Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, founder Jammu and Kashmir Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), twice the Chief Minister of the state, and a former union minister died in 2016 and was laid to rest in his ancestral graveyard at Bijbehara in south Kashmir. His daughter, and political successor PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti, the former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister has alleged that “probe agencies” are now “auditing” the mausoleum of her father.

In an interview to a news agency, carried by multiple media houses including the Indian Express Mufti challenged the government to “prove a single case, adding she was “ready to face the consequences.” The PDP chief said cases are being probed by various investigating agencies, including the National Investigation Agency (NIA), which in November 2020, had arrested a party leader, Waheed Parra, in a terror case related to suspended Jammu and Kashmir Deputy Superintendent of Police Davinder Singh, the Scroll had then reported. Davinder Singh was caught with Hizbul Mujahideen militants earlier in 2020. She has implied that the NIA did this as they “failed to prove any corruption charge against me, they are resorting to other ways of maligning me by linking me to terror funding”. She spoke up for Parra stating: “Waheed is a great advocate of democracy, reconciliation and dialogue. He has motivated thousands of youths to join the mainstream. All these charges are figments of their imagination to force me to change track and parrot their narrative”.

According to Mehbooba Mufti, the ‘probe agencies have been burrowing through government files’ and her bank accounts for the last two years and have found nothing so far. She allied that they are “now running an audit on the mausoleum of my late father. How much lower will they stoop?” She also commenced on the alleged “bunglings in Jammu and Kashmir Bank” during her tenure as CM, “What bungling? Let them prove a single case where I or anyone close to me has indulged in any kind of financial misappropriation. I am ready to face the consequences.”

As 2020 drew to a close, Mehbooba Mufti wrote to the Enforcement Directorate’s director expressing her concern that the Central investigation agency was being used to target her and her family.  She titled the letter: ‘ED’s Roving Inquiries’.

My letter to the Director of ED, an agency being weaponised as a tool to hound political opponents by the ruling party. pic.twitter.com/MgEG6bINzL

— Mehbooba Mufti (@MehboobaMufti) December 31, 2020

She stated that, “The questioning of these persons is also focused on myself, my personal, political and financial affairs; my late father’s grave and memorial, my sister’s finances, home construction, my brother’s finances and personal affairs etc.,”

Related:

Gupkar Alliance’s has raced to the finish, left BJP gasping for breath in Kashmir Valley

Why did J&K Govt chop down 10,000 Apple trees grown by Muslim farmers?

J&K judge alleges interference

J&K to implement Forest Rights Act by March 2021

J&K: Gujjar Bakerwal shelter demolition causes political uproar

The post They want to ‘audit’ my father’s grave: Mehbooba Mufti appeared first on SabrangIndia.

“We have to take back what the Delhi Durbar took from us with an illegal, undemocratic decision,” were the first words of former Jammu & Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti soon after her release from detention. 60-year-old Mufti, is now all set to launch a political fight for repealing the Centre’s decision to abrogate Article 370, withdraw special status and divide J&K into two Union Territories. Mufti minced no words in her short message to her followers, which was released shortly after her release from over a year of detention. 

The former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister, the first woman to hold the post, and a former ally of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was arrested on the eve of August 5, with other political leaders. Over time the rest were resealed, but she continued to be detained. 

“Ms Mehbooba Mufti being released,” Rohit Kansal, J&K Principal Secretary, tweeted at 9.17 pm on Tuesday. 

Ms. Mehbooba Mufti being released @dipr

— Rohit Kansal (@kansalrohit69) October 13, 2020

That the BJP had kept a former ally Mehbooba Mufti, president of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), under detention since the eve of April 5 2019, made global headlines. Over a year later, on September 29, the Supreme Court had told the administration of the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir to respond to Mehbooba Mufti’s daughter Iltija Mufti’s fresh plea challenging the detention. The former chief minister Mehbooba Mufti was detained under the J-K Public Safety Act, and the SC said that this detention could not be forever. A bench comprising Justices SK Kaul and Hrishikesh Roy also said that the PDP leader placed a request to the authorities to allow her to attend party meetings. The SC also allowed Iltija and her uncle to meet Mehbooba in detention.

Now, that detention is over, and Mufti is all set to “take back” what she says was taken away from the people of J&K. “I have been released after a period of over a year… during this the August 5 black decision has played on my heart and mind.. all the time… I am aware that what Delhi Durbar snatched away undemocratically we have to take it back. We have to continue to struggle to solve the Kashmir issue. It is not an easy  path…” she said in her audio message.

She also demanded the release of other political prisoners from the region, “I want all those from J&K incarcerated in jails across india be released…  Thousands have lost lives because of (the) Kashmir issue. We have to continue the struggle for now. I agree, this won’t be easy on any of us.” she said.

After being released from fourteen long months of illegal detention, a small message for my people. pic.twitter.com/gIfrf82Thw

— Mehbooba Mufti (@MehboobaMufti) October 13, 2020

Mufti has said that “none of us can forget the “insult” and “humiliation” we faced on August 5 when Article 370 was repealed “illegally” and in an “anti-democratic” manner. 

The PDP leader’s release has come just two days before the Supreme Court was to hear the matter related to her detention. According to news reports the  Deputy Commissioner ordered that the PSA was revoked with immediate effect on October 14. Mufti’s detention had been extended for three months on July 31 2020, she had initially been put under preventive custody on August 5 2019, and was booked under the stringent PSA on February 6 2020.Her official residence was declared a subsidiary jail by the authorities who shifted her there on April 7 2020.

The fight for her release was helmed by her daughter Iltija who has expressed happiness that her mother was finally released from detention, which she alleged was “illegal, unlawful and a complete travesty of justice”. “I now hope that other youths who have been detained for over a year in various jails in and outside the state are also released soon,” Iltija told the media.

“There is a sense of huge relief,” Iltija Mufti told NDTV when asked about relinquishing control of her mother’s social media account, “Twitter is a toxic place. Glad I will not be on it anymore. My mother will finally use her own Twitter handle. It felt abnormal to use hers.”

