India Today – August 19, 2019

18 INDIATODAY AUGUST 19, 2019

half the national average and the state’s
human development index was above
the national average.
During his 2017 visit to Jammu,
Shah had invoked the death of Bharati­
ya Jana Sangh (former avatar of the
BJP) founder Syama Prasad Mooker­
jee to justify the repeal of Article 370.
Mookerjee was arrested by the J&K
police in May 1953 while protesting
against the state’s special status. His
death in police custody a month later
still rankles with BJP leaders.

ROCKY ROAD AHEAD

Shah’s next step is delimitation of
the J&K legislative assembly, where the
number of seats is heavily skewed in
favour of the Valley despite the region
being smaller than Jammu in size and
population. The move, says a govern­
ment official, is to end the current prac­
tice of the single largest party, usually

from the Valley, choosing a CM candi­

date. It will shift the focus towards the

Hindu­dominated Jammu region.

The Valley has been numbed by the

move and the presence of security forces

in such huge numbers. But is this the

lull before the storm? Security forces on

the ground in Kashmir fear a volcano is

waiting to erupt. “I won’t be surprised

if militancy gets a push in these cir­

cumstances,” says a young J&K police

constable on condition of anonymity.

“The people are feeling cheated. The

youth are vulnerable and can explode

anytime.” He points to how militancy

flared up in 2016 following the killing

of Wani. Between 2016 and 2019, sec­

urity forces killed 1,747 militants and

arrested over 6,000. Worryingly, over

80 per cent of the existing militants in

the Valley now are local youth.

“The dilution of Article 370 will be

a huge rallying point for the youth, who

sense this as a loss of identity,” says a

former IB official who did not want to

be named. The situation will become

clearer when prohibitory orders are lift­

ed around Eid next week. There are al­

ready reports that five hardened Jaish­

e­Mohammed terrorists infiltrated the

Valley a fortnight ago.

While the BJP has premised its

dilution of Article 370 on opening up

the state to settlers from outside and at­

tracting investments, there is little evi­

dence that either of these might happen

soon. As of now, all hill states maintain

restrictions on land ownership by out­

siders, so abolishing these protections in

J&K alone could open a Pandora’s box.

While businesses have so far been cit­

ing the bar on purchase of land by out­

siders and the security threat as major

deterrents, former J&K finance minister

Haseeb Drabu argues that the problem

has not been the contentious Articles

370 and 35A but Kashmir’s ‘disputed’

tag by the UN. Drabu also points to

TWO WORLDS

(Left) BJP workers

celebrate in Jammu;

protesting PDP Rajya

Sabha MPs Mir Mohd

Fayaz and Nazir

Ahmad Laway

CHANNI ANAND/ AP