What was this vote for? Muslims of the State of Jammu and Kashmir have to question themselves as to what it is that they voted for. DIVISIVE NAYEEMA AHMAD MAHJOOR The well managed, lengthy election process followed by surprising mandate has brought Muslims of the State at crossroads. Has it, in fact initiated the process of trifurcation of Jammu and Kashmir? This thought is hammering everybodys mind. If we look back, the seeds of division had been sown decades earlier when US based some Kashmiri think tanks proposed the modified version of Dixon plan as a final solution to Kashmir dispute. In the early 1990s when State was under the grip of armed movement and India was looking for support to curb it forcefully, some US and British diplomats in consultation with regional politicians/think tanks were suggesting that the movement should be restricted to Valley only. The message was to get Jammu and Ladakh out of the borders of the State. The process gained momentum when Hindu political parties overtook the better part of the political space in India. Some Hindutva leaders became emboldened, and are even trying to declare India Hindu Rashtra after Modi wave swept the country from North to South. The mindset of even those who were considered the face of Indian secularism changed in the blink of an eye. Muslims, and other minorities have become restless since then, yet more divided than before. Because of poor and paralytic governance of the Congress, the BJP started to engulf the regional parties, ultimately reaching Jammu and Kashmir, thus shrinking space, policies and influence of local mainstream parties whose destiny now seems only linked to BJP. The situation has become precarious. If Kashmiri political parties prefer to stay out of BJP, they run the risk of losing the political space that they have gained so far, but if they do become part of it, they run the risk of self-annihilation. If the mandate was a shock to the mainstream politics, it also managed to cause ripples among the separatists. The reasons being (a) that the call for boycott had a minimal response which Indian media took every chance to project it a rejection of Azadi: (b) because the movement seems to have run out of steam due to Pakistans internal problem and distrust created by different agencies against the credibility of separatist leadership. There can be many arguments, excuses, or theories in support of fractured mandate, or one can plead for being ignorant voters or one can dare to say vote was cast only for basic facilities, or vote was given to local politicians to look after the particular constituencies but these hardly carry weight to convince the democratic world where vote is being considered the most powerful tool for demanding constitutional and political rights. Also, then taking big processions, listening to leaders promises or standing in long queues outside the polling booths could hardly hoodwink outside world for being driven as cattle by Indian politicians. It was a completely different ballot from the one held in ninety six when the Indian forces had to forcibly drive the people out. Muslims of the State of Jammu and Kashmir have to question themselves as to what it is that they voted for. If it was for development, then the Valley should have co-opted with Jammu to accept Modis mantra of Vikas for all. If it was to keep BJP at bay, then the Muslims should have taken a leaf out of their Hindu brothers book and voted for local political party. If people wanted to punish NC/Congress coalition for its bad governance, their rival party should have got comfortable seats for govt formation on the basis of its good performance during its previous government. Had people supported the separatists ideology, Sopore, the hometown of Afzal Guru should not have voted for Congress which has been responsible for his shoddy execution. Does it mean that Muslims of the region have voted carelessly or they wanted to punish all those in political hemisphere. Whatever their reasons for fractured mandate, the selection has created further gap between different divisions, pushing them towards the well thought out programme of disintegration. Any party can succeed in govt formation, what it cannot stop is the dangerous trend of divisive politics. The question remains for the Muslims of Chenab particularly, are they happy to stay with Jammu because most of the seats there have gone to BJP. Political analysts believe this as an indication that they too have looked towards Jammu rather than Kashmir. Many Muslims feel in the not so distant future, Ghar Wapsi may become a reality in Chenab also. The game of polarization will not stop here, it has much more deeper and hidden dimensions. Kashmir Valley, has been further targeted on religious and ethnic lines, Pundits/Sikhs, Sunni/ Shia, Gujjar/Pahari etc.... Among all these, Muslims are to be grounded, punished and confined to pockets of Valley to remain the most disturbed areas where movement of every single soul will be monitored vigorously. For all this misery or misfortune or misadventure, can all others are to be blamed except ourselves, because the habit of passing the buck has entered our DNA. Or there is still some wisdom left to accept the reality and the confusion within the society/leadership/people before looking for what future has put in store for us. Kashmir, being the only Muslim majority state of the region, has been the sole and united agenda of Indian politics, first to eliminate its Muslim character and second to reduce State to Kashmir valley only. Congress cannot escape the responsibility of diluting Art. 370, installing puppet governments, or reducing State to a begging bowl. The clandestine policies of settling non state subjects, keeping non Kashmiri administrators at the helm of affairs or humiliating students outside Kashmir, have been in practice much earlier than people started to notice them. This has hardly irked Kashmiri politicians. What only irks them is when they find somebody from other camp stepping into their territory. The irony of Kashmir is that the Muslim leaders have built their separate empire. Because of the callous, secluded and egoistic attitude of leadership, people have also started to behave like them, keeping personal interests the only consideration rather than the collective destiny of the state. Time is not too far when Kashmir will be divided into small Rajwardas the blame for which will be put on outside forces instead of looking within. (The writer was Editor of News/Current Affairs in BBC Urdu, London) nayeema7@gmail
Posted on: Sun, 04 Jan 2015 03:33:25 +0000
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