Is It Really Nationalism?

Mehbooba Mufti, daughter of the former Chief Minister, Mufti Sayeed and President of the People’s democratic Party was very predictably, the first to claim victory for her party when the Kashmir Government virtually washed its hands off the messy and allotment in Baltal to the Araar Natfi Yatra Board. What one saw on TV and read in newspapers of the  emotion-charged  protests which the two Hurriyat factions and  assorted  other separatist groups unleashed in the Valley or nearly a fortnight recalled to mind the missing holy hair agitation of an earlier era. Unlike in the case of the Baltal forest land crisis, which acquired hundred percent communal overtones, although both the separatist and mainstream did their best to present it as a manifestation of Kashmiri Muslim sub-nationalism.

They called it nationalism but any honest observer will tell you that t was nothing but an expression of Islamic sub-nationalism. Mufti did have differences with the former Governor, Retd. Lt. Gen. S.K. Sinha over the duration of the yatra, which he extended to two months from the earlier fortnight without giving much thought to its implications. Other separatist groups too had joined the fray and anti-India, pro-Azadi and pro-Pakistani slogans became the order of the day. Mufti who had in the past walked away with the moderate Hurriyat agenda had to act quickly which he did ultimately by withdrawing his party from the coalition. Mufti has a much greater stake in pursuing, at least for the record, what is called mainstream politics.

The father is still hopeful of having an imprint in Jammu but the party as a whole must remain heavily dependent on the Valley. The Mufii has by and large been running with hares and hunting with the hounds. The fact is that every mainstream party is positioning itself to derive maximum advantage whenever the so-called autonomous regions come into existence.  The aspirations of people in various geographical zones of the State need to be constantly addressed, not one at the cost of another but in real concert. New Delhi’s new man in Srinagar must above all make a mental note of the off-the-cuff remarks made the other day by Baitullah Mehsud, the Taliban chief of the NWRP and virtual ruler of Swat. As his Taliban continued to take pot shots at the Pakistan establishment he made the interesting statement that he was not going to strike at the beautiful city of Peshawar. The Pakistani militants and some of their Kashmiri counterparts based in that country haven’t quite given up their Jihad. In the backdrop of the upcoming elections in the State; the yatra agitation should be deemed as a prelude aimed at arousing the local Muslims; it also provides ideal ground for the Jihadis to go in for a strike in the Valley. One must also remember that the political leadership in the Valley, bar the National Conference, is working overtime, overtly and covertly, for the Valley’s separation from the rest of the State.