Nineteen months ago, when Omar Abdullah, 40, took over the reins of India's most fraught state as its 11th and youngest chief minister, a sliver of hope lit up Kashmir.
A "clean" politician with a spectacular political legacy, Abdullah's National Conference received an effusive mandate from the Kashmiris to restore peace in the strife-ravaged valley. On his part, the young CM promised to infuse new energy into his job and establish a direct "connect" with the people.
Interestingly, the same connect had helped his grandfather Shaikh Abdullah create the state's first political party (the Muslim Conference) in the 40s and become Kashmir's first "prime minister". Abdullah's father, Farooq, has also since ruled thrice as the state's chief minister, helping the first family of Kashmir dominate the state's political matrix for over half a century.
Abdullah began on a promising note. He fleshed out a blueprint to put Kashmir on a growth trajectory factoring in economic growth, development of tourism infrastructure, employment for youth and building of schools and colleges. The twin mantras of transparency and accountability were embraced by his freshly-minted political dispensation.
But barely had the state's honeymoon with Abdullah begun than there were notes of dissonance. These came in the form of street protests in February 2009, culminating in civilian killings in Bomai in north Kashmir. Abdullah's slow reflexes to control the situation were widely criticised. This was followed by the explosive Shopian rape and murder case. The incident climaxed in a tacky cover-up by the state government which sullied the young politico's reputation as an "honest" politician.
Since then, it's been a downward spiral all the way. The past few months especially have seen the valley plummet to an anarchic cycle of death-protests-death. Scorching violence has extracted a heavy price across swathes of the valley. According to official figures, in June and July this year, there have been 872 stone-throwing incidents injuring 1,456 security personnel. Over 70 innocent civilians including pregnant women and children have also lost their lives, caught in a crossfire between the Central Reserve Police Force and protesters.
The state police personnel clearly not sensitised to the problems of the man on the street have been bashed up by angry mobs, their weapons confiscated and their homes torched.
In other words, far from delivering on the promises of hope and an innovative approach, what the current crisis has done is expose Abdullah's lack of leadership skills. The domino effect of this has been that the National Conference which was poised to capitalise on the goodwill it was invested with 19 months ago seems rudderless and has slowly ceded ground to secessionists.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh who has had to chair two meetings on the Kashmir imbroglio in the past few days has said that law and order must be restored before progressive steps are taken to deliver any political or development package to the state. Abdullah acknowledges this. But this concurrence is clearly not enough. The chief minister must act chief ministerial and employ political imagination to solve the current crisis. Jammu and Kashmir police, for example, are pathetically under-equipped and under-trained. Substituting them with CRPF personnel, as Abdullah suggests, is not a good solution as the latter lack local knowledge and cannot be expected to control crowds or maintain law and order.
Grassroots movement
Despite the intensity of the violence, it ought not to have overwhelmed a state where separatism has been the overarching political narrative. Abdullah also needs to activate a grassroots movement to engage with the state's youth. The present Kashmiri generation has been weaned on a hostile culture, one where creating anarchy and pelting security forces with stones, are considered par for the course. Inadequate job prospects due to abysmal private sector investment has further frustrated them with unemployment figures ratcheting up to an all-time high.
Remote control measures from New Delhi are hardly the solution to the problem. The crisis, critics say, has been exacerbated by the fact that Kashmir has never been Abdullah's real turf. Though he is technically a Kashmiri, he is basically an "outsider", oblivious to the nuanced complexities of a life buffeted by shootings, street mayhem, lack of economic opportunity and emergency curbs.
To get a grip on the situation, the CM must first open a robust channel of communication with leaders of all political stripes, especially mainstream political rivals like the People's Democratic Party (PDP) and separatist outfits such as Hurriyat. This will reassure the Kashmiri people of the state government's intent to redress their grievances.
Abdullah is clearly in an unenviable position. Though he displayed expediency in capturing the people's imagination, his leadership skills have yet to be proved. He needs to get the state administrative machinery purring and employ his political imagination to restore peace to the valley.
Neeta Lal is a New Delhi-based journalist.
