Finally, after what seems like aeons, a chance to move forward in Kashmir and what do we get? Politics. Venal, shameless, dangerous politics. Exactly the kind that created the current Kashmir problem in the first place and at least one of the players remains the same.Mufti Mohammed Sayeed should know better than anyone how much this kind of politics harmed Kashmir because he has seen it all. As head of the Congress Party in the early eighties he was among those who advised Indira Gandhi to sack Farooq Abdullah’s government and it is now generally accepted that this was the beginning of the Kashmir problem as it exists today.The historical problem had faded from public memory by the time of the 1983 assembly elections and Kashmiris voted eagerly (as Indians, if anyone bothered to ask them) only to find that the government they chose was not the one Delhi wanted. Farooq was not allowed to rule for more than a year and it was because of this and because he was dismissed in the shoddiest fashion that memories of plebiscite and Pakistan revived as did memories of rigged elections and Delhi’s inability to accept Kashmir’s leaders. Then came that other election in 1987 when Farooq—forced by more bad politics into a suicidal alliance with Congress—found it necessary, or so it is widely believed, to resort to rigging in order to win. The rest of the story is too well known to need retelling but let us remember that it is because of bad politics that more than 35,000 Kashmiris have lost their lives to violence in the past ten years and Kashmir today is a nuclear flashpoint.You would think then that, at least this time, our politicians would rise above petty, venal considerations and try to see the bigger picture. You would think that even small time politicians like Mufti and Ghulam Nabi Azad would realize that in the context of Kashmir it really does not matter who becomes chief minister. But, no, all they have done is jockey and joust for power and put forward the silliest reasons why they cannot allow the other party to lead the government. Mufti says he must be king because he has more seats (16) in the Valley than Congress (5) and Congress believes its ‘‘national’’ credentials entitle it to the top job.Frankly, who cares when there is so much more at stake? The Congress is more to blame for what went wrong in Kashmir than any other party and it has a chance now to redeem itself by behaving better than it did in the past. Not only is it a national party, it is the only national party with an international leader who, hopefully, can see the international dimensions of the problem better than the likes of Mufti and Azad.From an international viewpoint, the fact that the Indian government managed to hold a fair election in the atmosphere of a killing field is the first plus point it gets on Kashmir in a very long time. But, this is only a small building block in what is likely to be a very long process. Only, if all our political parties agree to work together to find a real solution in Kashmir will there be one because those who did not contest the election, for whatever specious reasons, will be waiting for any chance to take democracy off the agenda and replace it once more with session. Many of them know in their hearts that Kashmir is not going anywhere but having misled the Kashmiri people for so long its hard for them to suddenly change direction.Besides, even if they wanted to, they would not be allowed to by Pakistan. In one of history’s more amusing twists our friendly, neighbourhood military dictator disgraced himself internationally at the very moment that India’s image improved. The Americans may have their own reasons for not condemning Pakistan’s farcical general election outright but as a country that has set itself the goal of promoting democracy worldwide it must know that what happened in Kashmir was democracy and what happened in Pakistan was not. General Musharraf has also landed himself with a civilian government dominated by Islamic fundamentalists who will under no circumstances allow him to withdraw his ‘moral and political’ support to those they consider Kashmir’s freedom fighters. It will not be long before those ‘freedom fighters’ strike in order to remind us they are still around.So, really there is no time to waste on sharing out the loaves and fishes of office. If the Congress Party wants to atone for the terrible mistakes it made in Kashmir in the past it must concentrate on bringing peace and development back to a state that it has done much harm to. The same applies to Mufti.And, for the Vajpayee government let it not waste time basking in the achievement of a ‘free and fair’ Kashmir election let it get down to the task of laying out an agenda for peace. The election, the withdrawal of troops from the border are good first steps but that is all that they will be unless they lead in a clearly defined direction and unless petty, political considerations are put aside. It’s not just Kashmir but the country that has already paid too heavy a price for venal, greedy politics.Write to tavleensingh@expressindia.com
