If 1947 is considered by historians as a crucial year that demarcates Kashmir’s medieval history from its modern one, 2019 will be even more so because henceforth, it will spin the region off towards an even more fractious path from which it cannot be brought back.
The year 2019, furthermore, affected the political climate in Kashmir in numerous ways. For the first time since 1999, it brought India and Pakistan to a near-war situation. The air strike on Balakot and the aerial dogfight between the two countries achieved no tangible objectives for Delhi but only succeeded in reminding the international community of how potentially dangerous the conflict between the two countries can become.
The year 2019 will also be remembered for the renewed vigour with which the state undermined press freedom in Kashmir. On February 19, the information and broadcasting ministry asked the J&K administration to track “resistance art” in the region. “It has been learnt that in Kashmir valley, there is an emerging trend of using different types of art to shape and promote an anti-India narrative,” stated the order. The decree adversely impacted Kashmiri artists.
The intimidation of the media bore its dividends. Since it occurred on the heels of the parliamentary election, the press coverage accorded to mainstream politicians and their campaign speeches overshadowed the diffident calls for poll boycott issued by separatist leaders.
After August 5, of course, the Modi government incarcerated almost the entire mainstream Kashmiri leadership. It did not even spare Sajad Lone, the most trusted ally of the BJP. The state entrapped most of these leaders in frivolous cases and jailed the rest under draconian laws condemned by human rights groups. By carrying out these purges, the state has effectively caused a power vacuum in Kashmir it hopes to fill by rearing a comprador class of leaders who don’t have any real political capital. It will rely on abutting them as close to the power corridors as possible so that people, once the administrative problems start taking toll, reach out to them seeking remedies.
The parliamentary elections of May threw up dismal results as the majority of voters in Kashmir boycotted the polls. Although it seems that while the ground was being cleared for the annulment of article 370 from the start of 2019, the August 5 move may have been prompted by an external stimulus.
On October 31, Jammu and Kashmir transitioned from a state into two union territories — Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh. This was the first time a state was downsized into union territories. The move was in accordance with the Centre’s August 5 announcement withdrawing the state’s special status under Article 370 and bifurcating the state into union territories.
The Centre’s August 5 move to abrogate provisions of Article 370 was unprecedented and aimed at ending the decades-old separatist movement.
To ensure there was no violence, particularly in Kashmir, over the decision, the Centre implemented stringent curbs on people’s movement and communication systems.
Just ahead of Home Minister Amit Shah’s landmark announcement in Rajya Sabha, Jammu and Kashmir, except Leh, was turned into a garrison with security forces and police deployed in every nook and corner with the army also assisting in securing the Srinagar-Jammu national highway.
Hundreds of political leaders from both mainstream and separatists camps including three former chief ministers — Farooq Abdullah, Omar Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti — were taken into preventive custody.
Farooq Abdullah, a three-time chief minister, was later booked under Public Safety Act — a law that was enacted by his father Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah in 1978 to deal with timber smugglers but used by subsequent governments to put down militancy and separatist movement after 1990.
It was after a gap of more than 60 years that a serving or former head of the government of Jammu and Kashmir was arrested by the authorities.
Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah, the National Conference founder, was arrested in 1953 when he was the prime minister of Jammu and Kashmir — a post downgraded to chief minister in 1965.
Given the high rhetoric dished out by both mainstream and separatists leaders about any tinkering with the erstwhile state’s special status, violence was expected to erupt in the valley and some parts across the PirPanjal mountain range in Jammu region.
The government imposed curfew and strictly implemented it, snapped all means of communication including internet services, suspended the cable TV services and shut down all educational institutions.
There were hundreds of incidents of stone pelting in the wake of the Centre’s move but strict implementation of curfew meant that large gatherings were avoided and security forces had to deal with protests which were largely localised.
While the Centre maintained a veil of secrecy around its intentions, the state government headed by Governor Satya Pal Malik cancelled the AmarnathYatra midway and issued an advisory for all non locals — tourists, labourers, etc — to leave the valley as soon as possible, sparking off panic among the local residents who feared for the worst.
Schools and educational institutions remained closed for this period but examinations were held according to schedule.
The year recorded many firsts and lasts. Satya Pal Malik became the last Governor of Jammu and Kashmir state.
Girish Chander Murmu was sworn in as the first Lieutenant Governor of union territory of Jammu and Kashmir on October 31 and former bureaucrat Radha Krishna Mathur as the first Lieutenant Governor of strategically-located Ladakh.
With the repeal of Article 370, more than 100 central laws were directly applied to Jammu and Kashmir for the first time and most of the parallel laws enacted by the state assembly were repealed.
Several commissions set up under the laws enacted by the state legislature including SHRC were wound up after the notification for creation of Jammu and Kashmir union territory came into effect.
With some restrictions still in place in the Valley like curbs on mobile internet, National Conference’s LokSabha member HasnainMasoodi questioned the Centre’s position that Article 370 was removed to realise the goal of “one nation, one Constitution”.
“The Northeast is getting assurance daily that the identity and culture of its people will be protected and inner line permit will be respected. This belies the narrative which was marketed that there will be one nation, one law and one Constitution after the revocation of special status of Jammu and Kashmir and abrogation of Article 370,” Masoodi told.
He claimed that the Centre’s appeals for peaceful protests and voicing dissent through peaceful manner against the amended citizenship law mean that violence is necessary to get the disapproval and dissent registered in the country.
“The Centre is making appeals to the people across the country, to students that they should voice their disagreement and dissent in a peaceful manner. But when the people of Jammu and Kashmir decided to voice their disagreement and disapproval in a peaceful manner, they refused to register their disapproval on the ground that not a single bullet was fired. Indirectly, it means that violence is necessary to get the disapproval and dissent registered,” he asserted.
While most PDP leaders are detained, Mehbooba Mufti’s daughter Iltija Mufti is operating her mother’s Twitter account to criticise the government.
Commenting on Prime Minister NarendraModi expressing concern over the violence in the aftermath of the passage of the citizenship law, Iltija wrote, “If debate and discussion are essential to democracy then why deprive people of J&K of the same rights? For us Kashmiris, its only been division, draconian laws and detentions.”
