{"id":2311,"date":"2015-03-18T18:38:21","date_gmt":"2015-03-18T13:08:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/peacewatchkashmir.com\/blog\/?p=2311"},"modified":"2015-03-18T18:42:57","modified_gmt":"2015-03-18T13:12:57","slug":"story-of-slave-kings-and-lollypop-leaders","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/peacewatchkashmir.com\/blog\/editors-take\/story-of-slave-kings-and-lollypop-leaders\/","title":{"rendered":"Story of “Slave Kings’ and Lollypop Leaders"},"content":{"rendered":"<\/fb:like>

PUNCHLINE <\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0The \u00a0Expression of Mistrust <\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Z.G. Muhamma<\/strong>d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

So far, I have no reason to believe that it is \u2018a good cop bad cop\u2019 strategy towards attaining a bigger \u2018political goal\u2019- \u2018extinguishing the lost flicker of the resistance\u2019 by playing \u2018reconciliation card\u2019. Those who subscribe to this idea, may have some valid points grounded in history to strengthen their arguments or may even have some inside knowledge about the new arrangement that has been put in place in the state with obvious approval from Nagpur. \u00a0Nevertheless, in such a weird political situations time factor is important. That make me so far to see these as only the teething troubles of a wedlock between the warlords of warring tribes with strong history of rivalry and incompatibility.\u00a0 I am referring to the hullabaloo that Indian Parliament witnessed during the past week over the release of Masrat Allam, senior leader of the All Parties Hurriyat Conference led by octogenarian leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani.<\/p>\n

Seen in right historical perspective, these teething troubles are grounded in the inherent mistrust between the pro-India regional leadership and New Delhi. That despite these leaders displaying their testimonials of loyalty publicly the \u2018mistrust bug\u2019 has feverishly dogged them right from Sheikh Muhammad Abdullah to Bakshi Ghulam Mohammad to the present chief minister. Ironically, the present chief minister with almost fifty years pro-India political profile was introduced by the New Delhi corporate media to millions of Indians in a new avatar – \u2018secessionist Chief Minister\u2019 for making a candid statement about participation of people in 2014 elections and was given new a sobriquet- Pro-Pakistan Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir for releasing a Hurriyat leader. None of his predecessors not even Sheikh Abdullah had earned this distinction- he was denounced as \u2018Uncle Sam\u2019s stooge and Bakshi when arrested was called as \u201canti-national\u201d by the official media.<\/p>\n

The statements made by Home Minister, Raj Nath Singh and Prime Minister, Narendra Modi in the Parliament on the release of\u00a0 one of the Hurriyat leaders in fact was an open manifestations of this very mistrust. Visibly, highly worked up Home Minister giving details about the release under question told the Parliament, \u201cThis is an issue of security. \u00a0\u2026. \u00a0We are not entirely satisfied with the state home department report and have sought some clarifications. We have taken this matter very seriously.\u201d Corned by the opposition Prime Minister, Modi intervening in the debate \u00a0\u00a0outrageously told the parliament, \u201cThis has not been done with the Centre’s knowledge. No intimation of this was given to the Centre. I also lend my voice to the outrage that has been displayed in this House and across the country\u2026We have sacrificed Shyama Prasad Mukherjee for this cause so please do not give us lessons on patriotism.\u201d \u00a0In referring to Mukherjee he conveyed a strong message that the agenda of the Sangh Parivar about Kashmir had not changed. Fundamentally, the Congress leadership including Nehru and the Sangh Parivar where on the same page about Kashmir in fifties. To quote from Abdullah\u2019s autobiography, \u201cOn one occasion Jawaharlal unwittingly revealed his heart\u2019s desire and said, \u2018we have no quarrel with objective underlying agitation ( by Jan Sangh against autonomy of state). It is our desire too to see that Kashmir draws closer to India\u2019<\/p>\n