In February Iltija Mufti spoke of the pressure on her mother and her because of the detention and said they “furtively exchanged letters” to stay in touch.

Her joy was palpable as she also signed off from her mother’s Twitter handle which she took charge of to share regular updates. “As Ms Mufti’s illegal detention finally comes to an end, I’d like to thank everybody who supported me in these tough times. I owe a debt of gratitude to you all. This is Iltija signing off. فی امان اﷲ May allah protect you”

As Ms Mufti’s illegal detention finally comes to an end, Id like to thank everybody who supported me in these tough times. I owe a debt of gratitude to you all. This is Iltija signing off. فی امان اﷲ May allah protect you

— Mehbooba Mufti (@MehboobaMufti) October 13, 2020

Mufti has since then been responding to messages of congratulations and solidarity from leaders across political lines. MK Stalin,  President, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) | Leader of Opposition, Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly, asked that “the Govt to release all other political detainees as well.  The democratic processes, which have been suspended during this time, must also be reinstated.”

I’m pleased to hear that @MehboobaMufti has been released from detention after 14 months.

I urge the Govt to release all other political detainees as well.

The democratic processes, which have been suspended during this time, must also be reinstated.

— M.K.Stalin (@mkstalin) October 14, 2020

Former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah welcomed her back to freedom

I’m pleased to hear that @MehboobaMufti Sahiba has been released after more than a year in detention. Her continued detention was a travesty & was against the basic tenets of democracy. Welcome out Mehbooba.

— Omar Abdullah (@OmarAbdullah) October 13, 2020

Vertran leader P. Chidambaram,  Member of Parliament, RajyaSabha and the Former Finance Minister, said it was “Sad that the central government and the J&K administration have not yet realized the enormity of the abuse of law,” adding that “all mainstream parties in J&K should come together to fight the tyranny of the central government”

Happy that Ms Mehbooba Mufti has been finally released after 14 months of unjustified detention

— P. Chidambaram (@PChidambaram_IN) October 13, 2020

Related:

Why is the BJP-led gov’t still keeping former ally Mehbooba Mufti under detention?

MHA: Over 200 still detained under PSA in J&K

Shah Faesal, 2 PDP members all set to be released

PSA – a tool for Centre to rid the valley of political resistance?

J & K’s PSA Law: How Draconian is Draconian?

Kashmir reappears on the UNSC radar after 49 years!

The post Cannot forget the insult of August 5: Mehbooba Mufti appeared first on SabrangIndia.

Hell hath no fury like a political party scorned. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has been proving that to former ally Mehbooba Mufti, president of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), who has been kept under detention since the eve of April 5 2019, when the special status of Jammu and Kashmir under Article 370 was abrogated.

Over a year later, on Tuesday September 29, the Supreme Court told the administration of the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir to respond to Mehbooba Mufti’s daughter Iltija Mufti fresh plea challenging the detention. The former chief minister Mehbooba Mufti has been detailed under the J-K Public Safety Act, and the SC has now said that this detention could not be forever. According to news reports, a bench comprising Justices SK Kaul and Hrishikesh Roy has also said that the PDP leader placed a request to the authorities to allow her to attend party meetings. The SC also allowed Iltija and her uncle to meet Mehbooba in detention.

However, a mere five years ago, in 2015, the Mehbooba-BJP relationship was something very different. For the first time in the history of the then state of Jammu and Kashmir it was Mehbooba, as the PDP president, who had agreed to be part of a coalition government with the BJP. The BJP had won 25 seats and the PDP 28, and a coalition was the best way to stake a claim in the 87-member Assembly. Thanks to this partnership, the BJP which is known globally as a “Hindu nationalist” party, and has roots in the Sangh Parival, was able to form a government in J&K, the only Muslim majority state in India.

According to a report in the BBC, Mehbooba Mufti had then said, “We have had discussions over several weeks and fortunately, we have agreed a deal.” She had reportedly told the media when she appeared alongside BJP chief Amit Shah, that her father and PDP candidate for chief minister “Mufti Mohammad Sayeed would soon meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi.” Now that J & K is a Union Territory, Mehbooba Mufti has been in detention for over a year.

Her daughter Iltija Mufti has been fighting for her release ever since her mother was detained. Iltija had filed a fresh plea challenging detention of her mother under PSA, to which the SC responded on Tuesday. Iltija, who now handles her mother’s social media accounts had also tweeted her feelings: 

“Not surprised that Ms Mufti’s habeas is being dragged on endlessly. A serious matter like illegal abrogation of Article 370 has been pending for over a year so one can’t help but feel despondent.”

Not surprised that Ms Mufti’s habeas is being dragged on endlessly. A serious matter like illegal abrogation of Article 370 has been pending for over a year so one cant help but feel despondent.

— Mehbooba Mufti (@MehboobaMufti) September 29, 2020

According to a report in the Outlook magazine, ‘Geo-Political position’ of J&K has been cited as the reason for Mehbooba’s prolonged detention. The government has claimed that Mehbooba’s ‘glorifying militant’ statements and the geographical proximity of J&K to Pakistan necessitate Mehbooba’s continued detention, reported Outlook. The reported reason was the government  reply to a writ petition filed by Iltija Mufti. The other former CMs Farooq Abdullah and Omar Abdullah who were also detained last year, but released a few months ago According to the Outlook report,  similar reasons were given by the government when seeking continuation of detention of Omar Abdullah as well.  Omar was eventually released.

The news reports have added that “J&K government also argued that entertaining Mehbooba’s petition would open flood gates of other petitions, ‘which in absence of any special ground to make a departure, needs to be avoided.’ The government argues that releasing Mehbooba would pose an “threat of deterioration of maintaining the public order,” in the UT of J&K.  The report added that the PSA dossier referred to Mehbooba as a “daddy’s girl” and reportedly compared her with “Kota Rani, a medieval queen in Kashmir, who rose to power through dubious means such as poisoning her opponents”. Strangely the dossier also makes comments on the marital status of Mehbooba Mufti, terming that it did not “last long”, reported Outlook magazine.

