FIRSTPOST PODCAST TRANSCRIPT

RahulPandita

Q.1 Do you see any connection between what happened at NIT Srinagarandin Kupwara
district?

Well, maybe there is a connection, we dont know yet. But, incidents like Handwaraarejustan
example of how the separatist machinery is hell bent on creating trouble in Kashmir and how
lies are peddled to ferment unrest leading to such tragic violence. And, you know the saddest
storyisthefactthathowyoungboysandgirlsareusedaspawnsbythe separatistmachineryto
furthertheiragendaandnobodyhasthecouragetosaythatinKashmir.

Q.2WhatwastheissueatHandwara?

The issue at Handwara is simple. A girl went to use a public convenience, some boys were
following her and as preliminary investigations have revealed, the girl had been rejecting the
advances of one boy. You know...the boys accused her of cozying uptoanarmyman.Andwe
mustremember what oneofthe boys toldherinKashmiri:Kashyerkyamoodya!(Kashmirikya
mar gaye hain/Have the Kashmiris died?) this suggests that they accused her ofcozyingup
to the army man and the girl in subsequent statements including one in front of a chief judicial
magistrate in Handwara had very clearly maintained her position that there was no army man
present there and it was two boys in fact who assaulted her. Obviously in the meantime, the
separatist machinery in Kashmir was at work in Handwara they created a rumour of the girl
being molested by anarmymanandnow oneoftheboys hasbeenarrested andtheotherboys
should be apprehended too. Also, the circumstances in which the first two things happened in
Handwara, I thinktheymustbeclearlystatedwasitthepolicewho killedthoseboys?Orwas
it the Army? And between police and army, whoever openedfire,whydidtheyopenfire?Were
they left with no choice? From Kashmirs past, we know that a magisterial enquiry means
nothing. So, I think in this case if the state government and the central government serious
aboutthis,soIthinkthiscaseinitselfwarrantsanindependenthighlevelenquiry.

Q.3WhatistherelationshipbetweenmilitancyandthedemonstrationsinKupwara?

I thinktherelationshipisverycozy...themilitantgroupbasedinPakistandependveryheavilyon
the separatist elements in Kashmir to create such trouble. And...it helps them in justifying their
existence. And, the unfortunate killing of civilians, in this case in Handwara, are used as a
propaganda tool to show how the Indian State is brutalisingtheKashmiris.So,yes, theywork
very closely and I would go the extent of saying that sometimes thelinebetweenmilitancyand
the people who arethebrainbehindsuchdemonstrationsaswehaveseeninHandwaraisvery
blurred.

Q.4HowdoyouviewtheprospectsforthenewStategovernment?

FIRSTPOST PODCAST TRANSCRIPT

I think the public memory in India, especially in Kashmir is very short. And knowing PDPs
history, Ms Mehbooba Muftis party, it can swing in any direction to absolve itself of any
responsibility but one cant say the same thing about its partner BJP, you know, I mean the
top leaders of the party: the seven blind men are interpreting Kashmir in their ownwaylikethe
elephant, the proverbial elephant. Mr Modi, I think has the golden chance to begin the
consolidation of Indias position in Kashmir, he has the chance to put his foot downandsay
you know what? My government will not compromise at all.Iwillnotsupportsoftsecessionism
in Kashmir but I think that moment is gone now and that moment is wasted and the BJP,
unfortunatelyhasproventobeevenmoreshortsightedthantheCongresswhichisverytragic.I
think the seven blind men of BJP might think they have tamed this elephant but it will come to
crushthem,maybeelsewhereinIndiabutitwillcertainlyhauntthemindaystocome.

DavidDevadas

Q.1 Do you see any connection between what happened at NIT Srinagarandin Kupwara
district?

Well, the two events aredifferent,but theybothincreasedthesenseamongKashmiristhatthey

had been wronged by outsiders. The general feeling is that the outsiders the army has
killed innocent Kashmiris, at least some of whom who have not actually been involved in even
pelting stones. Media coverage on national television has added a great deal to the sense of
injustice so people in Kashmir are very upset that the killings in Kupwara district did not getas
much media discussion and condemnation as was generated by the beatings of outsider
studentsatNITbyKashmirspoliceforce.

