President of the Peoples Democratic Party, Mehbooba Mufti tells Anando Bhakto that if Narendra Modi comes to power, he may use his clout and authority to take the positive developments made by Vajpayee vis-a-vis Kashmir to its logical conclusion.
Kashmir Life (KL): There is a perception that the PDP is inaccessible to the media at a time when the parliamentary and the assembly elections are drawing to a close. Also, in spite of the fact that there is widespread disillusionment and disenchantment with Omar Abdullah led state government, the PDP has not been able to transform people’s sentiment into an effective opposition movement, as was done by the Aam Admi Party or the BJP in New Delhi. Your comments.
Mehbooba Mufti (MM): I would not agree to it. We have been the most vocal opposition in the last five years and have taken up issues affecting the common man such as shortage of power, gas etc, and pressed for government intervention through the media. We took to the streets whenever there was a human rights violation. The chairman of BOPE (Board of Professional Examination) was allegedly involved in the leak of medical test papers. We aggressively campaigned against that, too. There is no end of corruption and controversy associated with the present National Conference government. For the first time in the history of Kashmir, a person was tortured to death in the chief minister’s presence. We have been strongly protesting against it and demanding a thorough probe. As far as opposition movement in New Delhi is concerned, I would say we did lead an anti-incumbency campaign on an equal footing. However, the national media looks at Kashmir through the security prism and covers only what suits its pseudo-nationalism. Our work went mostly unreported.
KL: Why does the PDP, in particular Mehbooba Mufti, appear confident that hard-line Hindu nationalist party BJP’s accession to power at the centre might help the Kashmir dispute?
MM: I had only repeated what a small fraction of people are talking in Kashmir. There is an acknowledgement that whatever positive intervention happened with regard to finding a political solution to the Kashmir dispute, happened during the NDA regime. Former NDA Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee had an authority which nobody questioned. He went to Lahore to pursue talks with Pakistan, and invited the then Pakistani president Parvez Musharraf to India even after the Kargil war. If Narendra Modi comes to power, he may use his clout and authority to take the positive developments made by Vajpayee to its logical conclusion. But I must add that the gory memories of 2002 Godhra riots are fresh in people’s mind and he is considered to be a divisive force.
KL: Omar Abdulla’s recent meeting up with UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi in New Delhi and his assurance for continued allegiance to the Congress, has perhaps given you an inkling that a PDP-Congress tie-up is unlikely. There must also be the realisation that the PDP may not get a simple majority of its own in the forthcoming assembly election in Jammu and Kashmir. Do we assume that your softening of the stand for the BJP is an effort for a post-poll alliance to form the next government?
MM: The National Conference is making efforts to create that impression. They have no achievements to talk about, hence they are downplaying the PDP. There is nothing wrong in acknowledging the good work done by Vajpayee with respect to Kashmir. The NC is trying to project it in the wrong way. Even when we entered into an alliance with the Congress in 2002 we did not give up an inch of our agenda. We had a written understanding with the Congress in our common minimum programme (CMP) that we would strive for revocation of POTA and pursue dialogue with Pakistan for peaceful resolution of the Kashmir dispute. We broke the alliance once we thought that the Congress was not being sincere to the CMP. We gave up power. We believe power is important, but we also believe it must be used as the means to achieve productive ends.
KL: You said power is the means to achieve productive ends. So, if the BJP agrees to your common minimum programme, would you consider an alliance with it to form the next government in Jammu and Kashmir?
MM: The PDP will have no alliance with the BJP. We would rather sit in the opposition but not enter into any kind of alliance with the saffron party.
KL: What would be the PDP’s plank for the 2014 parliamentary and assembly elections in J&K? Why do you think you are a promising alternative to the current coalition?
MM: I think people are already comparing the present government with PDP’s three years in power. When we were in office, we tried to the best of our ability to foster reconciliation not just between India and Pakistan but also between people of Kashmir and New Delhi. This helped us in preventing army crackdown against civilians. If we return to power, we would like to take the political process in Kashmir forward and also provide a good, transparent administration. It is important to note that these two are inter-dependent, and in the past we had taken both hand in hand. There was unconditional dialogue between the Hurriyat and then Deputy Prime Minister LK Advani, and the bus routes to Muzafarrabad were opened for the first time. It was the PDP which introduced RTI in Kashmir in 2004, much before it was envisaged in India. Again, while the country is still pressing for Lok Pal, the PDP had set up the Accountability Commission way back in 2003 and had put the chief minister under its purview. We were successful in bring down the level of corruption by our emphasis on probity in public life. It is strange to see the current head of state travelling in luxury cars, sporting Swiss watches and wearing designer suits. This extravagant lifestyle gives the wrong message to ministers and bureaucrats who then take to corrupt practices.
