JAMMU: Even as Kashmir is refusing to calm down, due to Pakistan’s direct involvement in disturbing the peace, Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti has created a piquant situation for the nation in general and her alliance partner BJP in particular, by suggesting that if the security forces who participated in the operation in which pro Pakistan Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani was killed in Kokernag area of Anantnag on July 8, had known this fact in advance that he was present there they may have given him a second chance.
Second chance-it is an ambiguous term, meaning either the dreaded terrorist would have been given safe passage to vanish in the blues or he could have been arrested. Both the options could be lethal, as safe passage would have bolstered Burhan and proved as a license to go for massive recruitment of locals as terrorists. His arrest would have, similarly, made him a ‘living icon’ for India-bashers to emulate his spirit and carry forward his sinister mission.
The Chief Minister, hopefully, didn’t mean that had the security forces known their target to be Burhan, he would have been bedecked with flowers and bouquets.
Though senior BJP cabinet ministers who attended first cabinet meeting in Srinagar after the unrest was triggered remained silent but in Jammu state BJP Chief and party MLA from Jammu West Assembly Segment Satpal Sharma claimed security forces kill only those people who either pose a threat to the integrity of the country or disturb peace in the region. BJP Chief claimed security forces seldom commit such mistakes.
Interestingly, the timing of the statement made by PDP Chief Minister, also holding the charge of Home department, is set to create ripples in the political arena in the coming days.
For last three weeks, BJP ministers were at the receiving end for not playing active role in diffusing the situation and their conduct had also come under the scanner of the central party leaders.
BJP’s central party high command is also going to face embarrassment in Parliament as opposition parties are expected to expose the fault lines between the two alliance partners having divergent view point on several contentious issues.
On the other hand Mehbooba Mufti’s statement is seen as an attempt to win back the support of hardline separatist leaders, especially at a time when Syed Ali Shah Geelani made a fervent appeal to the people of Kashmir to boycott the mainstream politicians in the wake of ongoing cycle of violence.
The week-kneed policy adopted by the PDP-BJP alliance has made hawks like Geelani so bold that he has been advising Pakistan, his mentor state, to galvanise the Muslim countries in support of seceding Kashmir from India. He has “urged the entire Pakistani nation and state to lobby with their allies especially China, Turkey, Saudi Arabia and friends like Iran, Britain and prevail upon them to influence the conduct of Indian state in Jammu and Kashmir”. He appealed ‘Pakistan to call upon the Islamic countries to convene a special summit of OIC exclusively for Kashmir and unanimously impress upon India to concede to the demand of right of self-determination of people of Jammu and Kashmir’.
Intriguingly, Syed Ali Geelani, who just recently asked the lawmakers of so-called mainstream parties of Kashmir, PDP, NC, Congress etc, to vacate their seats in the Legislative Assembly, has again reached out to them by making an appeal (to stakeholders), ‘understand that dreams of any and every sustain transformation sweeping in and around Jammu and Kashmir must account for its political stability which only a just and peaceful solution can ensure’.
Is Kashmir going to witness changed political equations in days to come? Geelani and his ilk are also speaking for the Jammu region, which has massively mandated the BJP in both Lok Sabha and Legislative Assembly elections. Therefore, in the wake of the statement made by the Chief Minister and rants raised by Syed Ali Geelani, the BJP, being a partner in the State Government and ruling the country also, will have to do much explaining. Situation is turning alarming in Kashmir with each passing day, especially as world’s most wanted terrorist Hafiz Saeed has flaunted that Burhan Wani’s funeral was led by Pakistan based Lashker-e-Toiba founder and that he had mobilized his cadre from Faislabad from across the border to reach out to ‘Kashmiris’ after Aseya Andrabi sent an SoS to him following Burhan’s killing.
