confirmed it,” he clarified at a press
meetin Srinagaron June12.
Constitutional expertsbased in
the Valleysay thatit willnotbe easy
for theCentre to lift thefreezeon
delimitation. Delimitationcan be
undertakenonlyif an amendmentis
madeto Section47 of the StateCon-
stitution.Suchan amendment needs
to be ratified by themajority of the
electedlegislators.Seniorjournalists
in KashmiraverthattheGovernor
doesnothavethe powerto effectan
amendmentsincehe is actingcur-
rently as the delegate of the
President.
However, the BJP’sJammu lead-
ershavekeptthepotboiling. The
partygeneralsecretary for the State,
AshokKaul,toldthe mediathatthe
issueof delimitationwasnota new
one;it waspartof the agenda of alli-
ancethe BJPhadwiththe PDPwhen
thetwopartiesformedthegovern-
mentin theState.“Wehadsought
theestablishmentof a delimitation
commissionto delimit the Assembly
constituenciesas requiredby law.
Unfortunately, thatwasnotdone,
butit is nevertoolate,”he said.A
sectionof the localpressin Kashmir
believesthatthe BJPmaybefloating
the ideato consolidateits success in
Jammuin the LokSabhaelection.
An informed source in Raj
Bhavansaid: “While there is no
denying that the BJP ultimately
wantsto increaseJammu’s sharein
the Assembly,obviouslyto maximise
its ownchancesof comingto power,
it cannot be done immediately.
Thereis no suchdesigngoingon, at
leastnotwhichtheRajBhawan is
awareof, or is involvedin.” The
sourceaddedthatthebeliefin the
State’sadministrative circlewasthat
the BJPwantedto sendout a strong
message of reassuranceto the people
in JammuandLadakhthattheir
politicalinterestswould be secondto
none.“Thisis moreof a posturing
donewiththeaimof triggeringa
sentiment[inJammu],”thesource
explained. DespitethePDPandthe
N.C.notfieldinga candidatein Ud-
hampur, theBJP’sJitendraSingh
defeatedthe Congress’Vikramaditya
Singhby 3.57lakhvotes,the highest
marginof victoryfor anycandidate
in JammuandKashmir.TheBJP
also retained the Jammu and
Ladakhseats.In termsof Assembly
segments, thistranslatesintoa lead
of 28 seatsfor theBJP,threemore
thanits tallyof 25 in 2014.
Thepartyis planningto capture
power in the State on its own
strengthby executinga “35+ 9 for-
mula”,that is a minimum of 35 seats
fromJammuandLadakh,andnine
fromthe Valleyto securea majority
(“Operation Kashmir”, Frontline,
June21).POLITICALSTORM
Theplotis unravelling. Theadminis-
trationcreateda politicalstormon
June8 by sackingtheJ&KBank
Chairman ParvezAhmedon charges
offinancial irregularities,corruption
andnepotism.While“backdoor re-
cruitment” in the publicsectorbank
hadalwaysbeena focus of conversa-
tionin Srinagar’spublic jaunts, in
particular among unemployed
youths, the decision to relieve
Ahmed, fourmonths before his term
wasto end,is seenas thesaffron
party’sattempt to hollowoutKash-
mir’sinstitutions.Thedevelopments
thatfollowed have beencounter-
productive. On June12,five Central
ReservePolice Force(CRPF)per-
sonnelwerekilledwhenmilitantsat-
tackeda jointnakapartyof the State
policeandtheCRPFon Khanabal-
Pahalgamroad. Accordingto a re-
portpublishedinGreaterKashmir, a
spokesmanof Al-UmarMujahideen
calledup a localnewsagency to claim
responsibilityfor the attack.Theat-
tacktookplaceon the mainroute for
theupcomingAmarnathyatra.Al-
Umar Mujahideen is headed by
Mushtaq AhmedZargar, whowas
oneof the threeterrorists releasedby
theA.B.Vajpayeegovernment in a
hostages-for-militantsswapfollow-
ingthehijacking of IndianAirlines
FlightIC-814in December 1999.
Kashmir’srights bodiesandcivil
societygroupsarefindingit difficult
to operateunderGovernor’sRule.
Theadministrationdeniedpermis-
sionto Amnesty International India
to hold its news briefing titled
“Tyrannyof a LawlessLaw” in Srin-
agaron June12. Thebriefing wasmeantto showhowthesweeping
provisions of thePublicSafetyAct
werebeingapplied to detain people,
oftenminors, withoutchargesor a
trial.A seniorofficerwithAmnesty
International IndiatoldFrontline:
“Weweretoldby the District Magis-
trate’sofficethatthiswouldcreatea
law andorder problem.Therewasno
explanationof howa peaceful gath-
eringinside a hotel premisescan
triggerviolenceor lawlessness.This
is nothingshortof a summaryrejec-
tion,a denialof spaceto law-abiding
citizens to express their dissent
democratically.”
During the PDP-BJPrule(2014-
18) in the State,deliberateandcon-
sistenteffortsweremadeto sideline
the HurriyatConference.Themove-
mentof the All PartiesHurriyat Con-
ference(APHC)leaders wasblocked,
Hurriyat cadreswerearrested,and
their activities were curtailed by
denyingthem therequiredpolice
permits.On December 10, 2018,the
APHCwasbarredfromholdinga
seminar in its Rajbagh office in
Srinagar.
This denial, besides thehigh-
handedcrackdownon civilianpro-
testersandcontinued incarceration
of separatistleaders, is boundto
pushthe youthsto militancy as well
as encourageexistingmilitants to
carryoutdeadlystrikes.
The APHC chairmanMirwaiz
UmarFarooqtoldthisreporterdur-
ing a conversation in Marchthatthe
stifling of democraticvoicesandbar-
ringseparatistsfromtravelling to the
hinterland hadled to the transfer of
the pro-independence leadership
fromthemintothehandsof village
youths,fundamentallyshiftingthe
politicalandreligiouscalculusof the
struggle, as is manifest in the emer-
genceof somejehaditerroroutfits
suchas theIslamic Stateof Jammu
andKashmir,whichconsidersitself
an offshootof the Islamic State(I.S.);
theLashkar-e-Islam,whichcarried
outattacksontelecomtowers in
northernKashmirin 2015; andAl
Badr.Theseare different fromtradi-
tionalmilitantoutfits in thatthey
drawideological motivationfrom
the I.S. andviewKashmiras a partof
the largerIslamistrevolution. $