The “catch &kill” threat against Rohingya refugees by Jammu Chamber of Commerce & Industry (JCC&I) shows the tendency of Jammu traders to firm up the roots of communalism in Jammu & Kashmir under the present PDP-BJP coalition government in the state. Shocking is the silence of the incumbent Chief Minister and PDP President Mehbooba Mufti over the threatening remark of the Jammu Chamber of Commerce & Industry. During this year’s budget session of the state assembly in Jammu in February this year Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti had with a grievance against what she called “attitudinal change” developing among muslims in Kashmir said that “Kashmiriyat- the corner stone of religious brotherhood is missing in Kashmir but showing presence in Jammu. Chief Minister had compliment the hindus Jammu for giving shelter to migrant Kashmir Pandits (KPs’) in 1989 and valley muslims who fled to for education of their children during 2016 unrest in Kashmir. Today when the Jammu Chamber of Commerce & Industry has issued “catch & kill” threat against Rohingya refugees mostly muslims, neither the Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti nor her Deputy Dr Nirmal Singh heading BJP part of coalition ministry in Mehbooba government bother to utter even a single word against the highly objectionable and condemnable remark of the leaders of Jammu Chamber of Commerce & Industry.
It is the constitutional, institutional and administrative responsibility of Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti to curb with a heavy hand the religious intolerance shown by the office bearers of the Jammu Chamber of Commerce & Industry (JCC&I).
What deserves the attention of the eye watchers in Kashmir is Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti’s acceptance of the central government’s directive on issuance of identity certificates to West Pakistan Refugees’ (WPRs) and silence on the threat of Jammu Chamber of Commerce & Industry. Since the religious tolerance is one of the basic fundamentals of democracy, Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti has constitutional, institutional and administrative responsibility to disallow any kind of religious discrimination in protecting the rights of refugees in Jammu & Kashmir state. Besides taking care of her institutional, constitutional and administrative responsibilities as Chief Minister of Jammu & Kashmir the state already hit by conflicts of varied nature Mehbooba Mufti has to also open her eyes and see the hindu communalists raising their ugly heads in Jammu region. Now National Conference and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) the two main Kashmir centric political parties have a moral obligation to take on those forces who accuse Kashmiri muslims of enforcing migration of Kashmiri Pandits in 1989. While the allegation of enforcing migration of Kashmir Pandits against Kashmiri muslims is a baseless accusation, the Jammu Chamber of Commerce & Industry (JCC&I) has come out in open to enforce migration of rohingya muslims in Jammu regions. Now it is the constitutional, institutional and administrative responsibility of Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti to curb with a heavy hand the religious intolerance shown by the office bearers of the Jammu Chamber of Commerce & Industry (JCC&I).