KL: In wake of recurring LoC skirmishes between Indian and Pakistan, the PDP held a massive peace rally in the city recently. How important do you suppose is a peace-building process between the two countries is for a dignified, humanitarian solution to the Kashmir conflict?
MM: A peace-building process between India and Pakistan is very important. Whenever the two countries are at hostility, Jammu and Kashmir suffers the most. Ironically, when there is friendship, we do not benefit. There is more trade and exchange of cultural programmes that bring in more revenues for them. War is no option to settle the Kashmir dispute. Former Prime Minister Vajpayee once said you can change your friends but not neighbours. Kashmir is a bone of contention between India and Pakistan. PDP’s motto is to make it a bridge of peace. We would like the trade routes between India and Pakistan opened so that there may be more projects of joint interest. We would like to build tourism and look at ways to import gas from Pakistan to Jammu and Kashmir.
KL: It was revealed recently that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had almost reached a back-channel understanding on the Kashmir issue with former Pakistani President Parvez Musharraf before the latter resigned in 2008. How much are you in agreement with such a non-territorial agreement that presses for local self-government and greater autonomy? Do you think a similar understanding is attainable in the near future, especially if the BJP comes to power in New Delhi?
MM: The four-point formula which provided for self-rule by way of making borders irrelevant, withdrawal of troops from civilian areas etc. was initiated by Vajpayee though it took real shape under UPA 1. Unfortunately, around that time this whole confrontation between Musharraf and the Pakistani judiciary started, and although Dr Manmohan Singh was genuinely interested in pursuing this four-point formula, it got stagnant. Now that Pakistan has a stable civilian government, New Delhi is headed for a probable change of government. It is important to have a national party at the centre and we hope there is one after the 2014 general elections. Only national parties can provide a stable government that can take important decisions.
KL: When your father Mufti Mohammad Syedd was in power as chief minister in J&K, he made determined efforts to reduce army presence in civilian areas. Do you have similar agendas if you come to power later this year? What are your views on the repeal of AFSPA?
MM: We not only reduced army presence in civilian areas but were able to get back land from the army. Thousands of Kannals of land was in the army’s possession in Fatehgarh in Anantnag, but we were able to persuade the Core Commander there to vacate it. Consequently, there now stands a university campus. Importantly, we were able to change the perception regarding the army. We did this by bringing positive transformation in the behaviour of the army. Earlier, the everyday lives of the people were marked by crackdowns. The army would routinely stop even elderly citizens passing by and force them to take out their ‘pheran’ for security screening. That stopped during the PDP rule. We were able to convince the army that they had done their job by fighting the militants but now they should stop disturbing civilians.
As for AFSPA, I believe we do not need to create noise in order to revoke it. Such decisions need to be arrived at through back-channel diplomacy after taking everybody on board. But the present government only shouts from the rooftop and does not make any concentrated effort for repealing the act. The chief minister is running a coalition with the ruling party at the centre, and has a good rapport with it. He should create an atmosphere where a strong decision like revoking AFSPA can be made. It is the right of any democracy that its civilian institutions should be allowed to function. The army did its job by containing militancy; it is time the police and the government take over. But this needs to be done in a reconciliatory manner.
KL: There are growing apprehensions at too many shady people joining the PDP in recent months. Your new affiliates include a person involved in Gulmarg land scam, a trade union leader involved in consumer and public distribution scam, and a KAS officer who had to unceremoniously resign in Kishtwar. Your comments.