The other connection of course isthatboththeseeventshaveledtoagreatdealoftensionand

unrest at a time when tourist season is set to begin and the new government has just taken
office.

Q.2WhatwastheissueatHandwara?

The rage that was evident at Handwara and in Kupwara and to some extent in the valley too,
last Friday indicates that at least to some extent there is something we need tolookdeeper
at the causes for each than just looking at a particular incident that may or may not have
happened between a particular young woman and a particular soldier (...) trauma and great
distress over a variety of actors and the impression that justice is not being done to Kashmiris
must be taken very seriously. This impression has been evident since the floods of 2014 and
the participation oftheBJPinthecoalitiongovernmentinthestateisalsowidelyresentedinthe
valley.

FIRSTPOST PODCAST TRANSCRIPT

Now, it maybe simply incidental that Sajjad Lone openly allied with the BJP even during the
campaign,istheMLAfromHandwara,butitisafact.WeneedtolookdeeperisallIamsaying.

Q.3WhatistherelationshipbetweenmilitancyandthedemonstrationsinKupwara?

A new militancy is clearly here and is growing. It has been evident since at least 2013 I have
even predicted five years ago that this could emerge. I felt then that the repressive tactics,
police brutality that was used to suppress the 2010 demonstration and against the youthinthe
monthsfollowingthatwouldbearverybitterfruit.

It is tragic to mymindthat agenerationthathadbeenwillingtosettledowntopeace,aslongas

it was peace with justice and with dignityhavenowbeensoenraged.Afewofthemhavetaken
to arms and this is visible particularly insouthKashmir,butthenit iswidespreadrageanddeep
sense of injustice right across the valley. This is the most worryingthingfor thosechargedwith
counter insurgency and the fact that now for the firsttimeduringcounterinsurgencyoperations
or the encounter, people come out from nearby homes and villages to sort of publicly support
themilitantsengagedinthatencounter.

Q.4HowdoyouviewtheprospectsforthenewStategovernment?

I think Mehbooba Mufti faces an extremely tough task. Even the effects of the floods in 2014
have not been fully dealt with yet. So she has come to office with a lot already piled up onher
plate. At one level the challenge of course is about political perceptions. There is widespread
public unease about the BJP with which the PDP is in coalition. So far, relations between the
state government and the Centre seem to be on even keel, but even a minor issue could
complicate it. For example, how the beef controversy did last year. On the other hand, Ill say
that Mehbooba Mufti is a relatively young, dynamic leader with a tremendous grassroots
connect she must use that political capital to the maximum. In a nutshell, Id say, the new
government faces a huge challenge, but I for one,certainlywishittheverybest.Ithinkallofus
should give a woman leader like Mehbooba Mufti, a fairchance,infactweshouldgivepeacea
chance.

ShujaatBukhari

Q.1 Do you see any connection between what happened at NIT Srinagarandin Kupwara
district?

I think it cannot be delinked in that sense, if you look at the larger political problem, political
issues that are existing in Jammu and Kashmir, Kashmir valley in particular. I think it can also
not be delinked from what was happening in the rest of India in what was happening in
universities and how it flaredupandbecame afightbetweennationalismandantinationalism.I

FIRSTPOST PODCAST TRANSCRIPT

think to my understanding, the first and foremost thing which we need tounderstandisthatthe
NIT issue was mishandled and thats how it flared up andbecameabigissueandthentheNIT
campus isolated from the local place i.e. Srinagar the way the police was deployed there and
policewassentout. Also,thenegotiations whichwereheldwith theagitatingstudentswereheld
by the team from HRD ministry I think it was badly mishandled. Also, it was later on
politicised in the sense that it needs to be seenthathowaShivSenaleader,namely MrBagga
reached Srinagar and wanted to get into the NIT while you have a separatist leader like
...Farooq who lives 100 metres away from NIT and no civil society group group from Srinagar
was allowed to enter the way Anupam Kher and all wanted to come to get into the NIT when
the atmosphere was surcharged it was politicised to a larger extent, but whether there was
anylinkbetweenNITandHandwaraepisode,Idontthinkso.

