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<p><strong>Jammu & Kashmir</strong></p><p>The Valley has finally broken its silence. A year after the abrogation of Article 370, the crackdown on mainstream political parties (including the arrest of three ex-chief ministers) and the clampdown on all political activity in Kashmir, six of these parties reaffirmed, on August 22, their commitment to the &lsquo;Gupkar Declaration&rsquo; of August 4, 2019. The Declaration had been signed just a day ahead of the annulment of J&K&rsquo;s special status, when these parties had come together and vowed to resist the anticipated political downgrade of the erstwhile state. The signatories included the National Conference (NC), Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), the Congress, People&rsquo;s Conference, the CPI(M) and the Awami National Conference, and the joint announcement said that all political activity hereon would be &ldquo;subservient to the sacred goal of reverting the status of J&K as it existed on August 4, 2019&rdquo;.</p><p>Days before the August 5 events of last year, there had been massive troop mobilisation and a series of government advisories and orders, including cancellation of the annual Amarnath yatra midway, and the eviction of tourists from J&K. It had triggered much anxiety among the people, rumours spread thick and fast, forcing the huddle of parties on August 4. The meeting was held at NC president and Srinagar MP Farooq Abdullah&rsquo;s residence in the high security zone of Gupkar Road (which also houses two more ex-CMs, Omar Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti) and the resolution that came out of the meeting was the &lsquo;Gupkar Declaration&rsquo;.</p><p>The August 22 resolution reaffirmed that commitment to state &ldquo;that we are bound by the contents of the Gupkar Declaration and are committed to strive for the restoration of Articles 370 and 35A, the constitution of J&K and the restoration of the state any division is unacceptable to us&rdquo;.</p><div class="itemcenter"><amp-iframe height="62" title="" width="320" sandbox="allow-forms allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-popups allow-top-navigation allow-top-navigation-by-user-activation" allowfullscreen src="https://ancillary-proxy.atarimworker.dev?url=https%3A%2F%2Fakm-img-a-in.tosshub.com%2Fsites%2Findiatoday%2Fbanner%2Fpreferred-source-new.html%3Fv%3D1.014%5Cu0026native%3D1" class="mrBt15 preferred-source-banner"> </amp-iframe></div></p><p>The resolution came as a surprise to the government as well as many outside it. A day before it was released, Farooq, now 82, had given his first TV interviews (including to India Today TV) since his release in March, after being detained under the draconian Public Safety Act (PSA). But there was still no inkling of what was to come. Behind the scenes, NC leader and MP from Anantnag, Justice (retd) Hasnain Masoodi, and People&rsquo;s Conference chief Sajjad Lone were engaged in drafting the resolution. Both live in the same area in Srinagar, and their meetings probably did not invite much attention. The exercise was kept a tight secret and only the top leadership among the parties, including PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti, who is still under detention, were in on it.</p><p>Masoodi, a former J&K High Court judge, says the initial signatories were more than willing to commit again. &ldquo;Our Urdu language, our constitution and flag are all gone,&rdquo; says Masoodi. &ldquo;We want the government of India to undo what it did on August 5. If there is any area that warrants a change, we can always talk about it. But unilaterally dismembering and reducing us to a municipality is unacceptable.&rdquo;</p><p>However, there are some who believe the joint strategy was revived to counter the public pressure and New Delhi&rsquo;s unrelenting mood. And at least a few leaders were ready to fall in line with the Centre after their recent incarceration. In the National Conference, some young leaders close to Omar Abdullah had reportedly become less sanguine about their fate. It was the same in the PDP, which had already seen a vertical split after it ended the all&shy;iance with the BJP in 2018. It was only the Centre&rsquo;s series of polarising decisions, including the domicile law, the delimitation exercise and notifying &ldquo;strategic areas&rdquo; for use by the armed forces that had prevented the &lsquo;reconciliation&rsquo;. The &ldquo;onslaught&rdquo; was seen as a move to change the demography of the Muslim-majority region, causing more anxiety and anger among the people.</p><p>For mainstream parties such as the NC and PDP, which have spun their politics around autonomy, any departure from it would question their relevance in Kashmir politics. &ldquo;The collective move is about their future and survival,&rdquo; says Prof. Ajaz Ashraf Wani, the author of What Happened to Governance in Kashmir? &ldquo;The decision not only changed the status of the state but also changed the landscape of mainstream politics. The question is: can they sustain the united fight to achieve what they want? Also, can they afford to do that and remain out of power?&rdquo;</p><p>So what is the roadmap of political resistance? For the present, the parties are unanimous in not accepting any change brought in via the J&K Reorganisation Act. The rejection of the delimitation panel was a part of this. Three MPs, Abdullah Sr, Masoodi and Akbar Lone (all from the NC), were nominated to the delimitation commission in May but refused to be a part of it. The J&K domicile law is another sticking point, on which the parties have explicitly recorded their dissent. Internally, they say they are willing to hold consultations with New Delhi on citizenship rights. But that can happen only after constitutional changes are reversed and the state legislature is given its due role to represent the people. &ldquo;We will go ahead with whatever political tools we have to challenge last year&rsquo;s decision,&rdquo; says a top political leader who preferred to stay anonymous. &ldquo;Right now, even jail is a political tool.&rdquo;</p><p>The coming weeks might see more political and non-political groups expressing solidarity with the Gupkar group. For this, a meeting, if allowed by the government, is likely to happen before the monsoon session of Parliament starts in the second week of September. &ldquo;Once restrictions on gatherings are lifted, our strategy will also evolve,&rdquo; says a leader privy to the declaration. &ldquo;Right now, we just want to tell the people that we are committed to the restoration of our constituti&shy;onal guarantees, our land and job rights.&rdquo;</p><p>The new consensus group will also shrink political space for nascent political outfits such as the J&K Apni Party, which is rumoured to have the support of the BJP at the Centre. It is the only political party apart from the BJP to not back the Gupkar Declaration. The J&K People&rsquo;s Movement, the political party floated by ex-bureaucrat Shah Faesal, was a signatory last year, and says it stands by the declaration. (Faesal quit politics earlier this month.)</p><p>Meanwhile, the BJP seems determined to follow its own script in J&K. Party vice-president and state in-charge Avinash Rai Khanna says restoring Article 370 is out of the question. &ldquo;Only statehood will be restored,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;The resolution won&rsquo;t make any impact as people are not listening to them. They issued threats before the abrogation as well these (family-run) parties are only concerned about their own interests.&rdquo; The Centre, he says, has won the confidence of the people with its development agenda, and it does not bode well for these parties. He cites central programmes such as &lsquo;Back to the Village&rsquo;, the visits by Union ministers and new Lt Governor Manoj Sinha&rsquo;s meeting with people as evidence that peace has returned to the Valley.</p><div id="tab-link-wrapper-plugin"><div class="authors__container"><div class="authors__by"><div class="authlable">Published By: </div><div class="authdetaisl">Roshni Majumdar </div></div><div class="published__on"><div class="authlable">Published On: </div><div class="authdetaisl">Aug 29, 2020</div></div></div><div class="sendros">--- ENDS ---</div></div>

