When Farooq Abdullah, the 83-year-old National Conference (NC) stalwart, walked out of detention, which lasted over seven months, on Friday, a lot had changed in -- to start with -- what is now a union territory and not the state he helmed thrice in the past.
But in his interaction with media, he referred to it as a “state”. Besides, there is no Article 370, which underlined special provisions for J&K's relationship with India, anymore. This, when his party National Conference (NC) continues calling for the restoration of the autonomy of Jammu and Kashmir.
Even though NC says the government had no alternative but to release senior Abdullah, the party president was cautious about speaking on any political issue in his brief interaction with the media.
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Abdullah's release came close on the heels of the formation of the Apni Party and therefore Kashmir is likely to witness more political developments in the next few weeks.
The Apni Party leaders met Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday, just a day after Abdullah’s release, to demand the restoration of statehood to Jammu and Kashmir.
NC leader and MP Hasnain Masoodi says the government had to come up with fresh grounds to detain Dr Abdullah further as his detention period was coming to an end.
“This would have been a tough job for the government. I think maybe that was one reason behind today’s decision. The government had no other option,” Masoodi says.
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At present, the government seems to be in complete control in Jammu and Kashmir and it has not faced any law and order situation even after resuming social media on 2G network.
Further, with 90-year-old senior separatist leader Syed Ali Geelani battling ailments, JKLF chairman Yasin Malik behind bars for the past one year, and Mirwaiz Umar Farooq under house arrest, separatists are out of the scene in the Valley.
There indeed was growing pressure on the government to release Abdullah. Opposition parties had demanded the immediate release of all political detainees in Jammu and Kashmir, especially the three former chief ministers -- Farooq Abdullah, Omar Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti.
The arrival of Apni Party is also being seen as a key development in the Valley's politics, far and beyond Abdullah's release.
Many political analysts say the formation of Apni party, a week ago, was a plan to facilitate Farooq, Omar and Mehbooba to come back to politics. They say in the absence of such a party, it would be difficult for them to initiate their own normal politics. With Apni party in place, they will have a clear first agenda to displace the “collaborators.”
However, the NC rubbishes such arguments. Many NC leaders say the recent US Congress resolution calling for an end to detentions in Kashmir played a significant part in Dr Abdullah’s release.
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“I think such experiments (arrest) have been made in the last 70 years and they haven’t borne any fruit. Release of Dr Abdullah is a significant development and I expect the government to follow it up with release of other detainees and start a genuine political process,” says NC’s Masoodi, adding that by now, the central government must have understood their actions in Jammu and Kashmir are not accepted by the international community and other political parties in the country.
“Their discourse that everything is normal is not acceptable to all and they must have realised it by now,” Masoodi says.
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Political analyst and columnist Riyaz Wani says it is unlikely that the foreign pressure alone would have forced New Delhi’s hand.
“Abdullah’s release is believed to be part of a larger Kashmir gambit. The move would have been unlikely if Centre expected Abdullah to embark on a vociferous opposition to Article 370. So, what is up New Delhi’s sleeve? Much of it, however, will be clear by how Abdullah chooses to act,” Wani says.
For now, Abdullah has chosen silence saying he will not talk about politics. If he will not talk politics, then who will?
