Once if it is proven beyond reasonable doubt that you have harmed children, we have no sympathy to spare. Put these people behind bars and throw away the keys….for life. We oppose death penalty since there is a chance that the convicted person has been falsely implicated.
…..

….
One exception that troubles our conscience is how we should deal with terrorists. If we jail them, there may be attempts to free  them by taking innocent people hostages (see below). In a democracy you really do not have a choice…as the Head of the Nation, you cannot look scores of families in the eye and tell them that their loved sons, daughters, brothers, sisters will not be coming home in order to preserve some abstract national interest.  

That memorable slogan from 1999…..to hell with the country and the national interest…there is no arguing with that sentiment in good faith…what if it was YOUR daughter who was kidnapped by the terrorists? By the same token, who cares if a terrorist is killed…to hell with your principles...or would YOU rather be the one talking to the widow of Squadron Leader Ahuja?
……

Two
Kolhapur women, who were sentenced to death in 2001 for kidnapping 13
children and killing nine of them, may become the first women ever to be
hanged in India.
……..



President Pranab Mukherjee late last month
rejected Renuka Kiran Shinde and her sister Seema Mohan Gavit’s mercy
petitions. The buffer period before their hanging – time taken by the
state home department to inform all concerned after receiving the note
from Rashtrapati Bhavan – ends on Saturday.
…
The number of
people executed in India since Independence is a matter of dispute.
Government statistics claim that only 52 people have been executed since
independence. However, research by the People’s Union for Civil
Liberties indicates that the actual number of executions is in fact much
higher, as they have located records of 1,422 executions in the decade
from 1953 to 1963 alone. However, there is no record of any woman’s
execution.

While awarding
the death sentence to the sisters in 2001, Judge G L Yedke in Kolhapur
had described the nine kids’ murders as ‘the most heinous’, and observed
that the two sisters seemed to have enjoyed killing the children.
……

The Indian Airlines flight from Kathmandu to New Delhi, designated IC
814, with 178 passengers and 11 crew members on board, was hijacked on
Christmas eve, 1999, a short while after it took-off from Tribhuvan
International Airport; by then, the aircraft had entered Indian
airspace. Nine years later to the day, with an entire generation coming
of age, it would be in order to recall some facts and place others on
record.

….
In 1999 I was serving as an aide to Prime Minister Atal Bihari
Vajpayee in the PMO, and I still have vivid memories of the tumultuous
week between Christmas eve and New Year’s eve. Mr Vajpayee had gone out
of Delhi on an official tour; I had accompanied him along with other
officials of the PMO. …
The hijacking of IC 814 occurred while we were
returning to Delhi in one of the two Indian Air Force Boeings which, in
those days, were used by the Prime Minister for travel within the
country.

….
Curiously, the initial information about IC 814 being hijacked, of
which the IAF was believed to have been aware, was not communicated to
the pilot of the Prime Minister’s aircraft. As a result, Mr Vajpayee and
his aides remained unaware of the hijacking till reaching Delhi. This
caused some amount of controversy later.

…
It was not possible for anybody else to have contacted us while we
were in midair. It’s strange but true that the Prime Minister of India
would be incommunicado while on a flight because neither the ageing IAF
Boeings nor the Air India Jumbos, used for official travel abroad, had
satellite phone facilities.

….
By the time our aircraft landed in Delhi, it was around 7:00 pm, a
full hour and 40 minutes since the hijacking of IC 814. After
disembarking from the aircraft in the VIP bay of Palam Technical Area,
we were surprised to find National Security Adviser Brajesh Mishra
waiting at the foot of the ladder. He led Mr Vajpayee aside and gave him
the news. They got into the Prime Minister’s car and it sped out of the
Technical Area. Some of us followed Mr. Vajpayee to Race Course Road,
as was the normal routine.

