If I see a wall, I will scale it or if needed, break it: Tassaduq Hussain Mufti

The relevant question is not what I will do with my life. Do I bring anything good and productive to the table is the only relevant thing. I want and hope for a debate about the issues that I think are vital to us in Kashmir, which has nothing to do with the divergent political beliefs within us. The issues I am interested in are primarily apolitical, like environment, preservation of heritage, culture, save our rivers and mountains. I am taking baby steps. Earlier I was doing it from a distance, but now I am here and I will give it my full attention. I know we differ with each other in this place but there is one common ground too — we all want to see a Kashmir where we and our future generations can live, we all want our home. This was my father’s vision. My aim is to work and make a little difference in that direction and to realise his dream.

What are your future plans in Kashmir?

I will not be able to tell you at this time whether I will join the PDP, contest elections or wish to have a role in governance, because I don’t know as yet. I will take one step a time. At this moment, I am thinking of my father’s vision. I am watching his recent speeches, meeting people, and have got a sense of him as a leader. I have been working as a cinematographer, a social worker for some time here and I think that was my first step. It is a journey and if I see a wall, I will scale it, jump across it or if there is a need, I will break through it. That should answer the question about my future plans.

When did you decide to return to Kashmir and why?

I left Kashmir when I was 17, 18 years old in 1989… I went to college and got busy but I always missed home. I would come to see my family regularly. But now I am back, I will be spending a lot of time in Kashmir. So in a way, my return hasn’t happened in one go, it has happened over a period of time. When I came to shoot for the Incredible India campaign, I roamed around a lot. It is around that time that I felt a strong urge to get involved and help in whatever little way I could. I would walk around Shah-e-Hamadan Sahib and wonder what would happen. There is such a rich heritage, wealth of architecture and so much history around that it would pain one to see how (Srinagar) city was crumbling. Delhi is one of the worst polluted cities in the world. Trust me, we too are headed that way. We should learn from Bogota (Colombia) where a mayor radically changed the situation. Whatever I saw (in Kashmir) was a sad reflection on what we have become. This is why I got involved. I am a cinematographer and I look at things my own way. I also belong to a political family. I am aware that I am Mufti Mohammad Sayeed’s son and whatever I do will have political overtones. I am not escaping that. But I think there are things I am trying to do that could contribute to a positive change… I have been working with a group of youngsters downtown and other places here. We have set up a trust, Aarasta; its work is funded by a few of my friends and me. We have focused on research and bringing in experts. With my father’s support and help from several wonderful bureaucrats and well-meaning people, we have done a few things. We are trying to solve the problem at the Achan garbage site. We brought on board S R Maley, a respected expert on waste management. There was a huge dump of decomposing solid waste near Lidder stream in Pahalgam, which is being taken care of. We have also been doing a survey in downtown Srinagar to understand what can be done…

Did your father’s death play a role in your decision to return?

Of course, my father’s passing away, his commitment, his passion for Kashmir binds me to this place and this work. I see his commitment towards the welfare of Kashmir as the biggest inspiration for my return.

Tassaduq Hussain Mufti, 44, the only son of late chief minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, left Jammu and Kashmir in 1989 as a teenager and went on to become a cinematographer.

Who do you relate to, Mufti Mohammad Sayeed the integrationist politician, the advocate of self-rule, or the leader who formed an alliance with the Sangh Parivar?

My father was the sum-total of his experiences. I do not see his evolution as a politician contradictory to where he reached. People who are critical of the recent decision my father took aren’t informed enough. They do not know how he lived these last 11 months. Each day he worked in a way as if it was his last day. He had one conviction, which was to help Kashmir become the place it ought to be — a safe home to all of us irrespective of different views about its future. I know there was serious criticism about his decision to form this alliance. But if they heard him carefully, he answered that question each time he spoke. He could easily have taken a different route. But he looked beyond himself. He was convinced, rightly or wrongly, that every other option would make this place suffer more. I relate to my most recent memory of him and I see a man ignoring his health only because he wants to do something to better the lives of the people of Kashmir. I read an article where somebody said that he wasn’t even a pale shadow of his earlier self during these months. That is a completely ill-informed view. He had learnt from his failures and built on his successes.. Nobody can question his sincerity. My sister is a doctor; she would wonder how he would go on working while his haemoglobin levels were so low that a 35-year-old would have been bedridden. Perhaps he knew he didn’t have a lot of time left.

Won’t your initiatives in downtown Srinagar be read only in partisan political terms?

I think we have to start somewhere. Tomorrow if I want to restore an old building and turn it into a community centre, will people say it isn’t good? The drainage of the entire city flows into the Jhelum and Dal Lake; if we make an effort to fix it, do you think people will say no? I don’t think people will resist what is good for them and the public are wise enough to understand it.

Isn’t each issue linked to Kashmir issue? How do you view the Army’s occupation of meadows for use as a firing range or mountains to set up camps?

I will take an environmental stance on that and oppose it strongly.

What are your views on the larger Kashmir issue?

I think it is linked to the many smaller issues… I do have an intuitive understanding of that (Kashmir issue). I have a strong sense of identity. My father would say that politics is the art of possibility. There is a view that nothing can be done till the situation is conducive for peace. I don’t agree. My father also thought that while it is vital that there is an effort to find a solution to the larger Kashmir issue, other things can’t wait. It is like a tree. It doesn’t have one single root. If you think of it like a circle, then there is no way forward. There is no one single starting point.

Thousands of Kashmiris, most of them young, have been killed demanding self-determination and independence. How do you see that?
Whenever I hear that a young person has been killed, it saddens me. You want the people responsible to be taken to task. I understand this is a huge issue, left unresolved forever. I think you have to listen to people and resolve this issue once and for all. But what is happening is disturbing. There is big news for a few days, then it is forgotten. Whenever one young person is killed, it immediately comes down to the bigger issue. I don’t know how the investigation is carried out because I haven’t heard of anybody being punished, ever. The way the situation has been evolving last year or so is alarming and I hope the state doesn’t slip into another phase of violence. It is essential that a beginning be made immediately to start a dialogue. We need a constructive dialogue within our own people as well. We need to listen to our young people. You can’t take them away, put them in prison and think the problem is resolved.

Do you see any difference between the politics of your father and your sister Mehbooba, now the leader of the PDP?

I don’t want to get into the nitty-gritties of the difference between the way my father did politics with that of my sister. She is her own person. In terms of her politics, sometimes she has had a different stance but essentially it was the same discourse.

Did your father want you to join politics during his lifetime?

There is a possibility that he wanted me to but he was always subtle. We had mutual respect for each other’s space… When I got involved with Kashmir and started to discuss issues of concern with him, he felt happy with my intent. He would listen and analyse whenever I brought an issue to his notice. He never asked me to join politics but he was happy that I was back often and involved in issues in Kashmir that are important.