When the PDP and the BJP, two ideologically different parties, formed the Government in Jammu & Kashmir, they said that they’d keep contentious political issues aside and focus on development. However, the Masarat Alam saga shows that this is easier said than done
The Mufti Mohammed Sayeed-led PDP-BJP coalition Government completes two months in office next week. During this short span of time, there were at least two occasions when questions were raised about the stability of the Government — first, when Masarat Alam, the firebrand separatist leader, was released on March 7, much to the chagrin of the BJP, that wanted the pro-Pakistani leader to rot in jail for the rest of his life; and second, when Union Minister for Home Affairs Rajnath Singh directed Mr Sayeed to hasten the process of resettling the displaced Kashmiri Pandits who were forced out of their homes in the valley, at the height of the Pakistan-backed insurgency in Jammu & Kashmir in the early 1990s.
The Union Government wants the Pandits to be resettled in ‘composite colonies’ but Mr Sayeed insists on their rehabilitation in the traditional milieu rather than in “Israel-like exclusive ghettos”. Across the board in Kashmir, there is no difference of opinion on the safe return of the Pandits. But the projected method of homecoming is widely debated with serious objections and reservations.
Also, Mr Sayeed stood firm in his decision to release Masarat Alam even though the latter is known to be the architect of the 2010 anti-India uprising that led to the killing of over 100 protesters and bystanders at the hands of police and paramilitaries. This step, earned the Chief Minister many brownie points in Kashmir, even as the overall process of releasing political prisoners and alleged stone-throwers was halted after Alam’s release, obviously in view of the BJP’s umbrage.
But Alam’s freedom lasted only for 40 days, until he remained away from the public glare. On April 15, he made his first public appearance while greeting his political mentor, the 84-year old Syed Ali Shah Geelani who has been spending the harsh winter months of Kashmir in Delhi for many years. The separatists, buoyed up by Mr Sayeed’s promises to offer space for diverse political views, wanted to make Geelani’s return to Kashmir into an exhibition of their strength. So, a few thousand youngsters gathered, chanting pro-freedom and anti-India slogans. They waved Pakistan’s national flags among many green buntings and shouted slogans at the top of their voices. Alam did not wave a flag but shouted slogans invoking relations with Pakistan and Jamaat-ud-Dawa’ah chief Hafiz Sayeed. He excited the audience with his sloganeering.
The moment footage from the event went on air, the BJP found an opportunity to settle its scores with Mr Sayeed. The clamour for Alam’s arrest on charges of sedition and anti-national activities started. The State Government was already struggling to come out of a sticky situation after two youngsters were allegedly killed by the Army in a staged encounter at Tral in south Kashmir. One of them was an active Hizbul Mujahideen commander’s brother and the other had recently gone underground after an abortive attempt on the life of a surrendered militant. The Chief Minister and his daughter Mehbooba Mufti described the deaths as “unfortunate” and promised a probe.
The Alam saga deflected focus from the Tral encounter but put Mr Sayeed on notice. The television channels went all out against the ‘pro-separatist Mufti’ and accused the BJP of lowering its guard in Kashmir. Eventually, Mr Sayeed was compelled to declare that the “law would take its own course”. On April 17, when the separatists had called for a march towards Tral to express solidarity with the victims, who were described as the ‘first custodial deaths under the new Mufti regime”, the authorities swooped in on Alam’s Zaindar Mohalla residence and formally arrested him. Alam was booked under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act and a judge promptly remanded him to week-long police custody.
Shortly after Alam was held, the BJP’s top-ranking leaders in Jammu & Kashmir, Udhampur MP Jitendra Singh and Deputy Chief Minister Nirmal Kumar Singh, triumphantly appeared on television channels to take credit for tackling ‘anti-national elements’ head-on. They were addressing their core constituency in Jammu that had been accusing the BJP of playing second fiddle to the PDP.
But for Mr Sayeed, the story was far from over. The following day, police shot dead a teenager in Narbal in the outskirts of Srinagar city. Though the trigger-happy policeman and his immediate senior were arrested in what was seen as a damage-control measure, the entire chain of events put a dent in the Chief Minister’s image.
Mr Sayeed is in a visibly precarious situation. Antagonising the separatists was not his agenda. On the contrary, he flaunted one-liners like, “Democracy is battle of ideas”, and “bandook se na goli se, baat bane gi boli se” (Neither through the gun nor the bullet, the matter will have to be resolved through dialogue). Mr Sayeed was giving the impression that the two months he spend in parleys for Government formation was a steps towards a political settlement in Kashmir and not an effort to secure his position of power.
However, the situation in Kashmir has drastically changed since Mr Sayeed last ruled the embattled State, between the Novembers of 2002 and 2005. The power equations, the influence of the separatists, and Pakistan’s position in the dispute is quite different now. After two public uprisings, the first in 2008 (the Amarnath land row) and then in 2010 (against the Machil encounter), the separatists now feel confident that they can mobilise the people to launch an agitation. On April 20, the fragmented separatists exhibited unity, when they visited the latest violence victim’s home at Narbal.
Pakistan has not stopped backing militants. Security agencies say that about 200 militants are active in Kashmir. Following Alam’s arrest, Hafiz Sayeed vowed to back the Kashmiri people’s ‘fight for azaadi’ and the militants also upped the ante. In the third week of March, two successive attacks on security camps at Rajbagh and Samba indicated that Jammu was on their radar. In Kashmir, on April 6, there were three attacks on policemen and their helpers that sent shockwaves among the rank and file of the constabulary.
The separatists are targeting the ruling alliance on a new plank. They say that the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh is clandestinely establishing its base in the Muslim-majority State to bring demographic change. Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, who is the head preacher of Kashmir, called up prominent religious leaders to counsel them on the “newest RSS threat” and also named some Delhi-based Muslim outfits as RSS fronts. Geelani linked the supposed RSS plan to the BJP’s poll promise of offering citizenship rights to 1965 West Pakistani Refugees and its efforts to resettle the Pandits in separate colonies in the valley. The separatists want the people to believe that the RSS advances enjoy Mr Sayeed’s backing and that the Chief Minister is compromising Kashmiri interests for the sake of power.
Alam’s re-arrest indicates that the PDP and the BJP have different approaches towards handling the Kashmir situation. It also shows that the roadmap for the coalition, known as Agenda of the Alliance, is too vague to guide the new administration on crucial occasions. This means that despite being alliance partners, the PDP and BJP will continue fighting for their political interests in their Muslim and Hindu constituencies respectively. This rift will make the separatist politics even more relevant in Kashmir. In the politically sensitive border State, it is difficult to maneouver while keeping political sensitivities at bay. The PDP and the BJP had promised to do so by embarking on the development agenda. But so far, more politics than development has been visible on the scene.