….
On our way to the Prime Minister’s residence, colleagues in the PMO
provided us with the basic details. The Kathmandu-Delhi flight had been
commandeered by five hijackers (later identified as Ibrahim Athar,
resident of Bahawalpur, Shahid Akhtar Sayed, Gulshan Iqbal, resident of
Karachi, Sunny Ahmed Qazi, resident of Defence Area, Karachi, Mistri
Zahoor Ibrahim, resident of Akhtar Colony, Karachi, and Shakir, resident
of Sukkur City) at 5:20 pm; there were 189 passengers and crew members
on board; and that the aircraft was heading towards Lahore.

….
At the Prime Minister’s residence, senior Ministers and Secretaries
had already been summoned for an emergency meeting. Mr Mishra left for
the crisis control room that had been set up at Rajiv Bhavan. In between
meetings, Mr Vajpayee instructed his personal staff to cancel all
celebrations planned for December 25, his birthday. The Cabinet
Committee on Security met late into the night as our long vigil began.

….
Meanwhile, we were informed that the pilot of IC 814 had been denied
permission to land at Lahore airport. With fuel running low, he was
heading for Amritsar. Officials at Raja Sansi Airport were immediately
alerted and told to prevent the plane from taking off after it had
landed there. 

The hijacked plane landed at Amritsar and remained parked on the
tarmac for nearly 45 minutes. The hijackers demanded that the aircraft
be refuelled. The airport officials ran around like so many headless
chickens, totally clueless about what was to be done in a crisis
situation.

…..
Desperate calls were made to the officials at Raja Sansi Airport to
somehow stall the refueling and prevent the plane from taking off. The
officials just failed to respond with alacrity. At one point, an
exasperated Jaswant Singh, if memory serves me right, grabbed the phone
and pleaded with an official, “Just drive a heavy vehicle, a fuel truck
or a road roller or whatever you have, onto the runway and park it
there.” But all this was to no avail.

…..
The National Security Guards, whose job it is to deal with hostage
situations, were alerted immediately after news first came in of IC 814
being hijacked; they were reportedly asked to stand by for any
emergency. The Home Ministry was again alerted when it became obvious
that after being denied permission to land at Lahore, the pilot was
heading towards Amritsar.

….
Yet, despite IC 814 remaining parked at Amritsar for three-quarters
of an hour, the NSG commandos failed to reach the aircraft. There are
two versions as to why the NSG didn’t show up: First, they were waiting
for an aircraft to ferry them from Delhi to Amritsar; second, they were
caught in a traffic jam between Manesar and Delhi airport. The real
story was never known!

…..
The hijackers, anticipating commando action, first stabbed a
passenger, Rupin Katyal (he had gone to Kathmandu with his newly wedded
wife for their honeymoon; had they not extended their stay by a couple
of days, they wouldn’t have been on the ill-fated flight) to show that
they meant business, and then forced the pilot to take off from
Amritsar. With almost empty fuel tanks, the pilot had no other option
but to make another attempt to land at Lahore airport. Once again he was
denied permission and all the lights, including those on the runway,
were switched off. He nonetheless went ahead and landed at Lahore
airport, showing remarkable skill and courage.

…..
Mr Jaswant Singh spoke to the Pakistani Foreign Minister and pleaded
with him to prevent the aircraft from taking off again. But the
Pakistanis would have nothing of it (they wanted to distance themselves
from the hijacking so that they could claim later that there was no
Pakistan connection) and wanted IC 814 off their soil and out of their
airspace as soon as possible. So, they refuelled the aircraft after
which the hijackers forced the pilot to head for Dubai.

….
At Dubai, too, officials were reluctant to allow the aircraft to
land. It required all the persuasive skills of Mr Jaswant Singh and our
then Ambassador to UAE, Mr KC Singh, to secure landing permission. There
was some negotiation with the hijackers through UAE officials and they
allowed 13 women and 11 children to disembark. Rupin Katyal had by then
bled to death. His body was offloaded. His widow remained a hostage till
the end.

….
On the morning of December 25, the aircraft left Dubai and headed
towards Afghanistan. It landed at Kandahar Airport, which had one
serviceable runway, a sort of ATC and a couple of shanties. The rest of
the airport was in a shambles, without power and water supply, a trophy
commemorating the Taliban’s rule.