MM: You are talking about Mehmood Iqbal, Khursheed Alam and Syed Asgar Ali. We cannot hang out a person because allegations have been levelled against him. Courts have the final authority and a decision on their involvement in scams have to come from the courts. If the merits of a person has to be decided on allegations alone, the NC would not stand anywhere. We have a chief minister against whom a case is being heard in the Supreme Court for the killing of a person, who was a close colleague of his family and who died in mysterious circumstances in his presence when money was being discussed. His father Dr Farooq Abdullah himself is accused of Jammu and Kashmir cricket scam. In the Gulmarg land scam, Kishtwar Deputy Commissioner Baseer Ahmad Khan is the main accused, but the state government had prized him with a responsible position in the administration. As for Syed Asgar Ali, the High Court has restored him to his post. Khursheed Alam is being hounded by the government ever since he joined the PDP. The government is trying to book him on one case or the other. When he is not with PDP he is a good person, when he is with PDP he is corrupt.
KL: Separatist leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani has given a call for poll boycott. Previous examples tell us whenever people react affirmatively to a boycott call, it works to the advantage of the NC. How do you plan to counter that?
MM: There cannot be any definite strategy as the situation in Kashmir is sensitive. It suits the NC to turn people against the electoral process. During its five years tenure in office there have been hundreds of cases of children dying in GB Pant Hospital due to poor medical facility. There have been forest scam, BOPE scam, cricket scam and other major malpractices. If people come out and vote on these issues, the NC would be nowhere. It is a tactic of the NC to confine politics in Jammu and Kashmir to pro and anti-movement sentiment. The fewer the number of people coming out to vote, the greater are NC’s chances for booth capturing. They have their pockets where goons of the party go and vote multiple times. New Delhi too ignores this as they have to somehow show that the polling percentage was good. The NC keeps the pot boiling; it is their time-tested strategy. The PDP, on the other hand, believes in the politics of reconciliation. We believe it is only in a democracy that there is a solution to every problem. Power gives us the moral strength to pursue political process and dialogue.
KL: How do you suppose the pulling out of NATO forces from Afghanistan impact the situation in Jammu and Kashmir? Do you see the Taliban shifting their focus from Af-Pak to Indo-Pak and extending ‘jihad’ to the valley? Is there room for the resurgence of the 1990s like militancy in Kashmir?
MM: Everybody is making a speculation on that. But I personally believe people have seen the worst violence of their lives during peak militancy years and they would not like to return to those days. People were disillusioned with the political process after Congress allowed NC to rig the 1987 assembly elections. Maybe if they had not so blatantly rigged elections then, we would not have had militancy. The gun was a new experiment in 1990. Young boys crossing over to Pakistan and waging war for ‘freedom’ made a good spectacle at that time because the entire administration had broken down, and then chief minister Farooq Abdullah had kind of made excuses and run away. But over the years people saw a terrible and irreparable loss of life and property. They have understood gun is not the solution. The PDP-Congress government was able to make a good impact in law and administration and it also pursued the Kashmir issue politically. That helped people realise the importance of the political process. I don’t think there would be any resurgence of militancy unless off-course people are pushed to the wall. There is a healthy environment here at present but New Delhi has to take advantage of the mood of the people and intervene positively.
KL: During the 2008 elections there was tremendous enthusiasm for Omar Abdullah from Kashmir’s first-time voters who believed a young chief minister would be more responsive to their sentiments. As the current NC government tackle marked anti-incumbency, tell us briefly why should the youth of Jammu and Kashmir put their trust on Mehbooba Mufti.
MM: You are right in assessing that the youth was hopeful that a young chief minister would deal with them differently. But during the last five years of Omar’s rule, the youth has been the worst victim. There has been a number of youth causalities and in 90 per cent of such cases the victim was in no way related to militancy. Thousands of cases are registered against young boys. PSA has been invoked against children who have been produced in courts handcuffed. This government introduced the use of pellet guns and justified its use on grounds that these were non-lethal. It is another matter that we have cases where people have lost their eyesight due to pellet injuries. Also, people with pellet injuries cannot approach doctors as they are then immediately booked under the law. Add to this chaos are sale of medical seats, re-induction of retired bureaucrats all of which have affected the younger generation. Our focus will be to provide security and dignity to the youth. We have proofs of backdoor entrants in government jobs. We will not only ensure transparency in public sector employment but generate more jobs in other sectors such as tourism and hospitality. When we were in power we had introduced the mobile sector which is a sustainable source of employment today. Our primary agenda will be to tackle unemployment.
