Kashmir’s politics could have been at the world stage as an epitome of progressiveness and liberalism. However, the arena of politics of Kashmir and the hearts of the innocent people have been marred with deep wounds from the shenanigans of some selfish politicians. These dishonest and corrupt politicians always had their support in Pro-Pakistan policies and never took a strong stand for the benefit of the Kashmiris. Politicians of People’s Democratic Party like the present day Mehbooba Mufti and erstwhile late Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, always had double standards and thereby always promoted the anti-India sentiments by sponsoring policies like open borders with Pakistan, conjoint currency, fostering the development of the Rawalpindi Road among other things. This led to them nurturing an atmosphere of negativity for India in the hearts of the trusting and innocent people of Kashmir. Mehbooba Mufti never endorsed or encouraged activities that would foster prosperity of the People of Kashmir by making them one with their homeland, India.
To understand the complete game plan of Mehbooba Mufti’s politics that is based on the foundation of soft separatism, it is important for us to delve into the past activities. These date back to the days of late Mufti Mohammed Sayeed when he was at the helm of PDP.
In 1972, the impressionable and adolescent minds of young Kashmiris were infiltrated by a devious and distorted version of Islam. Madrassas sprung up at every nook and corner of Kashmir and the very aim of these Madrassas was to connive and hatch seeds of radicalism amongst the innocent youth of Kashmir so that Kashmir could be swung into a vicious circle of unrest and political apathy. It was the Late Mufti Mohammed Sayeed who ensured that the power of Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah was restricted and finally scoured by convincing then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi to politically elevate and strengthen Jamaat-e-Islami which, in the present day, is banned on account of being a funding arm for the terrorist activities. This act of late Mufti Mohammed Sayeed ensured that Maududi Islam could thrive in Kashmir. All this led to brainwashing of the common Kashmiri youth who were the actual torchbearers of secularism and always wanted peace for their nation.
The year 1996 saw the emergence of Mehbooba Mufti to contest the legislative elections from Bijbehara constituency. To facilitate a win for her, then leader late Mufti Mohammad Sayeed moved mountains to get the Jamaat-e-Islami workers to support the candidature of Mehbooba Mufti and met them on numerous occasions behind closed-door meetings.
There was a huge resurgence of Commanders of Hizbul Mujahideen in 1999 after the formation of People’s Democratic Party as Mehbooba Mufti leveraged her connections with Jamaat-e-Islami. This helped her in getting PDP reinstated to power.
In 2002, political apathy and shamelessness was at its peak. After forming the government, then PDP leader Late Mufti Mohammed Sayeed boisterously assured the terrorists in a public gathering in Ganderbal Kashmir that now they had nothing to worry and could function without any inhibitions or fear.
The agitation plan of Syed Ali Shah Geelani was strongly backed by Mehbooba Mufti in 2010 as she wanted to ensure that Omar Abdullah was dethroned from the post of Chief Minister of Kashmir and wanted to usher in an environment of severe turmoil and disturbance. There are reliable reports that suggest that the house of the Mufti’s at Gupkar Road was visited by Syed Ali Shah Geelani on the night of September 26, 2010.
Mehbooba Mufti’s duplicity came to the fore and proved that she did not have the well-being of Kashmiris in her heart and never wanted peace to return to Kashmir. In 2016, she stated that if she would have had the slightest information of where the infamous terrorist Burhan Wani was hiding then she would have stopped the operations from taking place that led to his elimination.
In hindsight, the above instances have caused a dent to Mehbooba Mufti’s political career and that is why she is making the desperate move to renew her soft-separatism politics. Her misdeeds of running a sand mafia by giving big contracts to a few selective families and harbouring nepotism by bringing in her close family members as ministers have backfired. Also, the aftermath of Burhan Wani’s elimination, which caused firing of pellet guns on young Kashmiri boys and girls that led to them losing their eyesight, have all bombed on her administration and the masses of J&K can see through her true colours as a misguided politician.
Mehbooba Mufti is leveraging all her might to gain the sympathy of the Kashmiris. Not only is she playing the victim card again, which she does so efficiently always by stating that she is being targeted by the Government of India as she is fighting tooth and nail for the restoration of Article 370/35a. She thinks that her conniving nature will be hidden from the public eye if she cries wolf and says that she and her family are facing atrocities from the efforts made by the Government of India to ouster the anti-India elements from the J&K administration.
Whether it is questioning of her mother for the money laundering case or arrest of PDP youth member Waheed Parra by NIA on the charges of terror funding, she is using everything in her might to paint a tainted story that she is being victimised by the government of India for her fight for the people of Kashmir. The law enforcement agencies of India have credible proof of her misdoings and thereby have acted in the best interest of Kashmir and Kashmiris by trying to keep her in check. In fact, she was happy with the arrest of Waheed Parra as this gave her the opportunity to gather sympathy by saying that her party members were being targeted by the Indian agencies. Whereas the truth is that there is ample proof that connects Waheed Parra to terror funding as money amounting to crores of rupees that was paid to Syed Ali Shah Geelani’s son in law to keep Kashmir in a state of unrest and turbulence.
The days of playing with the emotions of Kashmiris and filling their minds with selfish vendetta by fostering sympathetic sentiments towards Pakistan are gone. The valor displayed by the commendable efforts of PM Narendra Modi and home minister Amit Shah to curb terror and to crush the selfish efforts of the political dynasts of Kashmir have put Kashmir on the world map as well as on a pedestal of growth, development and prosperity. Therefore, the efforts of Mehbooba Mufti to protect her vested interests to gain financial benefits as well as hold political power to rule over the people of Kashmir have come to an end. She can no longer make a fool of the Kashmiris to fill her own pockets.
(The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not represent the stand of this publication.)
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