Chapter 3
Disinformation Compaign
MUSLIM
PRECEDENCE
After the accession
of the State to the Indian Dominion in October 1947,
the Government of Jammu and Kashmir State was
reconstituted to give effect to the transfer of power
to the people in accordance with the practice followed
by the Government of India in the princely States. The
transfer of power in the State was aimed to end the
rigours of the princely rule and ensure the exercise
of authority in accordance with the democratic process
and the acceptance of administrative responsibility.
However, the transfer of power in Jammu and Kashmir
assumed a different direction. No sooner did the
National Conference leaders constitute the first
Interim Government, they abandoned their commitments
to all secular norms and set out to reorganise the
State on the basis of the communal precedence of the
Muslim majority. The rapid transformation of the whole
economic organisation of the State, which upturned the
property relations, the Dogra rulers had established
and which the Interim Government accomplished,
ostensibly to eliminate exploitation and poverty, led
directly to the emergence of a new Muslim middle
class, which in the years to come, formed the mainstay
of the Muslim separatist movements in the State. The
first Interim Government secured the exclusion of the
State from the constitutional nrganisation of India
mainly to secure the social, political and economic of
the Muslim majority in the State. In their parleys
with the Indian leaders, the Conference leaders
insisted upon the institution of a separate
Constituent Assembly for the State which would
formulate a separate constitutional framework and sets
of political imperatives to safeguard the basic right
of the people in the State independent of the
fundamental rights the Constituent Assembly of India
had evolved. More particularly, the Conference leaders
vehemently opposed, the acceptance of all rights to
equality and protection of minorities, which the
Constitution of India envisaged on the ground that
such rights conflicted with the economic reforms the
Interim Government had undertaken. The Interim
Govermnent secured the abdication of Maharaja Hari
Singh and after that, did not take long to assume
total control over the authority of the State. In less
than a year, the Hindus were eliminated from the
economic organisation of the State, its government and
administration. Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah, the Prime
Minister in the Interim Government, who virtually
became the ruler of the State, headed the Auqat-
Islamia, the Muslim Endowment Trust, but demanded the
dissolution of the Dharmarth, the Hindu Endowment
Trust which the Dogra rulers had established. The
Interim Govermnent forged a new Muslim ruling elite,
which ruled the State in the decades which followed,
relegating the Hindus to a condition of abject
servitude.
The Interim
Government packed the Constitutent Assembly with
Muslims, seventy three of its seventy five members
were returned unopposed and without contest, the
remaining two seats in the Assembly, were also bagged
by the National Conference after their opponents were
driven out of the contest. In the Assembly, around
three fourth of the members were Muslims. The whole
delimitation of the constituencies was based upon
disproportionate distribution of population, ensuring
the Muslim majority province of Kashmir a heavier
weightage than the Hindu majority province of Jammu.
When Sheikh Mohammad Abduallah denounced the Delhi
Agreement in 1953, and demanded the separation of the
State from the territorial jurisdiction of the Union
of India, the handful of the Hindu members in the
Assembly stood against him and supported the second
Interim Government headed by Bakshi Gulam Mohamad. Few
of the Muslim members of the Constituent Assembly
offered their support to the second Interim
Government, during those critical days after the
dismissal of the Interim Government headed by Sheikh
Mohamad Abdullah. Later the Muslim members were bought
by Bakshi, for a fairly high price, which was paid
only at the cost of the Hindus.
Bakshi did not end
the Muslim precedence in the government and the
society of the State and inspite of the partial
application of the fundamental rights, envisaged by
the Constitution of India to Jammu and Kashmir, the
process of the elimination of the Hindus from the
political and economic organisation of the State
continued unabated. Bakshi Ghulam Mohamad also
continued to head the Muslim Endowment Trust, the
Auqaf-Islamia. After the Constituent Assembly
completed its labours and a seperate constitution was
promulgated in the State in 1957, Bakshi packed the
first Legislative Assembly, on the basis of the
constituencies delimited for the elections to the
Constitutent Assembly. The Muslims of Kashmir were
ensured perpetual heavier weightage in the elections
to the State Legislature than the people in Jammu and
Ladakh. During the last four decades, legislative
majorities were predominantly Muslim. The demand of
the Hindus of Jammu for a review of the delimitation
and the four decades long struggle of the three lakhs
of Hindus and Sikh refugess for the citizenship of the
State, was never met.