up-front

UP Front

<p><strong>Jammu & Kashmir</strong></p><p>The Valley has finally broken its silence. A year after the abrogation of Article 370, the crackdown on mainstream political parties (including the arrest of three ex-chief ministers) and the clampdown on all political activity in Kashmir, six of these parties reaffirmed, on August 22, their commitment to the &lsquo;Gupkar Declaration&rsquo; of August 4, 2019. The Declaration had been signed just a day ahead of the annulment of J&K&rsquo;s special status, when these parties had come together and vowed to resist the anticipated political downgrade of the erstwhile state. The signatories included the National Conference (NC), Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), the Congress, People&rsquo;s Conference, the CPI(M) and the Awami National Conference, and the joint announcement said that all political activity hereon would be &ldquo;subservient to the sacred goal of reverting the status of J&K as it existed on August 4, 2019&rdquo;.</p><p>Days before the August 5 events of last year, there had been massive troop mobilisation and a series of government advisories and orders, including cancellation of the annual Amarnath yatra midway, and the eviction of tourists from J&K. It had triggered much anxiety among the people, rumours spread thick and fast, forcing the huddle of parties on August 4. The meeting was held at NC president and Srinagar MP Farooq Abdullah&rsquo;s residence in the high security zone of Gupkar Road (which also houses two more ex-CMs, Omar Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti) and the resolution that came out of the meeting was the &lsquo;Gupkar Declaration&rsquo;.</p><p>The August 22 resolution reaffirmed that commitment to state &ldquo;that we are bound by the contents of the Gupkar Declaration and are committed to strive for the restoration of Articles 370 and 35A, the constitution of J&K and the restoration of the state any division is unacceptable to us&rdquo;.</p><div class="itemcenter"><iframe scrolling="no" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" width="100%" height="62" awidth="320" aheight="62" amplayout="fixed" src="https://ancillary-proxy.atarimworker.dev?url=https%3A%2F%2Fakm-img-a-in.tosshub.com%2Fsites%2Findiatoday%2Fbanner%2Fpreferred-source-new.html%3Fv%3D1.014" class="preferred-source-banner" loading="lazy"></iframe></div><style>.preferred-source-banner{  margin-top: 10px; margin-bottom:10px;}</style></p><p>The resolution came as a surprise to the government as well as many outside it. A day before it was released, Farooq, now 82, had given his first TV interviews (including to India Today TV) since his release in March, after being detained under the draconian Public Safety Act (PSA). But there was still no inkling of what was to come. Behind the scenes, NC leader and MP from Anantnag, Justice (retd) Hasnain Masoodi, and People&rsquo;s Conference chief Sajjad Lone were engaged in drafting the resolution. Both live in the same area in Srinagar, and their meetings probably did not invite much attention. The exercise was kept a tight secret and only the top leadership among the parties, including PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti, who is still under detention, were in on it.</p><p>Masoodi, a former J&K High Court judge, says the initial signatories were more than willing to commit again. &ldquo;Our Urdu language, our constitution and flag are all gone,&rdquo; says Masoodi. &ldquo;We want the government of India to undo what it did on August 5. If there is any area that warrants a change, we can always talk about it. But unilaterally dismembering and reducing us to a municipality is unacceptable.&rdquo;</p><p>However, there are some who believe the joint strategy was revived to counter the public pressure and New Delhi&rsquo;s unrelenting mood. And at least a few leaders were ready to fall in line with the Centre after their recent incarceration. In the National Conference, some young leaders close to Omar Abdullah had reportedly become less sanguine about their fate. It was the same in the PDP, which had already seen a vertical split after it ended the all&shy;iance with the BJP in 2018. It was only the Centre&rsquo;s series of polarising decisions, including the domicile law, the delimitation exercise and notifying &ldquo;strategic areas&rdquo; for use by the armed forces that had prevented the &lsquo;reconciliation&rsquo;. The &ldquo;onslaught&rdquo; was seen as a move to change the demography of the Muslim-majority region, causing more anxiety and anger among the people.