BLUNT BUTCHER
JAMMU: Mehbooba Mufti is not asking for a moon. She just wants implementation of the Agenda of Alliance (AoA) her father had reached with the BJP but not with the Government of India. This huge difference between the party and the government at the Centre is actually responsible for the deadlock, or stalemate, in having a democratically elected dispensation in Jammu and Kashmir.
Out of enthusiasm and in a fit of ignorance Ram Madhav and company stitched the alliance in February 2015 but it did not work due to practical difficulties. For example, return of NHPC power projects to the State Government will open a Pandora box with several other states seeking the control of the Government of India-owned or supported Public Undertaking projects under their control. Similarly, repealing of Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) will have colossal consequences, keeping in view misadventure from across the borders, like the one in Pathankot and similar low scale incursions in the Kashmir Valley on occasional basis. The Army has already expressed its reservation in dispensing with this measure, which will render them vulnerable in a volatile situation on ground. The cosmetic vacation of land or inaction against Kashmiri students raising slogans in JNU is not going to serve the purpose of the PDP, which will have to make lot of explaining about delay in forming the government without getting anything concrete from Narendra Modi.
Ram Madhav felt romantic with the idea of opening channels of dialogue with separatists and terrorists, least realising its fallout. Can the Centre talk to secessionists or separatists who are openly issuing shutdowns and seeking participation in thousands for the funeral processions of terrorists, who are gunned down for waging war against Indian state? Can USA ever think of speaking to ‘disciples’ of Osama bin Laden? They did not allow Syed Ali Shah Geelani to visit US for medical checkup or treatment, arguing his involvement in supporting violence for achieving political objectives. But Ram Madhav’s Agenda of Alliance does not commit negotiations with such of the hardcore separatists but Pakistan as well, which is openly perpetrating mayhem in Indian cities and towns.
The BJP supported Agenda of Alliance is not bringing Kashmir closer to the Union but it distances the Valley from mainstream, not by inches but by yards. And when this is to be pursued at the government level (foreign affairs being a central subject, even as per the instrument of accession) hiccups like Pathankot or Pampore become stumbling block.
These and many other provisos in the Agenda of Alliance are hard to be digested once the Centre dares to implement these, especially after BJP’s worst poll debacle in Delhi and Bihar. It cannot risk more damange that can fracture the Narendra Modi juggernaut midway.
Mehbooba Mufti understands this and insists for Confidence Building Measures to be implemented in a time bound manner. These cannot remain sacred paras in the AoA. She has not set any new condition. She swears by the arrangement made by her father but wants in tems of AoA and wants its implementation in letter and spirit. That assurance has not to come from Ram Madhav or Dr Nirmal Singh. The Union of India has to be agreeable to implement these, which is why Mehbooba Mufti is not getting any response from the Centre, not even someone from the BJP high command. Ram Madhav is maintaining measured silence. Amit Shah has stopped posturing despite ‘olive branch’ being offered by the PDP chief, who is killing two birds with one stone. First, she doesn’t want her father to be proven wrong or being discredited for having entered into an agreement with the BJP and second, she knows how difficult it will be for the Union Government togo ahead with implementing the Agenda of Alliance. This will pave a way for her to tell to the PDP strong hold in general and the people of Kashmir in particular that her father had not made a raw deal. She will go on saying that he had bartered ‘enough’ for Kashmir which the Centre, read India, is now backing out. She is cutting the huge BJP cake with sweetened knife, which the deputies of her father in the erstwhile government may not understand. This will be a win win situation for the PDP, not only in entangling BJP in the cobweb of its agreed upon CBMs or AOA but also silencing the opposition National Conference in unleashing opposition to Mehbooba Mufti’s guess game on the formation of government. Her main target is Omar Abdullah, who has been trying to corner the PDP day in and day out with an avowed objective of distracting people from it but Mehbooba Mufti has perhaps understood the game-plan and therefore strategic suspense and ‘wait and watch’ strategy on the government formation.
