Zones of exclusion

Our next door neighbour, India, which calls itself the ‘world’s largest democracy’, appears to have decided that the Israeli way is how Kashmir should be dealt with. The issue has been brought to the limelight by the Pakistani Foreign Office, which has criticised the proposed plan to repatriate Kashmiri Pandits from Jammu to special zones in Srinagar. The FO has warned that the efforts to create special townships which would alter Jammu and Kashmir’s demographic composition are against UN Security Council resolutions. The statement was a response to a request by the BJP Home Minister Rajnath Singh to the Kashmiri government to identify land for ‘composite townships’ for Kashmir Pandits who left when the first wave of the militancy began. Kashmiri Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed had already rejected the idea in April. The PDP leader was adamant that he would not allow ‘Israel-type settlements’.
While Kashmiri Pandits have a right to return home, it seems India would rather become Israel for the Kashmiris than give them genuine rights. The move to convert Kashmiri Pandits into occupiers should not go down well. The move, which was later accepted by Sayeed, has been described as an attempt to create a ‘state within a state’, an allegation that Kashmiri separatists have continued to bear the brunt of. The PDP has claimed that these so-called ‘composite townships’ would not be exclusive zones for Kashmiri Pandits. This is a joke. Why would they create these new townships in the first place if they are not to become exclusive zones? Despite the PDP’s attempt to dismiss the fears of exclusive townships, there are few buyers of the narrative that the new constructions will be ‘open to all’. The last Kashmiri government had rejected this plan outright and had asked the Pandits to live with everyone else. The Hurriyat leadership have also stated that they have always welcomed the return of Kashmiri Pandits to the valley, but that the creation of separate cities for them is unacceptable. The Modi government must understand that such an aggressive policy in Kashmir will benefit no one.