PSA on Omar, Mehbooba, how will it play out?

Arun Joshi

THE week beginning February 3 had so many anniversaries lined up. On February 5, the abrogation of Article 370 completed six months. Two days later on February 7, Jammu and Kashmir completed 100 days of its incarnation as Union Territory. This was an occasion when protagonists of the split of the erstwhile state sans special status should have celebrated as the vindication of their campaign to make J&K more Indian than it was prior to August 5.

There were no celebrations. However, something, though not entirely unexpected, happened. The government slapped the Public Safety Act (PSA), a law that was initially meant to be invoked for timber smugglers, later for stone-throwers and terrorists and hardcore anti-nationals, on former Chief Ministers Mehbooba Mufti and Omar Abdullah. They were already in detention for six months and had reached the upper limit of their days in prison after having spent six months in designated jails under Section 107 – apprehension of threat to peace and public order. Under the PSA, they can be in jail for two years without trial. Omar’s father, and also former Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah, is already in detention under this Act since August last year.

It appeared an extraordinary measure in the times when the government was building a structure of development and trying to revive peace in the region after having successfully tamed the possibilities of violent protests, and shown Pakistan its place. Pakistan has been virtually dragged out of Kashmir. Islamabad had been insisting that Kashmir was a “core issue” between India and Pakistan. “Nothing remains to be talked about with Pakistan, except the vacation of Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK) by Pakistan. The territory legally belongs to India as per the instrument of accession that Maharaja Hari Singh had signed with Delhi in October 1947. Pakistan was never as alone on the world stage on Kashmir as now. The world has responded with silence to all noises that Pakistan has made post August 5 about Kashmir.

However, a question needs to be answered, if Omar and Mehbooba were so big a threat to peace, why the PSA was not slapped on them when they were arrested first on August 4-5 midnight – hours before the erstwhile state of J&K was declared as an equal with the other states in the country? The Article 370 was revoked on the day. The charges that form the dossier for their being booked under the PSA were valid before August 5. Six months was, perhaps, a reformatory period, during which the government discovered that it had not reformed itself. The reformed behaviour that the government had expected had not been spelt out officially.

This measure changed the narrative from the development and opening of political space under the Central rule to the slapping of the draconian laws on the two political figures, who incidentally, come from globally-recognised political families of Kashmir. Simultaneously, it demonstrated that the Centre was working as per its plan to decimate the political future of these families to give Kashmir a better and responsive leadership.

The abrogation of Article 370 is an all-time reality that no power on earth can reverse, politically. No political group will ever dare to do that. The opposition is just paying a lip service on this issue. It is devoid of any agenda, programme or policy on Kashmir. It is prisoner of its own cobweb of contradictions.

Having said that, it would be a fair task for the historians to study and assess the merits and demerits of this Article, and how it was used to exploit Kashmiris’ sentiments. It is also true that the local leadership helped the Centre dilute the special status over the decades. It had become almost hollow, and the Modi government demolished that hollow structure to further its agenda listed in its manifesto.

When Omar, Farooq and Mehbooba were detained on August 4-5 last year, the Centre was pleased to hear an echo of its charges of political patronage and discrimination against these leaders and their parties. Kashmiris blamed the leaders for having brought them to such a situation.

Now, with the PSA slapped on them, they have been placed on a neutral ground. They will not be abused. They have been given the mantle of warriors. The fear from them is that their party workers and syampathisers are waiting for them to come out and give them a direction. That connect has withstood the test of time. That says it all.

‘On a neutral ground’

When Omar, Farooq and Mehbooba were detained on August 4-5 last year, the Centre was pleased to hear an echo of its charges of political patronage and discrimination against these leaders and their parties. Kashmiris blamed the leaders for having brought them to such a situation. Now, with the PSA slapped on them, they have been placed on a neutral ground. They will not be abused. They have been given the mantle of warriors. The fear from them is that their party workers and syampathisers are waiting for them to come out and give them a direction. That connect has withstood the test of time. That says it all.