Q.2WhatwastheissueatHandwara?

See, I mean.. The issue at Handwara is about an allegation of the molestation of a girl at the
hands of the army soldiers. But at the sametime,whenyou talkaboutastoryinKashmir,there
are more than one version. In this case also, there are now three versionsoneversionwas,
the way the people staged a demonstration in saying that the army soldiers tried to molest the
girl, then a video was released by the army in which the girl was saying that she was not
molested by them and that she was being hounded by two local boys. Then, she went to the
magistrate, there also she recordedthestatementinthesamemanner.Yesterdaywhenateam
of police officers and civilsocietycoalitionmether,KashmirSociety ofCivilCoalitionreleaseda
statement later saying that accordingtothem,thegirlhassaid thatshewasforcedtomakethat
statement. The story in Kashmir has so many versions, until and unless we do a clear and
transparent probe and investigation, we cannot reach out to the truth. Butthefactofthematter
is, what happened in Handwara in the aftermath of the allegation, that was very bad. In the
sense that two young boys and a woman were killed in army firing, then one boy was killed in
neighbouring Kupwara and in the police shelling. Next day,anotherboywaskilled bythearmy.
So it did not confinetoHandwaraonly.ItactuallyspreadtoKupwaraaswell,Imusttell youthat
this isthearea,especially Handwarawhichhasnotseenmuchviolence,muchdemonstrationin
the last two years and the focus has been in South Kashmir and Handwara town has seen 75
percent voting turnout when they elected Sajjad Lone, anallyofBJP. Thiscantellyouvolumes
aboutthediscontentanddisillusionmentandalienationexistingonthegroundinKashmir.

Q.3WhatistherelationshipbetweenmilitancyandthedemonstrationsinKupwara?

I dont seeadirectrelation betweenthemilitancyanddemonstrationsinHandwara.Thereisnot

a direct link, but as I said, there isalarger problemonthegroundandthatisof alienation.That
alienation has increased over a period of time.And,I cantellyou thatintwothreemonths back
there was a Lashkar commander from Pakistan who was not a native his funeral was
attended by more than 30000 people and two villagers were fighting over his body. There are
many other instances where in the funerals of militants there has been a huge participation of

FIRSTPOST PODCAST TRANSCRIPT

civilians. I thinkitsbecauseofthesenseofdespondencyandsenseoffrustrationthathasbeen
existing on the ground, especially among the youth. And we have seen in past three years,
there is increased participation of Kashmiri youth, that too, educated inmilitancy,whichtellsus
that the situation on the ground is very grim and there is somuchoffrustrationandsomuchof
alienation on the ground because Kashmir has not been actually addressed politically in the
past810years.

Q.4HowdoyouviewtheprospectsforthenewStategovernment?

I dont think there will be much change, if you compare this government with the previous
government because as far as the political problems in Jammu and Kashmir, especially in
Kashmir are concerned,youneedtohaveapoliticalapproachandthatpoliticalapproachhasto
come from New Delhi. Today,youhavePDPandBJPintheCentrebutinthepastoneandhalf
years, there has not been much effort toactuallytouchKashmirpolitically.And,allthetime,the
signals being sent to Kashmir are that this is a local problem, a law and order problem and
unfortunately all the time, this problem is being seen through the prism of securityandlawand
order situations. And,Ithinkthatunlessanduntil thereis changeinthemindsetinDelhi thatthe
Kashmir problem has to be recognised as a political problem and it has to be accordingly
addressed the way the steps weretakenbyAtalBihariVajpayeeandthewaywesawachange
on the ground from 20032004 two tracks of negotiations were on between India and
Pakistan and also between Srinagar and Delhi. It brought a big change on the ground, it did
help to build an atmosphere of understanding, not only in this Kashmir but in the other side of
the Kashmir also. I think the only solution to addresstheproblemsandalsoitistobeseenthat
how empowered the state government is as on date and how much of empowerment the BJP
government led by PM Modi would like to see as far as the current government in Jammu and
Kashmir is concerned. How free would the state government be in terms of taking decisions
whichwillcertainlyhavepoliticalramifications?