….
On Christmas eve, after news of the hijacking broke, there was
stunned all-round silence. But by noon on December 25, orchestrated
protests outside the Prime Minister’s residence began, with women
beating their chests and tearing their clothes. The crowd swelled by the
hour as the day progressed.

….
Ms Brinda Karat came to
commiserate with the relatives of the hostages who were camping outside
the main gate of 7, Race Course Road. In fact, she became a regular
visitor over the next few days. There was a steady
clamour that the Government should pay any price to bring the hostages
back home, safe and sound. This continued till December 30.

…..
One evening, the Prime Minister asked his staff to let the families
come in so that they could be told about the Government’s efforts to
secure the hostages’ release. By then negotiations had begun and Mullah
Omar had got into the act through his ‘Foreign Minister’, Muttavakil.
The hijackers wanted 36 terrorists, held in various Indian jails, to be
freed or else they would blow up the aircraft with the hostages.

…..
No senior Minister in the CCS was willing to meet the families. Mr
Jaswant Singh volunteered to do so. He asked me to accompany him to the
canopy under which the families had gathered. Once there, we were
literally mobbed. He tried to explain the situation but was shouted
down.

……
“We want our relatives back. What
difference does it make to us what you have to give the hijackers?” a
man shouted. “We don’t care if you have to give away Kashmir,” a
woman screamed and others took up the refrain, chanting: “Kashmir de do,
kuchh bhi de do, hamare logon ko ghar wapas lao.” Another woman sobbed,
“Mera beta… hai mera beta…” and made a great show of fainting of grief.

…..
To his credit, Mr Jaswant Singh made bold to suggest that the
Government had to keep the nation’s interest in mind, that we could not
be seen to be giving in to the hijackers, or words to that effect, in
chaste Hindi. That fetched him abuse and rebuke. “Bhaand me jaaye desh aur bhaand me jaaye desh ka hit. (To hell with the country and national interest),” many
in the crowd shouted back. Stumped by the response, Mr Jaswant Singh
could merely promise that the Government would do everything possible.

…..
I do not remember the exact date, but sometime during the crisis, Mr
Jaswant Singh was asked to hold a Press conference to brief the media.
While the briefing was on at the Press Information Bureau hall in
Shastri Bhavan, some families of the hostages barged in and started
shouting slogans. They were led by one Sanjiv Chibber, who, I was later
told, was a ‘noted surgeon’: He claimed six of his relatives were among
the hostages.

…..
Dr Chibber wanted all 36 terrorists named by the hijackers to be
released immediately. He reminded everybody in the hall that in the past
terrorists had been released from prison to secure the freedom of Ms
Rubayya Sayeed, daughter of Mufti Mohammed Sayeed, while he was Home
Minister in VP Singh’s Government. “Why
can’t you release the terrorists now when our relatives are being held
hostage?” he demanded. And then we heard the familiar refrain: “Give
away Kashmir, give them anything they want, we don’t give a damn.”

…..
On another evening, there was a surprise visitor at the PMO: The
widow of Squadron Leader Ajay Ahuja, whose plane was shot down during
the Kargil war. She insisted that she should be taken to meet the
relatives of the hostages. At Race Course Road, she spoke to
mediapersons and the hostages’ relatives, explaining why India must not
be seen giving in to the hijackers, that it was a question of national
honour, and gave her own example of fortitude in the face of adversity.

……
“She has become a widow, now she wants others to become widows. Who
is she to lecture us? Yeh kahan se aayi?” someone shouted from the
crowd. Others heckled her. The young widow stood her ground, displaying
great dignity and courage. As the mood turned increasingly ugly, she had
to be led away. Similar appeals were made by others who had lost their
sons, husbands and fathers in the Kargil war that summer. Col Virendra
Thapar, whose son Lt Vijayant Thapar was martyred in the war, made a
fervent appeal for people to stand united against the hijackers. It fell
on deaf ears.

…..
The media made out that the overwhelming majority of Indians were
with the relatives of the hostages and shared their view that no price
was too big to secure the hostages’ freedom. The Congress kept on slyly
insisting, “We are with the Government and will support whatever it does
for a resolution of the crisis and to ensure the safety of the
hostages. But the Government must explain its failure.” Harkishen Singh
Surjeet and other Opposition politicians issued similar ambiguous
statements.