The Peoples Democratic Party MP Mir Mohammad Fayaz had earlier raised the issue of his party chief’s continued detention, in the Rajya Sabha. He reminded the House that “The former Chief Minister ran a coalition government with the ruling party at the Centre, and now she is branded as an anti-national,” said the news report. On July 31, her detention had been extended  for another three months by the J&K government. She is lodged in  ‘Fairview’, which was once her official residence as the Chief Minister, and has now been declared as a “subsidiary jail”. 

Interestingly the PDP president’s incarceration is being called illegal and demands for her release have only come from those considered her political adversaries.  Former Union Minister Saifuddin Soz, himself reportedly under ‘house arrest’ has demanded that the government release Mehbooba Mufti “with an apology”.  He had issued a statement recently and said the “The J&K UT administration cannot convince anybody in the system that there was any justification for jailing dozens of mainstream leaders for no fault of theirs.” He added, “It is a shame on the administration that Ms Mehbooba Mufti happens to be in jail, unconstitutionally. The administration should think that the incarceration against the Kashmir mainstream leadership has earned it nothing except infamy and rebuke,” stated a report in The National Herald. Congress leader Rahul Gandhi had also released just before the first anniversary of the abrogation came around. He had said that “India’s democracy is damaged when GOI illegally detains political leaders. It’s high time Mehbooba Mufti is released.” 

In January 2019 Mehbooba Mufti had said that the “alliance with BJP was like taking ‘glass of poison’ and ‘jumping into fire’.” The Outlook had then reported that  Mehbooba said her father Mufti Mohammad Sayeed had hoped that the alliance between the two parties would lead to dialogue between India and Pakistan over Kashmir. It was reported that she had also said that her party was clear that a solution to the Kashmir issue was not possible without talking to Pakistan, adding that in the alliance of two years and two months she could only work for two months. 

Related:

MHA: Over 200 still detained under PSA in J&K

Shah Faesal, 2 PDP members all set to be released

PSA – a tool for Centre to rid the valley of political resistance?

J & K’s PSA Law: How Draconian is Draconian?

100 Days into J&K Reorganisation, Fake News Blurs Reality

Kashmir reappears on the UNSC radar after 49 years!

The post Why is the BJP-led gov’t still keeping former ally Mehbooba Mufti under detention? appeared first on SabrangIndia.

In a written reply to the Legislative Assembly of Jammu and Kashmir in January 2017, the then-Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti stated that from 2007 to 2016, over 2,400 were detained the Public Security Act (PSA), of which about 58% were quashed by courts. The Chief Minister stated in the Assembly in January 2018 that 525 people had been detained under the PSA in 2016, and 201 in 2017.

In a new report on PSA, Amnesty International India has said, “Government statistics are often inconsistent. According to information obtained through Right to Information (RTI) applications, over 1,000 people were detained under the PSA between March 2016 and August 2017.”

The report follows two earlier reports – first in 2011, titled ‘A Lawless Law’ on administrative detention under the PSA, documenting the various ways in which the use of the PSA violated international human rights law, and second in 2012, titled ‘Still a Lawless Law’, which found that concerns with the PSA and its application remain unchanged.

The new report, which Amnesty has called “briefing” revisits the PSA in its 42nd year of existence, to claim how this ‘lawless law’ is enabling violations of both Indian and international law in Jammu and Kashmir, thereby contributing to inflaming tensions between residents and state authorities.

Even as underlining that it takes “no position on the guilt or innocence of those alleged to have committed human rights abuses or recognizably criminal offences”, Amnesty believes, “However, everyone must be able to enjoy the full range of human rights guaranteed under Indian and international law. By using the PSA to incarcerate suspects without charge or trial, J&K authorities have not only gravely violated their human rights but also failed in their duty to charge and try such individuals and to punish them if found guilty in a fair trial.”

Significantly, the report doesn’t just blame the authorities, but also talks of the “failures of the judiciary”.  Excerpts:

The only feasible legal avenue open to families of PSA detainees is to file a habeas corpus petition before the J&K High Court. India’s higher judiciary is meant to act as a custodian of the Constitution of India and the rights it guarantees. The High Court has played a key role in curbing misuse of the PSA, as is evident from the cases mentioned earlier.

Between March 2016 and July 2017, the Court quashed over 80% of all detention orders on various grounds. However, the High Court has also failed to adequately defend human rights principles enshrined in the Constitution of India and international human rights law and standards. The Court has been remiss in some specific ways:

– Ignoring illegal detention: In many of the cases analyzed for this report, detainees complained of being held in illegal detention without any basis, often prior to having a PSA detention order issued against them. In some cases, minors have been illegally detained. Despite having these allegations brought to its notice, the High Court has not ordered investigations into a single instance of alleged illegal detention. In many cases, people have been detained illegally after their detention orders have been quashed by the High Court, or they have been ordered to be released on bail. Such detention amounts to open defiance of court orders. Yet the High Court has not intervened to secure the liberty of detainees.

– Not holding detaining authorities accountable: The High Court has quashed many cases of PSA detention when executive authorities have failed to show due diligence in issuing detention orders. In several cases, it has quashed successive detention orders issued against the same individual. Yet the Court has rarely held police officials or executive detaining authorities accountable for their failures, even when it has pointed them out.

Officials already protected from prosecution under immunity provisions in the PSA are further emboldened by such reluctance from the High Court. The higher judiciary in India has vast constitutional powers and courts are often known to enforce their decisions through fines, strictures and other penalties. Yet the J&K High Court has appeared hesitant to take such measures.

– Not awarding compensation: The Supreme Court of India has awarded compensation in the past in cases of human rights violations, including illegal detentions. Most writ petitions filed in cases of PSA detention before the High Court raise the issue of compensation, and the Court sometimes mentions these requests, yet never acts on them.

As advocate Parvez Imroz says:

“Why is the police so insensitive to the judiciary’s orders? The reason is that the courts have failed to assert themselves. I do not have a single case in my knowledge where the detaining authorities have been questioned for passing the illegal orders, for example passing the detention orders against the minors or invalid persons. Or people who are remotely connected with the violence or with any political activity. Not a single case is there where the courts have ordered compensation to be paid to the detenues, though we have lot of cases in the Supreme Court.

