Losing faith in Modi: Article 370 controversy dims hope in Kashmir

Ghulam-ud-Din Bhat, a shop owner in Srinagar, lost his adolescent son in a firefight between Kashmiri militants and security forces in October 1997. Now 67, Bhat looks at the new government and the new prime minister’s recent moves for a promised peace, Narendra Modi’s meeting with Pakistani prime minister Nawaz Sharif last week, and believes there is still hope that the decades-old political uncertainty in Kashmir may be resolved. “This is the right time for that to happen – we don’t want more killings in Kashmir,” Bhat says about Sharif’s visit, the first by a Pakistani leader since the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks. “No one wants to see his son’s dead body come home wrapped in a shroud.” [caption id=“attachment_1508537” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Rajnath Singh and Modi during a rally in Jammu. Naresh Sharma/ Firstpost[/caption] Prime Minister Modi is not an easy sell in the violence-fractured valley. Modi’s Hindu nationalist background hardly helps him in the Muslim-majority valley. Still, a desire to see the political question of Kashmir settled has led to some wary hope among Kashmiris that the new prime minister will prove a point. So, when Sharif addressed a press conference in New Delhi on Tuesday after meeting Modi, crowds gathered around shops in Srinagar to watch his statement on television. But there is also apprehension. Shujaat Bukhari, editor of English daily Rising Kashmir and a well-known political commentator, says the Kashmiris’ faith hinges on how Modi deals with Kashmir in the next few months, particularly in the backdrop of the BJP’s commitment to abrogate Article 370. Article 370 of the Indian Constitution grants special autonomous status to Jammu & Kashmir. And, by virtue of this, provisions of the Constitution applicable to other states of the Indian union are not applicable to Jammu and Kashmir. Already, soon after MoS in the PMO Jitendra Singh’s comments on Article 370, a strident and loaded campaign has begun on Facebook and Whatsapp, seeking the deletion of Article 370. Having won 32.4 percent of the votes cast in Jammu and Kashmir, the BJP has emerged as the single largest political party in the state in the just concluded general election. The party, thanks in main to the huge support it received in Jammu and Udhampur even while voter turnout remained low in the Valley owing to terror threats, could well try to consolidate its resounding success in the Jammu region for the coming Assembly elections. That would explain the early aggression on Article 370 too. “Till he (Modi) was elected he was a hardliner, but with him extending invitation to all SAARC leaders including the Pakistan Premier, it seems he will change his path to be seen as a legitimate leader. As far as Kashmir is concerned he has already talked about following Vajpayee’s path which was different from BJP’s ideology. We have kept our fingers crossed,” Bhukari said. The last BJP prime minister Vajpayee initiated groundbreaking peace talks with Pakistan, even though these later fell apart. Many in Kashmir see the BJP as honest about the Kashmir issue, and impervious to criticism about their nationalist credentials, they can more easily engage with Pakistan than a Congress-led government. “Vajpayee is very popular across the political spectrum for his initiatives on Kashmir and people think Narendra Modi will carry forward his legacy,” says Meha Dixit, an assistant professor at the University of Kashmir’s Kashmir Studies Institute in Srinagar. “But the statement on the article 370 by Modi’s junior minister has, to a large extent, made people apprehensive about how the Modi government will deal with Kashmir,” Dixit adds. In addition, for many, the thorny political issue of Kashmir takes a backseat to the immediate problems of rampant unemployment and a stagnant economy. Mukhtar Ahamad, 35, a carpet trader who sells his wares across the Line of Control that separates India from Pakistan wants to see trade restrictions between the two countries eased. Diplomatic talks led to a bus service between Indian and Pakistani-administered Kashmir in 2005 and cross-border trade in 2008. However, there are only 21 items that can be traded between the two countries, and bank transfers have not been allowed yet, leading to a barter system. Ahmad says he has sent a truck full of vegetables over to Pakistan, and has received nothing in return. “We had thought it is a great step forward, but policies surrounding the trade have turned us into beggars,” he says. Opening up the border is an issue fraught with controversy, partly because of longstanding security issues on the Line of Control. Early last year, skirmishes in Kashmir near the border with Pakistan, in which an Indian soldier was beheaded, complicate the diplomatic process. Several young people on the streets of Srinagar, reacting to the news of the meeting with Modi and Sharif, said that they wanted jobs first, a political solution second. Bhat, for his part, sees the sweeping victory that Modi received in the elections as a force-multiplier for a good Kashmir policy. “Modi has a clear mandate from people of India. He can easily solve Kashmir problem,” Bhat says. The controversy reignited over Article 370, however, belie those hopes. Will the BJP’s stand on Article 370 dash Kashmir’s hopes from Modi? Altaf Bashir, 26, a conflict studies student at the Islamic University of Science and Technology in southern Kashmir, says he had not expected the controversy over Article 370 to break out so soon. That an MP from the state (Jitendra Singh won from Jammu) made the statement could indicate that he may have the consent of the new prime minister, Bashir adds. Omar Abdullah, the chief minister of Kashmir, took fire against JItendra Singh’s statements earlier this week. “If you want to improve ties then this is not the way,” Abdullah said, outside his party headquarters in Srinagar. “This is further isolating the people of state.” This is an expected stand too – as the BJP consolidates its position in Jammu, the National Conference will naturally harden its position too with a view to consolidating its own constituents and support base. Mehbooba Mufti, newly-elected Member of Parliament from south Kashmir, has tried to tread the middle path. Modi has sent out “encouraging signals”, she said, that “he is serious to follow the Atal Bihari Vajpayee initiatives of friendship towards Pakistan and on Kashmir.” The coming months ahead of the Assembly elections in October-November will decide what trajectory Kashmir’s hopes from the new prime minister will follow.