Alas! yet another meeting of Chief Minister, Mehbooba Mufti with Prime Minister Narendra Modi ended with the rejection of the possibility of dialogue and instead the elected Chief Minister has been virtually put on trial with the direction to restore peace through more strict law enforcement methods. The expectation that first woman Chief Minister of the state would be return with an announcement of a dialogue with all stakeholders in Jammu and Kashmir has been belied. It was a matter of natural coincidence that amid cold response of the central government to Chief Minister’s demand for immediate dialogue the former foreign minister and senior BJP leader Yashwant Sinha stung surprise by revealing shocking silence of the Prime Minister’s office to his request for a meeting with the Prime Minister on Kashmir situation. So not only the elected Chief Minister of the state but a former foreign minister also owing allegiance to top BJP ranks has also been denied an opportunity to discuss the possibilities of much debated political engagement in Jammu & Kashmir state. The time when the student protests are triggering an educational unrest situation in Kashmir valley the discredited mainstream leaders both from the ruling PDP and opposition National Conference expected the announcement of a process of political reconciliation in the state but to the utter discomfort of the discredited mainstream leaders the Chief Minister was given a deadline to restore peace in a short span of three months. In politics deadlines are fixed for the dissidents to main discipline in the parties but never in the democratic history of the world the head of any elected government has been given deadline for restoration of peace and stability. By giving Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti a deadline of three months for restoration of peace and order in the state the central government controlled and commanded by Prime Minister Narendra Modi has shown the intents of dealing with the Kashmir anger autocratically but not democratically. The BJP top brass has not shown any respect to Mehbooba Mufti even as a major ally in the Jammu & Kashmir as not even a single remark of encouragement has come for the Mehbooba government during last year’s six month long unrest and renewed phase of street protests in the aftermath of the recent parliamentary bye polls this year. The renewing anger against the Mehbooba government poses a new challenge to Modi government which has by all standards of understandabilities virtually take over the control of the state government.
Unless and until Prime Minister Narendra Modi does not show willingness to working in tandem with Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti to discover Vajpayee’s idea about Kashmir, peace can’t be restored in Kashmir valley.
The continuity in the imposition of stringent law enforcement methods for the purposes of restoration of peace and order in the state is fraught with wider and deadlier ramifications. A much bigger challenge is to win over the hearts and minds of angered youth who are guided by the philosophies of decades old political sentiment. Since the human shield episode has bought into disrepute the integrity of popular rule in Jammu & Kashmir, the imposition of stringent law enforcement methods is totally opposed to the idea of a popular rule in Jammu & Kashmir state. Mehbooba Mufti’s talks much about the promises of Prime Minister Narendra Modi on dealing with Kashmir situation within the parameters of “humanity” but people in Kashmir believe that Vajpayee era is over, and Prime Minister Narendra Modi won’t tend to do what Vajpayee did for smoothening Indo-Pak relations vis-à-vis Kashmir. Unless and until Prime Minister Narendra Modi does not show willingness to working in tandem with Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti to discover Vajpayee’s idea about Kashmir, peace can’t be restored in Kashmir valley.
