| |
Kashmir: Politicians play a deadly
game
By Sudha Ramachandran
BANGALORE - While it was militants who
threatened the democratic process in Jammu & Kashmir
(J&K) during the election campaign and the voting
process, it is the state’s politicians who are now
undermining it. Talks between political parties on
government formation remain deadlocked. As a result,
instead of an elected government in place, governor’s
rule (federal rule) has been imposed on the state.
The staggered elections to the 87-member J&K
Assembly that ended in early October threw up a
fractured verdict, with no one party winning a clear
majority.
Initially, on October 10, as early
election results indicated that the ruling National
Conference (NC) - the party that has dominated J&K
politics for several decades – had failed to notch up a
majority, the fractured mandate did not appear to be a
problem at all. The Congress, which leads the national
opposition, and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), a
Kashmiri regional party, together with support from
independents, seemed well placed to form the new
government.
While the Congress and the PDP did
not have a formal pre-poll alliance, the two, it was
widely understood, had an informal understanding. On
October 10, even before the final tally was officially
announced, leaders of the two parties shook hands and
hugged each other. The formation of a Congress-PDP
coalition government appeared so easy. It does seem now
that if the two fail to form a coalition government, the
October 10 display of bonhomie could well go down in
history as another missed opportunity in J&K's
tortuous quest for peace.
The big obstacle in
their coming together appears to be the chief minister's
post. The Congress maintains that as the larger party of
the two – it holds 20 seats in the Assembly – it should
be given the top post. The Congress won most of its
seats in the Jammu region of J&K. The PDP, which won
16 seats and has emerged as the most popular force in
the Kashmir Valley, believes that since it is the Valley
that has borne the brunt of the cross-border violence, a
PDP-led government would be more effective in providing
the healing touch.
While the Congress-PDP
squabbling for the chief minister's post might seem
similar to the jockeying for power that often precedes
government formation in India, there are other
underlying issues. One is that the bickering between the
two also reflects a growing Jammu versus Kashmir Valley
divide. The Congress chief in J&K, Gulam Nabi Azad,
whom the party wants as the chief minister, is from the
Doda district in Jammu. The PDP contenders for that
post, Mufti Mohammed Sayeed and his daughter, Mehbooba
Mufti, are from the Valley.
There are also
serious differences between the Congress and the PDP on
the approach to adopt in restoring normalcy in
violence-torn J&K. While both agree that the Kashmir
problem should be tackled by restoring more autonomy to
the state, the Congress wants the 1975 agreement between
Sheikh Abdullah (the founder of the NC) and then prime
minister Indira Gandhi to provide the framework.
The PDP, however, looks to the autonomy status
pre-1953. It sees Kashmir as a "dispute" that needs to
be resolved through dialogue that should involve all
Kashmiris, including the militants and separatists, such
as the Hurriyat Conference, which boycotted the
elections. It has promised that a PDP government would
repeal the Prevention of Terrorism Act in J&K and
disband the much-hated Special Operations Group of the
J&K police, a key component of the government’s
counter-insurgency operations. It has also promised the
release of jailed leaders such as Syed Ali Shah Geelani
and Yasin Malik. These are positions that the Congress,
as a party with an all-India base, would find difficult
to endorse.
While the Congress claim to the
chief minister's seat might be sound on the ground that
it is the senior party of the two, it is widely
acknowledged that a government headed by the PDP would
be in a better position to address the alienation of the
Kashmiris and initiate a credible dialogue with the
separatists.
At the same time, analysts have
pointed out that notwithstanding the PDP's popular
support in the Valley, the fact that it was in 1989,
when Mufti Sayeed was Union home minister that the
separatist insurgency in Kashmir erupted, cannot be
ignored. The PDP leader's critics blame him for the
government bowing to militants' demands to secure the
release of his kidnapped daughter, Rubbaiya. That
botching up by Mufti Sayeed weakened New Delhi's hands
vis-a-vis militants in hostage taking issues in a big
way, point out his critics.
Political
commentator Prem Shankar Jha writes in the news magazine
Outlook that PDP leader Mufti Sayeed "knows that a
national party [the Congress] will always be shackled in
its discussions with the militants by the need to keep
its constituencies in the rest of India intact. Were
Ghulam Nabi Azad to become the chief minister, he would
lack the necessary flexibility to find common ground
with some or all of the parties belonging to Hurriyat as
well as other Kashmiri formations like the Hizbul
Mujahideen. In the final analysis, if any Kashmiri
government is to succeed, it must be in a position to
speak for Kashmir as a whole and against the center when
necessary. Only then can it become a credible
representative of Kashmiri ethno-nationalism within the
Indian union."
Jha concludes, "If peace is ever
to return to Kashmir, it is imperative that its politics
should be insulated from those of the rest of India. As
a purely local party, the PDP can do this to a large
extent. The Congress simply cannot."
In order to
give the political parties more time to work things out
to form a government, J&K Governor Girish Saxena
extended the deadline for government formation from
October 17 to October 21. But with the outgoing chief
minister Farooq Abdullah refusing to continue as
caretaker until a new government could be formed, Saxena
was left with no option – governor’s rule was imposed.
Governor’s rule would be lifted as soon as agreement was
reached on government formation, Saxena has said.
Meanwhile, the NC, which on October 10 announced
that it would respect the people's verdict and sit in
opposition, has now indicated that it is very much in
the reckoning. There have been reports that the NC – the
single largest party with 28 seats – is wooing the
independents and seeking to break the PDP and Congress
to get more elected representatives on its side.
While the impasse on government formation
continues, the fact that the Congress-PDP talks have not
yet broken down provides some hope that the two will be
put aside their differences, if only to keep the NC out,
to form a new government.
A possible return of
the NC to power would be disastrous. Sharply criticizing
Farooq Abdullah's "churlish refusal to continue as
caretaker chief minister" an editorial in the Times of
India points out that the situation it has created will
make it more difficult for the Congress and the PDP to
reach a compromise. As for Abdullah's making a bid to
return to the helm either as kingmaker or by throwing
his own hat in the ring, the editorial says, "The issue
in Kashmir today is not any kind of elected government,
but a coalition that respects the spirit of the verdict.
Given that the verdict has been against the NC – and the
Abdullahs gracefully admitted as much not so long ago –
the party should keep away from government formation."
Significant strides towards restoring normalcy
in J&K were taken through the conduct of a free and
fair election, a reasonable voter turnout and the ouster
of the ruling NC. But for any peace initiative to move
forward there is a need for an elected government that
is acceptable to the people.
By braving bullets
and defying boycott calls to exercise their franchise,
the people of J&K sent a signal that they were
willing to give the democratic process another chance.
Many of them used the ballot to win azadi
(freedom) from the Abdullahs and the NC. And they by
their votes were able to inflict a defeat on the NC, in
the process boosting the power of the ballot box (rather
than the bullet) to usher in change.
If the
election fails to bring in a government that reflects
that vote for change, the idea that the ballot box can
alter the status quo will be severely eroded in the
minds of the people. Unfortunately, J&K's
politicians, through their jockeying for power, are
undermining the democratic process.
The enemy is
within.
(©2002 Asia Times Online Co, Ltd. All
rights reserved. Please contact content@atimes.com
for information on our sales and syndication
policies.)
|
| |
|
|
 |
|
