‘Thought bigoted...in Jammu, they tell me you are Hindu Governor who yielded to Geelani’

Srinagar, August 15 : There is an “urgent need” for a dialogue between leaders of Kashmir and Jammu, said an anguished J&K Governor N N Vohra, to clear the current bitterness in the state and bring to an end the “bigoted thought process” that has permeated its politics and effectively “liquidated civil society.”

Speaking to The Indian Express yesterday, Vohra said: “In Jammu, they tell me you are a Hindu Governor and that we used to look at Raj Bhavan as our protector. I was told, ‘Are you not a Hindu? You yielded to the demands of Geelani (Hurriyat hardliner Syed Ali Shah Geelani) and others in Kashmir and took away the land given to the Amarnath Shrine Board’”.

“I try to tell them that the land was not returned to anybody,” Vohra said. “It is there. And it is still in the use of the Shrine Board. I tell them that no Government ever in Jammu and Kashmir has put hurdles in the functioning of the Amarnath yatra from Sheikh Sahib’s (Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah) time. Nobody can ever stop the Shrine Board from using that land. But they say no, give us a piece of paper canceling the cancellation”.

Vohra said that he wishes the leaders of the Jammu agitation and Kashmiri leaders sit at the table together to resolve the issue. “We are ready to facilitate it,” he said. “There is an urgent need for a dialogue.”

Getting the two sides to talk to each other is a long haul, he said. “The problem is we have reached a situation where we talk of secularism only in the Constitution...The thought process is all bigoted,” he said. Adding that the government was taking every step needed to prevent any communal clashes. “That will be a tragedy. We are trying our level best to prevent such a situation. I hope some sense prevails,” he said.

Vohra said he has sent his advisor, former J-K Chief Secretary S S Bloria to Jammu to hold talks with leaders of the Amarnath Sangarsh Samiti. “We are hopeful that there is a breakthrough,” he said.

“The Centre has already agreed, in principle, to open the Srinagar-Muzaffarabad road for trade. That should not be an issue and then the highway is perfectly open now,” Vohra said. He said that markets across country are eagerly waiting for Kashmir’s fruit and his government has promised to help it reach the markets safely.

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