Mohammad Yousuf Tarigami, 4-time lawmaker and credible face of Left politics in predominantly Muslim Jammu and Kashmir. He is also the State Secretary of CPIM
About a couple of months ago, Kashmir was tranquil. What went wrong?
You see it is not for the first time that Kashmir has erupted. It is in turmoil for the past over two decades and has been going through political uncertainty right from the days of Partition. True, we had elections in 2014 and the people participated in huge numbers in these. The situation we are witnessing for the past over one month is in quite contrast to that. Unfortunately, the governments both at the Centre and in the State failed to respond to the emerging situation –disillusionment and hopelessness-in Kashmir. They should have seized the breather to address the issues. At least, there should have been some sort of intent visible there raising some hope in people particularly the young that something good is going to happen. There were lot of expectations with the electoral processes the people had aligned themselves with. None of those expectations came true. Also the atmosphere emerging at the national level, the kind of debates that are on, the kind of events that have been unfolding also left an impact on the psyche of the people of Kashmir. Having said that I must reiterate that Kashmir crises is essentially rooted in certain aspirations of people and a result of unresponsiveness from those who are in power in Delhi and J&K.
You said ‘certain aspirations’. What are those aspirations?
We have been, at different times, given to understand by successive governments that ‘sky is the limit’ as far as autonomy is concerned. There are certain constitutional guarantees provided to the people of Jammu and Kashmir. It has been a unique situation, a unique state of affairs here in J&K and unique responses were expected at the national level. On the contrary, they eroded autonomy. We even lost whatever the rest of India is having. We are not at par with many other states. Apart from lot of bloodshed was shed during the turmoil and people have suffered tremendously. One of the Prime Ministers came here and said ‘sky is the limit’. But we have seen only ‘limits’, not ‘sky is the limit’. We often do hear big voices but nothing tangible is happening on the ground.
You are a 4-time lawmaker from Kulgam which is one of the worst hit areas in ongoing turmoil. Didn’t you too fail to read the pulse of the people?
If you go through the deliberations of the House (J&K Assembly), you will know I did give them some hints. I told them the situation is not any positive and even normal and that it demands something good and positive from our behalf, on behalf of the government. Not that I knew something bad is going to happen. But I had seen disillusionment and hopelessness on the faces of the people particularly our young generation.
You met Home Minister, Rajnath Singh, when he came here in July. What did you tell him and has the Centre implemented any of the recommendations you made or you foresee them doing it?
I met him twice during this period-first in Delhi along with comrade Sitaram Yechury and MP Mohammad Salim and then here in Srinagar. Our concern was that first of all the brutalities must stop and there must be an end to the situation which has been brutalized by the security forces. We also told him that the use of pellet guns must be stopped forthwith. It is not a non-lethal. It is more than lethal. It has maimed and blinded our young boys and girls. He was also told that the situation in Kashmir is much more serious that thought about. Much more serious than what we have been witnessing during past two and a half decades.
But pellet guns are still being used?
We said it. We have told Delhi about it.
Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, has repeatedly referred to Atal Behari Vajpayee’s doctrine of ‘Insaniyat, Jamhooriyat and Kashmiriyat’ but critics say this has only been rhetoric on his part as nothing tangible was done on ground to pursue the goal. What do you think?
Something like that coming from the mouth of Modi Sahib. It doesn’t carry that conviction. Is this insaniyat (humanity) that people do get blinded here? Is this insaniyat that you respond to the emerging situation here only through the prism of security forces? Is this jamhooriyat (democracy) that you have been reluctant for the past so many decades and you are still reluctant to talk to people? You talk on every issue but Kashmir. What about Kashmiriyat? You talk about many things but not about the uniqueness of the Kashmiri identity and the guarantees given to its people no one else but the Constituent Assembly of India. You are not talking about that. Rather your organisation, your leaders, your spokesmen, your fellow travellers are time and again accusing and abusing the Kashmiri people, threatening that we will abrogate Article 370 which has already been largely eroded. Don’t play with words. It is not about poetry. Kashmir is on fire. Kashmir is bleeding. No Mr. Prime Minister, you are expected to address the causes of this fire, the causes of this unrest. You are not moving even an inch towards that direction.
The NDA government under Mr. Vajpayee had started a process of peace and reconciliation with the Hurriyat Conference but the UPA government failed to take it forward and the present dispensation has outright said that the separatists have no role to play in conflict resolution. Do you think that tantamount to turning a blind eye on the ground realities?
Certainly. That is why I say the cycle of irresponsiveness by successive governments has brought us to this edge. Today, the outburst is not just anger against one unfortunate incident. It is an accumulated anger. It has been mounting, it has been getting multiplied. New Delhi failed to deliver. They did not even try to address the issues. They have rather been reluctant to accept the ground realities. That is the biggest tragedy. It is not the question of whether the separatists are stakeholders or not. My point is you have a trouble here; you have some sort of uncertainty here. These are concerns of not only of J&K but the entire country, the entire Subcontinent. That is why we want positive. Separatists may not be part of democratic set up but they are a force to reckon with and has to accepted as such. If you don’t want to talk to them, it means you are reluctant to address the issue, reluctant not to solve the issue. I think that is most unfortunate.
The government has said that the ongoing turbulence is creation of Pakistan and that money is changing hands to keep the pot boiling. Do you subscribe to this view?
That is oversimplifying the whole situation here. You have been talking to Pakistan in spite of wars and insurgencies. You continued with NSA-level talks even after the Pathankot terror attack. PM Modi visited Pakistan. This is the expression of what? That some issue or some problem is there and needs to be resolved. All said and done, we have to be serious and Pakistan has to be serious. Pakistan has to take care of the interests of all of us including the security concerns of India. India has to take care of the people of J&K and the security concerns of Pakistan as well. So that is why I suggest both the countries must give up extreme. They ought to talk to each other. Unless that is done there is not any chance of solution emerging out of this crisis. The people of Kashmir are the real sufferers. They are the victim of this whole conflict. They have to be talked to. They have to be taken on board. And who is in Kashmir to be talked to? If you ask me, I will say all the shades of opinion, irrespective of whether they are part of the mainstream or outside it.
Do you think the State or Central government has the will or capability to get along the crisis and that without more lives being lost?
I tell you honesty, there lies the real concern of persons like Tarigami. Who are the people who are there-both the governments and their intent-their capacities are unequal to the size of the crisis which we people of J&K are facing today. That is the most unfortunate part of it and that doesn’t give any hope to people like me for any forward movement.
What is the way out then?
It is not the question of crisis management today. No. Let the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) use its influence. They are partners in the government. They must assert not just to take care of their gadi (seat of power) or protest it but go beyond. Use the strength of your mandate to influence your partner so that something tangible is seen happening on the ground.
Should the Government of India accede the demand of the Hurriyat Conference that it should accept Kashmir a dispute and agree to holding a tripartite dialogue involving the separatist leadership, Pakistan and, of course, India?
I have my own opinion about it. It is not the question of accepting or rejecting the demand of separatists or that we have to coin something which should be acceptable to all of us. Certainly, the real confidence-building-measure, the real effort would be if Government of India openly accepts and admits that here in Kashmir there is a situation which is the expression of a deep-rooted alienation and political uncertainty. So there are political issues which need to be addressed to.
