Mir Ehsan

There was deterioration of the security situation in state, increased polarisation in J&K, the divisions between Hindus and Muslims and also the failure of governance.
 

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) - People’s Democratic Party (PDP) coalition government was a “complete failure” and only increased polarisation between Hindus and Muslims, and the Jammu and Kashmir regions of the state, former chief minister Omar Abdullah said on Monday.

In an interview to Hindustan Times hours after the BJP pulled out of the alliance, the National Conference (NC) vice-president said the BJP-PDP coalition had caused rift between the two regions of the state. “They (PDPBJP) said that they wanted to bring the two regions together but the fact is they have pushed people of Jammu and Kashmir further and further apart,’’ Abdullah said.

Abdullah said that “failures” of the government were visible on all fronts. ‘There was deterioration of the security situation in the state, increased polarisation in J&K, the divisions between Hindus and Muslims and also the failure of governance.”

Abdullah said his party didn’t get the mandate to form the government in 2014. “Today also we don’t have mandate to form government. We are not talking with any party to form government.’’

The former CM, who met the governor, hoped for an improvement in state’s situation. “We also requested that the governor’s rule should not continue for long and situation should improve.”

Abdullah said that he was surprised at the timing of the BJP’S pullout. “I was expecting this coalition to fall apart a little later in the year.” He said that if the objective of the unilateral Ramzan ceasefire was to create a conducive atmosphere for dialogue, that didn’t happen. “If it meant to reduce the levels of violence and militant attacks then that didn’t happen either, but one of the benefits of the ceasefire that we must acknowledge was visible at least for one month there were no cordon and search operations; to that extend we saw less public

protests, which in the last couple of days have resumed again.’’

Abdullah said the fact the ceasefire was not renewed suggested that the aim of the exercise had failed. “When it was announced, no preparatory work was done. It was a decision taken in haste and its revocation was also done on the back of the very troubling last week or ten days.’’

Abdullah said at first, people were getting indications through the media that the ceasefire would be extended. “Suddenly in the run up to Eid, stories started to be planted that the Centre is having a rethink and after tragic shooting of Shujaat Bukhari, it became obvious the government was not going to renew it.’’

He said that level of disenchantment in the Valley was higher now as compared to 2016, when a series of violent street protests following the killing of Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani rocked the state.

“After 2016, nothing has been done to try to address sentiment and the anger that saw the agitation erupt; the intensity has got worse. It is now an entirely new generation of protestors who are involved in protests, the age group is 12, 14 or 16 years old; a new generation of youngsters are also taking to gun.’’

Abdullah said the BJP-PDP alliance had given birth to this mood and that they are both responsible for surge in violence. “After the assembly elections of 2014, the year 2015 was almost okay. Then 2016 very bad, 2017 was also troubled and 2018 not a great year.’’

Mir Ehsan letters@hindustantimes.com

Courtesy: Hindustan Times:20 Jun 2018