PrakashKatoch

Q.1 Do you see any connection between what happened at NIT Srinagarandin Kupwara
district?

Absolutely overall pattern that Pakistans ISI is orchestrating todiscredittheIndianArmyupthe

proxywartokeepJ&KontheboilincludingtothegenocidethatthePakistanmilitaryisgoingon
unleashing in Baluchistan. I mean you just have to see the Baluchis on social media to realise
that the genocideisactuallyreachingthelevelsthatwereperpetratedinerstwhileEastPakistan
before it became Bangladesh. Other than this, even keeping J&K on the boils helps Pakistan
suppress the dissent in Pakistan where the Shia population is being continously targetted, the
Shia population has already reduced from 70 percent to 50 percent and the dissent is being
steamrolledincludingthrough(?)militarycourts.

Q.2WhatwastheissueatHandwara?

FIRSTPOST PODCAST TRANSCRIPT

The girl, which I must give full marks to, is very brave. She is given clearly that the allegation
that she was molested by the soldiers was absolutely false. On the way back,comingfromthe
school, she entered a public toilet and when she came out, she was actually attacked and
molested bytwoyouth,boysoutofwhichonewasalsowearing aschooluniform.Soitwasjust
a plan to discredit the army which fortunately with this girls statement has been corrected
otherwise the propaganda which is being unleashed would have been creating a much more
uglydemonstration,uglysituation.

Q.3WhatistherelationshipbetweenmilitancyandthedemonstrationsinKupwara?

The relationship is to keep the region destablised. Over the years, militancy has turned into a
lucrative industry to which the unemployed youth are lured. Now, you just have to see the NIA
report that has been indicating that hundreds of crores of rupees are beingtargettedto finance
the terror industry in J&K. This fund has been manipulated by Salauddin, the chief of Hijbul
Mujahideen, in addition tonarcoticmoneywhichthePakistaniISIhasplentybecause ofitslinks
in Taliban in Afghanistan is being pumped into J&K.So,itactuallyisalucrativeindustryandby
keeping the status quo and keeping it on the boil, the separatists are having a ball as theyare
getting a whole lot of money which is available to them, which is easy money without doing
anything.

Q.4HowdoyouviewtheprospectsforthenewStategovernment?

Unlike the previous governments, I would say they will have to improve the administration
because the treasury in J&K is that firstthelocalpoliticians arealsopartoftheterroristindustry
that they cannot be not affected with this and they have the links across the border. Now the
administration has to improve. The question of unemployment isnotinJ&Konly, itisintherest
of India as well. J&K government has to come out with good administration to be in a state to
say that we take pride that panchayati elections have been successful. At the grassroot level,
they dont have money to improve J&K. That is something which this government will have to
do. You cannot have Pakistani and ISIS flags waves around, that gives a different connotation
allaround.Sothestategovernmenthastogetitsacttogether.

SameerYasir

Q.1 Do you see any connection between what happened at NIT Srinagarandin Kupwara
district?

No, in fact what happenedinKupwaradistrictiscompletelydifferentfrom whathappenedinside

NIT. Because in NIT it was the bid on the nationalism and the flaws and everything. But what
happened in Kupwara is, we're basically been gathering sketchy details about what exactly
happened in that place, the family information which was available at that moment. In fact, I
travelledontheveryday,onthefirstday,adailyjournalisttogotothatplaceinHandwaratown.