“The procedural safeguards are being violated by the detaining authorities because there is no accountability…It is not only about the impunity of the armed forces here, which is much talked about. There is also impunity of the bureaucracy… The courts have completely caved in. Judicial impunity has emboldened the executive to pass the orders repeatedly.”

The apparent reluctance of the High Court to go beyond examining procedural issues, and deal with substantive protection of the rights of PSA detainees, has created an odd equilibrium in Jammu and Kashmir, where authorities flout the limited safeguards of the PSA with impunity, the Court quashes their orders, and authorities then issue new orders, for the cycle to start again. Authorities do not face any penalties for their actions, and the Court’s quashing of orders ensures that a façade of the rule of law is maintained.

The costs of this equilibrium are borne, then, by PSA detainees, whose rights continue to be routinely violated.

Courtesy: Counter View

The post J&K High Court failed to adequately defend human rights principles enshrined in Constitution appeared first on SabrangIndia.

 
New Delhi: A plea moved before the Delhi High Court has sought direction to the Election Commission to ban National Conference’s leaders Farooq Abdullah, Omar Abdullah and Peoples Democratic Party’s Mehbooba Mufti from participating in the Lok Sabha poll as their “statements are against the Indian constitution”.
 
All the three leaders are the former Chief Ministers of Jammu and Kashmir.
 
The plea moved by advocate Sanjiv Kumar has also sought a direction to book them under various charges, including sedition and inciting hatred, of the Indian Penal Code and the Information Technology Act.
 
“Issue directions to the respondent number 1 (EC) to ban the NC and the PDP from Lok Sabha election 2019 as respondent number 4 and 6 (the three leaders) are presidents of their respective parties and represent their parties and their ideologies,” it alleged.
 
The petition filed by him alleged that the statements given by the three leaders were against the Constitution, adding that the court or the ECI should bar or impose conditions on their entry into the general elections.
 
“Will it not be a mockery of democracy to allow those people and parties to participate in the Lok Sabha election when people/parties openly call for sedition to divide Mother India on the basis of religion (Muslim majority) and two prime ministers (for Jammu and Kashmir and the rest of India)…,” it said.
 
The plea is yet to come up for hearing.
 
Reacting to this, People’s Democratic Party (PDP) chief Mehbooba Mufti tweeted, “Why waste time in court. Wait for BJP to scrap Article 370. It will automatically debar us from fighting elections since Indian constitution won’t be applicable to J & K anymore. Na samjho gay tou mit jaouge aye Hindustan walo. Tumhari dastaan tak bhi na hogi dastaano main (If you won’t understand, you will be finished. Your story will not be in the history)”

 Seven-phase Lok Sabha polls are set to begin on April 11 and will go on till May 19. The counting of votes will take place on May 23.
 
With inputs from agencies.
 

The post Plea in Delhi HC to ban Farooq, Omar Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti in LS polls appeared first on SabrangIndia.

The tragedy of Kashmir right from the start of the struggle of its people for emancipation has been their political leaders behaving like the “Dream Merchants”. The people have been shown from the very start some beautiful dreams which would ensure their total emancipation from the miseries of centuries of outside rule. The leaders, even though with sincerity start themselves believing in those unrealizable dreams butwhen they fail to realise these, they suffer, what one can call a “Dialectical Illusion”!

The famous German philosopher Immanuel Kant wrote the “Critique of Pure Reason” in 1781 attempting to determine the limits and scope of metaphysics. He tries to dwell on the faculty of reason in respect of all knowledge after which one may strive independently of any experience thereby allowing one to reach a decision about the possibility and impossibility of various things. A “Dialectical Illusion” results when principles of understanding are attempted to be applied beyond the limits of understanding. In Kashmir, most of the so called mainstream politicians seem to be suffering from a dialectical illusion! They give us a thesis, then project its anti-thesis and then try to create a synthesis in which they go beyond the limits of their understanding and go into the dialectical illusion! The example is the recent joining of a brilliant young man the so called political “mainstream”!

If one goes by pure logic, there is a crystal clear underlying political problem in Kashmir. There is no illusion about it. It has been there for last 70 years or so. Right from 1947 our leaders have been taking us round and round. No one has given a clear cut goal and the path to reach it. The main reason being their getting confused by a dialectal illusion! It is a fact of history that Kashmiris have been suffering under foreign rule for last four centuries starting from the Mughal annexation of the valley by treachery. After four centuries of oppression and the worst kind of slavery there was an awaking. Kashmiris got a tall and forceful leader whom they expected to be a Messiah getting them freedom from centuries of slavery. The leader did lead them to almost the ultimate freedom but unfortunately he suffered from the dialectical illusion. Instead of the absolute freedom, he compromised for conditional freedom on the advice of another erstwhile Kashmiri. This mistake cost his people drearily and they are still paying for it in blood! As for the leader, he suffered another illusion and terming his 22 years struggle as waywardness he committed virtual political hara-kiri! He is the only dead person in Kashmir whose grave is guarded by the security forces!

After his first dethronement in 1953, Kashmir witnessed many political leaders but most were suffering from a deliberate illusion for their own selves and for their families. They did not jump into the Frey for the sake of the people. In fact, the first to betray him was his own lieutenant who had always stood by him. All the leaders who came after him suffered from the same illusion. They did not take a long term view of the situation but kept a narrow and a limited vision of immediate betterment of the people in material terms. They suffered the illusion that this will solve all the problems. The material well-being was the main consideration. The general masses too who had been living a life of pecuniary for ages were also swayed by this material bonanza and the higher ideals took a back seat. This also gave rise to nepotism as the people wielding the power tried to ameliorate their own dynasties. The ethical and moral values took a back seat!

