The recent statement of the Union home minister in Parliament suggesting that Kashmir has returned to a state of normality conceals more than it reveals. The government cited police data of stone-throwing incidents, and violent acts of murder and bomb attacks and the like, to assert its claim that the situation was far better since August 5, when a constitutional dismantling of the state of J&K was announced, than in the period earlier. But these are unlikely to carry conviction with the people in the Valley.
Around 5,000 people were detained around August 5. Many were political activists, including separatist elements, some of whom take to the streets and resort to violence. Their arrest would bring down incidents of violence. In addition, every inch of land was covered by soldiers with weapons. It appears the blanket security presence is not the norm now. The test of violent crimes would be when this year’s extreme winter ends, and all elements are freed.
It is glaring, though, that the top mainstream leaders of Kashmir, including three former chief ministers, are still in detention. What kind of normality can it be when Kashmir’s most important public figures, who swear by the Constitution of India and have rallied their forces and directed their political trajectory against terrorism and secessionism, remain behind bars?
An official claim of normality in such circumstances can only make us the world’s laughing stock. Recently, even after the national mood was sought to be bolstered by an authoritative official statement that it was now business as usual in the Valley, a group of prominent citizens from New Delhi, led by Yashwant Sinha, who was finance minister in the Atal Behari Vajpayee government, was prevented from meeting the detained former CMs.
The group comprised a distinguished retired civil servant of the J&K cadre who once survived a terrorist attack, a retired top officer of the Indian Air Force who is a Kashmiri Pandit, a well-known public activist and a senior journalist — a perfectly harmless group of eminent Indians. They had gone to Kashmir to view “normality”. They couldn’t meet any detenus. They were also prevented from going out of Srinagar. In effect, they were themselves brought under close supervision and subjected to tight control, something similar to preventive detention.
There seems nothing normal about a situation such as this. Indeed, there is everything unusual and strange. Oddly enough, the day after the Union home ministry claim was publicised, the ongoing people’s strike in the Valley, characterised by the voluntary closure of shops, which had been slackening somewhat, came to be renewed with greater vigour than earlier. The major towns are once again locked down.
The time may have come for the government to offer a more sober assessment of ground realities to the people of the country, instead of simply trying to score propaganda brownie points.
