Page 49 - 28FEB2019E

jammu & kashmir

• status row After Ladakh division,
n February 8, same status sought for Pir Panjal
Governor’s
administra- ment. “The Governor has
tion granted once again proved that he
O a divisional has been religiously follow-
status to Ladakh taking eve- ing the dictates and fascist
rybody by surprise. Though ideology of his masters in
the demand for the division Delhi and Nagpur against
status for the province is a all constitutional norms and
long-standing one but so is propriety”.
the one from Pir Panjal and The issue is threatening
Chenab Valley regions of the Divisional status for to become a major electoral
Jammu province. plank in the run-up to the
But while the adminis- polls, with Kashmir based
tration ignored the latter’s laDakh splits J&k parties like the NC and the
demand, it addressed the PDP promising to grant di-
one from Ladakh without visional status to Pir Panjal
taking the state’s political The government is being accused of playing and Chenab should they be
opinion on board. The State elected to power.
Administrative Council favourites by picking one region over another On the other hand, the
issued the order with little for grant of the status, writes Riyaz Wani issue has already started
prior indication of the move. driving politics in these two
This has run into a mas- of Rajouri-Poonch and the In fact, the government’s areas with the people pro-
sive controversy ahead of Chenab Valley districts approach has only added to testing for a division status.
the upcoming Parliament who have been demand- the contentious nature of And its intensity is likely to
and possibly Assembly ing divisional status for the move and lent it a com- increase as elections draw
elections. The government their areas since long,” PDP munal colour in popular nearer. At the same time,
has been accused of playing vice-president Choudhary perception. Leh is Buddhist the issue is likely to figure
favourites by picking one re- Abdul Hamid said at a press majority district and Kargil prominently in KashmIr
gion over another for grant conference. has a Muslim majority. Simi- Valley where the move is
of the status. Also, the current ar- larly Pir Panjal and Chenab perceived as an attempt “to
“After the elections of rangement hardly ben- Valley whose demand for implement the RSS agenda
2019, should the people of efits Kargil, one of the two the division status have in the state”.
J&K repose faith in [National districts in Ladakh region, been overlooked have also “If anything the state
Conference] , our govern- other being Leh The Gov- Muslim majority. So, people government’s decision to
ment will grant division ernment has permantently in the Valley see a design on grant divisional status to
status to Chenab valley headquartered the division works in the government’s Ladakh region has once
[and] Pir Panchal regions at Leh. Kargil is nearer to decision to privilege Ladakh again stoked the fears that
as already laid out in our Srinagar than Leh. So Kargil over the other two regions. there is a premeditated
regional autonomy prom- has little reason to celebrate “The members said that hidden agenda that is being
ise,” the National Confer- despite being the district the grant of separate divi- systematically implemented
ence leader Omar Abdullah with the bigger population. sional status to any area of in the state,” read an edito-
said in a tweet soon after Now, political parties and the state including Ladakh rial in a Kashmir daily. “The
the state government an- the civil society groups from comes under the powers point at issue here is not that
nounced the division status the district have threatened and jurisdiction of only the Ladakh has been given the
for Ladakh. to launch an agitation and genuine representatives divisionl status, it is that this
Similarly PDP also even hold protests in New of the state who may take fraught and major decision
demanded a division status Delhi. such decision after serious was taken by a Governor’s
for Pir Panjal and Chenab In response, the state and sustained debate and administration as a mat-
Valley. “We hail the Gov- administration has formed discussion on available data ter of course. And that too
ernor’s administration for a committee of secretar- of district developmental without taking the state’s
according divisional status ies which will look into the indices,” Kashmir Centre political parties on board, let
to Leh, but ]Governor SP Ma- issue so that Kargil gets jus- for Social and Develop- alone start a public debate”.
lik should also look into the tice. But this hasn’t helped ment Studies (KCSDS), a civil
genuine demands of people the matters. society group, said in a state- letters@tehelka.com

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