THE flames are searing the skies, and everyone seems to have run out of water. Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah is using petrol instead of water as is Union Home Minister P.Chidambaram, but the Opposition and the separatists in the state are running around with dry cans, unable to take even a step that could cut into the public anger and anguish with some measure of success.

 The people of the Valley ---young, old, women, men----have taken to the streets in what is fast becoming a major civil disobedience movement. Every protest, every clash with the security forces, every person dead or injured, is bringing out more and more people on the streets with the situation now far beyond the control of the state government, or for that matter the UPA government at the centre.

 Omar’s aunt Khaleda Shah told me in an interview recently that it was as if a “child (Omar) had been given a toy (Jammu and Kashmir) to play with.” He did not have the ability or the experience to handle the sensitive border state, and as events have proved, managed to only fuel the fires that have now spread across the state. When he rushed to Delhi for talks, one received any number of messages and phone calls from Kashmir insisting that he had gone to offer his resignation. That was the hope and the belief. But it was not to be.

 The chief minister emerged from his meetings with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Chidambaram and a plethora of central politicians and bureaucrats to inform the media that the two governments had decided on the law and order option as the first recourse. And that the path they had decided to take at the crossroads was not that of peace and reconciliation, but of further confrontation. Curfew would be enforced stringently and the Rapid Action Force would be sent to Jammu and Kashmir to quell the protestors. Strict action would be taken against those who took the law into their own hands, the chief minister declared even while he claimed that his preferred option was that of a political settlement. But even so dialogue, he added, could only happen after peace was restored.

 Hundreds and thousands poured into the streets after his media interaction, clashing with the security forces, mourning the deaths of their relatives and friends, and made it clear in a strong message that they were not going to be intimidated by government threats. It was surprising that even after the days and weeks of violence---with 30 persons dying in just a few days---the chief minister and New Delhi had failed to recognize the seriousness of the situation, and the basic fact that the protests in Kashmir today are very very different from anything the state has witnessed in the past.

 There are no terrorists from across the border. There is no Lashkar, that the central government imagines is lurking behind every tree and boulder. The separatists have lost their voice, and whether they are in jail or not is a matter of complete indifference to the people agitating on the streets. The protestors have not asked for their release. The Opposition barely exists in the peoples’ consciousness and there is no one today, no one person or group whose voice the Kashmiris are willing to listen to. The most credible separatist leader today in the Valley is supposedly Hurriyat’s Ali Shah Geelani, recognized as such by even his rivals as well as political parties like the Peoples Democratic Party. He was released from arrest to make an appeal to the people to continue with the protest peacefully and to desist from violence. His call fell on deaf ears, the protests continued, the clashes between the people and the security forces killed and injured, and there is no indication that his plea will be heeded.

 In earlier columns one had asked Omar Abdullah to speak to the people, to reach out, to establish contact, to bridge the gap and take quick measures to bring back trust and confidence. Now one can only say that it is too late. He is not in control and given the fact that he was hooted at by people when he visited a hospital, it is clear that he has lost all support. He is not seen as someone who can handle the situation, or a leader who even understands what is going on. And is continuing in office as there is no one else today who has the stature and the ability to bring Kashmir back on an even keel. One asked a senior opposition leader to name one person in whom the people could repose confidence, and the response was silence.

 The options thus are few but necessary. One, why are the people so angry? Because---and this one has gathered after speaking to a variety of Kashmiri leaders and journalists---they do not see any hope in sight. The talks with Pakistan have stalled, governance in the state is abysmal, nothing moves---files or jobs, the leadership at all levels is indifferent and apathetic, and there is not a word from either Delhi or Srinagar, not a gesture that can make them think otherwise. The generation born and brought up in conflict does not have the patience of those who have grown up in better days, they have known sorrow and despair in their early years of life, and are not just frustrated and angry but also terrified that nothing will change for the better.

 So what is the answer? Speak to the people with patience and kindness and with concrete action, or speak to them with guns and bullets? The second option should not have existed for the government at all, but given the paucity of leadership at both the state and the centre and the not very high calibre of those in politics one finds that governments today are unable to communicate with their people, particularly distressed people, without guns. Restore law and order becomes the clarion call of governments, even as the more devious in authority try and use the period to discredit the people, brand them as terrorists, and thereby justify the use of more and more violence by the state.

 A good government would have immediately implemented a series of measures. These could have been a mix of political and developmental measures on the ground, not just in rhetoric. Backed by a statement of concrete steps and a time frame by the Prime Minister, the two governments could have put together a list of steps that would inspire at least some confidence after taking most of the Opposition in the state on board. Release of political prisoners for instance, would have got the separatists on board, and a personal call by the chief minister might have charmed even a reluctant Mehbooba Mufti. After speaking to more friends in Kashmir one will attempt to put these down in the next column asking… if the ordinary citizen has the answer, why does it continue to defy governments?

 The point is that a lot could have been done, and one wonders at political leaders who did not even bother to try the peaceful approach, and went straight into intensifying confrontation. What kind of governments are these that are so dense, so arrogant and so completely against the people they are in power to serve? The situation in Kashmir is as never before, realise that and react to that otherwise the consequences will shake not just the state but the nation.

(The author is National Affairs Editor, News X.
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Lastupdate on : Sat, 7 Aug 2010 21:30:00 Mecca time
Lastupdate on : Sat, 7 Aug 2010 18:30:00 GMT
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