FIRSTPOST PODCAST TRANSCRIPT

They said that it was done by Army. The firing was done by the army and there were two
deaths, one was .... and second was Nayeem Qadri but the protest in the town and other
districts of Kashmir was basically a spontaneous reaction to what happened in Handwara, not
the NIT. Because NIT is a complete different issue. In NIT you have students who are from
outside Kashmir. They were minor struck brokemonthsbackbetweentwoscholars,onealocal
scholar and nonregional scholar. So the struck up later turned out into a little bit of animosity
between two groups and what happened later was it changed into something else other than
that. So there are two things which we need to take into consideration while we look at these
two issues. In both cases, media was not allowed. EveninHandwaraifyousee,journalistsare
not allowed in town. You can only enter the town when there is a curfew. So it becomes very
difficult to report from that sphere. For example, the day it happened, it happened at around
2.30 or 2.15, the protests startedat3.15,andthemomentyoulookatthespontaneousreaction
of the people, there are videos, really disturbing videos which have been captured by
somebody. There is this video in whichonearmyistryingtoblockthe gateofthepolicestation.
The protestersaresosoviolentandIjustsawthatvideocoupleofhoursbackagainandIthank
god that the armydidnotfireatthattimebecauseultimatelyinthesecircumstancesIdontknow
how people would react but my opinion is that army in fact at that moment did not fire. But
having said that, today in the morning there were again the same where the incident of
molestation happened. He had a bunker in the main town of Handwara which was actually the
state govt gave to the people in that place and .... But it is the kind of standtowardsnormalcy.
Maybe they wanted the bunker to be removed and unforsakenly somebody paid with their life
forthem

Q.2WhatwastheissueatHandwara?

Actually the issue is like this. There were conflicting reports about everything but as far as I
remember when I went thereonthefirst day,thepeoplewho areactuallyareshopkeeperinthe
main town ofHandwara,they saidthatthereweretwogirlwholefttheirschoolinschooluniform
and they were walking towardthewashroom.One girlenteredthewashroom,secondremained
outside. Now there are twoversionsofthestory,one wassayingthattherewasanarmysoldier
already inside the washroom and the second version says that there was no army man inside
infact.Butlocalssaythattherewasanarmysoldierinsidethewashroomwho triedtomolestthe
local girl. Then you have another thing. After 1520 mins , when the first protests, there were
guys already in thetownwho.Between2.30to 5,thereweretwodeaths,bothlocalsinfact.One
is a cricketeer and second is a guywhowaskilledinsomebody'sshop.Theguywhowas killed
infact is the person who was the first to reach the washroom and tried to save this girl. This is
what the girl said later. Now at 5 the girl goes to the police station with the policeman and it is
apparently the recording which hassurfacedof thegirlsayingtherewasnomolestation onher,
it has been actually, if you believe all thesources,youcanmakeoutthatthisrecordingactually
happened inside the police station. But police did not officially enter, you know, did not send it
across people. It was just circulated through whatsapp and facebook. Now the thing is that
events like these happen, you have to understand that Kashmir is a very difficult situation. Its

FIRSTPOST PODCAST TRANSCRIPT

very small,butitdoesn'ttakemuchtimeforprotestandthat exactlywhathappenedinKupwara.

