Without charges, India’s Prime Minister Modi moves against Kashmiri leaders under draconian law
Published: February 6th, 2020
Today (Thursday, February 6), Prime Minister Modi’s government has moved againstOmar Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti under the draconian Public Safety Act (PSA). Both Omar and Mehbooba, former heads of government, have been in detention since August 5, 2019.
And now their detentions have been extended by another three months, without formal charges.
In the current situation, the local community in Jammu and Kashmir is unable to exercise any clout and is unable to think constructively about structural change.
With the stifling of civil liberties in J & K, politics is now an abstract notion for the young people in the state, and not a concrete method to bring about long-term reforms.
The translation of a political vision into reality requires diligence and hard work at the grass-roots level, which would produce dynamic indigenous politics. That cannot be achieved through the politics of vendetta.
You cannot achieve peace if your objective is not to make political accommodations.
The federal government of India cannot remain unmindful of the fact that the attitude of inflexibility and intransigence exacerbates conflict in the region.
The powers-that-be do not, then, give first priority to peace but to hold on to what they have got in their possession by any means.
It is because of this that it is incumbent on well-meaning and rational analysts and policy makers in India to clearly fix their objective before they deliberate upon the lack of civil liberties and local politics in J & K.
In Kashmir, rights relating to life, liberty, and freedom of expression guaranteed by the Constitution of India, embodied in the fundamental covenants and enforceable by courts of law, must be protected.
NOTE: A native of Kashmir, Dr. Nyla Ali Khan is a professor at Rose State College in Midwest City and visiting professor at the University of Oklahoma in Norman.