During all these years some occasions came when there was direct confrontation between the ideals cherished by the masses for their ultimate goal and the vision sold to them by these “Dream Merchants”, political leaders of the so called mainstream. Even some of them supposedly honest in their dealings suffered the illusion of achieving the ultimate goal through the present political set ups. Ultimately, this escape from reality resulted in violent confrontation as the true and sincere ideals were not tolerated but brutally suppressed. This upheaval was given the name of militancy. The most violent episode claiming over a hundred thousand lives occurred in the nineties of the last century and was used fully by our neighbor to push their own view point. In a way the militant struggle initiated by locals for ultimate freedom was hijacked by them to further their own ideology.

The turmoil of the nineties gave birth to a new generation of Kashmiris. They are under no illusion, dialectical or the other. They are aiming for the final and the ultimate emancipation which they call, “Azadi”, the total freedom! They are not ready to compromise at any cost. Somehow, after facing persecution and harassment for decades, they have come to believe that armed struggle is the only way to achieve final and total emancipation. No one is able to convince them that a few hundred armed youth cannot displace the fully entrenched third largest army in the world! It is like giving mosquito bites to a huge elephant! The masses are following them even to the extent of trying to save them if they get trapped in a cordon of the security forces. The leaders preaching a peaceful struggle to achieve the final goal seem to have become irrelevant. The only solution offered by them is an endless call for shutdowns which harm locals economically than achieving any positive result!

Kashmir seems to have got stuck in what is called a “catch-22 situation”! Dictionary defines the phrase as “A catch-22 is a situation in which there is no good solution or resolution possible because of the way in which the factors of the solution relate to each other”. In order to come out of this situation, all our politicians have to come out of the “Dialectical Illusion” they are suffering from and face the facts as these are actually on the ground. The first reality is the existence of a basic political problem concerning the future of the state regardless of the fact that it may be a complicated one. The election fever is on and all the mainstream politicians are as usual creating the same “Dialectal Illusion” even though they very well know that nothing is going to happen unless the basic fact is recognised. Unfortunately, the common people keep on believing these “Dream Merchants” who have no aim except amelioration of their own selves and their families. Thus the illusion carries on and on and the people pay for the same with the blood of innocent youth! The only way out of the “Catch-22” situation is an all-inclusive unconditional dialogue among all the stakeholders.

Mohammad Ashraf, I.A.S. (Retired), Former Director General Tourism, Jammu & Kashmir

Courtesy: Counter Current
 

The post The “Dream Merchants” of Kashmir! appeared first on SabrangIndia.

Almost all political parties barring Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has expressed their displeasure for not holding the state assembly elections simultaneously, however Political experts in Kashmir believe that the decision might help former Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti in gaining the ground for the assembly elections.

The ex-CM has been left with limited options ahead of coming elections and has now started to pick up different issues for her electoral gains.
Sources said Mufti has asked for party carders to gear-up for Lok Sabha elections. There are 6 seats for Lok Sabha for the state: 3 from Kashmir valley, 2 from Jammu and 1 from Ladakh. In 2014, the PDP won all the 3 seats of Kashmir valley, while BJP won the 3 seats including one from Ladakh.

Sources said except North Kashmir PDP is yet to announce candidates for rest of the state but has asked workers to reach out to masses and prepare for the upcoming election.

With an eye on polls, Mufti has threatened to launch an agitation until the ban on Jamaat-i-Islami is not revoked. Last week, she led a massive protest rally in Anantnag district against the Centre’s ban on Jamaat-e-Islami (JeI) for allegedly having “close ties with militant outfits” and demanded revocation of the decision.

Her Party workers also protested in many districts of the state. Ever since the centre decided to ban JeI, she has been speaking against the move, saying that the ban is an ‘Act of Vengeance’ by the Centre.

However, experts in the Valley see this as a mere political gimmick to hoodwink the common masses of Kashmir ahead of upcoming elections.
Prof. Noor Ahmad Baba, a political scientist at the Central University of Kashmir believes that the PDP is trying to rehabilitate her party because of the setbacks received during her tenure.

Baba says Mufti wrongly believes that Jamaat followers might vote for her in the upcoming elections and she is trying to impress them. “But this time that maybe not the case keeping in view of the situation that PDP has created in last 4 years,” Baba says.

Noted political analyst Sheikh Showkat Hussain says that Mehbooba Mufti is trying to stay relevant as she has lost ground in the Valley. He doesn’t believe that this might help her.
 

It is believed that Jamaat carders helped People’s Democratic Party in 2002 Assembly elections- allegations that are denied by Jamaat leaders from time to time. However, sources in Jammat privacy to TwoCircles.net said some supporters of Jamaat helped the PDP led by Mufti Mohammad Sayeed to power. However, this step was taken to defeat the National Conference (NC) whom Jamaat had opposed from the beginning.

“When we look into History, Jamaat has suffered huge damage..its members were targeted by both Govt. and its militia knows as Ikhwan. Houses were burned; members were killed, tortured and disappeared for just being with Jamaat. Most of the damage was done when National Conference was in power, so in order to get some relief, we pushed Mufti Sayeed to power and it was a mutual understanding,” said a cadre of Jamaat-i-Islami who wished to remain anonymous due to security reasons.
 

                              
 

He further says it didn’t help them and they realise that they are no different from other mainstream parties.

“And if you see presently how Mehbooba is protesting against Jamaat ban… she thinks that she might get sympathy from our carders but that will not be the case,” he adds.

Er. Rasheed, a firebrand politician and an independent legislator from North Kashmir, says that she has lost credibility and thus beating drums in the Valley for electoral purposes.

“Why doesn’t she take all the regional parties on board and meet Prime Minister Modi for revocation of the ban, if she means business? She is doing this to gain the lost ground,” he said.

PDP spokesperson Najmu Saqib argued that protesting against Jamaat ban has nothing to do with upcoming elections and that opposition is creating a false narrative which is not based on facts.

“It was during the National Conference’s rule that Jamaat members were beaten, arrested and forced to migrate. NC workers burned houses of hundreds of workers, they would be without electricity, roads and other basic faculties and when Mufti sahib came into power… they were living a dignified life,” Saqib says.

