Post Article 370 bifurcation: Kashmir mainstream’s unity shatter as Farooq, Altaf pull in divergent directions

Srinagar: With political activities of the mainstream parties starting easing for the first time in last seven months after the abrogation of article 370 and downgrading of full fledged Jammu & Kashmir state to a union territory, the hopes of mainstream unity have shattered with Chief of the newly appointed Apni Party Syed Mohammad Altaf Bukhari and recently released National Conference President Farooq Abdullah pulling the political narratives in divergent directions.
While Apni Party Chief Altaf Bukhari having publicly declared article 370 a dead issue was hasty in hold a meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah over the political future of Jammu & Kashmir, the National Conference President and three time former Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah choosing to be silent on article 370 abrogation and meeting only his son Omar Abdullah also a former chief minister detained under PSA but not others including PDP President Mehbooba Mufti another former Chief Minister also detained under PSA and Peoples Conference Chairman Sajad Gani Lone the heads of two other major mainstream parties in Kashmir. Interestingly the senior Congress leader and leader of the opposition in the Rajaya Sabha Gh Nabi Azad choose to meet Farooq Abdullah to drop hints of a National Conference-Congress tie up even for any election to J&K UT assembly anytime this year or next year. Quite surprisingly another senior Congress leader and former Union Minister Saif-Ud-Din Soz on Monday said “the crucial issue for Kashmir is not the restoration of statehood to which BJP also shows it’s willingness but a substitute to article 370 for protection of basic citizenship rights of the people of Jammu & Kashmir”.
While most of the top PDP leaders and over half a dozen former Congress legislators have defected to Altaf Bukhari’s Jammu & Kashmir Apni party, there is apparently no shift in NC-Congress alliance. Significantly Gh Hassan Mir a former minister and Congress associate of erstwhile Omar Abdullah led NC- Congress coalition government has dissolved his Democratic Party Nationalist (DPN) and joined Altaf Bukhari’s Apni party. Mir had lost 2014 assembly elections with a margin of over 3000 votes from Gulmarg assembly segment. Another key regional leader Hakeem Mohammad Yaseen a former minister and President of another Kashmir based regional party “Peoples Democratic Front (PDF)” has so for maintained equi-distance from both the pro and anti BJP mainstream camps is. Obviously Altaf Bukhar’s Apni party is showing inclination towards BJP and the National Conference is still showing its inclination to continue its alliance with Congress party. Though National Conference President Farooq Abdullah is yet to publicly announce his party’s political stand over the abrogation of article 370 and has said that he won’t make any political statement before the release of others including PDP President Mehbooba Mufti but a top mainstream leader maintaining equidistance from both the pro and anti BJP mainstream camps told Kashmir Horizon “ Farooq Abdullah could have taken a stand after meeting Omar as he could even meet PDP President Mehbooba Mufti detained under PSA, Sajad Lone placed under house detention and Shah Faesal detained under PSA for the purposes of a proper response to post article 370 abrogation scenario. Interestingly leaders of all the non BJP mainstream parties including Congress, PDP and Peoples Conference had gathered at the residence of National Conference President Farooq Abdullah and issued a declaration called “ Gupkar Declaration” seeking an audience with Prime Minister Narendra Modi for an assurance on protection of article 370 and article 35 A on August 4 last year a day before all of them were arrested and erstwhile Jammu & Kashmir was divided into union territories after scrapping its special status.