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FROM THE
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
I
n one of the 26 cover stories that
india today has done on Kashmir,
we quoted Mufti Mohammed
Sayeed, then in the Janata Dal, as
saying, “My feeling after the 1987 elec-
tion was that the Centre and Farooq
(Abdullah) may have won, but they had
lost Kashmir.” That was in 1989, and
the story was headlined Valley of Tears.
Twenty-eight years later, his daughter
Mehbooba Mufti Sayeed is chief minis-
ter of Jammu and Kashmir, in alliance
with the BJP; but the litany of dismal
failures by the Central government and
the local political class continues.
If you’re a politician from Jammu
and Kashmir, blame the Centre. If you’re
a politician from the Centre, blame the
Valley. There are certain unchanging
leitmotifs to the trouble in Kashmir—
alienated youngsters, out-of-touch local
politicians, deadly interference from
Pakistan, lack of jobs, rampant cor-
ruption, visible new wealth for an elite
handful in the Valley and a tone-deaf
Centre more interested in short-term
manipulation than long-term solu-
tions. What has changed is the extent of
radicalisation, the absolute distrust of
democratic institutions and increasingly
sophisticated methods used to articu-
late rage. After almost three decades of
indoctrination, the Valley has lost much
of its cultural and religious diversity, cre-
ating a generation that believes its own
propaganda—democracy has been sto-
len from them, they are being oppressed
by an occupying army and ‘India’ is no
longer interested in their progress.
It is a failure not just of politics, but
also of the very idea of India, where all
faiths and ideologies are given adequate
space. Kashmir was the shining jewel in
independent India’s crown, proof that
religion could not divide communities
forever. But 70 years on, Kashmir’s poli-
tics has become toxic, its social fabric
has frayed, its culture has hardened and
its economy remains underdeveloped,
almost entirely focused on handicrafts,
horticulture and tourism.
The cover story by Deputy Edi-
tor Asit Jolly examines the various
causes of the continuing crisis—not
just economic and political but also,
worryingly, religious. Last month, when
Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited
Kashmir, he told youngsters there that
they had a choice between terrorism
and tourism. But it is not so simple, not
any longer. There is a ferocious commit-
ment of the young to the establishment
of Nizam-e-Mustafa (Rule of Islam) in
Kashmir. This is contrary not only to
the spirit of the Constitution, but also
to the Sufi Islam native to Kashmir.
Worse, this hardline Islamisation has
been encouraged by the widespread
expansion of foreign-funded Wahhabi
mosques and schools, to which politi-
cians have turned a blind eye.
Our cover story reports on the pres-
sure cooker atmosphere for security
forces as also the inflamed aggression
of protesters, who are increasingly
young and female. It also examines the
role of the leadership, specifically Me-
hbooba Mufti, who now finds herself
on the backfoot on all fronts—law and
order, economic development, Centre-
state relations and dialogue with
separatists. There are fractures in the
25-month-old Agenda of Alliance be-
tween the BJP and the PDP, the latter’s
cadres are drifting towards separatists
and there is a deliberate amnesia on the
return of Kashmiri Hindus to the Val-
ley. Add to this mix the ratcheting up by
Pakistan of supply of terrorists as well
as heightened firing on the border and
it is clear that there will be no peace in
Kashmir. This is a job the Centre has to
do. Mehbooba Mufti told india today:
“Kashmir hamara hai, aur zameen
hamare paas hai, but we should not
start thinking, are we losing Kashmir?”
That can never be an option. But the
answer to that has to be found by her
besieged government.
(Aroon Purie)
M AY 15, 2 017
INDIA TODAY