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Author: Hari Om
Publication: The Pioneer
Date: February 8, 2006
The views of the People's Democratic Party (PDP) chief Ms Mehbooba Mufti asking the Union Government to "empower people of Jammu & Kashmir (read the Valley's Muslims) so that they can shape their future themselves" deserves to be read carefully.
She has even gone to the extent of condemning those who have been opposing the idea of self-rule for the State: "I don't know why people are raising hue and cry over this proposal (of Pakistan)... I don't see any wrong in accepting right proposal of Pakistani President." She has, in effect, not only extended unflinching support to the self-rule idea but also coined a new slogan: "Apne log-Apna raj". The meaning is crystal clear and needs no further elucidation.
That she wants New Delhi to withdraw from Srinagar and recognise Pakistan as the most important factor in Jammu & Kashmir is something that should not surprise anyone. For sometime now, she and her party have been talking of economic independence of the State, joint control of Pakistan and India over the State's power projects and demilitarisation. She is also well-known for her withdraw-Army-from-the-State and "give the people of Jammu & Kashmir breathing space" formulation, as also for her over two-year-old dubious suggestion that "India should not interfere in the affairs of Jammu & Kashmir".
Those who wish to understand what Ms Mehbooba Mufti and her party stand for have to examine those factors which motivated her to resign from the Congress and inspired her as well as her father Mufti Mohammad Sayeed to set up the People's Democratic Party some seven years ago. And they would do well if they also take note of the fact that she resigned from the Congress despite the fact that she was the leader of the eight-member Congress legislature party in the Assembly even though six of the eight members hailed from Jammu and Ladakh. They have also to go through what she said on the so-called Martyrs' Day in 2003, 2004 and 2005 (July 13).
Interestingly, her father too - like Mr Omar Abdullah's father - is maintaining a very low profile, especially since November 2, 2005, when he reluctantly handed over the Chief Minister's chair to Mr Ghulam Nabi Azad of the Congress. In fact, he is keeping himself away from public and watching the developments from his habitat.
Ms Mufti, like Mr Omar Abdullah, is doing the job methodically. It is no wonder that it is she and she alone who is speaking, talking all politics, dealing with media, touring different parts of the State (especially the Muslim-dominated areas) and addressing public rallies to enlist people's support for what she and her party vouch for.
It is clear that whatever the top-ranking leaders of the National Conference and the People's Democratic Party are doing and saying are not in the best interest of the State and the Indian nation. By extending unflinching support to the Pakistani ideas of self-rule and demilitarisation, which are as sinister as they are well calculated, they have proved beyond any shadow of doubt that they are there in Kashmir to propagate and advance the Pakistani line and prepare the people for a full-scale campaign against India.
It is good that the Union Government has rejected outright the Pakistani proposals. Any ambivalence on our part would mean precedence of politics of subversion over national interest. That would also be victory for Pakistan.
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