The measures announced by New Delhi to defuse tensions in Kashmir seem to be lost for want of implementation. A Kashmir Life report.

Eight Confidence Building Measures (CBMs) announced, as a follow-up to the visit of an all-party delegation to break cycle of violence in Kashmir, appear to be going down the drain, with the Central government not only losing sight of priorities, but also moving at snail’s pace on some key measures like releasing of prisoners and removing security bunkers in the towns.

Referring to their implementation, opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) chief Mehbooba Mufti said they have proved a “cruel joke”.  “While release of 50 detainees was announced with fanfare, the government has continued arresting youth is scores every day,” she said. More so, in southern township of Shopian, five youth, one of them a senior bank executive were arrested, not for throwing stones, but for venting their ire from their cozy bedrooms in cyberspace on the Facebook. They have been shifted to Kathua, Jammu sub-jail and booked under strict provisions of the Public Safety Act (PSA).  

Chief Minister Omar Abdullah even went on record in the State Assembly that he was not consulted on opening of schools. The Central government had made it a point that schools must defy separatist dictates, by remaining open without realizing the ground situation. At some places, while school buses faced stones, other places, it was turn of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRFP) personnel, thrashing drivers for defying curfew. The State Government did follow up the suggestion to immediately convene a meeting of the Unified Command and to review the deployment of security forces as well as de-scaling the number of bunkers and check-points. The CRFP removed 16 bunkers to ease up tensions, but only other day were seen constructing fresh ones in the Bemina colony, in the outskirts of Srinagar city.

As Kashmir Life has already reported, the city is dotted with 406 bunkers, including 80 concrete structures, giving it a look of a battle field. Overall, Kashmir Valley has 1600 bunkers established over past 20 years. Referring to humanitarian tragedy evolving in Palhallan, an area on Srinagar-Muzaffarabad national highway, where over 25,000 population has been under siege for past one month, Mehbooba Mufti said the CBMs needed to address such situations to address alienation, anger and cynicism.

Local MLA, Molvi Iftikhar Hussain Ansari claims that authorities have clamped strict curfew in the area without any relaxation since September 12. The area sandwiched between military camps witnessed eight deaths and 60 injured over past three months.  “Licence has been given to forces to commit atrocities on people… Army, paramilitary forces, police, pro-government militia and some National Conference (NC) workers have been targeting people, ransacking houses and preventing them from harvesting paddy crop,” he claimed.  The curfew in the area is being enforced by army and paramilitary CRPF (Central Reserve Police Force). The only allopathic dispensary in the village has been shut down, power supply is disrupted and water supply is scant. Around 1200 households have been living without electricity as troopers damaged (locals say deliberately) four transformers in the area by firing.

 More so, while most of families refused to take Rs. 5 lakh as compensation for the dead as announced by the Central government, there seems little for the injured. According to records at the Srinagar main hospital, some 20 youngsters have lost one of their eyes to pellets, introduced as non-lethal weapons of the security forces. Ironically, the forces direct these pellets in the eyes of protesters making sure they are blinded. “We have operated 60 such people, whose eyes had been targeted with pellets. What is most worrying is that most of them are young, school going children. They have been handicapped for rest of their lives.  In most cases nothing can be done to restore their eyesight,” said a doctor at the main hospital, urging government to attend the real CBMs to stem anger of people by reining in “unaccountable” security administration.

The failure of CBMs, however, is largely related to the abject failure of governance under Chief Minister Omar Abdullah. The CCS had openly raised the issue of “governance deficit”, but paradoxically did not address the issue while listing the 8-CBMs as panacea for problems in Kashmir.

Omar’s abject failure to check targeting of innocent youth by police and army men, his growing disconnect with the people, and his inability to calm the agitated masses and bring them to the negotiating table has already earned him the epithet of a ‘failed administrator’. The wily state bureaucracy too seems to be working against the chief minister’s interest. Analysts in Srinagar believe that no amount of CBM will work in Kashmir, unless the Centre attends primarily to governance deficit.

Omar Abdullah has had an inauspicious start as a chief minister. In January 2009, the first Cabinet meeting he presided over was called to declare state mourning and to condole the death of his uncle and former chief minister G M Shah. Two days later, troops shot a deaf and dumb villager in his neighbourhood. Troops claimed that the slain Abdul Rashid Rishi, 45, was planning a fidayeen attack. The allegations were later shown to be unfounded.

Call it short sightedness, political immaturity or New Delhi’s heavy hand, Abdullah junior’s two populist slogans of withdrawal of troops and revocation of draconian Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) remained just that – slogans. Army has made it clear that it would not reduce troop strength in Kashmir even if violence came down. The AFSPA revocation was also vehemently opposed by everyone ranging from Army to the main opposition party, BJP. Ultimately, New Delhi has had to abandon any plans to amend AFSPA, leave alone revoking it.

On phased withdrawal of CRPF, Omar himself seemed to have backtracked, presumably under New Delhi’s pressure. His assurances regarding securing withdrawal were followed by a statement that overnight replacement of CRPF by police was not possible. But Omar’s failure to deliver on his promises is not the biggest problem he is facing at the moment. The bigger problem for the chief minister is that the grand old party of Kashmir, the National Conference – is fast losing its grip over the state.

Omar’s alliance partner, Congress, is also openly questioning the functioning of the chief minister. Congress general secretary in charge of Jammu and Kashmir and Union minister Prithviraj Chavan has expressed his party’s displeasure over the chief minister’s frequent trips to Delhi and elsewhere. “We are concerned that he does not sit in his office and perform his duties as expected. Omar must change his style of functioning,” he said. Other senior Congress leaders too expressed concern over what they termed as “childish and sentimental” attitude of junior Abdullah.

They point out at his Ladakh trip with his family when Srinagar was on fire. And from Ladakh, instead of returning to Srinagar, he drove with his family to Kulu-Manali. They even talk about the state helicopter making nine sorties to airlift relatives of Payal Singh, wife of the Chief Minister, for visiting Ladakh monasteries.

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