Kashmir Affairs - Security & Conflict Analysis of Kashmir

Mehbooba Mufti
President, Jammu & Kashmir Peoples Democratic Party

[This interview was taken on July 7, 2008 just after the land transfer order in favour of the Shri Amarnath Shrine Board was revoked].

By Nawaz Gul Qanungo
19 August 2008

What was the status of the Amarnath issue when the National Conference (NC) government stepped down and the PDP-Congress coalition came to power in J&K in 2002?
It wasn't even an issue. This (Amarnath Yatra) was a centuries-old practice. The locals were involved and management was taken care of by the state government. Never was a yatri harmed even during the worst periods in the valley.

Where did things go wrong then according to you?
With the arrival of General SK Sinha as governor, when my father was the chief minister, a parallel government started working from the Raj Bhavan. They aggressively started pursuing the land transfer. The issue was brought into the Cabinet thrice. But my father resisted because he could foresee that such transfer of land would have major consequences in the valley. There were serious arguments in the Cabinet over this and it is on record. Even at that time, ministers from the Congress threatened to resign over my father's stand but he didn't give up.
When Ghulam Nabi Azad took over the government, he should have simply followed that line. But there was more than just a comfortable relationship between the Congress-led government and the Raj Bhavan. He (General Sinha) literally started functioning as a parallel government. Not only that, he came out with outrageous statements against the PDP's policies, whether it was self-rule or withdrawal of troops. He would take potshots at us. When the matter was brought into the cabinet again, for the fourth time, the chief minister (Azad) persuaded our ministers saying that the transfer was temporary - just till the yatra lasts.
But later, one of the officers in the SASB said that the land was not transferred on a temporary basis but that it was a property of the shrine board. He even started making it a Hindu-vs-Muslim issue. That is when our people put down their foot and said 'nothing doing… you had told us that the land (transfer) was a temporary arrangement. How can the CEO claim it to be a permanent thing? So you have to revoke the order'. But Ghulam Nabi Azad didn't listen and people came out in revolt. Today the whole state has got divided on communal and regional lines and it has even spread in the rest of the country.

But it is also on record that Mr Qazi Afzal (then forest minister) and Mr Muzaffar Hussain Beigh (then deputy chief minister and law minister) didn't have a problem with the land transfer when even the forest officials had certain objections.
They had agreed to the temporary land transfer. But the party as such was not informed. We came to know about it in the newspapers. It was more between the chief minister… I think it was his parting gift to General Sinha… something like that you know. The relationship was so close that he wanted to give him something. Otherwise there was no need… just to do something when General Sinha was on his last leg. I mean you cannot understand the logic. For the last three years when Ghulam Nabi Azad did not do it, why did he do it when the governor was (about to leave)… unless and until he wanted to make it a parting gift to the governor?

We have been hearing different statements from within and outside the state regarding an Act passed for the land transfer during the coalition government.
The Act was passed by the National Conference (NC government, which was part and parcel of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led National Democratic Alliance, paving way for the creation of the Shri Amarnath Shrine Board. It gave unlimited powers to the board with the governor as its chairman and the principal secretary to the state government as its executive officer. Now, the governor is the chairman (of the shrine board) and you can't hold him accountable for any kind of decision that was not in the interest of the state. You cannot challenge him… Most probably, this was a brain child of the BJP which tried to implement its agenda in the state through the ruling NC. In fact, there is a press note that tells us that once the Act was passed, as many as 5,000 kanals of land had been envisaged for the board…

There is no stopping your repeated statements to the media regarding General Sinha in that he had a communal agenda.
There is no doubt about that. On the very first day when he set his foot on the ground in the valley, it was written all over his actions and his speech. Even now, he says that we are communal because we didn't give him land for the shrine board but did so for Islamic University of Science and Technology. That we gave land for the Ghulam Shah Badshsah University in Rajouri. That we gave land for the Mughal Road to connect the Muslims of Poonch and Rajouri with those of the valley. Just see how communal… Can you imagine a governor making such a statement? Who gave land for Mata Vaishnodevi University? It was the same Mufti. The fact is he has served his bosses well. He has gifted them an agenda on a platter. And Ghulam Nabi Azad facilitated it.

Senior PDP leaders have said the party was threatened by the Congress that the construction of Mughal Road would be stopped if the land transfer was not allowed to go through.
Congress ministers said, "How can you allow land for Mughal Road when you are not ready to give land for the shrine board." But our ministers did not budge even though the work on the road was stopped for some time.

May I ask you this question again, I need a straight answer since people from your party have already alleged… Did the Congress actually threaten that there would be no Mughal Road if land was not granted to the shrine board?
They started comparing the two things… they started comparing the two things (Mughal Road and the land transfer).

The PDP was part of the coalition government when the various decisions related to the land transfer were taken. Isn't it unfair to blame just the Congress?
It's not that we are putting the whole blame on the Congress. But you must realise that my father opposed it for three years. They should've listened.

But the Congress is facing agitations all over the country now...
This is the making of the BJP and the NC. They are the ones who created this mess. And for the rest of the country, these communal parties (the Sangh Parivar) have always been looking for chances to flare up communal passions for electoral gains and that is what has happened here. My father denied them this opportunity.

The protests in the valley were reminiscent of the situation in 1989. People had come out to protest for the land, but ended up demanding azadi. Don't you think the larger point of the Kashmir problem was missed once again?
We are not missing anything. In fact, it is the PDP that has all the time... all the time... stressed that the semblance of peace and normalcy we have brought into the valley must not be taken for granted. There is no substitute for the resolution of the Kashmir dispute. The problem is still there. We have to address that. Otherwise, any small incident can turn into what we have seen in the last 10-15 days.

What's been the role of the Hurriyat in the demonstrations? Who were the people on the streets?
They were common people. Hurriyat may have led them but the reaction was spontaneous.