……
By December 28, the Government’s negotiators had struck a deal with
the hijackers: They would free the hostages in exchange of three dreaded
terrorists — Maulana Masood Azhar, Mushtaq Ahmed Zargar and Ahmed Omar
Sheikh — facing various charges of terrorism.

…..
The CCS met frequently, several times a day, and discussed the entire
process threadbare. The Home Minister, the Defence Minister and the
Foreign Minister, apart from the National Security Adviser and the Prime
Minister, were present at every meeting. The deal was further
fine-tuned, the Home Ministry completed the necessary paper work, and
two Indian Airlines aircraft were placed on standby to ferry the
terrorists to Kandahar and fetch the hostages.

…….
On December 31, the two aircraft left Delhi airport early in the
morning. Mr Jaswant Singh was on board one of them. Did his ministerial
colleagues know that he would travel to Kandahar? More important, was
the Prime Minister aware of it? The answer is both yes and no.

…..
Mr Jaswant Singh had mentioned his decision to go to Kandahar to
personally oversee the release of hostages and to ensure there was no
last-minute problem. He was honour-bound to do so, he is believed to
have said, since he had promised the relatives of the hostages that no
harm would come their way. It is possible that nobody thought he was
serious about his plan. It is equally possible that others turned on him
when the ‘popular mood’ and the Congress turned against the Government
for its ‘abject surrender’.

……
On New Year’s eve, the hostages were flown back to Delhi. By New
Year’s day, the Government was under attack for giving in to the
hijackers’ demand! Since then, this ‘shameful surrender’ is held against
the NDA and Mr Jaswant Singh is painted as the villain of the piece.

……
Could the Kandahar episode have ended any other way? Were an Indian
aircraft to be hijacked again, would we respond any differently? Not
really. As a nation we do not have the guts to stand up to terrorism. We
cannot take hits and suffer casualties. We start counting our dead even
before a battle has been won or lost. We make a great show of honouring
those who die on the battlefield and lionise brave hearts of history,
but we do not want our children to follow in their footsteps.

…..
We are, if truth be told, a nation of cowards who don’t have the
courage to admit their weakness but are happy to blame a well-meaning
politician who, perhaps, takes his regimental motto of ‘Izzat aur Iqbal’
rather too seriously.


…..
  
Home Minister P Chidambaram said on Thursday that there is no set formula for dealing with terrorists.

……..
When asked if India should have a policy not to negotiate with
terrorists, he said that while this worked in principle, in reality,
when the human element came into play, he was unsure of how he would
deal with the crisis.

….
“I do not know how I would have reacted if 150 families came to my
door and pleaded that their loved ones in that aircraft must be saved.
It is easy to criticise but if one is in that position, it is a very
difficult decision,” he said at the NDTV’s Indian of the Year Awards
function in New Delhi on Wednesday night.

….
The NDA government’s decision to release dreaded terrorists in
exchange for hostages in the Kandahar hijack 10 years ago had come under
attack from several quarters but Home Minister P Chidambaram is “not
sure” saying it is a “very difficult” decision.

….
The decision of the Vajpayee government to release three dreaded
terrorists including Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) chief Masood Azhar in
December, 1999 received a lot of flak from various political parties
including the Congress, more so because the then external affairs
minister Jaswant Singh accompanied them (terrorists) to Kandahar.

…..
Azhar’s name has subsequently figured in the December 2001 terror
attack on Parliament and the attack outside Jammu and Kashmir Assembly
in Srinagar in the same month. 
 
….

Link (1): http://Two-sisters-from-Maharashtras-Kolhapur-may-become-the-first-women-to-be-hanged-in-India

Link (2): http://kanchangupta.blogspot.in/2009/03/when-indians-let-down-india.html

Link (3): http://www.ndtv.com/article/india/the-hijacking-of-indian-airlines-flight-ic-814-7755

…..

regards

…
To be duly noted that K Kavitha is (i) Hindu, (ii) a Member of the Parliament (Lok Sabha, Nizam-abad constituency from Telengana district, member of Telengana Rashtra Samithi party, daughter of TRS founder K Chandrashekar Rao), and (iii) a woman.  

