The administration needs to wake up before things go out of control
STATECRAFT BY HAPPYMON JACOB
Even after decades of dealing with insurgency and having been in the business of conflict resolution, the government, officials and the politicians in the state of Jammu and Kashmir still seem to be drawing a blank when it comes to practicing the basic lessons in conflict management and resolution. An agitation that should and could have been nipped in the bud is now quickly going out of control and there is as yet no consensus or even willingness to bring normalcy back to Jammu that has been witnessing protests and violence for weeks now. The currently raging unrest in Jammu province is brought about by a set of unfortunate factors: inept and clumsy administrative handling of the situation, lack of administrative imagination from the part of the state government, lack of courage from the state’s political leadership belonging to various political parties, and the inability of the civil society to engage the people in a meaningful manner.
Lack of Administrative Imagination
Jammu and Kashmir does not have a popular government at this point of time and so it is difficult to invoke the established practices and procedures of democratic conflict resolution. One understands that and would not therefore expect the governor-led state administrative machinery to fair extremely well. However, the government does not seem to be able to do anything at all to resolve the ongoing violence and protests in Jammu. The key functionaries of the government seem to be under the impression that this is merely a law and order problem which can be handled by the Divisional Commissioners and middle ranking police officers with some stern police action. The governor made a visit to Jammu and met leaders from various political parties, and has been making public appeals for calm through the media, but all in vain. What about the other time-tested measures that governments normally adopt in situations like this, such as multi-layered negotiations, reaching out to various political leaders, those leading the agitations, relatives of those killed and injured etc.? While the revocation of the transfer of land to the Shri Amarnath Shrine Board triggered the current spell of protests, Jammuites are also pouring out their unhappiness on a variety of issues on the streets that has been pent-up for a very long time: ranging from the question of delimitation of electoral constituencies in the state to repairing the transformer in the Gladni Grid Station (Jammu is reeling under severe power shortages for the last few weeks ever since the Gladni transformer has become dysfunctional). Resolving the administrative, developmental and governance issues is one of the important ways of addressing popular unrest. The administration needs to wake up from its slumber and act proactively or things can go out control, leading to polarization between Jammu and Kashmir and Jammu Hindus and Kashmiri Muslims. The state government has to appoint a high level team comprising of high ranking officials and civil society members to reach out to the protesting sections of the public and discuss ways and means of resolving their grievances.
Lack of Courage from the Political Leadership
While Jammu is burning and life has come to a standstill, where are all the political leaders of the state? From former chief ministers to party patrons to party presidents, all of the state’s many political parties are absent from ground zero. While it is true that except for the BJP, most parties run the risk of public wrath in today’s Jammu for right or wrong reasons, the point is that they should take this reasonable risk since they are in the profession called politics where the same people love you today and hate you tomorrow. Major political parties of the state have to take it upon themselves to meet the injured, relatives of the dead, and address the larger political concerns and get into the midst of the public discourse. If fear of public wrath is what is keeping them at a safe distance, how did they survive in the not-so-smooth politics of Jammu and Kashmir for so long? Or is it electoral calculations that are keeping them away from Jammu? If latter is the case, it is not enlightened politics. Reports of resignations of Jammu-based office bearers from major political parties are perhaps only a small indication of difficult times ahead for the political parties.
The defunct civil society
In situations like this, the local civil society normally steps into the scene to breathe an air of reason and calm. But the Jammu civil society, which is traditionally considered to be more robust than its counterpart in Srinagar, doesn’t seem to have achieved much. When many political leaders in Jammu are whipping up communal passions by asking Kashmiri Muslims to leave Jammu (in retaliation to Syed Ali Shah Geelani’s demand to oust all outside laborers from Kashmir), it becomes the responsibility of the civil society to counter this malicious tendency tooth and nail. In this process of threats and counter threats, it is the landless laborers and the poor families, both Muslim and Hindu, who suffer. Educational institutions, media, faith-based organizations and all such actors need to take up the responsibility to bring the society back to normalcy. The civil society needs to meaningfully engage those agitated as well as the victims by conducting visits to affected localities, taking out peace rallies etc. Jammu and Kashmir is once again on the verge of internal divisions and communal violence. If such communal passions and violence are allowed to flourish, all the intra-J&K peace and understanding that have been achieved in the past few years will be lost in a matter of weeks.
(The writer is Assistant Professor, Department of Strategic and Regional Studies, University of Jammu)
Source: Greater KAshmir, July 30, 2008. URL: http://greaterkashmir.com/full_story.asp?Date=30_7_2008&ItemID=32&cat=11
