any fear of law. They are publicly threatening the Muslim population and call their (Muslim) presence in Jammu as a threat to “Jammu pride”. On Friday, a seminar to this effect was organized here in which the speakers said that “they have launched a movement to dismantle the Muslim state of Jammu and Kashmir”. The seminar was organized under the banner of some NGO—Ikkjutt—the stated objective of which is to undo the Muslim character of Jammu and Kashmir. According to newspaper reports, the chairman of the Ikkjutt, while speaking in the seminar, said “I started a campaign against the state sponsored demographic invasion on Jammu. This demographic campaign is aimed at converting Jammu and Ladakh into Muslim majority areas. Our PIL against the Roshni Act was meant to stop the demographic Jihad through the aegis of Legislative Acts like Roshni Act. Our PIL in the Supreme Court to secure the rights of minority Hindus, Buddhists, Sikhs, Jains and Christians aims not only to ensure that the benefits of numerous schemes meant for the minorities reach to the real minorities in the State but also to bring it into the notice of the Nation that the J&K is functioning as a Muslim State because it does not recognize the rights of non-Muslim minorities”. The other speakers in the seminar including Ajay Charungoo of Kashmiri Pandit organization Panun Kashmir, RSS ideologue Hari Om and retired army officer Maj Gen Goverdhan Singh Jamwal also spew venom against Muslims of the state and urged the Prime Minister Narendra Modi to take steps to stop Jammu and Kashmir from becoming an “Islamic state”. The organizers of the seminar and the speakers apparently seemed to be feeling the pain of Muslim settlements in Jammu city. The topic of the seminar—Jammu under siege—itself spoke about the real intent of the organizers.

Jammu and Kashmir as a state is a single constituency. It does belong to any particular section of people from a particular region. All the three major regions—Kashmir, Jammu and Laddakh—belong to all the state subjects of Jammu and Kashmir. They have every right to live in any part of their liking. No individual or organization has any legal or constitutional right to question it. People of Jammu and Ladakh have as much right to live in the valley as the valley people have to settle in other regions. Trying to make it an issue of law and order is the worst kind of anti-social activity, demanding a serious action by the law. People of Jammu know it for the fact that there economy solely depends on the people of the valley and other parts of the state. As the economic interests are the foremost in the emerging world today, the economic ties have bound the valley and Jammu people into an unflinching brotherhood. That is all the more evident from the prevailing peace and tranquility in the city. They give little damn to the provocations stirred up by anti social elements in this regard. That is the most plausible thing happening on the front. But the state government, which is presently headed by the Governor S P Malik, should take note of the activities of the anti social elements who are trying to disturb the peace in the region. Governor should seek a report from the concerned authorities and order immediate action against such elements. The anti-peace people need to be dealt with a heavy hand of the law.