The scourge of the
Muslim precedence spread wider. Not only were
legislative bodies and the political instruments
dominantly Muslim, the entire administrative
organisation was Muslimised rapidly within days after
the Interim Government was saddled in office. The
rapid process of summary removal of the Hindus from
the State services was initated on the pretext of
communal imbalances in the services, which the
Conference leaders alleged, characterised the
administrative organisation of the State. The
allegations were baseless. Glaring imbalances
characterised the administration of the State, but the
imblances were not communal in character. The State
was virtually governed by the British and their
officers in the Indian Political Department, which
were posted in the State to conduct its
administration. The Dogra ruling elite was not Hindu,
it was constituted of the small agrarian middle class,
which was equally Muslim. The services of the State
were dominated by the British and the men of the
Indian Civil Service, besides the clansmen of the
ruling dynasty and a section of the Dogra ruling
elite, almost half of which was constituted by the
Muslims. The ranks of the State army were divided in a
ratio of 55 percent Hindus and 45 percent Muslims,
mostly drawn from the non-Kashmiri speaking subjects
of the Dogra rulers. The Hindus of Kashmir and Jammu,
who had taken to English education far ahead of their
Muslim compatriots, were employed in subordinate
services, on petty posts, and they licked the mud for
the Raj as well as the British empire.
The Interim
Government, removed the senior Hindu Officers of the
State Government on charges of having supported the
Dogra rule replacing them by the henchmen of the
National Conference and political adventurists. A
virtual embargo was imposed on the employment of the
Hindus of Kashmir in the State services, apparantly to
rectify the alleged communal inbalances but in reality
to Muslimise the various instruments of authority as
well as the lines of its control.
The partial
application of the Constitution of India in 1954 and
the promulgation of the Constitution of Jammu and
Kashmir in January 1957, upheld the precedence of the
Muslim majority. The application of the fundamental
rights envisaged by the Constitution of India to the
State by virtue of the Presidential order of May 1954,
was restricted by numerous exceptions and
reservations. This armed the State Government with
arbitrary powers to effect reservations for classified
sections of permanent residents of the State, which
the successive State Government used ruthlessly to
promote Muslim interests.
The following facts
reveal the extent of domination and precedence the
Muslims, particularly the Muslims of the Kashmir
province, enjoyed in the Government and politics of
the State:
(a) The imbalances
in the delimitation of constituencies in the two
provinces of Jammu and Kashmir and the exclusion of
two and half lakhs of Hindu refugees, living in the
State from 1947, from permanent residents of the
State, was mainly aimed to reduce the weight-age of
the Hindus in the legislative processes of the State,
ensuring a three-fourth majority for the Muslims in
the State Legislative Assembly. The representation of
the Hindus was maintained at an average 31 percent of
the seats in the Legislative Assembly. The entire
Sharnarthi population was deprived of any
representation in the local legislative bodies. In the
delimitation of the electoral constituencies,
gerrymandering was meticulously used to neutralise the
decisive Hindu and Sikh weight age in, at least, three
constituencies viz; Habbakadal, Anantnag and Baramulla
in the Kashmir province and three constituencies in
the Districts of Doda and Udhampur. Consequently in
Kashmir, the Hindus and the Sikhs did not have even a
single non-Muslim majority constituency, where from a
representative of their choice could be elected to the
Legislative Assembly of the State. Generally, the
Hindus and other non- Muslim representatives, elected
to the State Legislative Assembly from Kashmir, were
mercenaries and men of small virtue, who never enjoyed
the confidence of their community. The records of the
proceedings of the Legislative Assembly reveal how the
Hindu representatives supported the legislation aimed
to exclude Hindus and other minorities from the
organisation of the state Government and its political
function and impose limitation on their entry to the
educational institutions of the State. It will not be
out of place to mention here, that when controversy
raged over the passage of the Resettlement Bill, which
the National Conference Government, headed by Sheikh
Mohamad Abdullah introduced in the Assembly, to open
the floodgates for the re-entry into the State, of the
Muslims from Pakistan and the occupied territories,
the Hindu representatives did not voice their
disapproval of the Bill, which they were repeatedly
told would prove disasterous for the State. None of
the Hindu legislators, except those from Jammu, who
were elected by the opposition, raised the issue of
the thousands of Hindu refugees uprooted from the
territories of the Kashmir province occupied by
Pakistan.
