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Mohammad Sayeed Malik
(from kashmirtimes)
Trapped between political disconnect between Delhi and Srinagar on the one hand and suffocating homeground-hostility on the other, mainstream political parties in Kashmir Valley are getting squeezed into a tight corner. The ‘nationalist’ portion of their agenda is already a casualty in the face of a radical shift in the local discourse. The setting is such that even mere talk of (assembly) elections sounds grossly incongruent, if not blasphemous. One has yet to find anyone willing to stand up and be counted unambiguously. It has never been so hazardous for them; not even in the run-up to the 1996 polls when militancy was at its peak. Obviously, collective sense of emotional hurt, fuelled by brazenly militaristic response to largely peaceful upsurge of protest, is politically more lethal than the fear of gun. Mainstream politics has been totally immobilised along with its ideological agenda although every Tom, Dick and Harry in that category is protected by hordes of state-provided gun-men. ‘Protected’ species is feeling like the most endangered species. Main reason being that Delhi’s inexplicable non-political attitude, smeared by perceived sectarian double standard in dealing with identical situations, is catalysing an over-powering social cohesion that is incompatible with mainstream politics.
Confused and confusing utterances of some of the mainstream ‘stars’ relating to topical issues, as also their body language, is quite revealing. It depicts the trajectory of conversion from an ‘Indian-Kashmiri’ to ‘Kashmiri-Indian’ and down to ‘Kashmiri’. Though vastly different in size, reach and stature, National Conference and the Peoples Democratic Party, two main propellers of the mainstream politics in the Valley, more or less equally symbolise the predicament of surviving a hostile homeground. Their style of functioning is so cramped that it is difficult to determine their respective bearings in relation to key issues like elections and the prevailing ground situation. Positions keep changing, depending on time and space. Unfortunately for them both, times are getting worse, not better, and space is shrinking too, thanks to Delhi’s militaristic attitude.
This aspect of Delhi’s attitude is somewhat puzzling. Deliberately provocative conduct of the CRPF in dealing with the situation in the Valley suggests that there is method in the madness. Hospital sources confirmed that about 90 per cent of causalities were found with bullet wounds in and above abdomen, implying ‘shoot-to-kill’ orders. The ‘free hand’ given to paramilitary forces includes licence to vandalise private property, desecrate places of worship and humiliating local population. If the objective was to force ‘anti-national’ protestors into submission, the result is just the opposite. It is the ‘nationalist’ mainstream political camp which is feeling the squeeze.
With each passing day the resemblance between their body language and that of the ‘anti-national’ lobby is growing. Perhaps no one in Delhi is interested today in calculating the political cost of such adventurism which might have found some justification vis-a-vis armed insurgency. The ground situation in the Valley has changed qualitatively but Delhi’s response seems stuck in old grooves. Separatists cannot thank ‘India’ more for such a precious gift. Conversely, a right thinking ‘nationalist’ cannot curse them more for being denuded and left high and dry at a time when they were going great guns for the elections. That, however, is history now.It would be no surprise if, in the present adventurist mode, Delhi feels tempted to taking the suicidal course of holding assembly elections. The last two or three months have virtually laid out a graveyard for electoral politics.
It would be interesting to see how Delhi, which in Kashmir is synonymous with ‘India’, demolishes the fragile political assets it had painstakingly created over the past decade or so. Restoring partial credibility of electoral system with a respectable level of popular participation was one such asset. The difference between perception of what it was like way back in 1996 when assembly polls were held after a long pause and what it is today 2008 is that between the impact of non-state terrorism then and state terrorism now. Harsh analogy! But an unavoidable honest depiction.
by Iftikhar Gilani
(from kashmirtimes)
NEW DELHI, Sep 11: The wheel has turned full circle. Congress MP Sachin Pilot from Rajasthan has stepped into shoes of his late father Rajesh Pilot, a former Union Minister, to broker yet another deal between the Congress and the National Conference (NC) in the upcoming Assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir.The last time the NC had aligned with the Congress was in 1986 when Rajesh Pilot worked out a “disastrous” Rajiv Gandhi-Farooq Abdullah accord that saw the alliance win the elections in 1987 and Dr Farooq Abdullah become the chief minister. The experiment, however, boomeranged as the tactics they adopted in the polls gave birth to militancy in 1989.