Kavitha is also – as a strong, independent woman should be- standing up for her sisters and for the Uniform Civil Code!!! Eat your heart out, Arundhati Roy.
……
Let us try and unpack the statement (for transcript excerpts, see below) and the history behind it. Telengana (Muslim ruler, significant Muslim population) and Kashmir (Hindu ruler, majority Muslim population) wished to remain independent post-1947 (Jodhpur, Bhopal and Travancore had similar ambitions). The powerful combination of Patel, Menon and Mountbatten persuaded most royals to join India, in exchange for payment of an annuity (the “privy purse”). This privilege was abolished by Indira Gandhi (arguing for a socialist state) through a constitutional amendment in 1971.
……
There were also a number of irregularities as to how parts of Bengal and Punjab were awarded to India or to Pakistan. In the Sylhet district (then East Pakistan, now Bangladesh) Hindus lost in a close vote. It is alleged (by Hindu Bengalis) that this process was aided by Asomiya (Hindu) leaders who were worried that Sylhet as part of India would lead to Bengali domination in the North-East.OTOH Gurdaspur district (East Punjab) was awarded to India (allegedly because of romantic link between Nehru and Edwina Mountbatten). Similarly it was possible that Lahore would be go to India while Calcutta would be go to Pakistan.

Any Indian law-maker who says today that some territory should be an independent nation is liable to face sedition charges. This
is because Kavitha (unlike Roy) has sworn by  the Indian constitution
to protect the nation. It will be interesting to see what the courts
make of her statements.

However on free speech grounds
it is simply remarkable that in today’s climate (if left-liberals are to
be believed), one can even think of making such statements. Indeed she
should have pointed out that Goa, Sikkim, and Junagadh were also
annexations, albeit with varying levels of coercion.

Where Kavitha (in our opinion) goes off-track is the claim that all “troubles” started after 1947- meaning oppression of Telengana people by Andhra people. People may conclude from this that she is making a pro-royalist argument in the form of either the British (de-facto), or the Dogras (Kashmir) and Nizam (Hyderabad). Actually we suspect it is something far more sinister.

If the plea is for devolution of power to the lowest level of administration, we would agree in full measure. Panchayati Raj (village rule) was what Gandhi had wanted. Instead what we have are 29 powerful states with a lot of inequalities at the district (and lower) level.

What she really means is that in a state where her dad is the (genuine) people’s hero, she can’t wait to be king. Just like Odisha where Naveen (Patnaik) Babu has benefited from the legacy of Bjiu Babu. Also see Punjab (Badal) and Tamil Nadu (Karunanidhi). The paid goondas of her party would be merrily going around extorting money from Andhra business-people (just like Kashmiri muslims are pelting stones at Pandits who plan to visit temples). This is why Hyderabad should have been declared an Union Territory but then Congress was busy playing (desperate) vote games. 

If the proposed BJP plan to forcibly settle Pandits in Kashmir goes through (we are not in favor, many many more killings aka “sacrifice” on both sides) it will only work if they are settled in Union territories (feel free to draw Palestine analogies).  True peace will not come to Kashmir unless Pakistan Army co-operates and that is unlikely to say the least.

Finally one thing that did bother us…a lot. Kavitha mentioned the defense spend and we agree that we should spend much less on defense and more on social justice. But then she talked about “frequent bombings” as a justification for (unilateral) surrender. It is our opinion that extremists will always find a reason to bomb us, Kashmir or no Kashmir. The same bunch of jihadis are responsible for “frequent bombings” in Pakistan, destroying shrines and killing fellow muslims (forget for the moment, the atrocities against non-muslims). There are very good reasons why we should settle the Kashmir problem but violence is not the answer and violence will be met with more violence (as has been indeed the case).
…………….

