Dogra Certificate: Geelani ups ante

Srinagar: Hurriyat Conference (G) chairman, Syed Ali Shah Geelani, Saturday rejected the proposed amendments in the Dogra certificate, saying nothing less than a complete rescinding of the government order would be acceptable to Kashmiris.In a statement issued to, Geelani said there no need to issue any new certificates for bringing Kashmiris into the ambit of relaxation for recruitment because for “the permanent resident certificate is enough to serve that purpose.”Commenting on the Home Ministry’s statement that, as a result of the proposed amendment, Jammu and Kashmir will be on par with states like Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim and Tripura so far as relaxed eligibility conditions are concerned, Geelani said that Kashmir was an “internationally accepted dispute and hence cannot be compared with any other state of India.” “India has always tried to undermine the disputed status of Jammu and Kashmir and compare with it other states in India. It was with this intention that, while flouting its own constitution and committing a grave dishonesty, the Indian government replaced the prime minister of Jammu and Kashmir with the post of chief minister and the sadri-riyasat(president) with the post of governor,” Geelani said.“Since then, successive Indian governments have tried to tighten the grip of India’s military occupation of Kashmir through such several legal deceptive maneuvers,” he said.Geelani said that neither the state rulers nor New Delhi had so far been able to explain as to what was the need for issuing a separate Dogra certificate when a permanent resident certificate was already in place.Geelani reiterated that the issuance of Dogra certificate was no small issue but a serious issue fraught with political aims, including erasing the identity of Jammu Muslims and assimilating them into the Dogra community.Geelani asked the rulers in Jammu and Kashmir and New Delhi to shun “stubbornness” and revoke the order immediately.“We are for peace, but the policy makers in New Delhi are hell bent on setting Jammu and Kashmir on fire in order to fulfill their vested interests,” he said.