When Handwara town, news of this alleged molestation occurred, people started protesting in
the main issue. And in one hour you had almost three to four thousand people on the street,
against the army, trying to erase the bunker, trying to set that on fire because there were
already four people inside the bunker and the colleagues in that place actually say that these
people left after three hours, the bunker was then almost set on fire. So, you had a situation
which is completely chaotic andcompletely,youcannotunderstanditcompletelybecausethere
are so many versions of the truths and as it happens in any kind of conflict, the truth
becomesthe first casualty and exactly that is what happenedwithHandwarafirstcasualty.You
might havetogooverthetwoversion,oneistheversionthestatewantsyoutobelieve inthatis
of the girl that therewasnomolestationinfact.Therewasnosoldierinside thewashroom.Then
there is the anotherversionwhichispopularamongthekashmiristhattherewasinfactasoldier
who tried to molest a girl. That is the case. And unfortunately what happened at the endofthe
day, 5 people lost their life and two died in this wayonanotherprotestgoingonanothervillage
when the boy tried to come out and the rural started protesting against this whole issue.Again
army allegedly fire and one was killed. Then you had a woman whowasworkinginherkitchen
garden. I fail to understand how the blood reached her because she was also hit on the next
and she was died then. And you have five deathsinthese,and therearesomepeoplewhoare
inside the hospital. There arepeoplewhoarecriticalstill andyouneverknow. But thankfullythe
weather played an important role. On sunday itstartedraining.Hadsundaybeenanormalday,
where there would have been protests on the streets and maybe god forbid something would
have happened but it started raining heavily on sunday. So it stopped people fromcomingand
protesters from coming out on the streets which actually stopped the casualties and injuries.
Now the thing is that the chief minister of jammu and kashmir had told categorically to the
people to the authorities, in fact the police, that youhavetofollowoperationalprocedureswhile
dealing with the protestors. In fact these procedures were not followed at all because you had
killing. You had boys being shot at, there are so many otherwaysofdispersing.Ifasituationis
not dangerous up to that extent that you need to fire, you should not and that's what the chief
ministertoldtheminthemeetingbutthatwasnotfollowedatall,Idon'tthinkso.

Q.3WhatistherelationshipbetweenmilitancyandthedemonstrationsinKupwara?

Well you know kashmir is a, its a very difficult answer butI'lltellyouonething.There arethese
undercurrents which are always here in kashmir. Until andunlessthere issomekindofpolitical
process which happens on the ground, there is always a possibility of a small incident for
snowball into something else. For eg, this handwara protest. Now from the last 12years,there
has been this push bythekashmirisocietywithHurriyatleadershipwhichwastryingtotellthem
that hartals, curfewsandstrikesultimatelytheyhavenotdoneanything,ultimately theeconomic
loss of kashmir valley. But what happened recently, there was a push by the kashmir young
boys in Hurriyat conference telling them that you havetochangeyourstrategy,nowmilitancy,I
really don't think militants have directinfluenceonthese protestersinhandwarabecauseIhave
been maintaining throughout this conversation that it was a spontaneous reaction to the
feelings. This is not something which themilitantshavecreatedorlaskaretaibahascreatedor

FIRSTPOST PODCAST TRANSCRIPT

pakistan instituted. It is a local protest which happened mainly because two local boys in that
town died and there is an alleged molestation period. Now what mehbooba mufti should have
done is, because her politics has been based on this sense, she needs to go these houses of
people who were killed by militants and militants who were killed bysecurity forces. Sheneeds
to their houses. What she could havedoneis,firstthingis,gototheirhousesdirectlyinsteadof
going to her bungalow, she could have gone to their houses, she could have met themandtry
to pacify their temper. And in all this whether we agree or not, whether we like this politics or
not, Engineer Rashid surprisingly emerging of a very strong phase in that area because
Engineer Rashidwasinfacttheonlypoliticianupforfourdays.Infactadressingmorethan5000
people. I think, for me, that is a big achievement for Engineer Rashid because he istheman.I
think the Jammu and Kashmir government is ultimately looking that. The second thing is, is
there any direct relationship between the militants and these two protests, I think there is
nothing like that. Because it is the spontaneous reaction which actually triggered some kind of
protest in other parts of kashmir like Baramlal. And it also had protest in south kashmir, and
Pulwama. But I dont really think so there is a directconnectionbetweenthemilitantsandthese
protests because.... Militants adopt a complete strategy to evoke some kind of protests for eg,
you have this place in Pulwama where local boys were abducted. This was called Martyrs
graveyard. Now therewassomekindofrumorsinthatplacethatthiscasewasinstigatedbythe
militantsbecausethe militantshavelargelypresentin thePulwamadistrict.ButinHandwarathe
militancy is completely calmed down. There are very few militants in that area. You have
miltancy on the line of control in Kupwara when they tried to infilitrate towards kashmir from
pakistanside.ButIdontseeanydirectlinkbetweenthisprotestandthemilitants.

