J&K is in a flux. But all is not lost, yet
No government can resolve the J&K issue alone. But there is always a way to deal with it with compassion and dignity, rather than responding to it with brute force
Irecall Mufti saab, my father (former chief minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed), telling then Prime Minister (PM) Atal Bihari Vajpayee, “Vajpayee-ji, aap Pakistan ke saath baat kyun nahi kartay?” (Why don’t you talk to Pakistan?). Vajpayee-ji replied, “Kya karoon Mufti-ji, woh Kashmir mangtay hain!” (What to do Mufti-ji, they ask for Kashmir). That conversation birthed the idea of opening of the borders between India and Pakistan, a step that resonated with people on both sides.
Two decades later, I find myself bereft of words to write about the grim and unprecedented situation in Jammu and Kashmir (J&K). Never have our people felt such a crippling sense of helplessness and disillusionment. There has emerged an ecosystem of the security establishment and bureaucrats that thrives on the chaos and instability that has engulfed J&K since August 2019. High on unbridled power, this ecosystem wants J&K to stay in limbo and condones the attempts of the central government to obliterate mainstream parties in the Valley. The game plan is to forcibly insert regional parties into the separatist slot and project them as anti-nationals. A new political class of lickspittles are being actively incubated to replace the old mainstream.
National integration and development were just fig leafs covering the unconstitutional scrapping of Article 370. For the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the solution to the Kashmir problem is altering the demographic ratio, using the security apparatus to strip us off our rights and dignity, disempower, humiliate and crush us whilst using J&K as a milch cow. Hidden in the garb of peace and development is a design for forced demographic change, with agencies breathing down our neck. Before the abrogation of Article 370, J&K was soaring above many Indian states on development indices, but now we have been dragged down. The unemployment rate for educated youth stands at 46% and we have willfully been put in an economic chokehold.
The raids and arrests of journalists, businessmen and innocent citizens by agencies have created an eerie silence that is being misinterpreted as peace. Anyone lucky enough to make bail will be slapped with another charge within hours, such as the case of journalist Fahad
Shah who was re-arrested five times after securing bail. They have shut down every valve of dissent, including peaceful protests. The increasing frequency of what the security establishment calls “chance encounters” means that ordinary people are truly living every day as their last.
Civilians lose their lives in encounters and, instead of justice, they are made to beg for the remains of their loved ones. Amir Magray, who was killed last year in the Hyderpora encounter, worked as a peon in an office and was labelled a militant when, in fact, his father was a local hero for having killed a militant with his bare hands. Six months on, he is still fighting for his son’s remains and despite court orders, the government has refused to return the body. Mushtaq Ahmad is still waiting for the body of his son killed in the HMT encounter in 2020, also falsely labelled a terrorist. Ahmad alleges that he was threatened with the draconian Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act if he pursued the matter. Our youngsters are becoming so disillusioned and alienated that well educated men are picking up guns because they prefer death over indignity.
For more than a year, Rajni Bala, a Scheduled Caste school teacher, had been begging the authorities for a transfer because of the targeted killings of minorities. But the administration turned a deaf ear and she was shot on her last day at school. The facade of normalcy comes at a grave cost. Even if it means forcibly caging Kashmiri Pandits in camps. The BJP’S concern for the Kashmiri Pandits is purely performative while exploiting the pain of the Kashmiri Pandits to further the narrative that “Hindus are in danger.” Unfortunately, the killing of a minority community member is what it takes to briefly rouse this nation before people fall back into slumber.
Having said that, I don’t believe all is lost yet as dialogue and reconciliation is the best way forward. It was Vajpayee-ji who initiated a dialogue with Insaniyat (humanity) and extended the offer of friendship to Pakistan from the soil of Kashmir. That became a turning point in the history of J&K and Kashmiris felt their suffering and pain was acknowledged. Kashmir has been the biggest challenge for any PM and India is an emerging economic giant, which is getting bogged down by the Kashmir issue. PMS come and go but history only remembers statesmen that are able to resolve complex issues with compassion. Mufti saab was fully aware of the backlash it would have, but still joined hands with the BJP, in the hope that it will take forward the peace process initiated by Vajpayeeji. No PM can resolve the J&K issue alone. But there is always a way to deal with it with compassion and dignity, rather than responding to it with brute force.