K Kavitha, Anupriya Patel and Pratap Simha, first-time MPs of
TRS, Apna Dal and BJP respectively, talk about the hurdles they face in
Parliament and their views on J&K and Article 370. This Idea
Exchange was moderated by Senior Editor D K Singh

…
K KAVITHA: I am a Masters in Computer Science and I
was part of the Telangana movement for seven years. I run an NGO called
Telangana Jagruthi, and we have tried to revive ethnic festivals that
are getting lost in these Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day etc… 

After the
formation of the Telangana state, our TRS party formed the government.
Then I won the (Lok Sabha) election from Nizamabad. My area of interest,
other than representing the aspirations of the people of Telangana, is
the Jammu and Kashmir issue. I hope that this government, which has a
massive majority, will take serious decisions and implement them.

….
ANUPRIYA PATEL: My journey is not very old in
politics. I joined politics after my father’s demise in 2010, and 2012
was the first election of my life. I spent two years as an MLA and now I
am an MP from Mirzapur, UP. One of my prime concerns is uplifting the
living conditions of tribals in Mirzapur. 

There are other issues — the
poor standard of education and medical facilities — which I will try to
bring to the notice of the government. I’m one of the allies of the BJP,
a very small ally with only two members in the House. So I have my
party issues as well. My party is working for the backwards, tribals and
Scheduled Castes. I feel the government is not giving attention to this
aspect. I have tried to speak to the Prime Minister on these issues,
that a major section of the OBCs and the SC/STs turned in your favour.
They quit the SP, BSP, and turned to you because they found that you’re a
man of hope.

….
Coming to Parliament is a great experience because now you know what a
big responsibility it is and how the House works, the rules,
techniques, devices. It’s an enriching experience and, as a young MP,
exciting also. You become anxious because you don’t know lots of things
and at the same time you feel good too because it’s such a big platform,
the entire nation is watching you and you can learn  and contribute so
much.

….
PRATAP SIMHA: I represent Mysore-Kodagu constituency in Karnataka.
I’m a Kannada journalist. My column is called Bettale Prapancha, which
means ‘naked world’, it bares facts. I write on contemporary issues,
sports, politics — anything, except science and technology. 

When the
general elections were announced, the state and central BJP were looking
for an image makeover, so they looked for achievers from other fields.
Two or three names were announced, and one was mine. I’m also the
biographer of the first unofficial biography of Narendra Modiji. I
published it in 2008 and it was released by Arun Jaitley. It got
translated into Gujarati and Marathi. That is how I came in contact with
Modiji. 

My constituency comprises two districts, Mysore and Coorg. In
one part of my constituency, they grow world-class tobacco, a majority
is exported. Coorg is the hometown of coffee breweries. Mysore has eight
engineering colleges, but only one major software firm. We need to
provide jobs to graduates. Also, the road connectivity between Mysore
and Bangalore is quite bad.

…..
D K SINGH: Being the son/daughter of a politician is an
advantage. But do you think it also becomes a baggage because people
have huge expectations from you and even if you do something great, it’s
attributed to your parents?

K KAVITHA: It’s an advantage because whatever
positive things come from my father (K Chandrasekhar Rao) are attributed
to me. At the same time, I’m compared to him. He’s a very good orator.
So whenever I pick up a mike, everybody, especially in Telangana, looks
at me with expectation. 

The fear of failing is horrible and takes a toll
on your own creativity. To come out of that shadow is very difficult.
On a lighter note, people who cannot reach my father to either vent out
their anger or appreciate him come to me. Somebody who’s really upset
with my father will say, ‘Arre, his daughter is not good’. Politically,
it’s an advantage because we already have our own agenda, set map,
ideology. We practically grew up in a political atmosphere. I’ve seen
people flocking around my father from my childhood. So I understand the
dynamics of the system.

…..
ANUPRIYA PATEL: I don’t fall in Kavita’s or Pratap’s
category. Although my father (Sone Lal Patel) started the Apna Dal, the
party didn’t achieve success. He was not an MLA or MP. He left me with
the legacy of some votes which never converted into a powerful position.
So I see myself as a beginner. There’s nobody in my party to guide me.
But people perceive that Anupriya comes from a political background, so
she knows all.

