"Normalcy" thrives amidst contradictions
From Hari Jaisingh

With the changing face of militancy, the Kashmir valley has entered a new phase of "normalcy". In Srinagar, life flows as usual. The markets are bursting with activity. Shops attract the young and the old alike even after dusk. Schools function. So do public and private offices.

Smartly dressed unarmed traffic policemen regulate the flow of traffic. Security personnel are around to maintain constant vigil. Nothing is taken for granted. Not even visible signs of "normalcy".

Public perceptions have changed. The people take the sound of bullets and blasts in their stride. The Kashmiris are both emotional and pragmatic. This might sound contradictory. But then life in the valley thrives amidst contradictory trends. So is the case with politicians.

Meet any political leader. He plays familiar old tunes, though much water has flowed down the Jhelum.

The ground realities have changed, at least on the surface. So have the people's perception. No one will admit this. It is considered safer to follow a safer course. No one wants to risk his or her reputation by toeing a line which would be seen even remotely as "a compromise".

The Chairman of the All Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC), Syed Ali Shah Geelani (now under house arrest), has justified the poll boycott call as "a form of protest since the government of India is denying the people their basic right to self-determination."

Senior Hurriyat leader and JKLF Chairman Yasin Malik harps on the "Indian suppression" and "atrocities of the security forces". I met him at his residence in a crowded locality of the old city. Lean and frail, the bearded leader had undergone a bypass surgery recently. One had to pass through zigzag dingy staircases to meet him in his simple living room.

We squatted on the floor. On one side of the room is placed an almirah full of books on different subjects. Also placed inside is a replica of the Taj Mahal. A big-sized portrait of Mona Lisa dominates the setting. The decor is simple and functional.

Yasin's words were well chosen as he unfolded his thoughts over a cup of kawah (Kashmiri tea). It was the best kawah I had during my brief visit to Kashmir.

"Democracy and elections do not serve any kind of purpose," he asserted and claimed that the people were dragged to the polling booths during the previous elections." He questioned the government's claim of "normalcy". He accused the media of "glamorising elections successfully." (There has been phenomenal growth of the English and Urdu press in Jammu and Kashmir.)

An advocate of the poll boycott given by the Hurriyat Conference, he wanted the people to be made "a party to any dialogue on the future of Kashmir".

Yasin, like many other Hurriyat leaders, remains unmoved and unimpressed by the changing events. The Kargil happenings have not induced any new thinking among separatist groups. Some of them are known to be pro-Pakistan. The others talk about "azadi". Most of these oldtime leaders have apparently not changed their notions on Pakistan and its destabilising influence. Yasin, of course, duly acknowledges the sufferings of the people of Kashmir in the crossfire.

The youthful Hurriyat leader Moulvi Umar Farooq, too, more or less speaks the same language, though his emphasis on certain crucial matters varies. "I am quite flexible in my approach, though I feel that elections are no substitute for the movement," he said and added that "if people are not forced as in the past, poll participation will not be much this time."

Mirwaiz (chief priest) Moulvi Umar Farooq is the chief of Awami Action Committee founded by his father, late Mirwaiz Maulvi Mohammad Farooq. He maintained that Kashmir "is not a matter of territorial dispute, it is a political issue." He emphasised the need for the government of India to talk to them.

"If you could talk to the Bodos, the Ulfas, the Mizos and the Nagas, then why not to us?" he asked.

He lamented that while "a lot of hue and cry has been raised with regard to the Kargil heroes, no one has cared for the relief and rehabilitation of the people of Kargil uprooted during "Operation Vijay". "Even the Indian media maintained a silence on their sufferings," he opined. I mildly protested. We shook hands and hoped for better understanding at the people's level.