The war like situation which prevailed in Jammu and Kashmirfor nearly a week provided a chance to two former chief ministers of the stateOmar Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti to reach out to more and more people throughtwitter.
As the tension prevailed, both the leaders kept on tweetingto create a notion that they too are worried and they stand with the people.But it was evident that both of them were trying to score points over eachother.
One wonders why Kashmir leaders love twitter so-much. Itlooks like that they have started believing that using twitter would make thempopular and it would fetch them more votes. But the fact is that they areliving in a virtual world and are unaware about what’s happening on the ground.
Kashmiri leaders need to look towards the leaders like MamtaBanerjee, Chandrababu Naidu, Nitish Kumar and others. These leaders as ChiefMinisters of their respective states have done a commendable job. They arerarely seen on social media. It seems in Kashmir our top leaders have beeninspired by the reporters of the news channels who always look for a chance toturn a small happening into sensational news.
The recent airstrike carried out by Indian Air Force and theretaliation by Pakistan have overturned the political dimensions in Jammu andKashmir. Our leaders tried their best to give live commentary of what washappening in Kashmir and what could be the repercussions. Despite themremaining active on the social media neither India nor Pakistan paid any heedtowards their advices and suggestions.
These leaders should realize that Prime Ministers of Indiaand Pakistan are talking about “new India” and “new Pakistan” but our narrativehas just got stuck and it’s not moving towards “new Kashmir.” Someone needs totell them just remaining active on the social media doesn’t mean that they arethe “new leaders” and ground realities in Kashmir have changed. If they reallywant to change the narrative then they have to stop selling the “old wine innew bottle.” They have to come out from their closets and tell the people thatfor Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Prime Minister Imran Khan its India andPakistan first. Kashmir figures nowhere. Pakistan says Kashmir needs to bediscussed but India says that no discussion can be held over Kashmir as it’s analready settled issue.
At present the ties between both the countries are at theirlowest ebb and the people of Jammu and Kashmir are the worst sufferers due tothe growing hostilities between the two nuclear neighbours. But our leaders areso busy in the virtual world that they seem to have lost contact with the realworld. They believe that by issuing statements they can avert a majorcatastrophe and situation would return to normal and they would once again goto the people with their slogans of autonomy and self rule. They need to changetheir focus and use their influence to reach out to the people they know in NewDelhi and Islamabad and make them aware about consequences which both thecountries could face if they decide to turn the heat on each other. Our leadersneed to realize that no one is taking them seriously and their credibility isat stake. They have to make an attempt to diffuse the present crisis in thestate. If the situation doesn’t change and people keep on suffering mainstreampoliticians would be left with no space to do politics. If they don’t wantanarchy to prevail they would have to do something different and lead theirpeople from the front. They should stop hiding behind the twitter and step intothe real world. They can play a bigger role. Politics is not only about powerand privileges it goes beyond it. They have to prove that their reach is notconfined to their followers on twitter only and they represent the people ofKashmir. After every election they claim that they are elected representativesof the people. If it’s so then time has come for them to prove what they havebeen claiming during all these years.
Entire Jammu and Kashmir is watching leaders keenly andstill few people believe that the “influential” Kashmiri leaders can pull themout of the quagmire of uncertainty.
(The writer is member of JK Youth Alliance)
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Khalid Isaac