By Aasef Chauhdry
If we correctly remember then somewhere mid November last year, Jammu and Kashmir Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) chief Mehbooba Mufti said that “the people of the state were vying for change, adding that the 2014 Lok Sabha election results showed that the people favour her party. The results of the Lok Sabha elections came out in favour of the PDP. Today, the people of Jammu and Kashmir want change. They want employment and the availability of basic facilities. I am fully confident that the people of the state who want change will vote for us.”
The point to remember is that during the same statement Mufti accused the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of taking a communal stand in the state and said that there was a challenge for people of Jammu and Kashmir because the BJP is going on a big communal agenda. It wanted to create division within the Muslim community as well which will certainly affect the whole of India, home to around 20 crore Muslims. Not only this, in fact she went a step ahead and boasted that PDP leader Mufti Mohammad sahib was the only the person who could give everything to the people of Jammu and Kashmir.
In the backdrop of recently held sham elections in IOK, BJP has lost the desire to rule IOK and abrogate article 370. Through the participation, it appears as if the occupied people have succeeded by the whisker to thwart, for the time being, one more attempt by New Delhi to completely incorporate their land in the Indian Union, thanks largely to an unusually large turnout officially reported to be about 70 per cent. The occupied people usually resort to boycott or disruption of the poll process to undermine the legitimacy of such elections. However, sensing that a repeat of these tactics this time would enable the BJP to win enough seats to form a government on its own and then mange to get rid of Article 370 of Indian Constitution that had so far protected the occupied territory from being gobbled by India, the people of the occupied land came out of their houses apparently in masses to stop the BJP’s political onslaught with their votes. Under Article 370, the Indian parliament is obliged to seek the consensus of the Kashmir Assembly in all matters except defense, foreign affairs, finance and communication. Also, this Article can be removed from the Indian Constitution only if the Kashmir Assembly itself were to vote in favour of its elimination. That is what the BJP had promised to manage in its rallies during the Indian elections held earlier this year. However, the just concluded assembly election in Indian-occupied Kashmir has thrown up a hung house with the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) winning 28 seats and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of India 25 in a house of 87.
Now the new game has started. The largest party in the assembly PDP, that promised with the people of Valley that they will thwart the BJP’s communal agenda in the valley, is now seen settling their price to let BJP make a way in the valley. It would be nothing but the reemergence of another Sheikh Abdullah. There is no dispute about it talks/ negotiations between BJP and PDP on forming the government in IOK are provoking and aimed at robbing the mandate of the Kashmiri people who posed confidence in PDP for their betterment. However, PDP’s wooing of BJP is grave act of betrayal to its voters.
After more than 15 rounds of intense negotiations over three weeks in three different locations, talks between the BJP and PDP on forming the government in Jammu & Kashmir are down to the wire. The stage is set for a meeting between the PDP and top government functionaries soon. Although the negotiations have entered a decisive phase and meetings are on to iron out differences. The fate of the alliance and the decision on government formation will be announced any time now, however, each party is trying to push its political agenda to suit its larger public positioning on Kashmir. Apparently the PDP leadership is unwilling to “both compromise or be seen as compromising” on Article 370, Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act and Western Pakistan refugees. It is seeking to make Article 370 “sacrosanct”, and provide a roadmap to withdraw AFSPA from the state within a year — which it wants clearly mentioned in the agenda for alliance document.
The fact that general public of IOK is a sensitive link for us, is a well known to PDP and with their past shameful performance they can’t take any chance with the people of “burning valley” who have brought them into the power through their timely appearing at the polling stations. PDP knows well that those who have given them a mandate, if disappointed can revert to armed struggle again in case if they feel being betrayed. But again, if PDP is settling something with BJP, behind the closed doors then there are all the chances that both the parties are compromising on main issues such as article 370, AFSPA, trifurcation, rehabilitation of Pandits and West Pakistan Refugees issue.
When contacted, senior PDP leader and chief spokesman Nayeem Akhtar told ‘The Indian Express’ that there hasn’t been a final breakthrough so that a structured dialogue for coalition could start. Akhtar is among a group of top PDP leaders that the party has chosen to seal the coalition once the differences are sorted out in the informal discussions, and to finalise the common minimum programme (CMP). While pushing its agenda, the PDP is keen to also ensure that top leadership is “warm” towards the BJP, and “consistently expresses their keenness” for the alliance. This is why, PDP sources said, party president Mehbooba Mufti attended the reception of BJP president Amit Shah’s son in Delhi on 15 February 2014. The history suggests that there had never been a dialogue between Srinagar and New Delhi — it had either been a complete surrender or rebellion. These talks between PDP and BJP are in fact the first of their kind.
PDP through opportunistic posture aims at political gains and it has a history of doing so in the past. The irony is that in case if they form up a coalition with the BJP then it will pave way for the BJP to abolish the Article 370 which will straight away put the valley into India’s lap and probably the inopportune children of the lesser god may have to suffer for few more decades. The people of Indian occupied Kashmir have chosen the PDP and its their duty to keep a check on those who made tall promises with them to go by their wishes.
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