The law and order being state subject, Mufti Muhammad Syed as chief minister of the state was within his rights to release\u00a0 \u00a0Masrat Allam or any other political prisoner and detunes under PSA without courts having ordered for the same. It is a history, for making a fresh start every new government after 1947 has been releasing political prisoners, withdrawing cases of general and serious nature against students, youth and political prisoners. In 1964, when State was under the Congress rule, Chief Minister, \u00a0\u00a0Sadiq released all detained leaders and workers of the Plebiscite Front and the Political Conference and other smaller groups.\u00a0 High profile cases that had resonated even at the international level and echoed in the Security Council, like the Kashmir Conspiracy Case and the Hazratbal Murder Case were withdrawn without a clamour in New Delhi. In 1972, again when Syed Mir Qasim took over as Chief Minister of the state, hundreds of students detained under Preventive detention along with leaders and workers of all political parties including the Plebiscite Front and Jammat-e-Islamia were released from different jails in the State. Cases against students and youth were withdrawn. \u00a0\u00a0In the post- 1990 scenario when state was for six years directly under the central rule releasing of leaders of the Hurriyat Conference and \u2018combatant organizations\u2019 was a regular feature with state government. Surprisingly, there were no brickbats on these releases \u00a0\u00a0from the corporate or official media, even the\u00a0\u00a0 crazy news anchors did not cry hoarse. Instead, often revocation of detentions against Kashmir leaders earned kudos from well-meaning columnists and writes.<\/p>\n

The Home Minister mellowing down, on realizing that the detained leader Masrat Alam had not been released during the Governor\u2019s rule and not by two-week old chief minister is not significant. But, what is important is the messages that were manifest in the anguish of Narendra Modi\u2019s against his alliance partner in the state. The message strikingly says that the new dispensation in the state would not be any different than the previous one \u2013 and it would not be allowed even to exercise its own prerogatives without a nod from New Delhi. It also presages the space for the alternative voices or the voices of dissent will continue to remain shrunk. The state government like its predecessor, will not have much a say the security related issues that includes withdrawing laws like Armed Forces Special Powers Act (PSA).<\/p>\n

Perhaps, the new government has got this message and withdrawal of the circular No 13-GAD- of 2015 reiterating the status of the state flag as enshrined in the State Constitution manifests the same. \u00a0\u00a0A fellow columnists very rightly commented on the circular, \u2018In the first instance, there was no need to issue a circular\u2026The withdrawal of the circular is more intriguing than its issuance.\u2019 It definitely puts question mark on the PDP agenda but at same time suggests the alliance government will survive longer than predicted by many. The conspiracy theory about destabilization propounded by Deputy Chief Minister will add to its stability.<\/p>\n

Published in Greater Kashmir on 16-3-15<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n<\/fb:like><\/span>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

PUNCHLINE
\n\u00a0The \u00a0Expression of Mistrust
\nZ.G. Muhammad
\n\u00a0
\nSo far, I have no reason to believe that it is \u2018a good cop bad cop\u2019 strategy towards attaining a bigger \u2018political goal\u2019- \u2018extinguishing the lost flicker of the resistance\u2019 by playing \u2018reconciliation card\u2019. Those who subscribe to this idea, may have some valid points grounded in history to strengthen their arguments or may even have some inside knowledge about the new arrangement that has been put in place in the state with obvious approval from Nagpur. \u00a0Nevertheless, in such a weird political situations time factor is important. That make me so far to see these as only the teething troubles of a wedlock between the warlords of warring tribes with strong history of rivalry and incompatibility.\u00a0 I am referring to the hullabaloo that Indian Parliament witnessed during the past week over the release of Masrat Allam, senior leader of the All Parties Hurriyat …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1210,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2311","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-editors-take"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/peacewatchkashmir.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2311"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/peacewatchkashmir.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/peacewatchkashmir.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peacewatchkashmir.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peacewatchkashmir.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2311"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/peacewatchkashmir.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2311\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2313,"href":"https:\/\/peacewatchkashmir.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2311\/revisions\/2313"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peacewatchkashmir.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1210"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/peacewatchkashmir.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2311"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peacewatchkashmir.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2311"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peacewatchkashmir.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2311"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}