(b) Right from 1947,
the Muslims adorned the office of the highest
political executive of the State. The four Prime
Ministers of the State, who headed the political
executive till 1965, were Muslims and the six Chief-
Ministers of the Congress and the National Conference
Govemments, who followed, were also Muslims. In the
Councils of Ministers, during the last four and half
decades, the Hindus, Buddhists and the other
minorities held an average of 26 per cent of the
ministerial offices, the rest being held by the
Muslims.
(c) In the various
decision-making clusters of the various political
party organisations including the National Conference
and the Congress, which ruled the State during the
last four decades, Hindus of Kashmir were always left
unrepresented.
(d) The maximal
parliamentary patronage was appropriated by the
Muslims of Kashmir and the Muslims in the Jammu
province to the disadvantage of the Hindus;
(e) In the
decision-making units of the State administration, the
representation of the Hindus of Kashmir was always
negligible. The decisional units of the State
Govemment were always dominated by the Muslims of
Kashmir province, excluding the Hindus completely.
Almost all the Heads of the Departments in the State
administration, were Muslims. An unwritten instrument
of instruction operated to eliminate the Hindus from
the various decision-making bodies and governed the
appointment of the heads of the administrative
divisions and staff agencies. An average of less than
26 percent, including the lent officers of the
Government of India, and the officers of the Indian
Administrative Senices, were Hindus. An average of 68
percent higher posts in the State Government were
always monopolised by the Muslims. The major public
enterprises, state corporations, educational
institutions of higher learning and colleges imparting
technical education in the Kashmir province, were
invariably headed by the Muslims.
(f) In the
administrative organisation of the State, the Hindus
of Kashmir, with 88 percent literacy, shared an
average of 4.8 percent of the State services,
including the services in the public enterprises,
corporations and govermnent undertakings.
(g) In the services
of the Central Govermnent, including the Jammu and
Kashmir Bank, the services of corporate undertakings
of the Central Government, the defence services, the
Beacon organisation and the communication system of
the Central Government, the Kashmiri Hindus shared
only 12 percent of the available employments, whereas
the Kashmiri Muslims shared 38 percent of the
available employments.
During the period
1980 to 1990, when the Muslim fundamentalist movements
assumed ascendence and the secessionist forces
tightened their hold on the administrative
organisation of the State, the recruitment of Kashmiri
Hindus to the State services and services in other
corporate bodies, was reduced to an average of 1.7
percent. Several communal govemment orders were struck
down by the Supreme Court of India and the High Court
of the State. But ways and means were devised by the
State Government to circumvent the judicial decisions
to enforce the exclusion of the Kashmiri Hindus from
employments which otherwise were their due. Thee
mbargo on the recruitment of the Kashmiri Hindus was
extended to their employment in the teaching staff of
the higher secondary schools, colleges and
post-graduate departments of the University of Kashmir
as well as the Agricultural University, the Medical
College, the Engineering College and the Institute of
Medical Sciences inspite of the fact that the Hindus
possessed not only adequate but higher qualifications
and professional excellence.