He said Jamaat is a legitimate organisation and they are not protesting for electoral purposes, adding, “every party in Kashmir knows that people belonging with Jamaat-i-Islami don’t believe in the election process and they don’t vote.”

Courtesy: Two Circles
 

The post Mehbooba Mufti lends support to Jamaat to revive election fortunes appeared first on SabrangIndia.

Photo Caption: Mehbooba Mufti: What now?

She used the same strategy before the 2014 assembly elections for gaining the ground which was slowly and stealthily loosening from the grip of National Conference (NC). She used to visit the militant families in far off places to condole the demise of their wards. In the mass agitation of 2010, when over 120 civilians were killed during the NC government, she used to wail in the assembly make her presence felt on the streets of Srinagar city where there would be a good media vigil to make the people believe that she is their true saviour.

She hasn’t left the home of anyone unvisited among the victims of the gory year of 2010 but what happened in 2016 when her party was in power is not that important for her because they were killed while fulfilling the dream of her father, the late Mufti Muhammad Sayeed.
In 2009, she was seen on the roads holding the pictures of Shopian rape-murder victims Asiya and Nelofer and many times broken in the assembly while demanding justice for the duo. All this appeared to be a drama which subdued subsequently after they came to power in 2014. The killing cycle which was left incomplete by NC was carried forward by her government and her tear ducts slowly dried down.

The governor of the state SP Malik has rightly termed her recent visits to the deceased families in Pulwama and Shopian as her political compulsion. There she demanded action against the harassment of the militant families. There is not an iota of sympathy and generosity visible in her visits but cynicism mere deceit. Because her regime not only saw the killings of militants but civilians, policemen and non-state subjects as well. If she terms them as martyrs now, then what should the earlier ones be called?

One wonders about the fickle nature of Ms Mufti which changes faster than the weather in Kashmir. She is synonymous to the rolling stone which scarcely gets a moss over it. The sympathy for the militants and their families evoked in her should not be taken as a surprise because the long history of inscrutable politics with the trail of betrayals is before the people.

BJP on the other hand is not liked in the Valley, but unlike NC and PDP they are not hypocrites. They are straight forward with a clear strategy. Now when Mehbooba Mufti again started showing sympathy towards the pellet victims and militants terming them as the collective loss of nation, BJP reminds her of the toffee remark she made in the mass uprising of 2016, when a minor who had gone to an army camp with a stone in his hand was pierced by bullets. Exposing her BJP has shown Ms Mufti her real place.

Ms Mufti claims that she cared for the children who were pushed towards the army camps and police stations by some people for their vested interests. But when a child does something wrong, he should be rebuked, refrained from repeating the same activity. Moreover some concrete steps and initiatives should be taken to halt his extreme destructive steps. This is called care. Not an arrogant remark of “Has he gone to fetch the toffee!” Where is care in this remark for the children who are consumed on the daily basis?

The care was never visible in the five years of the PDP-BJP coalition. PDP launched their government by ditching the people by allying with the BJP in 2014. Having got the mandate of the people to keep BJP out of the state it joined hands with the same party to form the government. All they cared about was the chair and cared a hoot for the people who voted them to power.

The condition of the local populace during their regime remained the same as under the NC led government, rather worsened a bit. The PDP drastically failed to emancipate the people out of their conundrum. Ms Mufti’s sole concern now is to somehow regain the faith of the people in her party. Apologies, visits and martyr remarks are nothing. There is lot more to come.

The Author is studying English Literature at Aligarh Muslim University. He hails from Frisal Kulgam in Kashmir and can be reached at pala.abid@gmail.com/ Twitter Handle: paul_aabid

This story was first published on countercurrents.org. It has been slightly edited in places for clarity.

The post Why is Mehbooba Mufti now apologizing to people of Kashmir? appeared first on SabrangIndia.

It pains me to write this letter to you. Of late, I have become insecure and scared with the fact that you are my chief minister as you have failed us just like the successive governments in Jammu and Kashmir. I am writing to you today to bring to your kind attention that you have let us down on various occasions. Be it Human rights violations in the valley or Jammu Chambers of Commerce’s call to identify and Kill Rohingyas or the rally by Hindu Ekta Manch in Kathua, you have failed to act.

Though I understand you are helpless because of your political alliance but just think is it right for you as the Chief Minister to not take action against people who are killing people and supporting and protecting rapists. Your one tweet or statement cannot change things. Rallies of such kind are alarming and send wrong message to people. India has already suffered enough in the name of mob mentality, but your silence makes you equally responsible for any harm that may happen in future because once these hooligans know they have a free hand, they won’t be afraid from killing people.

This rally reflects a worrisome pattern of planned communal violence that could happen in the region. We haven’t yet recovered from the horrific incidents of Kishtwar and Jammu 1989 Hindu Sikh riots. I lost a family member in 1989 and we don’t want this madness again. People of Jammu are living in harmony and enjoy good relationship with each other. But rallies such as this are first step in planning of the communal violence and the recent example of Kasganj, where the first rally was taken out on 15th August 2017 and communities were attacked on 26th January 2018, is an example of how things can blow out of proportion.

As a law abiding citizen, I want to know how did they get permissions in first place? And if they did not have permissions why did police allow them? Why aren’t these people immediately detained? We have lost an 8 year old child and rallies such as these are intimidating and a case of abetment must be filed against everybody participating in it.

I hope you will understand Kathua minor girl was someone’s ladli. Successive governments have failed to deliver justice to victims of Kunan poshpora, please show some courage this time and take stern action against those supporting the rapists and protect the family of minor girl. If you stay quiet today, you will discourage thousands of women who wish to report against sexual violence. And if the perpetrators go free, history will never forgive you.

It is my humble request to you to offer reparation to the family of the victim and take stern action against those who are trying to protect a rapist. It is the duty of the court to decide whether the accused is innocent or has been framed. Your job as the elected representative of the people is to bring peace and harmony to your state and make sure each citizen feels safe and protected under your leadership. I urge you to please take action now and send a strong message so that the situation can be controlled and it doesn’t turn into something that we all regret in future.

Sanam Sutirath Wazir is from Jammu and Human rights activist based in Delhi.

