Mehbooba elected, & warned

Saturday produced two different headlines — and, two different narratives — from Jammu and Kashmir. Mehbooba Mufti was declared the winner in the Anantnag by-election by an impressive margin. Her formal 'arrival' in the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly as an elected legislator was marred by the bloody death of eight CRPF men by militants in the Pampore area. The two headlines are reminders of the unresolved struggle in that tortured state.    

The Anantnag victory must be a matter of considerable emotional satisfaction for the first woman Chief Minister.  Anantnag is deemed to be a stronghold of the People's Democratic Party; earlier, her father represented the constituency. It was only natural that as a logical inheritor of Mufti Saheb's legacy she should have contested -and, won easily-in this constituency. Mufti Saheb had a vision of inclusiveness in this diverse, communal and regionally polarised state. He practised those convictions. Now Ms. Mehbooba has the historic burden of carrying forward that legacy. An electoral mandate bestows a democratic imprimatur on her leadership. Her presumed friends and putative enemies — within her party, her BJP ally and the separatist camp — would do well to take note of the Chief Minister's new legitimacy.  

And, it was only to be expected — perhaps was inevitable-that the Pakistani proxies would very much want to register their deadly presence in the Valley. An incident like the attack on the CRPF convoy could almost be predicted. The new Chief Minister, with her unequivocal willingness to denounce the 'gun', had to be reminded that 'guns' were still around. The separatists have sent a message. It would have to be replied politically. Ms. Mehbooba now owes it to herself and the people of Jammu and Kashmir to remain steadfast in her conviction and in the correctness of Mufti Saheb's legacy — just as she must be prepared to stare the separatist in the eye. Simultaneously, she has to be excited about initiating an era of sensitive and honest governance in Jammu and Kashmir. Above all, she should calmly but firmly tell off her overbearing alliance partner that there would no dilution in Jammu and Kashmir's special status. Not on her watch.