Kashmir has shutdown for two consecutive days first time after the five month long hartal and curfews last year. This time the issue is the continuing detention of the senior Hurriyat leaders. The call for the shutdown was issued by the Hurriyat (G) chairman Syed Ali Shah Geelani to pressurize the government to release them.  And as the by and large positive response to the shutdown call would have us believe,  there is sufficient public support for the demand –albeit government will dispute this saying hartals don’t exactly reflect what people really think. However, while there may be a grain of truth  in the government’s outlook on the situation, fact remains that despite being active in the electoral arena mainstream political parties in the state still fight shy of calling for a strike on any issue of public concern lest they are not observed by the people. This does not, however, mean that the ability of any political outfit or an individual to enforce the shutdowns in Kashmir is a true measure of its support base. At one point, even the counterinsurgent Kuka Parray got away with a call for two day shutdown in Valley. This, however, could have been the result of the fact that hartals are now so far identified as separatist-led protest tool that it would take time for a mainstream  party to change this perception and appropriate it for its use. Nevertheless, hartals  in one way or the other reflect the drift of the dominant narrative in Kashmir. May be not in terms of the  specific issues as perhaps the release of separatist leaders but in regard to the general tenor of how people think and feel in Valley. And while we acknowledge this, shutdowns leave a negative impact and even lose efficacy when resorted to too often and in support of the demands that are unlikely to be met in a given time-frame. Unhelpful impact of the last year’s five month shutdown is still too fresh in memory to be forgotten. While this doesn’t mean that hartals shouldn’t be resorted to especially when the grievances are genuine, sooner or later we will have to devise a protest strategy that doesn’t directly affect the livelihood of people.

Lastupdate on : Thu, 8 Sep 2011 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Thu, 8 Sep 2011 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Fri, 9 Sep 2011 00:00:00 IST