The Hindu : Kashmiri officers allege discrimination

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Feb 09, 2003

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National

Kashmiri officers allege discrimination

By Shujaat Bukhari

SRINAGAR FEB. 8. If there has been a positive impact of certain policy decisions taken by the Mufti Mohammad Sayeed Government in Jammu and Kashmir, Muslim officers from the Kashmir Valley feel they are being ignored. And a senior Cabinet Minister reportedly tendered his resignation on Thursday voicing concern over the issue.

Seen as an outcome of the compulsions of coalition politics, the officers are disturbed over the manner in which they are being sidelined just to "please" their counterparts in other region. Cries of discrimination, hallmark of Jammu and Ladakh politics, are now being heard in Kashmir.

Since Mr. Sayeed took over as Chief Minister, heading a multi-party coalition, the Kashmiri officers have been feeling neglected. The first shock came when a major reshuffle was ordered in the police department. For the first time, Kashmiri officers were posted only to two of the 21 police districts. Of the two, one belonged to the IPS cadre. In Jammu, not a single Muslim officer was posted as Superintendent of Police. "This is also against the normal practice of balancing the district administration since the population in these districts is mixed,'' said an officer. Similarly, there are only two Muslim deputy commissioners in eight districts of Jammu and Ladakh.

Battle lines were almost drawn in Thursday's Cabinet meeting when the Finance and Law Minister, Muzaffar Hussain Beig, reportedly tendered his resignation in protest against the "discrimination" being meted out to some officers while inducting State service officers into the IAS. He told the Cabinet that he was not ready to continue in such an atmosphere. However, Mr. Sayeed and his other colleagues persuaded him to continue and, according a source, the "resignation was torn into pieces by the Chief Minister himself''.

Mr. Beig is facing opposition on the issue of appointment of the Advocate-General and is under tremendous pressure not to have a Kashmiri for the post. The name of a senior lawyer, Altaf Naik, was cleared but was opposed by the Congress Ministers, who insisted that the post should again go to Jammu. And interestingly, a Kashmiri Minister also supported the demand. In the last 13 years, only twice have Kashmiri lawyers served as Advocate-Generals — that, too, for a short term.

The lawyers' community is also sore over the rejection of three Muslim candidates for the posts of judges to the High Court. Out of a panel of five persons, only two — both from Jammu — were cleared by the Centre.

Again, on the issue of appointing a Kashmiri doctor as principal of the Srinagar Medical College, there was resistance from a particular group as the incumbent was from Jammu. Since she could attend office for not more than 10 days a month, the Government was forced to take a decision to shift her at the meeting on Thursday. Doctors from the Valley pointed out that more than a dozen specialists from Jammu were posted to Kashmir, but due to "security reasons'', none of them joined but got the promotions.

M.Y. Tarigami, People's Democratic Forum leader and member of the co-ordination committee, however, defended the Government's decisions. "May be there are lapses which need to be attended but the administration was in doldrums and we tried to reshape it in the light of our common minimum programme," he said.

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