RAJESH SINGH
‘Secularists’ and Pakistan-apologists are squirming in acute discomfort. How could Mehbooba Mufti do this? She was one of their own, the one mainstream politician from Jammu & Kashmir whom they could trust in addition to the separatists, to poke India in the eye. Maybe the devil had taken hold of her. Or worse, she had come under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s spell.
Blinded by outrage and taken by surprise, they are busy discrediting her and her Peoples Democratic Party-Bharatiya Janata Party coalition Government in the State. She has succumbed to the charm of New Delhi, they claim. She has lost the plot, they allege.
The truth is: Mehbooba Mufti has found the plot. She is speaking the truth that her critics and one-time admirers are unable to digest. She is showing the mirror to those whose faces are tainted and hands stained with the blood of Kashmiris who have suffered enormously in the current unrest. Even as she has spoken of ‘excesses’ by security forces on occasions, she has laid the blame at the doorstep where it belongs.
Mehbooba Mufti was clear in what she meant. Yes, the youth were misled into violence by unseen but well-known hands. But they were not innocent insofar as the act they committed. The Chief Minister has repeatedly said that certain people were using children as shields — they provoke them into confronting security personnel because they want the youth injured or even dead, so that the unrest can be magnified even more.
Only weeks ago, she had warmed the hearts of peaceniks who find fault only with the Indian state. She had remarked that, had the security forces known they were confronting Hizbul Mujahideen terrorist and Kashmiri Burhan Wani, they would not have neutralised him, but given him a “second chance”. She had perhaps believed that her compassion would contain the violence. It did not. Instead, the perpetrators, in the open and hidden, took her statement as a sign of weakness, and escalated the unrest. The new language she adopted thereafter, shocked these people.
Mehbooba Mufti is not a greenhorn in politics. She is a grassroots leader with immense experience, both first-hand and derived from observing her father and one of the State’s tallest leaders, Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, at work. Besides, being the Chief Minister, she does not have the luxury of ignoring the ground reality. Her stance over the last few days reflects her understanding of that reality.
On Saturday, after meeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi, she told reporters “Pakistan has been openly trying to provoke and fuel tensions in the valley.” She added, “Prime Minister Modi, like all of us, is very concerned with the situation… he is trying to resolve the issue.”
The critics were taken aback. Blaming Pakistan, and in no uncertain terms, was still tolerable. But praising Prime Minister Modi…But this was not all. The Jammu & Kashmir Chief Minister further said, “Prime Minister Modi reached out to Pakistan, but then Pathankot happened. Unfortunately, Pakistan has repeatedly given up chances to resolve the issue of violence in Jammu & Kashmir. It is time for Pakistan to respond if it wants peace in Kashmir.” She also referred to the cold-shouldering of Union Minister for Home Affairs Rajnath Singh during his recent visit to Pakistan.
Her remarks were a direct assault on those who keep accusing the Modi regime of not resolving the issue in consultation with Pakistan. It was a response to critics who claim that the Centre has no clear policy on Pakistan, and that it blows hot and cold. It was also a slap on the face of those who refuse to acknowledge Pakistan’s role — or do so with dozens of caveats —in the current unrest. These are the people who wish to turn their heads away from evidence, such as the one offered by the Pakistan terrorist Saifullah Bahadur Ali, who was recently nabbed by Indian security forces in Kupwara district of Jammu & Kashmir. The militant told Indian interrogators that his Pakistani handlers had asked him to spread trouble in Kashmir.
Days earlier, at a joint Press conference with Home Minister Rajnath Singh, the Chief Minister angered the bleeding hearts (who shed copious tears for everyone except the security personnel faced with violent mobs hurling stones and improvised hand grenades at them. She remarked, “Had a kid gone to buy toffee from any Army camp? A 15-year-old boy who attacked a police station — had he gone to buy milk?”
Only weeks ago, she had warmed the hearts of peaceniks who find fault only with the Indian state. She had remarked that, had the security forces known they were confronting Hizbul Mujahideen terrorist and Kashmiri Burhan Wani, they would not have neutralised him, but given him a “second chance”. She had perhaps believed that her compassion would contain the violence. It did not. Instead, the perpetrators, in the open and hidden, took her statement as a sign of weakness, and escalated the unrest. The new language she adopted thereafter, shocked these people.
Mehbooba Mufti was clear in what she meant. Yes, the youth were misled into violence by unseen but well-known hands. But they were not innocent insofar as the act they committed. The Chief Minister has repeatedly said that certain people were using children as shields — they provoke them into confronting security personnel because they want the youth injured or even dead, so that the unrest can be magnified even more.
These ‘certain people’ are the separatists and Pakistan’s cronies in Kashmir valley. So, should the Centre directly talk to them to resolve the crisis? The Chief Minister was candid, “We can only talk to those who want peace in the valley.” The message was evident. If there was some confusion, it was soon cleared by the response hardline Hurriyat Conference leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani gave to a senior PDP leader’s appeal for help. He asked Mehbooba Mufti to join the separatists, who, he claimed, were on the people’s side. “It (Hurriyat) demands from her… to join the struggle”. The irony was not lost on anyone when Geelani accused Mehbooba Mufti of turning “this heavenly land into hell”.
Former State Chief Minister and National Conference leader Omar Abdullah often says that the issue in the valley is no longer about development, but of offering a political solution. He is partly right. It’s not about development but about turning the valley into a den of hardline Islamists. This process began in the late 1989 with the exodus of Kashmiri Pandits, who were forced to leave their home and hearth virtually at gun-point. The azadi slogans in the valley are routinely laced with religious connotations. Additionally, the sloganeers seek to appropriate the natural features of the valley — its lakes, mountains and fresh-water streams — and its people and culture, shutting out Kashmiris who refuse to toe their line.
The arrival of Islamic State flags on the streets of Kashmir at the drop of a hat is another indicator of the growing radicalisation. Senior PDP leader Muzaffar Hussain Beig recently said he feared the rise of the IS in the State, especially in Kashmir valley. He may not have been exaggerating.
(The writer is editorial director of nationalistonline.com, English)