Mir Mudasir The Way Forward
It has been one year since J&K has been stripped of Article 370 and 35 A, most of the time the one year has seen lockdown, first to prevent the protests and then to prevent the Covid-19 pandemic.
The erstwhile J&K state is now bifurcated into two Union Territories – J&K and Ladakh. The decision to strip J&K from its special status was taken without taking the leaders of the mainstream political parties into confidence, including the erstwhile allies of the party which gave them an opportunity to rule in the only Muslim majority state of India. In these 12 months, the promised development by the BJP has yet to see the day of light instead it has left even those people alienated who always advocated for India and were on the target of the militants.
Days before the revocation of the special status of J&K, all the mainstream politicians, including three former chief ministers – Farooq Abdullah, his son Omar Abdullah and the PDP president, Mehbooba Mufti were arrested and booked under stringent Public Safety Act (PSA). While Abdullah’s were set free after the government revoked their PSA’s, PDP president Mehbooba Mufti is still under detention, even a day before Eid ul Adha, the government extended her PSA with three more months. Mehbooba Mufti’s PDP was running a coalition government with the BJP after the party emerged as the single largest party in J&K. The coalition ended in 2018 when BJP withdrew its support to the government and the state came under the governor’s rule. In the last one year, though BJP centre leadership claim to have laid the foundation of many developmental projects, however, on the ground, things seem to move at snail’s pace, even now the BJP state leadership in whispers are saying that J&K should get its statehood back, which was promised by the Prime Minister, Narendra Modi and Home Minister, Amit Shah.
Even the efforts to cobble a new alliance to keep the old political families at bay, seem to have hit the road block under the centre rule and the leaders especially the former ministers and legislators led by former minister, Altaf Bukhari feel dejected. In March, Bukhari laid the foundation of a new political party- Apni Party, comprising former ministers and legislators of the PDP, Congress and National Conference and even met, PM Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah at New Delhi. After the meeting, Bukhari and other leaders were optimistic that J&K could see the restoration of statehood, job reservation, and safeguards to the land rights. Even Bukhari during his press conference had promised to give succor to the people of J&K, however, five months down the line, Bukhari and his party also seems to have been sidelined, though they haven’t lost hope as along with the BJP, Apni Party leaders are the only politicians who seem to be active on the ground doing some sort of politics.
And for the common people, the abrogation was a betrayal from New Delhi and the grant of certificates to the domiciles and the passing of new laws when the people in J&K have been barricaded under lockdown gives the impression that they are on way to lose more constitutional guarantees which they were enjoying in the erstwhile state. The majority of people are silent but they are seething with anger, even the mainstream politicians also seem not in the mood of reconciliation till the restoration of statehood. Only last week, former chief minister and NC vice president, in an article which he wrote for a national daily made it clear that he won’t contest elections till J&K is UT. Though he didn’t make it clear whether his party will contest polls in UT or not, likewise the leaders of the PDP have also decided to break their silence and started questioning the New Delhi and BJP, for the most of time, the mainstream politician preferred to remain silent, however, gradually they have started giving vent to their anger. The people in Jammu and Ladakh, who initially were happy with the abrogation of article 370 have also started raising questions and feel that downgrading of the erstwhile state had directly affected them. In Ladakh, most of the senior BJP leaders have resigned, while Kargil wants to remain part of J&K, the statements coming from Jammu and Ladakh is an indication that apart from particular political class, the people want safeguard for their rights, especially, jobs, lands and other reservation. Even what has added to the miseries of the people is the role of bureaucracy, who feels under the current rule they aren’t accountable to anybody. The wedge between the common people and officers has increased, and small-time officers do everything to further alienate the people in J&K, especially in Kashmir. The tacking of Covid19 pandemic has also raised questions about ineffective bureaucracy; the J&K has more than 2200 covid19 cases and 400 deaths which is not good through any parameters.
The back to back decisions like implementation of new media policy, giving land for strategic purposes, and issuing mining rights to outsiders are the decision which majority of people see as anti people and could trigger big controversy in future if not tackled with human approach. Since the start of militancy in late 80, the GoI has tackled the militancy with iron hand and used every mean to end the militancy but still the presence of militants on ground has not been stopped. The time has come when Centre should take the decisions which will at least bring down the alienation; the political prisoners should be released, including Mehbooba Mufti and other leaders who are still under house arrest. The people who have been put in jails outside the state should be either released or brought back to state and restoration of statehood are the steps which could help kick start the political process which is need of the day. Even the centre should restart the dialogue process with the Pakistan, the way it’s doing with China despite the fact, Chinese troops are still on the Indian soil. These steps could help prove as baby steps and also as a balm after the big decision of abrogation of Article 370 and could lay a foundation for new political process; otherwise, the Kashmir could see another upheaval which could be difficult to control.
