Success at the operational level is contingent on providing a healing touch to the affected people

Muzaffar Baig

J&K Law Minister and PDP acting President

I refute the suggestion that chief minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed’s ‘soft’ policy towards militancy is responsible for the worsening law and order situation in the state, indeed that it contributed to the attack on the Raghunath temple.

First of all, it is not only the chief minister’s policy; it is the policy of the coalition government, in which the Congress is an equal partner. Our’s is a first-hand experience of the situation on the ground: We, in the PDP, have followed events in Kashmir over many years and have closely interacted with the people, so closely that we know them by their names.

In our understanding, militancy is not just Pakistan-sponsored militancy. There is a degree of local involvement, which started in the aftermath of the rigged elections of 1987. That was the time young people took to militancy in large numbers ;young, gentle and law and Constitution-abiding men like Salauddin, Yasin Malik and so many of my junior colleagues resorted to violence to give expression to their anger and frustration at the injustice.

Given this background, it is the PDP’s view that militancy has to be fought, not just at the operational level (that is through security forces), but equally in the political arena, which means providing the right climate for rehabilitation of militants.

Good governance and empathy with local sentiments are necessary to hold out hope to the youth and involve them in the development process. We want to reach out to the aggrieved families whose kith and kin have been killed or unlawfully detained. We believe that success at the operational level cannot be achieved without providing a healing touch to the affected people.

Fortunately, for the first time the Election Commission and the government of India actually held ‘fair’ elections. Yes, this time the process was fair. And that was important for us, for it cleared two major hurdles in reaching out to the people. Namely, lack of faith in the fairness of the electoral process, and lack of faith in the integrity of the politician. We overcame the first hurdle because of the EC and GOI, and now it is our job to clear the second by restoring the trust of the people in politicians. To achieve this, we have to provide a clean and just government, create a climate of transparency and goodwill and start a series of dialogues.

And all this is possible only by reaching out to those languishing in jails and held on offences for which we thought we could apply Article 21 of the Constitution. For us this was an act of hope and we expected GOI to stand by us. Unfortunately, the gains made by GOI are being frittered away because of the electoral battle in Gujarat. Here I must add that home minister LK Advani did not link the temple attack to the released militants, even though he complained that militants were being released without going through a screening committee. Let me bring to his notice that we have screening committees at the district levels and also a full-fledged review committee which is headed by a retired judge of the high court.

To describe our policy as ‘soft’ is a subversion of truth, for it takes more courage to talk to a militant than to shoot him down. Also, let me say that we are not under any pressure, nor are we in a hurry to release the militants. We have released them only after a proper application of mind, and strictly following the rule of law.

As for giving a communal slant to the attack on the Raghunath temple, the government should remember that this is not the first attack of its kind. Militants had earlier attacked Chrar-e-Sharif and Hazratbal shrines. In fact, they did not just attack Chrar-e-Sharif, they burnt it down, ruining it. The same Raghunath temple had been unfortunately attacked this March when Farooq Abdullah was chief minister and was following a pro-active policy against militancy.

Here, I will also like to say that it was this very government at the Centre that released five hard-core militants. One Central minister even escorted them to Kabul. Why are we conveniently forgetting that it is the five released militants who are today heading the most dreaded organisations in Pakistan?

Though we are aware of the compulsions of the BJP which has to cater to a certain constituency, problems of our state have to be viewed, appreciated and tackled from a larger perspective. J&K’s significance far overrides that of any party’s political interest. We cannot afford to let pessimism and haplessness return to Kashmir. That will amount to betraying the electoral mandate. We have to rise above electoral interests and tackle the problems of J&K between us - the state and the Centre. The problem is one of lack of communication rather than that of conflict and we should overcome this in the interest of the state and its people.

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