…..
Pratap Simha: Having a political background
certainly helps you on the way. If my father was a politician or had
money, I would’ve gone to St Stephen’s or another good college. My
English would have been better. I would have learned other languages,
and studied in foreign colleges. 

Whenever I enter the premises of
Parliament, there are a lot of photographers. No one takes our
photographs. When Jyotiraditya Scindia comes in, some daughters and sons
of great politicians, they’ll rush towards them, they’ll take their
photographs. If I have to raise my voice in Parliament, I have to
struggle to ask questions, or struggle during the zero hour. If there’s a
quota in every job sector, in Parliament also, we should be allotted
some time. Those who come up on their own should be allowed to speak.

……
Manoj C G: Kavitha, you said you feel strongly about Jammu
and Kashmir. As young MPs, how do you feel about issues like Article 370
and the uniform civil code which are on the BJP’s agenda?

K Kavitha: Jammu and Kashmir and Telangana were both
forcefully and at the same time annexed to the Indian Union. When I say
I feel strongly, it’s because we were both separate countries, but were
merged with the Indian Union after Independence. 

In 1947, we were not a
part of India.  After 1947, we became a part of India. Then the
troubles really started. None of our people was very rich before. So
it’s from the people’s perspective that I’ve started reading about Jammu
and Kashmir. We need to solve issues, particularly the Kashmiri
Pandits’ issue which is put up in the agenda of the BJP. They say we can
all take them back home, but it is just a political statement. You have
to create a safe environment before you take them there. 

We need to
come out clean on Jammu and Kashmir. Few parts were not ours, we should
agree, we should redraw the international lines, and move on.
Development is suffering and you see frequent bombings.


 
Our economy takes a toll. Even in the Budget, almost Rs 2.50 lakh
crore has been allotted to defence.  If we have a peaceful environment
in our bordering states, we don’t have to spend so much on defence. We
can spend that money on education, women’s development or sanitation.
Today, if I talk about no bathrooms in girls’ schools, I should be
ashamed of being a citizen of this country.

…..
MANOJ C G: What about uniform civil code?
K Kavitha: A lot of Muslim organisations are opposing
it, but I am for uniform civil code. We cannot control anybody’s
religion, but when it comes to law and order, to controlling the
internal security issues, a citizen is a citizen and should be dealt
with that way. So certain clauses need to be included in the uniform
civil code, some could be debated about. Only the marriage clause could
be excluded and dealt with separately.

…..
ANUPRIYA PATEL: To me, this idea is very strange
that we are a nation and we have a separate system in a state that falls
within the boundary of the Indian Union. However, I totally agree where
Article 370 is concerned. I heard the honourable PM say that, ‘Why
can’t we talk about it? Why can’t we discuss it?’. I feel that there
should be debate over Article 370, its existence and its relevance.

….
PRATAP SIMHA: As far as the uniform civil code is
concerned, the BJP has a stated stand on this, I don’t want to talk more
on this issue, and Modiji has called for a debate on Article 370. Has
Article 370 achieved what it intended to? If a Kashmiri woman marries
someone not from J&K, her children will not have the right to her
property. We need to raise our voice against this kind of
discrimination. There are no industries in Jammu and Kashmir because
they will not allow the industries to flourish there. And in 2009,
during the Amarnath Yatra, the pilgrims were not allowed to have a
permanent structure there.

…..
K KAVITHA: On the issue of not owning land or
property, Kashmir and Telangana have similar laws. We also had a
condition, a council, which said that no outsider could hold land in
Telangana. 

But when N T Rama Rao came to power and scrapped the council,
he violated the Constitution, nobody was there to hear our voice, it’s
all gone. But Kashmir still has that law and council, so natives have
that protection. 

But when you want to completely remove it, we have to
seriously think of the capacity of the natives regarding the issue. The
same thing we had in Telangana, but once it was removed, we suffered
very, very seriously. So when we are talking about the property rights
of Kashmiris, the opinion of the natives should be sought.

……

Link: http://indianexpress.com/article/india/india-others/no-one-guides-us-in-parliament/99/

….

regards