By Harvinder Ahuja
After a meeting with the Prime Minister in New Delhi on Monday, Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti told newspersons that she discussed the deteriorating security situation with Modi as also the record low percentage witnessed in the Srinagar parliamentary by-elections recently. “Modi ji has repeatedly said that he would follow Atal Bihari “Vajpayee ji’s footsteps, whose policy was of reconciliation, not confrontation,” she stressed. Later it emerged from media reports that her meetings with the PM, and the Home Minister earlier, had failed to yield anything substantial that could help cool tempers in the Valley.
Even as she was addressing the media in Delhi, students of a school in Srinagar were out on the streets clashing with security forces and reports also appeared of suspected militants having killed a PDP district president in Pulwama. The two incidents illustrate, once again,how completely the PDP-BJP Government headed by Mehbooba has lost grip of the situation.
It’s merely the beginning of summer 2017 and by all available accounts the Valley seems to be headed for a long haul. Last few weeks saw college students joining the street protests and a video war erupting in social media. One particular video clip, that of a young Kashmiri being used as a human shield by the Army,evoked condemnation even from the international media.
Amid all this mayhem, the Election Commission of India conducted the Srinagar by-elections which witnessed a historic low turnout of 7.14 per cent and violence toll higher than that—eight. National Conference patron and former chief minister Farooq Abdullah, who emerged victorious in this sham of an election, was quick to demand dismissal of the state Government for its failure to ensure peaceful elections but failed to display moral courage by quitting his own parliamentary seat. A virtual boycott by the people coupled with precious loss of human lives, however, thrust delayed wisdom upon the ECI which postponed the other by-election in Anantnag to the end of May.
Army top commander in Kashmir Lt Gen JS Sandhu’s statement in an interview to a national daily becomes pertinent in the present scenario. The General was quoted in a front-paged story on Sunday that the forces have to win “the battle of minds” as much as “the battle of bullets”. But more than the Army, it’s actually the job of the political establishment, both at the state and the Central level, to win over the minds of Kashmiri youth. And that’s where the PDP-BJP Government has failed miserably.
It’s over two years that the coalition Government came to power and post-Mufti Mohammed Syeed’s death, even Mehbooba has competed an year in office but precious little has changed on the ground despite grandiose promises made to people. The so-called Agenda of Alliance has remained a piece of paper and not a single promise has been fulfilled. Be it the dialogue with all stakeholders or phased demilitarisation, no concrete step has been taken to show that the Government is serious in implementing these. No confidence-building measures have been taken, and there is nothing forthcoming in the near future also, as Mehbooba’s Delhi visit revealed.
Skill development and employment opportunities, the two critical elements in weaning the youth away from militant ideology, are as scarce as ever. The fallout is an increased number of young minds getting attracted towards azadi chimera. In fact, the aggressive Hindutva mindset being perpetuated and practiced by the right-wing BJP in the rest of the country is having negative fallout in the Valley. The pan-India rise in the activities of anti-beef eating brigade and gaurakshaks have contributed to spreading panic and antagonizing the masses. The anti-Kashmir voices in national TV debates have become shriller stoking negative sentiment in the Valley.
One serious outcome of this vitiated atmosphere has been the reported attacks on Kashmiri students studying outside the Valley. After a group of students from Kashmir was assaulted at Mewar University in Chittorgarh, Rajasthan, some more students were threatened in Meerut, UP. As per latest reports, a Kashmiri research student of BITS, Pilani, returned to the Valley after allegedly receiving objectionable messages.
All these point towards a grim scenario. The efforts towards engagement, so critically required at this juncture, are absolutely missing from the discourse. There has been no worthwhile attempt from the Modi Government at the Centre to reach out to youth in the Valley. Repeated chanting of Vajpayee mantra of ‘Insaniyat, Jamhooriyat and Kashmiriyat’ has failed to cut any ice. Something more cogent, more innovative is required to bring a turnaround. What could that be? The PDP-BJP Government must figure out, fast!
(The author is Delhi based Consulting Editor of Kashmir Age and can be reached at: harrysnigi@gmail.com)
Comments are closed.