Recent actions of the Mufti Mohammed Sayeed regime indicate a troubling tendency of the PDP to appease seperatists and the anti-India communal politics
Concerned citizens of Jammu & Kashmir are closely watching the activities of Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed and his Peoples Democratic Party. They are a worried lot. They have come to believe, and perhaps rightly, that if the Chief Minister and his colleagues are not reined in forthwith, the situation in Kashmir will go out of hand and the best opportunity to salvage the valley will be lost forever. Time is fast running out. To not act now would be to endanger national unity and integrity.
It all started the day the Chief Minister credited Pakistan and its assets, like the Hurriyat Conference and militants, for the successful conduct of the 2014 Assembly election which saw large-scale public participation. The Chief Minister has not looked back since then, despite the interventions from the Union Government. He has not missed a single opportunity to implement his controversial religio-political agenda and provide full space to Pakistani agents like Syed Ali Shah Geelani so that the latter can mobilise Kashmiri opinion against India.
During the past 70-odd days, the Chief Minister has committed several controversial acts that have disturbed the bulk of population in the State and the rest of the country. Steps taken by him and his colleagues in Government last month have convinced the concerned citizens that the PDP leadership is exploiting its official position to wreck the polity.
For example, the PDP flatly refused to issue Dogra certificates to Jammu youth, desirous of seeking employment in the Central paramilitary forces including the Central Reserve Police Force. It also refused to issue Permanent Resident Certificates that would help children secure school admissions.
PDP Ministers took these decisions following the senseless and communally-motivated opposition from the separatist camp. Hurriyat leaders like Geelani and Mirwaiz Umar Farooq had said that the issuance of Dogra certificates and PRCs were a “conspiracy” hatched by the PDP-BJP coalition Government to “implement the RSS agenda in Kashmir” and “grant citizenship rights to Jammu-based refugees from West Pakistan through the backdoor”.
The PDP has also declared that the Government of Jammu & Kashmir will soon “initiate a dialogue with separatist groups like Hurriyat” on the Union Government's move to rehabilitate internally-displaced Kashmiri Hindus in a “composite township” in the valley.
It has also said that “they (India) use our water and our land” and the Government of India must return the National Hydroelectric Power Corporation-run power projects to the State Government. Additionally, the PDP has also said that the State Government is committed to providing space to separatists so that they can propagate their ideology in the valley. Finally, it has also made the mind-boggling statement that “Geelani is a big leader”.
All these decisions, declarations and statements have added fuel to fire as well as upset the well-wishers of the State and the country. They also indicate the direction in which the Jammu & Kashmir Government is leading the valley.
(The writer is former Dean, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Jammu)