Courtesy: http://www.indiaresists.com
 

The post Dear Mehbooba Mufti, You Failed Us: A Jammu Citizen’s Open Letter on the Hindutva Rally in Jammu in Defense of A Rapist appeared first on SabrangIndia.

Image: Kashmir Observer

The desperation in the tone matched the unusual bonhomie between her and her main political adversary, Farooq Abdullah, patron of National Conference (NC), on August 8. Media reports said that Mehbooba called on Farooq to discuss the current political situation in the state. Article 35 (A) was said to be the main agenda of the meeting that was held in a ‘cordial’ atmosphere, as vouched by Omar Abdullah in a tweet. Ever since, other opposition parties including the Congress have called for a united voice against this move: rising above party and partisan politics and getting together, in one voice, against any tinkering or weakening the article. They have also suggested an all party delegation led by chief minister Mehbooba Mufti to petition the Centre on this issue; to apprise the people there about the disastrous fallout of the weakening or abrogating Article 35 A.

The row over Article 35 (A) has not only brought Mehbooba’s Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and NC on the same page but also the separatists who have called for protests against moves to tamper with the Article 35 (A). The move is seen as having a potential of inflaming the already tense and sensitive situation in the state.

At the heart of this controversy, which is likely to throw up unique political equations at a certain level, is a petition filed by an RSS backed NGO in the Supreme Court challenging the validity of this constitutional provision. The petition has been pending in the apex court since two years.

Despite persistent pleas by the state government, the Centre has refused to challenge this legal intervention in the Supreme Court, enhancing the dangers of a possible lopsided hearing on the issue. Owing to the overtly sensitive politics of the state and in view of the historic special status, the issue assumes even greater significance.  

Article 35(A) empowers the J&K legislature to define “permanent residents” of the state. This section was added to Article 35 through a Presidential Order called The Constitution (Application to Jammu and Kashmir) Order 1954, issued under Article 370. The order superseded an earlier order issued in 1950, which provided the framework for division of powers between J&K and New Delhi under Article 370. The Article incorporates the safeguards for the citizens of the state provided in the state subject law promulgated by the Maharaja Hari Singh-led government in 1927.

Article 370 which remains the constitutional link between India and Jammu and Kashmir and also guarantees special status to the state stands eroded today and diluted through a slew of central amendments right since 1950s. The permanent resident provision, protected by the Article 35 A, today remains the core of this special status that the state enjoys. Striking down this crucial provision, Article 35 A, which was not passed by the parliament or ratified by the state legislature but came as a presidential order, may create a constitutional crisis, impacting several other such presidential orders altering the state’s special status, including the recent one on GST. 

Any debate on Article 35 (A) naturally invokes one on Article 370 as well, as the former was supposed to be a clarification provision to the latter. In 2015, a division bench of J&K High Court interpreted Article 370 as a permanent provision. “The Article 370, notwithstanding its title ‘temporary provision’ is a permanent provision of the Constitution. It cannot be abrogated, repealed or even amended as mechanism provided under Clause (3) of Article 370 is no more available”, pronounced the court in October 2015. Even if this verdict be challenged, a debate on these issues re-open the entire debate on accession, which is hinged to the constitutional provisions of Article 370 that form the vital link between Jammu and Kashmir and rest of the state.

The legal and constitutional technicality apart, the debates on Article 35 (A) and Article 370 are red rags that will further muddy the waters in Jammu and Kashmir, politically as well as socially, with dangers of not just a more lethal backlash in the Valley but also possible polarisation of state on dangerously communal lines. The issue thus brings political adversaries, NC and PDP, as well as Hurriyat on the same page. The consequences of attempts to tinker with the special status of the state in any way have been well grasped by political parties across the spectrum, barring the BJP. All of them have been advocating for initiation of dialogue and confidence building measures for resolution of Kashmir dispute. The BJP-RSS agenda, on the other hand, is to take away whatever little privileges the state enjoys owing to its special status.

In the midst of this fresh crisis, another petition pleading for striking down Article 35 (A) and Section 6 of the Jammu and Kashmir constitution has been filed in the apex court by a Kashmiri Pandit woman, Charu Walikhanna, who has maintained that she was denied the right to buy land in Jammu and Kashmir because she had married outside the state. The petition contends that the Article 35 (A) perpetuates gender inequality and strips a woman marrying outside the state of her permanent resident status. This narrow interpretation of the law, which is actually silent about gender, is erroneous and based on ignorance. 

Section 6 of the J&K constitution lays down: “Nothing in foregoing provisions of this part shall derogate from the power of the State legislature to make any law defining the classes the persons who are, or shall be permanent residents of the State.” It further states, “A Bill marking provision for any of the following matters, namely:
(a) defining or altering the definition of, the classes of persons who are, or shall be, permanent residents of the State;
(b) conferring on permanent residents any special rights or privileges;
(c) regulating or modifying any special rights or privileges enjoyed by permanent residents; shall be deemed to be passed by either House of the Legislature only if it is passed by a majority of not less than two-thirds of the total membership of that House. It also states, “The permanent residents of the State shall have all the rights guaranteed to them under the Constitution of India.” 
 
The Article 35 (A), thus, defines and qualifies the permanent resident of Jammu and Kashmir as well as guarantees fundamental rights and right to equality to these citizens as per the Indian constitution. Its silence on the rights of women marrying outside the side is settled by the clause that upholds the citizens’ constitutional rights which make no distinction on basis of caste, creed, religion or gender.

The apprehensions raised by the woman moving the Supreme Court are not without reason, however. The flawed interpretation stems from myths perpetuated for a long time, made worse by politicking by political parties over the issue.

