By: Afaq Bhat
Srinagar: Political activities in Jammu and Kashmir have once again come to a halt and it appears that politicians have adopted a wait and watch policy.
In June this year, Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, chaired an All Party Meet (APM) with J&K leaders and offered them to become a part of the development process. After the meeting ended most of the political leaders, including Dr Farooq Abdullah, his son Omar Abdullah, Sajad Lone, Muzaffar Hussain Beigh, M Y Tarigami, Altaf Bukhari and others stated that the meeting is a beginning and more is in the offing.
An analyst while talking to Precious Kashmir said, “After the Prime Minister chaired the APM on J&K enough hints were dropped about restoring J&K’s statehood but the leaders were told in clear terms that Article 370 won’t come back and there is no possibility about the clock being reversed.”
He said, “At that point of time it appeared that most of the traditional politicians have accepted the change in J&K status-quo and they would revive their activities. But during the past 2 months nothing much has happened. None of the political parties have initiated the process to restart their activities and reach out to the people.”
It’s in place to mention here that when the politicians were released from detention last year, Kashmir based parties had come together and formed Peoples Alliance for Gupkar Declaration (PAGD) with an aim to seek restoration of J&K’s special status. “As on date the PAGD seems to have crumbled, the Peoples Conference led by Sajad Lone pulled out from the amalgam soon after the District Development Council elections ended, while NC and PDP leaders seem to be standing far away from each other. It appears that politicians have realized that mere promises are not enough to lure people and New Delhi is in no mood to come for their rescue,’ said an observer.
“Politicians are maintaining a low profile as they are aware of the fact that narratives and slogans which they had built during all these years have no takers left. It appears that most of them are waiting for the delimitation process to get completed. Once the process is over a clearer picture will emerge about the role of the Kashmir based politicians,” he added.
“After delimitation Jammu and Kashmir regions will have almost equal number of assembly seats. It won’t be easy for any Kashmiri leader to become a chief minister as Jammu is all set to give tough competition to Kashmir. Things are not going to be that easy,” he said.
