Peoples Conference spokesperson Adnan Ashraf Mir on Thursday said, we accept the verdict of the SMC with all humility at our command. This is the beauty of democracy. Some day you win and some day you lose. Our councilors along with the ex-mayor will continue to work for Srinagar.
However, some politically disturbing facts have come to the fore during the election of the mayor. The arithmetic of numbers of the winning combination is simply not possible without the joint participation of certain groups. And we certainly do not hold it against any group for aligning with any other group. No group is evil and no combination of groups is evil. But if a certain Kashmiri party is not willing to own up its alliance with a national party and is trying to hide it from the people of Kashmir, then we have a right to ask questions. It is no longer about the mayoral elections. The onus of proving that a certain regional party did not align with a national party lies on the regional party. They have every right to align with them but have no right to hide it in plain sight.
The last one year has been tumultuous and painful for all of us. And most of the political leaders were jailed. And we have spent time together in different jails. Some of our workers were lodged outside J&K. We were “maybe” deluded to believe that it will mark a new era amongst the regional parties. And this new era would be defined by more transparency, less slanging matches and more respect for each other.
The mayoral election mismatch between arithmetic and politics is not an isolated case. In the recent past the spokespersons of this particular regional party have been at their scathing best and at the peak of their arrogance in attacking the leaders of another regional party when they dared to raise some questions. The spokesperson of the said regional political party also issued statements against the outgoing mayor Mr Junaid Mattu. Ironically this spokesperson was ideologically questioning his own party a week earlier. But he lost no time in making a scathing attack against Mr. Mattu.
This arrogance is misplaced. We are not even mentioning any party by name and sincerely hope our apprehensions are allayed satisfactorily. We believe there are much more sacred objectives which we all may have to collectively achieve. And that berating each other will only help those who have tormented the Kashmiris especially in the last one year. Our message to those indulging in arrogant behavior is that why don’t they reserve and exhibit this arrogance against those who jailed all of us post August 5, who imposed a lockdown on an entire population. Meowing like a cat and going down on knees when confronted with those who jailed all of us and flexing muscles and mouthing pejoratives when interacting with fellow ex jail mates does not define a political warrior. And maybe there are many who have witnessed acts of utter servility and fawning attitude.
The message is clear. There is a puzzle. An arithmetic puzzle which can only be resolved by those who are being accused of scripting that puzzle. We repeat no party is evil but if a party shies away from owning up an alliance- they have to answer the people and it is time they answer the people and clarify to the people of Kashmir.
We repeat this is no longer about the mayoral election. We will cooperate and respect anybody assuming the charge as the new mayor irrespective of who supports him