The elimination of
the Hindus in Kashmir from all political processes and
functions, was extended to the admission of the Hindus
to educational insitutions in the State, and grant of
scholarships and nomination for training and higher
studies outside the State. It is a little known fact
that during the last forty seven years the admissions
of Kashmiri Hindus to various academic institutions,
institutions of higher learning. Universities,
technical colleges, including the Regional Engineering
College, the Institute of Medical Sciences Government
Medical College and the University of Kashmir, were
restricted to an average 8 percent of the total
adimissions made every year. Incidentally, the
Kashmiri Hindus constituted more than 8 percent of the
population of the Kashmir province. A bare 2 percent
of Kashmiri Hindus were awarded nominations and State
grants for higher studies and trainings outside the
State. Communal Government orders were issued from
time to time, implementing classification undertaken
by the State Legislature to define, socially and
educationally backward classes to ensure the Muslims a
wider reservation for admissions to the educational
institutions. Many of these communal Government orders
were struck down by the High Court of the State and
the Supreme Court of India. Undeterdby severe censure
by the highest courts of the land, the State
Government refused to change its policy and the
scourage of reservations contined to ravage the
Hindus. A computation of the data regarding admission
of Hindus to the technical colleges, training courses
and post-graduate classes in Kashmir, during the last
forty seven years, shows that they were subject to
gross discrimination inspite of the meritorious grades
secured in their qualifying Board and University
examinations. On an average basis only 7 per cent of
the Hindus were admitted to the technical colleges,
though 63 per cent of the Hindu applicants possessed a
first class with 60 percent or more marks, whereas 76
percent of the Muslim candidates were admitted to the
technical colleges, though only 31 per cent of Muslim
applicants possessed first class with 60 per cent or
more marks in their respective qualifying
examinations. In the admissions to the technical
training colleges, 12 percent of the Hindu candidates
were admitted though 66 per cent of the Hindu
applicants possessed a first class with 60 per cent or
more marks in the qualifying examination, whereas 82
per cent of the Muslims were admitted to the techincal
training colleges though only 28 per cent of the
Muslim applicants possessed first class with 60 per
cent or more marks. In the admissions to the
post-graduate courses, only 14 percent of the Hindu
candidates were admitted though 41 per cent of the
applicants possessed first class with 60 per cent or
more marks whereas 78 per cent of Muslim candidates
were admitted to the post-graduate classes, though
only 14 percent of the Muslim applicants possessed
first class uith 60 per cent or more marks.
Apart from the wide
range of of the state patronage the Muslims enjoyed,
and the extensive hold they exercised over the
instruments of the authority of the State Government,
their interest articulation was phenomenally high.
With the financial support and patronage provided by
the Muslim middle class and the State Government,
besides the funds received from abroad, a wide-spread
network of media-means was established over the years
for the interest articulation of the Muslims in the
State and their political expressions. The Muslims in
Kashmir owned more than 72 daily newspapers, news
journals, weekly news-magazines and other periodicals.
In contrast the Hindu owned, 4 newspapers news-
magazines, journals, one of which was in English and
which were hardly published with the regularity and
effect the newspapers owned by the Muslims were
published. Evidently, the impoverished Hindu community
could not sustain their publication. The State
patronage was monopolished by the newspapers owned by
the Muslims and the Hindus enjoyed no financial
backing from any sources inside or outside the State.
The vernacular
newspapers, owned by the Muslims, were mainly
committed to religious propagation, promotion of
Muslim separatism and communalism, the justification
of the autonomy of the State and the exclusion of the
state from the Indian political organisation. Most of
the vernacular newspapers continued a sustained attack
on the secular social organisation of India, demanding
freedom for the Muslims of the State to opt for "Nizam-e-Mustafa"
or the Islamic political order and their liberation
from the clutches of India. Many of the newspapers
preached Muslim communalism openly, a policy which
earned them greater approbation of the bosses of the
pclitical parties, including the parties which were
ostensibly committed to secularism, the Muslim middle
class and the third generation English-educated youth,
brought up under the influence of the secessionist
movements. More popular of the dailies published
invective against the Hindu minority, particularly,
the Kashmiri Pandits, who had brought about the
enslavement of the Muslims to India. A large- scale
and sustained attack, was maintained, in many of the
vernacular dailies and news-magazines against the
culture, the history, the social mores and tradition
of the Hindus of Kashmir. The ancient history of
Kashmir was denigraded as a past, which the Muslims of
Kashmir refused to own.
No restraints were
ever imposed on the publication of these newspapers,
even sanctions of seculalism were not invoked against
them. Many of them preached secession of the State
from India openly and with candid frankness. But their
freedom to preach treason was never questioned.
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