Mehbooba Mufti, the president of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), tells Saubhadro Chatterji the government in Jammu and Kashmir is an abject failure
How do you look at the current situation in the valley?
It’s quite bad, as people here had abjured violence and started protesting in a more peaceful way to show their disenchantment. You have these issues everywhere. But the response from the government has become more violent. In other parts of the country also, protesters burn trains and buses, but I don’t see bullets being fired there.
Rubber bullets are used to frighten people. They are not aimed at the neck or head to kill people. In the last two weeks, we have lost a lot of young boys. If you investigate, you will find a majority of them were not involved in the agitations. This has added to the alienation of the Kashmiris. Unfortunately, when a situation in Kashmir is not handled properly, it not only turns against the government but stokes anti-national feelings. That’s exactly what is happening.
A few days ago, I heard Omar Abdullah saab describing the stone-pelters as angry young boys. The question is, why are they angry? They are the same people who voted for the National Conference (NC) in the 2008 elections in which NC won all eight seats in Srinagar district.
The Chief of Army Staff has said that political intervention is required to bring down the tension. Do you support this?
That’s right. In the 1990s, people took to the gun and there was a breakdown of law and order. That was the time when you considered the option of getting the army in. It could have been justified at a time when there were thousands of militants in the state and almost everybody supported them out of conviction, ideology or just fear. But 20 years down the line, you have had three elections with 60 per cent voting. Even the government is on record saying there are no more than 100 militants left in the valley. The army was able to restore the situation to the extent that we could restart the democratic process. Now, we have to take it forward through a political process and provide good governance.
Strangely, when the army chief is talking the language of a politician, our chief minister has publicly said that if required, they will look into the option of deploying the army in Srinagar.
The biggest failure of this state government is that there are angry people on the one side, security forces with guns and bullets on the other, and nothing in between.
Do you think the situation is going out of hand?
If you go to the streets you will see so much anger. Very frankly, we, the political parties in Kashmir, were not prepared for elections in 2008, given the tense situation. But NC was very keen to go ahead. May be they had some feelers from New Delhi. But even after the elections, this government was a surprise to the people. When they were returned to power and Omar Abdullah became the chief minister, the message to the youth was that a young chief minister was in the saddle and, so, things will change. But 18 months down the line, corruption is at its peak and it starts right at the top.
He has failed to fulfil his promise of providing jobs to every household. During our tenure, we installed electricity meters to curb theft. People protested initially, but soon they were happy as they were getting more electricity. He (Abdullah) ridiculed us and said, “Instead of kalam-dawaat, PDP’s poll symbol should be electric meter.” He also gave the slogan “meter todo, heater lagao”. But after he came, we faced a terrible electricity crisis, especially in the last winter. So, overall, there is no vision.
We had a vision in 2002. I think my father (Mufti Mohammad Sayeed) was the first chief minister to enter into agreements with the Asian Development Bank for development projects. We embarked on beautification of Jhelum. Jammu and Kashmir Bank was roped in in many initiatives. My father always sought to represent the whole of J&K. At that time, the deputy CM was from the Congress and he used to be quite aggressive at Cabinet meetings. I often asked my father: “Why do you allow him to throw tantrums?” Dad used to smile and say: “Mehbooba, I want the people of Jammu to know that someone is fighting for their rights too”.
Omar Abdullah is the youngest chief minister of J&K. May be he requires more time.
My father became minister when he was just 27. He had seen power. Even if Omar Abdullah saab meets people, he will not understand their problems. He has not grown up here. For each and every thing, he immediately dials New Delhi. He is not seen as governing Kashmir. He seems to be ruling Kashmir.
I don’t claim that there were no human rights violations during our tenure. But the question is, how do you deal with the situation. The CM often says: ‘I am not hiding anything. I admit if there are fake encounters’. How can a CM take pride in disclosing fake encounters? He must stop them.
The situation was worse when we came to power in 2002. But we realised that we needed to give people space. Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee also helped us and invested a lot. He extended the North-South corridor to Kashmir, gave us an international airport. He restored relations with Pakistan. We, in J&K, initiated the ‘healing touch’ policy.
But your healing touch policy is perceived as a pro-militant policy.
That’s because we repealed POTA (Prevention of Terrorist Act), brought the special task force under our control, made security forces more accountable. But remember, even Vajpayeeji endorsed this and said that healing touch was the only policy that could work.
The solution to the Kashmir problem has to come from New Delhi, not from Pakistan. And the state government needs to make the bridge between the Kashmiris and New Delhi. But Omar is just toeing the Delhi line. What (Home Secretary) G K Pillai says, Omar Abdullah echoes two days later. He doesn’t know how to take the political process forward.
But the Union government says Lashkar-e-Toiba is instigating violence.
When was LeT not present in Kashmir during the past 20 years? But, if they were in thousands earlier, they are not even in hundreds now.
The focus of the Centre should have been to save Kashmir. Instead, they are focused on saving the Omar Abdullah government. This government needs an alibi and so they are talking about LeT, anti-national sentiments, etc. But they are not talking about their own failures: How the Centre couldn’t take the peace process forward, how the state government couldn’t consolidate the political gains of 2002 by providing good governance. But both are on the same page as failure here is United Progressive Alliance’s failure. And, everybody knows how Omar Abdullah became chief minister. That’s also why there was no celebration in Kashmir when he assumed charge.
Do you think this government can complete its term?
This government has lost the confidence of its people, control over the situation and credibility. Morally, it has lost the authority to be there. The Omar Abdullah government is like a vegetable.
