Kashmir is paying for the incompetence of its leaders

A little more than two years ago, Kashmir had burnt — and how. On May 26, 2008, the government of India and state government reached an agreement to transfer 99 acres of forest land to the Shri Amarnathji Shrine Board (SASB) in the main Kashmir valley to set up temporary shelters and facilities for Hindu pilgrims.

This ld to demonstrations in the Valley against the land transfer and protests from Jammu supporting it.

Mehbooba Mufti Sayeed, whose PDP was sharing power with the Congress at that time, first persuaded its political ally to revoke the
order and then withdrew support to the government even after the order had been revoked. Not one to be outdone by the PDP, the SASB, supported by the BJP, escalated its agitation to an extent that led to a virtual economic blockade of the Valley, a charge that the agitators officially denied. After 61 days of unrest, a compromise was finally worked out on August 31.

The role of the PDP throughout the crisis was not just downright callous but outrageously partisan. When Omar Abdullah became CM with Congress support in December 2008, Delhi probably heaved a sigh of relief. He made all the right noises to begin with, including some that would have raised concerns for Delhi. For instance, the decision to provide amnesty to thousands of ‘misled’ youths who had travelled across to Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) since the 1990s and rehabilitate them, is always easier said than done. He never lost an opportunity to make his aversion to the army known, at one point even declaring “that some soldiers of the army are behaving like cowboys”.

When the Centre had briefly banned pre-paid cellular service in the Valley and then banned SMS services, it goes without saying that its staunchest critics were the two Kashmiri regional parties. But despite all efforts to woo the Kashmiri youth, the recent stone-pelting agitation proves that Omar’s self-projections might be in stark contrast with what the situation on the ground really is.

Assuming that the present menace is the handiwork of fringe elements and that in all likelihood it has been orchestrated by Syed Ali Shah Geelani’s Tehreek-i-Hurriyat (TiH), one should expect it to die soon. However the larger Kashmir problem is unlikely to die anytime soon. It’s a sordid saga of dual trust deficit: one between the people of Kashmir and its administrators even if the NC and PDP might be in denial; and two, between our Central leadership and the Kashmiri leadership. Both the NC and the PDP have created this situation, partly through their naiveté and mostly with their avarice. 

It is worth recalling here that NC government had in 2000 passed a resolution in the state assembly demanding full autonomy for the state.

The demand was rejected outright by the NDA government at the Centre. While the NC has stuck to its stand, the PDP has been on song with its “self-rule” and “dual currency” tunes. For those of this generation who might think otherwise, it is also worth recalling that the demand for “autonomy” or “self-rule” is not a recent one. Omar’s grandfather, Sheikh Abdullah’s fixation with a “plebiscite” had him spend a good number of years in jail.

The pro-India Kashmiri leadership thus has always been a mere utopian illusion which most of us find difficult to abandon. What is more disturbing is that lately both of Kashmir’s regional parties almost wait for an agitation to flare-up, so that they may subsequently drive home their demands more vigorously. What these parties in their one-upmanship fail to realise is that even if at some point in future their demands are met, their accommodative
approach towards the extremist groups will not allow an “autonomous” Kashmir to live in peace.

It is indeed amusing that the police in Kashmir are not expected to retaliate when mobs pelt stones at them. For, if police retaliation kills an agitator, then that would become the trigger point for many more agitations, reinforcing cries of torture and demands for immediate autonomy/independence.

Do the people of Kashmir want autonomy/self-rule? Or are they just fine the way they are? Do they want to go with Pakistan? Given the present credibility of the NC and PDP, one would rather not go by their judgment. The people of Kashmir have suffered as much from militancy as from the incompetent political leadership of the state, especially in the last two-and-a-half decades.

Let us not forget that Farooq Abdullah, who was no novice when the Kashmir militancy broke out in the late eighties, largely remained a mute spectator to it. 

This is a critical juncture for Omar, one that needs him to come down firmly on trouble-mongers. Before pursuing his party’s eternal demand, Omar would do well to get the state fully under his control. He would do well to avoid the mistakes of his father.