The Green of the valley has regularly witnessed the blood of militants, Kashmiris, personnel from armed forces and now even those of tourists. On May 2 this year, a school bus was stoned leading to a class 2 student suffering a head injury. This is the background in which Mehbooba Mufti, the Chief Minister of Kashmir, sitting on the heap of a coalition, which is ideologically spilt down the middle, requested for a unilateral ceasefire in Kashmir in the holy month of Ramadan. Kashmir lately has witnessed increased violence as the Central Government, which is calling the shots in Kashmir, has adopted an iron fist policy, in place of the earlier one wherein it was partly sensitive to the grievances of local population. It is during this period that the fake encounter of Burhan Wani unleashed a series of protests, and the disgruntled and alienated youth intensified their favorite method of protest, ‘stone pelting’. Now the frustration levels of the protesters are so high that they are not scared of the consequences of the repressive steps of the State.

The earlier UPA era of ‘dialogue with firm handling’ has given way to the muscular, hyper nationalist, high handed attitude, which in turn has increased incidences of violence in the valley. So far in 2018, forty militants, twenty four soldiers and thirty seven civilians have lost their lives. While the PDP earlier was talking separatist language, it later tied up with the Hindu nationalist BJP, which has been asking for abolition of article 370 (the autonomy clause), for the sake of grabbing power. The BJP is wearing its anti minority stance on its sleeves and is out to undermine the Muslim majority of the state. Mehbooba Mufti is in a Catch-22 situation; neither can she implement policies which can sooth local sentiments nor is she able to counter the high handed Hindutva policies of its ally BJP. Mufti is forced to remain a mute witness to the Centre’s high handed attitude in Kashmir, barring probably the lone example of Kathua rape and murder where she could assert herself and the BJP leaders had to bite the dust.

The present scenario, worsening by the day, may affect tourism, which is the prime source of revenue for the State. The plight of the average Kashmiri needs empathy as with BJP rule in the Centre, matters have taken an adverse direction. The simmering discontent, which came out in the form of stone pelting, is worsening by the day due to lack of mechanisms of democratic protests and the possibility of dialogue from the authorities. The Chief Minster has been calling for a dialogue, but she has been overruled by the BJP, as the latter’s interests are to maintain the intimidating dominating attitude for its electoral and divisive Hindu nationalist goals.

Most of the times; all the blame for the discontent among the people is put on instigation from Pakistan. The fact is that Kashmiris are dissatisfied due to multiple factors, role of Pakistan being just one of these. The Al Qaeda clones are another and the attitude of the army is not helping the matters in any way. The army’s basic duty is to protect the borders from the enemies. Here a civilian area is under army control for decades. The army’s attitude was exemplified when Farooq Ahmad Dar, a weaver who had come to cast his vote, was used as a human shield. The army is trying to defend the action of the officer who subjected a civilian to such an ignominy.  He was tied for over five hours and now he has to live with this humiliation all his life. Can such attitudes let the people live their lives in a normal way? The central hallmark of democracy is the process of dialogue, which is missing in the State. Many earlier leaders had attempted to bring peace; Vajpayee’s famous doctrine aimed at peace, progress and prosperity in the Valley by bringing in the spirit of Insaniyat (Humanity), Jamhuriyat (Democracy) and Kashmiriyat (Identity of the people of Kashmir). It also aimed at improving relations with Pakistan. Mehbooba Mufti is reminding the present rules of the Vajpayee doctrine, but her plea seems to be falling on deaf ears.

UPA II undertook a major step by appointing a team of interlocutors, Dileep Padgaonkar, M.M. Ansari and Radha Kumar. They undertook extensive interactions with diverse groups in the state and submitted their recommendations, which basically called for promoting autonomy of the State assembly, dialogue and improvement of relations with Pakistan. The report has been completely ignored. It is time that this report, the last major step at reconciliation on the issue, is revived to bring in peace in the Valley. The BJP’s role in the alliance has been very negative and has marginalised the Muslim community in a Muslim majority state. The question we need to ask is, can Mehbooba Mufti assert herself to articulate the democratic aspirations of the people of Kashmir? The anger of people against Mufti has grown immensely. The ceasefire declared by the government is a welcome move and it needs to be backed up by humane policies to restore peace in the Valley.