Trapped under Afzal Guru's shadow, can Omar Abdullah save his party in Kashmir?

On Wednesday, pre-paid cellphone users in Jammu and Kashmir once again started receiving SMS messages with the state government revoking a four-year-old ban imposed during the civil unrest in Kashmir in 2010, in which more than 120 people had lost their lives across the Kashmir valley. Late on Tuesday, the state government said Chief Minister Omar Abdullah had directed the telecom department to lift restrictions on prepaid SMS services. [caption id=“attachment_1527879” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Omar Abdullah. AFP[/caption] The government had snapped SMS facility to prepaid cellphone users on June 30, 2010, depriving 70 percent of cellphone users in the state from availing the service. Omar had then justified the ban saying it would stop the spreading of “false and frivolous rumors” that had the potential to incite violence. Earlier this week, Omar tweeted: “On a separate note in continuation with the corrective measures based on the feedback from people I’ve ordered the lifting of the SMS ban.” The state government had earlier revoked a similar ban on postpaid cellphone users in late 2011. This was apparently one of the suggestions Omar received from people, through email, after the National Conference was handed a crushing defeat in the Lok Sabha elections. But it is not his only populist measure for now. “I’m bringing a proposal to the J&K Cabinet on Wednesday and I’m proposing scrapping the New Recruitment Policy with immediate effect,” Omar posted on microblogging site Twitter on Monday. This, Omar said, is based on feedback that he has received from countless youth spread across the length and breadth of the state. According to this policy, a fresh recruit in any government department was to get only 50 per cent of the basic pay for the first two years and 75 per cent for the next three years. No allowances are payable. The state government has introduced this ‘Fixed Salary Mode of Recruitment in the Non-Gazetted Categories’ to cut costs in a state reeling under a heavy financial burden. The policy was opposed tooth and nail by the opposition PDP and BJP as well as the people. Several people were injured in protests that followed. The defeat in the Lok Sabha election in Srinagar, a traditional bastion of the National Conference Srinagar, appears to have taught the CM some lessons about labour laws. One of those who ably assisted the PDP in ousting the NC from Srinagar is Khursheed Alam, a former chairman of the Employees Joint Action Committee, who spearheaded an agitation against the Omar government for years. Now, according to sources, the state government might announce enhancement of retirement age for government employees from 58 to 60, a demand that all the major government employee associations in Kashmir have been demanding. Besides this, the government is also contemplating, according to sources, a reduction in power tariff. In some more relief for residents, the Chief Minster is expected to announce measures to release youths from jails if they have only a “slight involvement" in stone pelting cases. These are some of the “drastic steps” being taken after the NC-Congress alliance was routed in the Lok Sabha polls. National Conference lost all three seats from Kashmir to arch rival Peoples Democratic Party in the Valley, while Congress lost its seats to the BJP in Jammu. But are these “corrective measures” going to help Omar Abdullah and his party in the coming Assembly elections due in six months? Minutes after the Lok Sabha elections results were declared, the Chief Minister called a press conference and said the fault, among other things, probably lies in the style of his campaigning as the PDP had successfully made the 2010 killings and the hanging of Afzal Guru the cornerstone of their campaign. That remains unchanged – the hanging of Guru and the killing of more than 120 youths in Kashmir could still play a detrimental role for the National Conference in the coming Assembly elections. The PDP has been raking up both issues routinely. And public memory, says political science student Arsheed Husain at Kashmir University, is not that short. “He was seen as this young leader who could change the fortunes of Kashmir and was even compared to Barack Obama, but he failed to live up to the expectations of many,” Hussain says. “Many in Kashmir hold him responsible for the hanging of Guru, for not doing anything.” On Tuesday the National Conference party President Dr Farooq Abdullah and Working President Omar Abdullah held an eight-hour meeting to discuss the reasons behind the debacle. Omar Abdullah, who set through the entire meeting, reportedly said that drastic corrective measures would be taken to bring the organization closer to the party cadres. He said the party must evolve ways to engage with the people. Whether these efforts would really translate into votes in favor of National Conference come assembly remains to be seem, but one thing for sure, Omar is trying to everything to stop the repeat of Lok Sabha results in the state. ENDS