In 1960s, the then Jammu and Kashmir revenue minister issued the orders for stamping the permanent resident certificates of women with a stamp saying, “Valid till marriage”. Noted political analyst Balraj Puri writes, “The fact is that neither the state subject law of 1927 nor the act under the state constitution (after which the earlier law in any case lapsed), provide for cancellation of the state subject; nor for different treatment of men and women. The state subject of Mrs. Ghulam Kabra and her right to inherit property was, for instance, challenged in the State High Court as early as in 1939 in Maharaja’s time on the ground that though a State Subject by birth, she had lost that status by marrying a non-state subject. The Court held that Ghulam Kabra was legal heir of the property which she could inherit.” (PUCL Bulletin, April 2004)

On the executive order of 1960s, Puri writes, “this order which lacked the force of law was differently interpreted.” He quoted the case of daughter of a senior bureaucrat of the state, SAS Qadri, who married, Mehmood-ul-Rehman, an IAS officer from outside the state, in 1973. “Her status as a permanent resident of the state and her right to inherit property of her father under that was declared valid by the Revenue Minister on the ground that ‘the constitution of Jammu and Kashmir or any other law does not provide for deprivation of a permanent resident of the state of his or her status’.”

Similarly, in 2002, a full bench of the High Court in a case, State of Jammu and Kashmir vs Dr Sushila Sawhney, said that daughter of a permanent resident of the State of Jammu and Kashmir will not lose status as permanent resident of the State on marriage with a person who is not permanent resident of the State of Jammu and Kashmir. One judge struck a discordant note with the argument that the rights of the woman should be limited only to inheritance of property.

Several similar petitions pending in the courts filed by women whose seniority or jobs were challenged on grounds that they had married non permanent residents since the 60s were also clubbed together by the Supreme Court which finally sent them back to the state government with the direction to come up with a suitable way that addresses the issue. 

Later, the state government appealed in the Supreme Court against the high court judgement of 2002. In 2004 the then PDP government in 2004 withdrew the appeal and moved a Bill in the Legislative Assembly seeking disqualification of a woman marrying a non-State Subject. The bill was passed in the assembly unanimously without anyone raising a whimper but failed the test on the floor of the upper house of state legislature. The BJP turned the issue into an opportunity to give the controversy a saffron colour by equating the state’s autonomy with gender oppression. The row took an ugly turn with regional divides being played up by BJP, Congress and Valley based parties and soon assumed communal overtones. 

 (To say that Jammu opposes Article 370 and Article 35 (A) would be an over-simplified and also an erroneous view. Interestingly, when it comes to preserving the interests of locals, there has been strong opposition to attempts to tamper with the article. Last winter, chemist shops in Jammu were shut for three days to protest against the PDP-BJP coalition government’s decision to allow a non-state subject to open 57 pharmacy shops in violation of the Article 370.)

In the face of stiff resistance from Jammu based women groups and some political parties in 2004 to the Permanent Resident Disqualification Bill, the government created a select house committee to look into the lacunae which left the law open to interpretation. The contents of the report tabled by the committee are not fully known but it has not sought any changes in the law, nor advised anyone’s disqualification. Successive governments, thereafter, have desisted from bringing back the contentious bill in the legislature. More significantly, the state subject certificates of women no longer bear the stamp ‘Valid till marriage’ since the last one decade. 

There is no way that legally the right of the woman to purchase property or retain her state subject right can be challenged. Article 6 of the J&K Constitution clearly upholds the right to equality as laid down in the Indian Constitution. Article 35 (A) clearly makes no reference to women losing their rights as permanent resident.

This kind of politicking in challenging the women’s status in courts or within the legislature has, thus, stood on a sticky wicket. There are enough safeguards in the existing laws to ensure that women’s status as permanent residents of Jammu and Kashmir cannot be challenged.

Walikhanna’s petition thus raises anxieties that are exaggerated and based on myths, deliberate or otherwise. Is her petition based on presumptions? Did some officials of revenue department prevent her from going ahead with purchasing land? Is it possible that perpetuation of myths and lies has created space for multiple interpretations of the law? Is it just a case of ignorance or a case of poor implementation of law? It is neither. The petitioner in question was never a permanent resident of the state and is Kashmiri by ancestry. Her petition that is based on the rejection of her claims to residentship of Jammu and Kashmir, made in a letter to the Governor, mentions that her family was part of the Kashmiri Pandit exodus during the Afghan period in the 18th century, at a time when the state was not even formed.

Interestingly, her petition to the Supreme Court includes the case of Sushila Sawhney, in which the High Court ruled against depriving her of her permanent resident status after her marriage with a non-permanent resident. The petition does not mention the verdict but selectively picks up the court’s observation (in Sushila’s case), “no law defining the Classes of persons, who are or shall be the permanent residents of the State has so far been enacted by the State Legislature in exercise of its power under section 8 of the State of Jammu and Kashmir Constitution” to argue that “under the guise of Article 370 and 35A, the men and women state subjects are subjected to different treatments and discriminated based on gender.”

These anxieties are as misplaced as the apprehensions created in the Valley of a demographic change through marriage patterns. That having been said, any bid to strike down the Article 35 (A) does enhance the dangers of alteration of the demographic profile of the state. Such fears are not off the mark.

For decades, the RSS has had a historic penchant for suggesting that the demography of the state needs to be changed to resolve the Kashmir issue permanently. Two months ago, union home minister Rajnath Singh suggested, without spelling anything, that the government had found a ‘permanent solution’ to Kashmir dispute. In recent weeks, Article 35 (A) has been raised, again, by right wing groups who are calling for a debate or simply demanding to revoke it along with Article 370. As for Walikhanna’s case, it is not known if it is inspired by presumptions based on half baked knowledge or plain mischief.

In this current context, for Kashmiris suspicious of the designs of the Hindu right wing, it is not difficult to connect the dots and see the RSS’ historic resolve, Rajnath Singh’s remarks, the present discourse, the Centre openly favouring a larger debate and the petitions in the apex court challenging the state’s special status as part of the same project. There is enough potential in the controversy for further causing provocation in an already volatile Valley, besides polarizing rest of the state on communal lines. The dangers of stirring this hornet’s nest are unimaginable. 

Related Articles
Unravelling the Article 370 Rhetoric & Hysteria
J&K: Dangerous Demographics: Linking Article 370 with the Pandits’ return

The post Challenging Article 35(A): A sinister plot appeared first on SabrangIndia.