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Live Blog: The Crisis in Kashmir | Head-to-Head Debate at The Oxford Union
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Sujan
10:16
Hello and welcome to the Panel Discussion on “ The crisis in Kashmir” Today we have with us , Baijayant Panda vice president and spokesperson of the BJP speaking in affirmative and Sitaram Yechury- leader of the Communist Party of India speaking in the negative.
10:19
Today we will be debating on the question, should the special status of Jammu and Kashmir have been revoked?
10:21
Baijayant Panda, starts off by speaking about the need to address what is known as “crisis in Kashmir” after the removal of article 370. He says, "it is important to set stage and point out “that’s its not as if a crisis suddenly happened in Kashmir, reality is, it has been there for 72 years.”
10:23
"In the last 3 decades, 42000 people have been killed there related to terrorism," Jay Panda says.
10:25
Panda remarks that, India’s decision to resolve the crisis, by going down to identify root causes has many narratives around it. as it’s a huge issue and that Pakistan has been pushing a certain narrative around the world for decades. Other global powers have used the situation to leverage it for their own geopolitical interests.
10:29
10:31
Jay Panda states, "The intent behind this decision, is not about Triumphalism, but is about a commitment to take the hard path to try and resolve the problem and that the Indian government is committed to doing everything to win the hearts of people of Kashmir in this transitional period."
10:36
He asks everyone to keep in mind that, this is related to how independence happened to India after a long struggle and when India became independent, it was also partitioned brutally which brought about the state of Pakistan and what is now Bangladesh. And that the circumstances and rules of this partition applied for all stakeholders.
10:37
10:40
He asks everybody to remember when you hear about "India occupied Kashmir", that, India is in fact the only state that is a legitimate successor of which Jammu & Kashmir is a part of.
10:43
"With no legitimacy whatsoever Pakistan invaded J&K and still holds a part of it and that indeed is Pakistan occupied Kashmir and a part of that was given away by Pakistan to China. So you can refer to that part as Chinese occupied Kashmir," says Jay Panda
10:47
"Coming to article 370," Jay Panda stresses, "it is an internal matter for India Because it follows the Indian constitution and has no bearing on any other with its neighbors. Also it is the only article in the constitution that had the word temporary in it. We can argue about how long is temporary, but that is beside the point."
10:48
"The point is," he says, "the Indian parliament has amended drastically what was already amended earlier. But democracy still prevails. Everyone in J&K continues to have a vote both for local and national elections."
10:49
Panda asserts that it is important to note that because of the special status under article 370, 106 laws passed by the Indian parliament did not apply in Jammu & Kashmir.
10:54
He signifies that, It means that law protecting the rights of women would not apply neither did laws for child marriage, education, LGBTQ rights. Instead terrorism was covered and corruption was sheltered.
10:57
Taking into purview the per capita investment, Jay Panda states “Indian state invested 4 times per capita in J&K over 7 decades and you do not see the results of that in terms of infrastructure or industry, job."
10:59
He remarks in dismal on how it has also provided the shelter for separatism and terrorism that did ethnic cleansing of the minority Pandit community. hundreds killed and hundreds of thousands forced to leave.
11:02
Finally he emphasizes that with J&k integrating with “the Indian state whose constitution guarantees equal rights to every citizen irrespective of religion , caste , creed, gender is in a transitional period We had a choice, Between temporary restrictions and permanent loss of number of lives.”
11:03
In conclusion he says, "In the Indian constitution with equal rights given to everybody, citizens have the same rights and same obligations. The country was partitioned on the now discredited two-nation theory and those who believed in that theory have seen their minorities decimated."
11:07
It is time for Q&A
11:09
Member in the front row: "There is a panel of MPs of EU touring in India who came out in support of India's stance in this. India has always maintained that Kashmir is an internal matter. But by inviting the EU MPs, has India made a msterstroke or is it a historical blunder
11:11
Jay Panda answers: Having outsiders come and look at the situation is not internationalizing the problem. Asking for their mediation is. Detentions have been made because people made incendiary statements against the amendment.
11:14
Yechuri: EU has made it clear that the delegation is not an official delegation. 24 of the total MPs are from ultra-nationalist parties in their own countries. The NGO who invited them has disappeared after the visit. Who invited them?
It is being said that the governor asked us to visit. But when we went there, we weren't allowed to leave the airpot. Thus it is clear that only those that were going to support the governmetn;s move are being allowed into the state.
11:15
Question: Pakistan has been demanding plebiscite in Kashmir. Perhaps, if a plebiscite is held, that might dissuade the tensions in Kashmir. What do you think?
11:16
Jay Panda answers, "Plebiscite was offered on the condition that Pakistan withdraws from the occupied area. No other state was given the option of remaining independent and that option cannot be given to Kashmir neither."
11:18
Yechuri: India's promise was when Kashmir was free. But in a situation where a part of Kashmir is under Pakistan's occupation a plebiscite is not possible. This is the correct position independent of political parties. Also, according to the Mountbatten plan, the states had option to remain independent and only three states chose to do that.
Uh oh! Member of the crowd interrupts.
11:19
Last question
What according to you now would be the best way forward for Kashmir?
11:22
Jay Panda reiterates that there was no option but to choose India or Pakistan. He continues, "There is no intention in the governmetn to treat this as a triumph. The governtment's intention is to take development to Jammu & Kashmir. They will have same rights and protections as anybody else in the country. There will be concerted efforts to take investments to the roots. The block level elections are a symbol of the invitation of the move. Anybody who owe their allegience to the constitution of India are allowed to participate in elections."
"Asks people to visit Jammu & Kashmir to see for themselves the ground reality."
11:25
Yechuri: People asked me in Kashmir - "Is Kashmir going to be India's Gaza strip?" I tried my best to refute it but I am not really sure now.
One election to the BDC, cannot prove it otherwise. Democracy is not just elections. It is much more and efforts need to be made to realise what real democracy is.
That ends the debate.
Thank you so much for tuning in.
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