Jammu and Kashmir is abuzz with one narrative, the one only, former RAW Chief, A S Dulat’s book wherein he says, National Conference (NC) president Dr Farooq Abdullah wasn’t averse to abrogation of Article 370 in 2019 by Modi-led government at the centre but had a grudge that why his party, the grand old party of J&K was not taken into confidence. The statement has generated a debate all over the country, particularly, in J&K with NC’s main opponents, JKPDP and JKPC taking the lead and netizens putting the social network platforms on fire by their fierce comments, for and against Abdullah’s and their organisation, NC.
Dulat, a top-notch spy of India, is a very popular name in Jammu and Kashmir, particularly in Kashmir. He was heading Kashmir’s Intelligence Bureau (IB) when all hell broke out in 1990’s. And since then, in different roles in IB and Research and Analysis Wing (RAW), he dealt with Kashmir all the time. The revelations made by him, true or exaggerated, indicate one thing and that is, whatever was happening in J&K from 1990 was not indigenous. It was orchestrated either from this side or the other. Actors were from here (J&K) but the directors were sitting somewhere else. The directors were either Uncles and Aunties (as claimed by JKPC chief Sajad Lone), or Colonels and Brigadiers from the other side, for which nobody is going to take the blame.
The revelations make one more thing very clear. There is no black and white when it comes to Jammu and Kashmir polity. There are huge grey spaces, which, unfortunately, people of Kashmir miss all the time. The people are the ones who are on the receiving end. Politicians are enjoying. From 1990 to 2019, it were the separatists who ruled, though in some “in-between-interventions” mainstream politicians too had their say. From August 2019, it is New Delhi that has been calling the shots. Common Kashmiri went invisible in 1990 and till date no one has been able to trace him/her. So called mainstream politics was there on the fore front or the separatist one, but not the ordinary Kashmiri, s/he was, s/he will and s/he remains invisible. SAD!
Common Kashmiri has been demonised, s/he has been ridiculed, s/he has been pushed to the wall. With a Kashmiri tag, you don’t get passport and employment clarification. But those who were the architects of the present chaos are having a fun life. They were from within but getting patronage from, Colonels and Brigadiers from across the border and getting ashirvad from Uncles and Aunties from Delhi.
They (Kashmiris) have paid a huge price. They have suffered a lot. At some stage, their victimization needs to end. They are humans. Treat them as humans. This is what the Government of India has to think about. Hanging the sword of adverse Police remarks on the heads of Kashmiris is what makes them feel like second class citizens. They have already given too many Agni Parikshas, for God’s sake stop throwing them into the pyre for their entire lives.