The Congress is, therefore, treading carefully in entering into any electoral alliance with the National Conference, while Sachin, a son-in-law of Dr Farooq Abdullah, is quietly busy preparing ground for roping in the Kashmir’s regional party to give an edge to the Congress in the elections. He was the man behind the scene getting NC around to support the government in the trust vote in Lok Sabha in July.
He is reportedly coordinating closely with former RAW chief A S Dulat, who has been the Centre’s points man for Kashmir and who recently projected Dr Abdullah’s son Omar, a former union minister and now NC President, as the next chief minister.
Former chief minister Ghulam Nabi Azad has been also campaigning for long for a full-fledged alliance with the NC since last year when his alliance partner Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) started showing tantrums, but the Congress leadership has so far torpedoed every move he made to tie up with Dr Abdullah’s party.
Insiders in the Congress Party say there may not be a formal alliance with the NC, but they do not rule out a political rapprochement with it as the leadership no more envisages any truck with the PDP that walked out of the Congerss-led coalition government, resulting in its collapse.
They said the combined lobbying of Sachin Pilot and Azad may persuade the Congress to veer around to be friendly with the NC as the Centre would have to bank upon it to provide semblance of credibility to the coming Assembly polls, particularly when the intelligence agencies fear the lowest ever turnout in the elections because of the changed scenario due to the separatists’ continuous campaign in the valley.
Sachin is believed to have convinced the Abdullahs who control reins of NC that their relationship with the Congress would be good for Kashmiris as well as good for the nation. Those in the valley, however, say the Kashmiris have still not forgiven the NC for the tie-up with the national party that has bestowed upon them two decades of harassment by the central forces and the militants.
“The Abdullahs are trying to run with the hare and hunt with the hound,” says a senior NC leader who wouldn’t like to be quoted. This view is shared by senior and vocal NC leader Ali Mohammad Sagar who stated that time is not ripe for polls in view of the prevailing circumstances.
The Abdullahs, however, would not lose a chance to come back to power, although they don’t want to offend the street mood either. “Given the right assurances, they will go for elections, even though public sentiment seems against it,” analysts here said.
The father and son have been quite diplomatic on the issue of holding the elections now. While Omar Abdullah told the Election Commission here on Monday that the present atmosphere was not conducive for polls, the same day his father and NC’s patron Dr Farooq Abdullah asked for early elections.
They later tried to cover up contradiction in the stand with a statement that an elected government is always better than the governor’s rule. “The government should reach out to the people to ensure a healthy participation in the electoral process. No doubt even a low turnout will result in the formation of a government,” said the press statement.
With Chief Election Commissioner N. Gopalswami indicating his eagerness to conduct polls on time in October-November, the Centre will be banking on the NC to povide credibility to he elections as the PDP, the other regional party of the valley, is not only opposing the elections but it has started lending voice to the separatists’ agenda and may even boycott the polls.
The Centre as well as the Congress appear divided on the timing of the elections in Jammu and Kashmir. While one section insists on a breather, after the spell of agitations, to inject some CBMs (confidence building measures) before the polls, another section believes any delay in elections would amount to “surrender” before the separatists.
Those pressing for the elections now say the separatists would not change their stand even if the elections are delayed and held in March. “After all they are not going to contest polls; they will continue their campaign for boycotting polls. So why not conduct elections now and hand over reins to a fairly elected government,” a top government functionary asked.
The analysts say the PDP has lost credibility in the Kashmir valley despite its leaders lately mouthing slogans of the separatists. It has also lost the vote bank in Jammu region first because of the Amarnath land row and then because of its opposition to the deal struck by the state government with the Amarnath Sangharsh Samiti.
In contrast, the NC has not lost the Hindu base much in the Jammu region as some of its prominent leaders and partymen actively participated in the Sangharsh Samiti-sponsored agitation. The analysts say this may help the party in retaining the seats that it mostly wins from Jammu region.
Courtesy and Copyright of Kashmir Times. com [link]
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