Anatomy of a turmoil

Anatomy of a turmoil
Jagmohan
Sep 07 2010

If we continue to look at the current turmoil in Kashmir without the “spectacles of history”, we would not be able to clearly see the multiple infections that have, over the years, invaded the body politics of the state and the Union. Unless the nature of those infections is understood, the correct line of treatment cannot evolve or be pursued.

A dispassionate survey of the last 63 years of the Kashmir scene would show how, at every crucial moment, decision-makers were carried away by short-term and superficial considerations, ignoring the distant but disastrous fallouts of their acts.

First, driven by sentimental liberalism, the notion of plebiscite was introduced in the letter accepting accession (October 27, 1947) and, later on, the United Nations was approached (January 1, 1948). At the local level, all the eggs were placed in Sheikh Abdullah’s basket. No lesson was learnt from the experience of the Plebiscite Front (1955-75), the Kashmir Conspiracy Case (1958-64), the Moi-Muqadas agitation (December 1963 to February 1964), or the underground subversive and terrorist activities of Al-Kashmir, Al-Jehad and Al-Fatah (1965-71). Nothing was done to prevent the use of mosques for whipping up mass hysteria, nor was any step taken to stop the setting up of madrasas which, aided by the resources that flowed into Kashmir during the oil boom of the Seventies, became the breeding grounds for the forces of fundamentalism.

A historic opportunity to settle the issue permanently was missed at the time of signing the Simla Agreement (1972). The Kashmir Accord (1975) was another manifestation of the habit of nursing illusions. These illusions, too, were soon shattered by such events as the Resettlement Act (1982), India-West Indies cricket match (1983) where Indian players were hooted and Pakistani flags waved, and the kidnapping and killing of Indian diplomat Ravinder Mahatre by the Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front in Birmingham (February 1984).

When the avenues to power, first of Mirza Afzal Beg and then of G.M. Shah, were blocked by Sheikh Abdullah through manipulation within the party and Dr Farooq Abdullah was declared successor, causing frustration and a split, my recommendations to the President on July 2, 1984, to impose Governor’s Rule and to use the period for building a healthy institutional framework and for nipping subversion and terrorism in the bud, were ignored. When Governor’s Rule came subsequently in 1986 and things started looking up, suddenly, without ensuring that the institutional framework created and other reform measures taken during the Governor’s Rule were not dismantled, a disastrous coalition was brought into being.

In the six-month period preceding my appointment as J&K Governor for the second term, that is, from June 19, 1989, to January 19, 1990, there were 319 violent incidents in the Valley. During the Lok Sabha elections, held on November 22, 1989, it was the militants’ diktat that was followed in the Valley. On the day of polling they declared a civil curfew and, in a tantalising gesture, placed TV sets near some polling booths with placards reading: “Anyone who will cast his vote can take this as a gift”. The authority of the state and the Central government had been eroded to such an extent that it could be made fun of this manner. Everywhere, voter turn-out was dismal.

A few days later, on December 8, to demonstrate to the world their total hold over the Valley, the militants kidnapped Dr Rubaiya Sayeed, daughter of the Union home minister, and released her only after the state and Central governments capitulated before them and conceded their demand of freeing five top terrorists. This capitulation left the general public in no doubt about the ultimate victory of the militants. This resulted in further increase of incidents of terrorism and subversion. Under a sinister plan to throw out “infidels” and “agents” of the Union, the Kashmiri Pandits were targeted and prominent members of the community were picked up for slaughter, one by one.

Shockingly, at such a time, Dr Farooq Abdullah’s government decided to further appease the militants. It released 70 hardcore militants whose detention had earlier been approved by an advisory board, headed by the Chief Justice of J&K high court. One of the released terrorists, Mohammad Daud Khan of Ganderbal, later became the deputy commander-in-chief of a terrorist outfit, Al Bakar.

By the time (January 19, 1990) I was hurriedly sent by V.P. Singh’s government for the second term, Kashmir Valley had virtually reached a point of no return. Both the advisers to the governor reported: “By all accounts, it appears that the militants were prepared to declare independence from the Indian Union”. But I frustrated all the designs of the conspirators and militants to gather at Srinagar Idgah on Friday, January 26, to declare independence and raise the flag of “Islamic Republic of Kashmir”. The rulers of Pakistan, who were hoping that it was merely a matter of a week or so that Kashmir Valley would fall in their lap like a ripe apple, were exasperated. They, therefore, resorted to attacking me personally. Benazir Bhutto, then Pakistan’s Prime Minister, came to Muzzaffarabad and incited the Kashmiris against me. Made during the course of a televised speech, her shocking chopping gesture — striking her right hand on the palm of her left hand and ranting “Jag-Jag-Mo-Mo-Han-Han” — is still remembered.

Here, it would be pertinent to draw attention to the impression that I was able to create on the Kashmiri mind during my first term (April 1984 to June 1989). When the Governor’s Rule ended on November 7, 1986, and Dr Farooq Abdullah was sworn in as chief minister, he said: “...If today three ballot boxes are kept, one for the National Conference, one for the Congress and one for you, your ballot box would be full while the other two ballot boxes would be empty”.

I have reproduced the above observation not to indulge in self-praise but to show what a grave harm was done to a great national cause by the negative forces operating in the country. They even egged on Dr Farooq Abdullah to issue virulent statements against me on the very first day of my second term. V.P. Singh’s government, too, overanxious to retain a particular votebank which, it thought, was slipping out of hand on account of the motivated propaganda that had been unleashed against my determined action in Kashmir, offered me membership of the Rajya Sabha as a nominated member. I understood. Soon, thereafter, I resigned.

The negativity of the Indian democracy and its disposition to sacrifice national interest at the altar of “votebank politics” could not have assumed a worst form.

- This is the first part of a two-part series
- Jagmohan is a former governor of J&K and a
former Union minister
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