145;I don146;t claim everything has changed146;

Ending the Abdullah grip over power, the Mufti Mohammed Sayeed government had come as a welcome replacement in Jammu and Kashmir a year back...

Ending the Abdullah grip over power, the Mufti Mohammed Sayeed government had come as a welcome replacement in Jammu and Kashmir a year back. The substantial poll victory on a political agenda that was Kashmir-centric and sympathetic to the separatist cause had helped them to counter even the politics of Hurriyat Conference.

As Mufti became Chief minister, heading a coalition that included Congress, Panthers Party, CPIM and a band of independents 8212; who now call themselves People8217;s Democratic Front 8212; it was clear that the road ahead would be long and treacherous.

A year later, Mufti highlights the 8216;8216;sense of security8217;8217; that his government 8216;8216;managed to bring back8217;8217; accepting that the return of normalcy is still a dream. 8216;8216;I don8217;t claim everything has changed. I don8217;t claim we have brought normalcy back. But tell me, aren8217;t people out on the streets feeling a sense of security,8217;8217; he told The Indian Express recently. 8216;8216;If you compare our one-year with the past, it is certainly far better. The police and the security forces are now much more accountable8217;8217; Mufti also cites the example of the return of tourists to the Valley 8212; which touched a record number this summer. 8216;8216;If there is an end to militant violence, we will be back in the race for development in no time,8217;8217; he says. 8216;8216;But we cannot wait till total normalcy returns.8217;8217;

Mufti talks of the funds released by the Centre and the job-package announced by the Prime Minister. In Kashmir, however, Mufti and his party are judged more by the deliverance or failure of their political agenda 8212; the promise of an early dialogue process both between the Centre and the separatists as well as between India and Pakistan. This promise was the main focus of PDP8217;s poll manifesto.

8216;8216;I know how important the dialogue process is. We have said that we want to make Kashmir a bridge between India and Pakistan and we do believe that there is no way other than dialogue to resolve this problem,8217;8217; he said. The recent peace initiative launched by New Delhi inviting the moderate Hurriyat leadership for a dialogue after raising the level of the negotiations to the Deputy Prime Minister level has certainly come as a big help to Mufti and his party. A political morale booster, this offer has provided them with something to defend their poll agenda but the PDP leadership is not entirely happy with the way the process is heading forward. 8216;8216;This peace initiative is a big relief to us. They the Centre have atleast conceded to two of our demands 8212; raising the dialogue process to the highest political level and opening up of the Srinagar-Rawalpindi road,8217;8217; a senior PDP leader said. 8216;8216;But it is not enough. We can8217;t go back to our constituency here without delivering. And to make the peace process work, there should have been an open and unconditional invitation to all separatists including local militant groups like Hizbul Mujahideen,8217;8217; he said. 8216;8216;We have left the hardliners among the separatists out of the process at the very beginning8230; how will it work? We should have atleast given them a chance to reject the offer 8212; that would have made some sense.8217;8217;

In fact, Mufti and his party had stripped Hurriyat off its agenda when they raised similar issues in their poll campaign. But now they are finding it extremely difficult to manoeuvre between their 8216;8216;separatist-sympathetic politics8217;8217; and the handicaps of being a ruling mainstream party.

Then there is a cold war going on among the coalition partners 8212; whose political agendas as well constituencies are at variance with each other. Congress being a national party finds it hard to fit in PDP manifesto. Locally also, Congress party8217;s traditional stronghold is Jammu which is extremely opposed to PDP8217;s political agenda. The Panthers Party with just four legislators in the coalition is actually more vocal than the Opposition in their criticism of the Mufti government. The PDF 8212; which has ties within a moderate separatist party 8212; has been aiming at dislodging Mufti8217;s government for several months now.

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The highlight of the Mufti government8217;s first year in office 8212; the release of prisoners 8212; had certainly given it a moral high ground. The government take-over of Sher-e-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences and Muslim Auqaf Trust 8212; bodies run by the National Conference 8212; were generally lauded but the public support would sustain only if the Mufti manages to improve these public institutions.

Proactive rehabilitation measures was another major promise of the government. But little has come out of it except the personal interest his daughter and PDP president Mehbooba Mufti has taken to support victims of violence. One important contribution that the new government made was to expand the ambit of government-run Rehabilitation Council to all the victims of violence. This body earlier supported only the victims of militants alone.

On the development front there have been few achievements but the grudge of the people is that the focus has been the South Kashmir strongholds of PDP or the individual constituencies of few strong ministers. A year of mixed results behind him, Mufti cannot do much himself to change the perception of his government. One issue on which everything in J-K depends is the Indo-Pak peace process. On this count, the CM is entirely dependent on the Centre.

Muzamil Jaleel

Muzamil Jaleel is a Deputy Editor at The Indian Express and is widely recognized as one of India’s most authoritative voices on Jammu & Kashmir, national security, and internal affairs. With a career spanning over 30 years, he has provided definitive on-the-ground reportage from the heart of the Kashmir conflict, bearing witness to historic political transitions and constitutional shifts. Expertise and Investigative Depth Muzamil’s work is characterized by a rare combination of ground-level immersion and high-level constitutional analysis. His expertise includes: Conflict & Geopolitics: Decades of reporting on the evolution of the Kashmir conflict, the Indo-Pak peace process, and the socio-political dynamics of the Himalayan region. Constitutional Law: Deep-dive analysis of Article 370 and Article 35A, providing clarity on the legal and demographic implications of their abrogation in 2019. Human Rights & Accountability: A relentless investigator of state and non-state actors, uncovering systemic abuses including fake encounters and the custodial death of political workers. International War Reporting: Beyond South Asia, he provided on-the-spot coverage of the final, decisive phase of the Sri Lankan Civil War in 2009. Landmark Exposés & Impact Muzamil’s reporting has repeatedly forced institutional accountability and shaped national discourse: The Kashmir Sex Scandal (2006): His investigative series exposed a high-profile exploitation nexus involving top politicians, bureaucrats, and police officers, leading to the sacking and arrest of several senior officials. Fake Encounters: His reports blew the lid off cases where innocent civilians were passed off as "foreign terrorists" by security forces for gallantry awards. SIMI Investigations: He conducted a massive deep-dive into the arrests of SIMI members, using public records to show how innocuous religious gatherings were often labeled as incriminating activities by investigative agencies. The Amarnath Land Row: Provided critical context to the 2008 agitation that polarized the region and altered its political trajectory. Over the years, Muzamil has also covered 2002 Gujarat riots, Bhuj earthquake, assembly elections in Bihar for Indian Express. He has also reported the peace process in Northern Ireland, war in Sri Lanka and national elections in Pakistan for the paper. Awards and Fellowships His "Journalism of Courage" has been honored with the industry's most prestigious accolades: Four Ramnath Goenka Awards: Recognized for J&K Reportage (2007), On-the-Spot Reporting (2009), and Reporting on Politics and Government (2012, 2017). Kurt Schork Award: From Columbia University for international journalism. Sanskriti Award: For excellence in Indian journalism and literature. IFJ Tolerance Prize: For his empathetic and nuanced reporting in South Asia. International Fellowships: Served as a visiting scholar at UC Berkeley and worked with The Guardian, The Observer, and The Times in London. He has also received Chevening fellowship and a fellowship at the Institute of Social Studies, Hague, Netherlands. Professional Presence Current Location: New Delhi (formerly Bureau Chief, Srinagar). Education: Master’s in Journalism from Kashmir University. Social Media: Follow him for field insights and rigorous analysis on X (Twitter) @MuzamilJALEEL. ... Read More