The beautiful Kashmir valley is fast turning into a valley of tears because of political and administrative corruption, unnecessary meddling by the Centre and the Congress (I) and their functionaries in the management of the affairs of Jammu and Kashmir, and the pro Pakistani sentiment growing among the people. When Dr. Farooq Abdullah was installed as the Chief Minister, it was hoped by the rest of the country that a new, possibly glorious, phase in the history of the troubled state had dawned. Unfortunately however, it has proved to be a false dawn so much so that many in the State wish that the twilight’ before the dawn marked by Jagmohan’s rule had continued. One school of thought is that at least a part of the antiIndian sentiment sweeping the valley owes to the insensitivity of the State Government to the needs and aspirations of the poorer sections of the people because, from all accounts, the rich are becoming richer. When massive unemployment is compounded by lack of enthusiasm in the Government to remove it, people (whether in Kashmir or in Punjab) tend to resort to antinational rhetoric to express their economic frustration. It is not a moot point if violence would be a daily affair if people felt that they had a government responsive to their aspirations.

It may well be true that the sudden disappearance and the equally sudden reappearance of the holy relic of Peer Dastagir Sahib may have been the handiwork of someone out to defame the Chief Minister. Dr. Abdullah;s remark that he knows who are out to destabilize the State and that he will expose them soon lend countenance to this view. But it does not explain the spate of violence which preceded it. On July 5 Jammu observed a near total bandh in response to the call of the Bar Association protesting against the manhandling of a Sessions Judge. On July 18 Army had to be called out in Leh. The following day there were bomb blasts in the capital of Ladakh, On July 17 policemen were stoned by a Sringar mob. The following day there ‘was a bomb blast in Sringar. More bombs exploded on July 19. During Kashmir bandh on July 21 two bombs went off in Srinagar. On July 22 the Army had to hold flag marches in Leh.

Who should be held responsible for this unbroken series of deplorable incidents? Dr. Abdullah has often accused Pakistan of training Kashmiri youth in terrorism (and that is not hard to believe) and the Centre for not releasing for development activity the promised funds, without however being honest enough to say whose pockets the funds released so far have gone to line. The Centre seems to believe that Mr. Fotedar and Mr. Ghulam Nabi Azad among others are as much responsible for the governance of the border state as is Dr. Farooq Abdullah. And the Congress I in Jammu and Kashmir is a house divided against itself. With so many factors combining to create uncertainty and with so many persons unable to do a thing to stem the rot, one wonders if the State is past praying for.

Article extracted from this publication >>  September 22, 1989