The autumn session of Assembly was predicted to be unruly and loud but the main opposition party’s decision to boycott it paved the way for a calm session. Khursheed Wani reports.
The speculations of a tumultuous session of the state assembly, which began in Srinagar on September 30, in the backdrop of 109 civilian killings and three months of unabated unrest, dashed to ground when the proceedings started in an unprecedented peaceful manner. No hoots, shrieks, sloganeering, accusations and counter-accusations.
The martials were not required, nor the Speaker had to lose temper to admonish the noise-making legislators. It was reflective of the helplessness and surrender, both from the Opposition People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and the ruling National conference (NC) members. A senior journalist quipped, “By their conduct, they (NC and PDP lawmakers) communicated that they have no control over the affairs. They can’t identify themselves with the ground situation and they don’t have the grit or the authority to change the situation,” he said.
PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti did make an emotional speech to be reciprocated by the Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, but both appeared to be miserable while recounting the deaths of innocent civilians.
Traditionally, the assembly begins with obituary reference on the demise of former members of the same legislature who passed away since the last session. This time, the Assembly Secretariat also included “the loss of some precious lives during the recent turmoil in the Kashmir Valley” in the reference, which eventually became the main topic of the inaugural day’s proceedings.
The media reports on run up to the session had predicted the Opposition making life miserable for the men sitting behind treasury benches. The speculations were not altogether misplaced. The mayhem that continues in the Valley for more than three months deserved a raucous session where Opposition would seek heads of those who committed crimes. The government was expected to explain what it did or at least plans to do to arrest the spree of killings and fixing responsibility for the limitless killings, wave of arrests and inflicting injuries to hundreds of commoners who dared to venture out of their homes during the turmoil.
Mehbooba Mufti made an emotional speech while narrating the ‘saga of bloodshed that was enacted in the Valley’. She ended her speech with the announcement that her party legislators (they are twenty excluding deputy speaker Sartaj Madni) would not participate in the rest of the session in protest against the recent killings in the Valley. Omar Abdullah did the same. He also tried presenting himself as the most concerned person in the state on the killings.
“Even as someone else fired the bullets, and someone else pulled the trigger, but I realize as if the guns were trained on me. I feel as if someone has opened my chest and brought out 109 parts of my heart,” he said. But he chose not to say as to what he did to stop the killings and bringing the people to book who “brought out pieces of his heart from his chest.
Keen Kashmir watchers say that the mainstream parties have been humiliated to the extent that they are not left even to play to the galleries. This is why, they explain, the PDP chose to stay away from the session and Chief Minister decided to observe silence on the events. Interestingly, the Chief Minister did not ask the Opposition party to review its decision and return to the ongoing session so that amicable ways were found to bring the state out of the morass. Perhaps, he knew it was not in the hands of the legislators to decide.
Mehbooba narrated how an 8-year-boy was trampled under boots and how a father opened his dead son’s mouth to bring out half-dissolved toffee bar that he had purchased after venturing out of his home before receiving bullets. She also complained of how New Delhi dictates even the trivial issues like opening of schools, releasing prisoners and even announcing ex-gratia relief to the victims. She lamented that the price tags have been affixed with the Kashmiris dead bodies and “rate lists” are fixed and finalized in New Delhi.
Omar Abdullah’s helplessness was evident when he restricted himself to paying obituary to the departed persons. “It is not true that anyone can be happy on the death of 109 people. My grief is more than anyone else’s. What has befallen me is known to me and my Allah,” he said and declared, “I would wish that their sacrifices are used to benefit the state rather than putting noose around someone’s neck”.
Mehbooba did call the slain civilians as “martyrs” and Omar Abdullah their deaths as “sacrifices” but both of them knew that they would not be able to go beyond words, politics and rhetoric, said a political analyst. “The common narrative in Kashmir is different and New Delhi’s narrative is just the opposite. The mainstream political parties and their leaders are unable to attach with either of the two. The locals have rejected them and New Delhi has rendered them impotent,” he said.
