Enduring  28 years of insurgency ,Kashmir is numbed to the state of never ending  turmoil  and violence.

Majority of peace loving Kashmiris  are mere hapless spectators to the tragedies being inflicted by the terrorists . 

Recently a statement of National Conference leader ,vice president of NCP ,Omar Farooq Abdullah while addressing election  rally in Bandipora,  stated  in case of abrogation of Article 35A ,he would like to revert back  to the  position of PM and Sadar-e-Riyasat  that J&K enjoyed  way  back in fiftees and early sixtees, caused ripples in the political corridors of  the country.

 Prime Minister Mr Modi reacted angrily   at a rally  ,tweeting as well “ National Conference wants two PMs 1 in Kashmir and 1 for the rest of India –Till Modi is there ,no one can divide India”.

Prime Minister of J&K

J&K had its own Prime Minister and Sadar-e-Riyasat till 1965. In 1965 when J& K constitution was amended ,(probably sixth  J&K Constitution Amendment Act 1965) by then Congress government  which replaced two positions with Chief Minister  and the Governor. Mr G.M. Sadiq  was first chief Minister   and Mr Karan singh  the Governor  of J&K in 1965.

 Sadr-e-Riyasat

The J&K  Constitution was adopted  on November 17  1957 .

  On June 10 1952 the “ the basic principles Committee “ recommended  that “the institution of hereditary rulership  shall be terminated” and “the head of  state shall be elective”. ON June 12  1952 the constituent assembly unanimously adopted the report.  and resolved henceforth  the head of state named  Sadr-e-Riyasat  would be elected  by the legislative  Assembly for a period of five years. and recognized by the President of India. However New Delhi on july 24 1952 agreed to allow J&K to recognise  an elected Sadr-e – Riyasat instead of appointed Governor. once elected by the legislative Assembly,the Sadr- e- Riyasat had to be appointed by the President of India.

under the sixth amendment to the J&K  constitution   carried out in 1965  a fundamental change was made to its basic structure and  as a result of amendment the Sadr-e-Riyasat was changed to Governor  across the J&K constitution.

The  Prime Minister of  J&K after independence (October 1947  to March 1948) was Meher chand  Mahajan. He was replaced by Shaikh Mohammad Abdullah ,who had been head of the administration .

When Abdullah was arrested  on 9THAugust 1953 ,Bakshi  Ghulam Mohammad was appointed the Prime Minister who ruled Kashmir till 1963 .

In 1953 , the author , being just eight years old was living temporarily in Anant Nag  with my  married sister and at the time of arrest of Shaikh Mohammad Abdullah sahib was incidently  taking bath in the blue waters of Nag Bal Spring. The Purohit of the Nag Bal informed all to leave the premises  immediately. In helter skelter  I ran away barefeet leaving my wooden patten( footwear worn by kashmiris)  behind.  

Days after when calm was restored  I collected the  same wooden footwear  lying undisturbed at the right spot. 

    Indian Provincial Prime Ministers

Not only  Jammu & Kashmir  but all Indian Provinces had a Prime Minister till 26^th Jan 1950 when India was proclaimed as Republic of India.  After that the nomenclature was changed to  Chief Minister.

Since 1937,when Indian Govt was under British yoke each Province  was headed by a Prime Minister.

The  historic Government of India Act 1935 was passed in the British Parliament  and had provided for the position of Provincial Prime Ministers.

British India was divided into 11 Provinces namely 

Bombay ,Bengal,  Madras,  United  Provinces ,Punjab, Central Provinces , Assam ,Northwest Frontier, Bihar ,Orissa, Sind .

In the provinces, there was  to be full democracy  in  running of the day to day administrative matters.

The flaw of the unelected  governor  having a right to dismiss a popular government and take over the administration ironically still exists in modern India under the name “President’s Rule”.

So there were eleven Prime Ministers till the proclamation of Republic of India on 26^th January 1950.

In August, 1947, however, as part of the transfer of power from British to Indian hands, India appointed  Pt  Jawahar lal Nehru  as Ist  Prime Minister of  Independent India.

Conclusions

The years 2016 and 2017 saw great spurt in the fatalities of both soldiers as well as  civilians.

The year 2018 witnessed bloodiest terror related  violence. Kashmir situation is beyond riddance.

 The rise in radicalisation in the valley is direct result of Delhi’s non engagement with the people of the valley thus losing the Midas touch to heal the relations  on sound basis.

 This is the ripe time to strengthen the hands of moderates in the valley , a grave mistake to ignore pro-dialogue separatists and thus push  them into the lap of insurgents.  All these retrograde steps could be detrimental to the ultimate peace.  

Delhi needs to refurbish its image and policy of reconciliation towards Kashmir and bring some  semblance to the dying spirit of the valley to silence the demand of restoration of J&K’s autonomy to its original state’s 1953 position .  Since Kashmir is on the brink of  extreme alienation and thus  needs  to be moored to the Indian banks permanently .