The crisis in Kashmir

 

The crisis in Jammu & Kashmir over government resolution in sight. Both PDP and BJP, the ruling partners, seem to have drifted so far apart that it is difficult for them to arrive at a meeting point. The so-called historic Agenda of Alliance, stitched together after days of hard negotiations by someone having no insight into the realities of Kashmir, is in shambles and uncertainty looms large on the state. even as Mehbooba Mufti is keeping her cards close to her chest and keeping everybody waiting Central rule has been imposed in the state with the Governor N N Vohra appointing Parvez Dewan and Khurshid Ahmed Ganai as his advisers, clearly indicating that it is going to be a prolonged affair this time.

When the crisis was beginning to brew, Mehbooba gave the impression that she was in deep mourning after her father Mufti Sayeed's death and was therefore in no mood to sit on the CM's chair Later it was said that her mood had to do with a trust deficit between PDP and BJP and Mehbooba would like her alliance partner to give it in writing that it would follow her father's vision of governance in both letter and spirit. Though ever willing to please the PDP to keep it in good humour, BJP is said to have refused to make any further commitments presumably because it already had made every kind of concession to the latter's whims and fancies, compromising everything it had sworn by in its election time rhetoric and could now go no further. The pledge to abrogate Article 370 of the Constitution had been thrown to the winds, the promise to address the problems of the displaced Kashmiri Pandits and to give citizenship benefits to the Hindu refugees from Western Pakistan was abandoned, the vow to have no talks with Pakistan until it stopped sponsoring terrorism from its territory was forgotten. Obviously, Mehbooba is demanding something more-something that the PDP always had in mind but is only now hinting at, something that is beyond the power of even BJP to grant. She wants CBMs from the Centre so that the alliance can go on, without clearly defining what she means by that term. She wants the central power projects to be handed over to the state. And this is what has brought the already uneasy relationship to the breaking point.

Some say that the PDP is only posturing to extract maximum benefits from the Centre. But it is not difficult to guess what Mehbooba and her party actually wants. After all they have a constituency to nurse and nurture - the constituency of the separatists and secessionists with their politics of Muslim ascendancy. The PDP is supposed to be a mainland political party but its political agenda is hardly different from that of this political vote bank that sustains and supports it. It is a party that talks of diarchy in Kashmir, of dual citizenship and double currency, of open borders and free trade, of healing touch and repealing AFSPA, of dialogue with Pakistan. And so on. The problem is both psychological and political. The problem is that of fostering a mindset that is deeply hostile to India and inimical to everything Indian-or should we say Hindu, as PDP's stance on issues like Yatras to Amarnath and Kausar Nag and resettlement of Kashmiri Hindus in Kashmir Valley shows. It doesn't want to be seen as opposed in any way to this mindset which is only a shade different from that of the Jehadists. BJP tried to bend as much as it could to accommodate this mindset in lure of coming to power in Kashmir, but now it is faced with "yeh dil maange more

As for Kashmiri Pandits, they don't have any expectations of BJP, not to speak of Mehbooba and her PDP. They have been betrayed and abandoned - now and many times before. They are aware that they don't matter to J & K or Central government, that they are regarded as nothing more than dispensable pieces in the chess game of vote bank politics. It is for the Centre and BJP to deal with the crisis that is unfolding in Jammu & Kashmir. The Pandits know that they have a long way to go in their struggle. And they are fed up of sermons on "Kashmiriyat" - a buzz- word they hate as it has a hollow ring to it.

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The views expressed in the Article above are S.S. Toshkhani  views and kashmiribhatta.in is not in any way responsible for the opinions expressed in the above article. The article belongs to its respective owner or owners and this site does not claim any right over it. Copyright Disclaimer under section 107 of the Copyright Act of 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, education, and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing."

Courtesy: S.S. Toshkhani  and Koshur Samachar 2016, February