MORE THAN A MONTH has passed since the Union government voided Articles 370 and 35A amid a massive clampdown in Jammu and Kashmir. Political leaders, workers and activists continue to be under detention, and some of them have been charged with the stringent Jammu and Kashmir Public Safety Act and lodged in prisons outside the state.
The communication blockade has been partially lifted—landlines have been restored, but cellphones and the internet continue to be down. Businesses, schools and public transport remain nonfunctional despite the government’s efforts to restore normalcy. Militants have used subtle and coercive means to prolong the shutdown. They recently shot dead a shopkeeper at Parimpora in Srinagar and fired at four fruit-sellers and a toddler.
While life has largely returned to normal in Jammu and Ladakh, Kashmir seems to be staring at a prolonged shutdown. The government’s biggest worry is bridging the political vacuum created by the mass detentions. All except two political leaders—first-time MPs Mohammad Akbar Lone and Hasnain Masoodi of the National Conference—have been detained. In an exclusive interview with THE WEEK, the first by a Kashmiri politician since the clampdown began, Lone said the revocation of Jammu and Kashmir’s special status was unconstitutional. He said he hoped that the Supreme Court would strike it down. Excerpts:
Q/ On what grounds has the National Conference challenged the voiding of Articles 370 and 35A in the Supreme Court?
A/ No amendment can be done to Article 370 unless it is proposed by the J&K constituent assembly. Unless there is a recommendation by the J&K constituent assembly or the state assembly, the president cannot amend Article 370. What they have done is illegal.
The president can consider changes to the article only after it is forwarded to him by the state. The state is currently represented by the governor. The governor is a stooge of the president. In keeping with this view, a judge would strike down the amendment to Article 370.
Q/ Former chief ministers Farooq Abdullah, Omar Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti had said that Article 370 was the basis of Jammu and Kashmir’s accession to India, and that the constitutional link between the state and India would break if it was abrogated. If the constitutional link has now been broken, what is the link between Jammu and Kashmir and India now?
A/If you accept the fact, then there is no link. If a third party adjudicates on the matter and both sides put forth their arguments, a path will emerge. Then we will have to see how we accept that there is a relation between India and Jammu and Kashmir.
Q/ What are you planning to do now?
A/ When the leaders and workers, irrespective of their party affiliation, are released, we must sit together and adopt a strategy. We are being told that ‘you are our slaves now’. We are not. There is repression, but that doesn’t mean we will lose our state.
Q/ What will be the goal of the strategy you are planning to adopt?
A/ First, whatever has been snatched from us must be restored—the special status and statehood.
Q/ Do you think the voiding of Article 370 and the downgrading of Jammu and Kashmir into a Union territory have killed mainstream politics? How would mainstream parties launch a movement?
A/ No, mainstream politics is not dead.
Q/ The separatists would say their stand has been proven right.
A/ If so, let them take charge and jump into the fray now.
Q/ They would say it is the mainstream’s job to fight for the restoration of Article 370?
A/ They are demanding azadi. This is our battle and we will not need the support of the Hurriyat Conference in it.
Q/ Would you like to take the separatists along?
A/ We can’t take them and they can’t take us along. There is a moderate group among the separatists that can lend support to us. What was needed was that separatists should have spoken on Article 370, like Prof Abdul Gani Bhat has done. Syed Ali Geelani and Mirwaiz Umar Farooq should also have taken a stand. But they talk only about azadi.
Q/ You were opposed to militancy and called for a peaceful settlement of the Kashmir issue. Do you think militancy will be justified now?
A/ I can’t give a justification certificate in favour of militants. I can tell one thing—there will be forceful militancy now.
Q/ You think so?
A/ Yes, people will like it now. It would be do or die. We may not be part of it and they will not mind it. And, perhaps, the militants will also not seek our support.
Q/ What is the role of Pakistan, which controls a part of Kashmir?
A/ At the moment, they are also supporting Article 370 to some extent. They also believe that Pakistan’s existence is linked to the Kashmir issue.
Q/ Congress leader and former Sadar-i-Riyasat Karan Singh has supported the voiding of Article 370. During the 2016 uprising, he had said in Parliament that his father, Maharaja Hari Singh, who had signed the instrument of accession, had conceded only three subjects to India in 1947.
A/ That is highly dishonest of him.
Q/ Will the NC contest the assembly elections?
A/ There is no justification for us to take part in the assembly elections of Jammu and Kashmir as a Union territory.
Q/ You and Hasnain Masoodi are the only politicians who have not been detained. Have you tried contacting anyone?
A/ I met our party colleagues detained at the Sher-i-Kashmir International Convention Centre in Srinagar. We had a discussion there.
Q/ You say the constitutional link between Jammu and Kashmir and India has been broken. So, are not you morally bound to resign from Parliament now?
A/ Will it serve any purpose if I resign from Parliament?
Q/ What purpose has been served with you remaining an MP?
A/ At least we could raise our voice in Parliament.
Q/ But they did not pay heed to what you said.
A/ The day it was done, Hasnain Masoodi and I, along with around 60 other MPs, came to the well of the house and surrounded the speaker for a half a day. What else could we have done?