Khursheed Wani
The Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister’s challenges lie not so much within the Assembly as outside. She has to balance the demands of her coalition partner, the BJP, and the strident voice of the local people. In doing so, she must also not give advantage to separatists
On 25th May, the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly is beginning an exhaustive Budget Session spanning more than a month’s time. Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti, who assumed power on 4th April, after renewing alliance with BJP that her late father had forged in 2015, would be, for the first time, facing discomforting questions. During her seven weeks in chair, Mehbooba Mufti has strategically chosen to remain silent. She seldom speaks on issues and mostly restricts conversations to her father’s memories while she describes his ‘vision’ as her ‘mission’.
The Assembly convened its last session in September 2015. Normally, the Budget Session should have been convened in Jammu, but following Mufti Mohammad Sayeed’s demise, there was no smooth transition of the Government. The Assembly was put in suspended animation for three months during Governor’s rule.
But Mehbooba Mufti would not be worried about what would happen inside the confines of the legislature complex. Even if the opposition Legislators put her Government on notice on various sensitive issues, she knows their limits of agitation. She has herself played the role when she was in opposition to the Omar Abdullah-led Congress-National Conference Government between 2008 and 2014.
The bigger challenge is emerging outside the Assembly complex. The fragmented political forces seeking Kashmir’s independence from India are, after several years, inching towards forging a ‘joint strategy’ against the Government’s several initiatives, which they refer to as ploys to weaken the Kashmir issue, disenfranchise Kashmiris and affect the demography of the Muslim-majority region. On 18th May, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, head of a faction of the Hurriyat Conference that has distinction of holding talks with the Government of India in the past, warned of a public uprising in Kashmir similar to the one held in 2008 summer, when the State Government had allotted forest land to Shri Amarnath Shrine Board.
On the same day, Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front chief Yasin Malik called upon veteran separatist leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani at the latter’s residence (where he is detained) to discuss the idea of formulating a joint strategy to resist the ‘Government’s plans’.
Five initiatives of the State Government are being discussed amongst the separatist as well as common circles for their far-reaching consequences. First, the Government is planning to set-up an exclusive residential colony for the former soldiers at Budgam District of central Kashmir. Second, the Government plans to built concrete shelters for a floating population of non-locals, predominantly labourers, who come in hordes to work in Kashmir during the summer months. Third, the Union Government has given ascent to building clusters for displaced Pandits (Hindus) to bring them back to Kashmir Valley. Most of the Pandits left Kashmir in early 1990s, when militancy erupted in the region. Currently, 62,000 registered Pandit families are residing outside Kashmir.
There are also apprehensions on the new industrial policy approved during the Governor’s rule. The reports say that the policy has paved way for the non-State subjects to acquire swatches of land in Jammu and Kashmir to set up their industrial units. The permission would be in contravention to the State subject law that disallows any non-resident to own, inherit or bequeath immovable property in Jammu and Kashmir. The special status of Jammu and Kashmir actually safeguards this particular provision.
And, the Supreme Court’s verdict on implementation of National Eligibility and Entrance Test in Jammu and Kashmir despite objections from the State Government has not gone down well with the local people. They say the NEET is yet another ploy to take over the control of educational institutions in the State. The recent flare-up at the National Institute of Technology over a cricket match result sets a perfect backdrop for the apprehensions. Kashmiri students are in a minority at the NIT, unlike when it was a reputed Regional Engineering College before 2003.
Mehbooba Mufti’s Government has sent umpteen rebuttals to the reports on the defence colony and industrial policy issues. The government maintains that even as the proposal was mooted by the former soldiers, no land has been allotted anywhere in the State. The officials also say that the proposal to set up ‘shelters for the homeless’ would not give proprietary rights to the ‘floating population’ but the shelters would remain the property of the State availed by the homeless on rentals.
On the industrial policy, the Government spokesman, Naeem Akhtar, said that no land would be allotted to any industrialist who is not a permanent resident of the State. The Government also says that the clusters for Pandits would not be exclusive.
Observers say that the Government’s explanations on the contentious issues may not be diversionary or misplaced but they are not sufficient to alley the apprehensions and fears of the common people. The Amarnath land row in 2008, only gave vent to these insecurities when unarmed people came out protesting on the streets to face bullets. That was resentment against a formal procedure that had begun to transfer State land to a Hindu board which operates independently. Otherwise, thousands of acres of land, both in Pahalgam and Baltal areas en route Amarnath Cave, are literally declared out of bounds for local Kashmiris every year during the annual pilgrimage. There are apprehensions that the newest proposals are other formal procedures to besiege Kashmiri population. This is the notion the separatists have begun to consolidate over and forge a strategy to launch a renewed anti-India campaign.
On the face of it, Kashmir’s weather is awesome. Everyday, 34 flights arrive at Srinagar airport, predominantly with tourists escaping the scorching sun from the plains. The Shikaras are rowing in Dal Lake, hotels are packed to capacity and health resorts like Pahalgam and Gulmarg are bustling with activity. Such a scenario encourages anyone like film actor Alok Nath to dismiss the ‘negative portrayal’ of Kashmir. However, those who are able to see beyond the smokescreen of this normalcy, are quite apprehensive. There is simmering anger amongst the local population. This anger reflects when thousands of people gather at the funeral of a militant who dies in encounter with the security forces.
Mehbooba Mufti managed the situation after five civilians were killed in Handwara following the allegation that a soldier molested a local girl. But she has to go beyond perception management and jackboot policy to prevent situations going out of hands. Can she allay the fears of the local population while continuing her alliance with the BJP, is the common question asked in Kashmir nowadays.