</p><p>For mainstream parties such as the NC and PDP, which have spun their politics around autonomy, any departure from it would question their relevance in Kashmir politics. &ldquo;The collective move is about their future and survival,&rdquo; says Prof. Ajaz Ashraf Wani, the author of What Happened to Governance in Kashmir? &ldquo;The decision not only changed the status of the state but also changed the landscape of mainstream politics. The question is: can they sustain the united fight to achieve what they want? Also, can they afford to do that and remain out of power?&rdquo;</p><p>So what is the roadmap of political resistance? For the present, the parties are unanimous in not accepting any change brought in via the J&K Reorganisation Act. The rejection of the delimitation panel was a part of this. Three MPs, Abdullah Sr, Masoodi and Akbar Lone (all from the NC), were nominated to the delimitation commission in May but refused to be a part of it. The J&K domicile law is another sticking point, on which the parties have explicitly recorded their dissent. Internally, they say they are willing to hold consultations with New Delhi on citizenship rights. But that can happen only after constitutional changes are reversed and the state legislature is given its due role to represent the people. &ldquo;We will go ahead with whatever political tools we have to challenge last year&rsquo;s decision,&rdquo; says a top political leader who preferred to stay anonymous. &ldquo;Right now, even jail is a political tool.&rdquo;</p><p>The coming weeks might see more political and non-political groups expressing solidarity with the Gupkar group. For this, a meeting, if allowed by the government, is likely to happen before the monsoon session of Parliament starts in the second week of September. &ldquo;Once restrictions on gatherings are lifted, our strategy will also evolve,&rdquo; says a leader privy to the declaration. &ldquo;Right now, we just want to tell the people that we are committed to the restoration of our constituti&shy;onal guarantees, our land and job rights.&rdquo;</p><p>The new consensus group will also shrink political space for nascent political outfits such as the J&K Apni Party, which is rumoured to have the support of the BJP at the Centre. It is the only political party apart from the BJP to not back the Gupkar Declaration. The J&K People&rsquo;s Movement, the political party floated by ex-bureaucrat Shah Faesal, was a signatory last year, and says it stands by the declaration. (Faesal quit politics earlier this month.)</p><p>Meanwhile, the BJP seems determined to follow its own script in J&K. Party vice-president and state in-charge Avinash Rai Khanna says restoring Article 370 is out of the question. &ldquo;Only statehood will be restored,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;The resolution won&rsquo;t make any impact as people are not listening to them. They issued threats before the abrogation as well these (family-run) parties are only concerned about their own interests.&rdquo; The Centre, he says, has won the confidence of the people with its development agenda, and it does not bode well for these parties. He cites central programmes such as &lsquo;Back to the Village&rsquo;, the visits by Union ministers and new Lt Governor Manoj Sinha&rsquo;s meeting with people as evidence that peace has returned to the Valley.</p><div id="tab-link-wrapper-plugin"><div class="authors__container"><div class="authors__by"><div class="authlable">Published By: </div><div class="authdetaisl">Roshni Majumdar </div></div><div class="published__on"><div class="authlable">Published On: </div><div class="authdetaisl">Aug 29, 2020</div></div></div><div class="sendros">--- ENDS ---</div></div>

The joint declaration reiterated the commitment of the parties to the restoration of Articles 370 and 35A, but it's also being
seen as a prop to stay relevant after a year
of uncertainty

India Today

The joint declaration reiterated the commitment of the parties to the restoration of Articles 370 and 35A, but it’s also being
seen as a prop to stay relevant after a year
of uncertainty

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The political pushback

The joint declaration reiterated the commitment of the parties to the restoration of Articles 370 and 35A, but it's also being seen as a prop to stay relevant after a year of uncertainty

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