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Journalism of Courage
In the mayhem of Kashmir, it only follows that behind a generation shift in politics is a violent death. And this is true on either side of the political divide.
Take Ghulam Nabi Bhat, a practising doctor once and now the ruling National Conference candidate from Tral and a hot favourite. He says he once had no inclination to join politics.
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Talks after polls: Swami
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Srinagar: Union Minister of State for Home I.D. Swami on Thursday said the Centre would talk with elected representatives and ‘‘those who chose not to participate in the polls’’ after the elections. He said BJP had backed with action its pledge to hold free, fair and transparent polls. Swami said the Centre would defeat cross-border terrorism by developing the state and removing people’s grievances through talks. ‘‘Despite opposition from our own party, we will consider any proposal for devolution of powers to state.’’ — ENS |
Then in 1990, his father Mohammad Subhan Bhat, a senior NC legislator, was assassinated by militants. The family receded into the shadows and distanced itself from active politics. But in 1995, the militants returned.
‘‘They called my youngest brother, Shoukat Ahmad Bhat, out and killed him,’’ Bhat says. This time, when the election process began, another brother, Naib Tehsildar Fayaz Ahmad Bhat was killed on July 31.
So Bhat, till then a medical officer in CM Farooq Abdullah’s security, was forced to join the fray. ‘‘It was a party decision. We have suffered so much just because we were with NC. I had to shoulder the responsibility.’’
But Bhat remains unenthusiastic. At Legislators’ Hostel in Srinagar, he says: ‘‘Tral has turned dangerous…It would have been different if there had been anybody to listen to the voice of these poor people.’’
Agha Roohullah is just 20, but has reportedly fudged that to be in the fray from Budgam on an NC ticket. The Correction Committee of the State Board of School Education is believed to have changed his birth date overnight to match EC norms. His father Agha Mehdi, a leading Congress leader, was assassinated on November 3, 1999.
At the time, Roohullah was in Aligarh, doing his graduation. Like Bhat, he says: ‘‘When my father was alive, I was planning for civil services. After his martyrdom, people demanded I join politics.’’ The NC is banking on a win in Budgam both on the strength of the Agha name and the sympathy factor.
The entry of 27-year-old student Qaiser Nazir into the fray was, however, sudden. The new NC nominee from Lolab was anointed after assassination of uncle and Law minister Mushtaq Ahmad Lone on September 11. The killing led to countermanding of polls. Lone’s children are too young, so NC fielded his nephew to cash in on the sympathy wave.
The only woman in the outgoing NC Cabinet, Tourism Minister Sakina Itoo, too joined politics after father Wali Mohammad Itoo, a senior NC leader and former Speaker, was killed. Sakina, gave up medical studies half way to join politics. Last time, NC fielded her from Noorabad. Now she is again in the fray, and has been attacked twice during her poll campaign.
The story is not much different on the other side of the political divide. When Hurriyat Conference was formed in 1994, its first chairman was 21-year-old Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, who had joined politics after father Mirwaiz Mohammad Farooq was killed in 1990.
Brothers Sajjad and Bilal Lone too took up the mantle of Peoples’ Conference after father Abdul Gani Lone was killed on May 21. Both were in the family business till then. Sajjad still hasn’t reconciled to his new calling. ‘‘I hate politics and always felt myself a misfit in it.”
