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Analysis
Kashmir: The
Political Circus
by
Col. Rahul K. Bhonsle
Caught
between warring politicians who are hell bent upon pulling down each
other in the race for power, the people in Jammu and Kashmir have been
caught in an unending political circus. Unhappy to stay out of power
even sensible, experienced and �educated� leaders are raising charges
which they well know cannot be proved even in a kangaroo court, yet
their persistence with the ridiculous will baffle many. The common man
in Kashmir perhaps sees this political theatre as a welcome relief from
the bandhs, strikes and cross fire that he was used to earlier. How long
he will have patience remains to be seen, but the Abdullahs, Begs and
Sayyeds in the Valley need to search for issues which are closer to the
people�s welfare than charging each other and then retracting these at
the drop of a hat.
The order-disorder paradox was thus once again evident in Jammu and
Kashmir, with political stability threatened over allegations of
involvement of the Chief Minister in an infamous sex scam of 2006,
continuous bandhs and strikes over killings alleged at the hands of
security forces and militant activities. The main political crisis in
Kashmir seems to have blown over at least for now, with the Governor
rejecting the resignation of the Chief Minister Mr. Omar Abdullah.
Given the highly complex political contest involved, it was evident that
aim of the Opposition to embarrass the National Conference-Congress led
government has not succeeded. The rather emotional outburst by Mr.
Abdullah after he was accused of being involved in the sex scandal
worked in his favor and the PDP the main opposition has been placed on
the back foot. But such incidents are likely to occur in the days ahead
for the extremely murky politics in Kashmir has been witnessing such
charges and allegations from time to time.
The first fortnight of the month saw a series of bandhs and protests
with the cycle finally broken with revelations that the death of a youth
in Srinagar was caused by his own friends. The body of Asrar Ahmed Dar,
20, a student who was reported missing from uptown Maisuma area, was
found in Rainawari, leading to a follow up of the protests but this came
to be attributed to rivalry. Other alleged murders also came to be
attributed to crime rather than atrocities or action by the security
forces.
The Muzaffar Jan Commission appointed to probe the Shopian murders found
four personnel of the Jammu and Kashmir police guilty which to an extent
assuaged the local sentiment but separatists continued to harp on the
issue over the month. There are also concerns that this may fester into
serializing such incidents which has been happening in the past when law
and order issues have been converted into attacks on security forces
particularly when involving women or young men,. The larger implication
of resentment in the youth also needs to be addressed so that in the
long term this does not snow ball into deep rooted affliction in the
people.
It is however clear that all these incidents are not spontaneous and
have been largely engineered with allegations that most of the bandhs
have been monetarily sponsored. Thus there is no grass roots support for
such activities. The government would also have to ultimately seek a way
out by exposing the nexus thereby gaining credibility as the cycle of
bandhs related to the killings was exposed only when it was seen that
the Srinagar boy killed allegedly by the security forces later turned
out to be a victim of rivalry with friends. The Chief Minister is
getting a hang on the situation as he has issued instructions that, �No
law and order situation or protests should be dealt without the presence
of a magistrate.� At the political level the role of grass roots workers
is important. The authorities will also do well to shift the debate to
larger issues as development and tourism.
The central design of the separatists and the terrorist groups at
present appears to be to get the CRPF troops out of the Valley. However
after supporting this demand for some time, Mr Abdullah the Chief
Minister recognized that this was not practical. "We have over 70
battalions of the CRPF and the state police's strength is not even
one-third of it. Five battalions of the state police which includes
India Reserve Police are undergoing training. So any rash decision in
this aspect can be detrimental to state's security," he said. "A lot is
required to be done in terms of augmenting the numbers of J&K police,
upgrading their equipment and improving their levels of training," he
added.
Omar faces the challenge as a young chief minister in many spheres, so
far the young man has not distinguished himself in the high office, he
has very less time to prove his credibility, for the political wolves in
Kashmir are waiting to pounce on his next gaffe.
August 3, 2009
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