Q.4HowdoyouviewtheprospectsforthenewStategovernment?

You see, there have been two parallel these kashmiris have gone these days. One is Omar
Abdullah, when he was part of this young Barack Obama of Kashmir who could do so many
good things for kashmir. If you recall that time, he used to send text message to people but
ultimately he proved to be a disaster for the state, in all sense, economic or political. But to be
serious, tried to do was to bring administration and the policingontheground.Hewastryingto
do something in that area... But I think largely he fails for the purpose because he had people
around him who did not want some new kind of model to be adopted in Kashmir at the govt.
Now Ms. Mufti has no experience of admiistration at all. She has , after this time, being a
president,shehasbeenan MP,butshehasneverbeenrule,infactshehasneverexceptedany
kind of rule in the state administration before this. This chain at a moment when there were
rumors in Srinagar, she took the chief, as the chief minister resigned and there wererumorsin
Srinagar, that inher partytherewasthisleaderwhowastryingtotoppletheentirething,hewas
trying to become the Chief Minister. But one thing you have to remember is that, at the
administrative level, I am not sure how serious she is taken by the bureaucrats in state. But at
the political level I think she has already lost it because it has been this few days and she has
been grappling with one controversy after another. And two major serious controversies since
the day she took over. One was NIT, which was shown even on television as a case of

FIRSTPOST PODCAST TRANSCRIPT

nationalism, which it was not. You know it wasalocalthinggonecompletelyoutof handforthe

state administration. And if you have to blame Miss Mufti for this, we can put the blameonher
thing saying that atleast she failed to stand ontheverysettingexampleforthestudent.Sothey
had some demand but atleast hear them, atleast hear what they are talking about, what
demands they have, what they are asking for. Nobody went to that college, nobody from the
politician, from the state administration went except for the registrar who did know anything
about what he wanted to do with the entire controversy. Now you have this controversy.
Something I think might work for her is this local presence in handwara and Kupwara area is
that she has gone to Kupwara and although she has met families of three people killed in
Kupwara but one thing she shouldnothavedoneissheshouldhaveinsteadofgoiingtoshould
have gone to the families or directed the families of the people who were killed and she takes
guidance andcategoricaltellsdefenceministry thatsheisnot goingtotolerate.Andsheusedto
say beforebecomingthechiefminister sheisnotgoingtotolerateanyhuman rights.Peopleare
actually saying what is the difference between Mehbooba Mufti of 2010 and2016.Ithinkinthe
next 2 or 5 months she will haveatoughtimeaskingthepeopleonesecond.Itwillalsohaveto
be how she will deal with Hurriyat conference in Kashmir valley.. She has come on her way
whichwas basicallypromuslim.In JammuyouhadBJP Omarinrightinpolitics.InKashmiryou
had PDP... But I think how she deals will the security forces in the next 45 months would
actually swipe the entire stretch ofherasachiefminister. Iwontbesurprisedifshefailedandif
one day she decides to lose this government because ultimatelyIthinkshe hasbeenawoman
who many here in Kashmir would say that sheisnota womanwhocanbetrusted.You haveto
remember thatin2008,whenhewasthechiefministerandtherewasacontroversyin2008.So
you have a situation in which Mehbooba Mufti could after one year say that 'Listen, it did not
work. The BJP is not comingaround.Iamnotgettinganythingfromthegovernment'.Economic
development is easy. Every other government hasdonedevelopmentinkashmirinfromlast60
years but at the end of thedaywhen developmenthasnotreachedtheground, whatitneedsis
politics. Although it is important to have economics also, you need it for development, there is
no doubt about that. But the politics front has to take a frontseat not the backseat. Economics
cannot take the front stage and politics take the backstage. Throughout the moment itseemed
that infact economics has taken the front seat and politics has taken back seat, which I think
won'tlastforalongtime.