In Kashmiri, there is a famous saying, “Nav Kath Navan Dohun” – a new debate lasts for only nine days. It means people have a short memory and forget anything that may prima facie look very important. The same is true for Kashmiri politicians.

Be it Mehbooba Mufti or Farooq Abdullah or anyone else from the mainstream camp, they hardly miss an opportunity to grab dividends for themselves from the miseries and tragedies of commoners. Hardly do they bother about the fact that nearly one lakh people have lost their lives because of the Kashmir conflict that has been going on for decades. 

Hundreds of workers affiliated to National Conference (NC) and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) have also lost their lives, yet the leaders never learnt a lesson as the violence did not affect their families. In fact, they were the beneficiaries of violence. 

From Article 370 to Pahalgam attack

People had great expectations from Mehbooba and Farooq Abdullah after the reading down of Article 370, when separatists were ‘silenced’. The field was open for mainstream parties to not only fill the vacuum but also prove that they were not traitors or agents for anyone else but only Kashmiris.

After their release from the preventive detention in 2019, they launched Gupkar Alliance. It is now an established fact that they were only bailing out New Delhi by creating false hopes about fighting for the legitimate rights of people of Jammu and Kashmir. Once New Delhi strengthened its narrative and consolidated its position on ground, the constituents’ of Gupkar alliance went back to their original dens. 

New Delhi kept them alive as long as it served New Delhi’s interests: they needed for these leaders to counter each other to show the world that Kashmiris enjoyed democracy and right to expression just like the rest of the country enjoyed.

It is pretty clear had the Gupkar Declaration been intact who would have opposed or fought whom, especially in Kashmir valley and Muslim-dominated areas of Jammu region. Be it Mehbooba Mufti or Omar Abdullah or Sajad Lone or anyone else, they all started parting ways when parliamentary elections were announced in 2024, as now their fighting each other suited not only ruling Bhartiya Janata Party in Delhi, but also their own vicious ambitions. 

However, amid their allegations and counter allegations, Kashmiris lost their voice and New Delhi got a cover to continue its constitutional onslaughts and alleged human rights abuses against Kashmiris post the abrogation of Article 370. 

The worst of it was displayed last month, when the Pahalgam massacre happened on April and India and Pakistan were allegedly on the brink of a nuclear war. While the entire world was worried, unfortunately, the NC leadership was trying every trick and gesture to please New Delhi. Farooq Abdullah even went to the extent to make the claim that Pahalgam massacre would not have taken place without some local support, despite knowing that like New Delhi’s proxies were dependant and helpless before New Delhi’s aggression, same was the case with Pakistani proxies in Kashmir.

His statement yielded nothing except encouraging security agencies to further tighten the noose on Kashmiris. Meanwhile, not even the death and destruction in border areas and the four-day military confrontation between India and Pakistan could stop Muftis and Abdullahs from fighting each other. 

At a time when Kashmiris needed to come together to tell the world that they were the main stakeholders but also collectively, the real victims of the animosity between two countries, these leaders of the union territory engaged in their own war-of-words rather that highlighting plight of their people. At the same time, the few legitimate voices in Kashmir were silenced through jails. 

These mainstream Kashmiri leaders don’t fight for their rights or political ideology on streets, through peaceful protests or hunger strikes, or even through diplomacy – they only protest on social media platforms. 

The latest sparring between Omar Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti started with Abdullah’s post on X regarding Tulbul Navigation project, which is in abeyance since the nineties, ever since Pakistan objected to it citing terms of the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT).

Abdullah praised the decision to keep IWT in abeyance, saying he wondered if the work could be resumed on the Tulbul navigation barrage project in Wular Lake, after the suspension of IWT. Mufti reacted to Omar’s post and said, “At a time when both countries have stepped back from the blink of a full-fledged war, with J&K bearing the brunt through the loss of innocent lives, widespread destruction & immense suffering, such statements are not only irresponsible but also dangerously provocative. Our people deserve peace as much as anyone else in the country.” 

“Weaponizing something as essential & life-giving as water is not only inhuman, it also risks internationalising what should remain a bilateral matter,” she said. 

Then, Abdullah reacted with another post: “What is unfortunate is that your blind lust to try to score cheap publicity points and please some people sitting across the border, you refused to acknowledge that the IWT has been one of the biggest historic betrayals of the interests of the people of J&K. I have always opposed this treaty & I will continue to do so. Opposing a blatantly unfair treaty is in no way, Shape, size or form warmongering. It is about correcting a historic injustice that denied the people of J&K the right to use our water for ourselves”.

Mufti, too, had no option but to react again and said, “Time will reveal who seeks to appease whom. However it is worth recalling that your esteemed grandfather Shiekh Shb once advocated for accession to Pakistan for over two decades after losing power. But post being reinstated as CM, he suddenly reversed his stance by aligning with India.” 

Umar responded: “Taking cheap shots at a person you yourself have called Kashmiris tallest leader. I will rise above the gutter you want to take this conversation to by keeping the late Mufti shb and North pole South pole out of this. You keep advocating the interests of anyone you want to and i will be advocating for the interest of people of J&k to our use our own rivers for our own benefit. I am not going to stop the water, just use more of it for ourselves. Now I think I will do some real work & you keep posting.” 

Series of betrayals

Being the chief minister of J&K, Omar Abdullah is well within his rights to perform his constitutional duty when he talks about the Tulbul barrage project. He is also 100% correct in claiming that J&K suffered because of IWT. However, he loses the moral ground on the subject because had IWT been truly so significant for him, he could have at least included it in the manifesto of his party – that never happened. He also needs to be reminded that giving waters of three rivers to Pakistan was a part of an international agreement by virtue of which India retains the water of other rivers. 

What he has said about IWT may be true, but the timing only proves that he is saying it to remain in the good books of Modi and his team. He is right in calling the IWT a historic betrayal, but should he not answer why he talks about only this historic blunder. Has he has forgotten he sought votes on fighting for restoration of Article 370? Once elected, he surrendered the topic even before taking oath and went on to say he will not be seeking its restoration in Modi’s regime. He is right to call IWT a betrayal to people of J&K but 100% wrong when he calls it the “biggest betrayal”. The biggest betrayal to people of J&K was when his grandfather joined hands with the Maharaja Hari Singh to sign Instrument of accession with India without clarity in his own vision in 1947. 

It was Shiekh Abdullah who joined hands with the Maharaja, whom he once called autocratic ruler, to handover J&K to Nehru on a plate. He complicated the issue further by not allowing J&K to merge with India nor was able to include the autonomy in the preamble to the Constitution of India. 

In fact, the biggest betrayal was when Shiekh sahab agreed to become the administrator and work under teenager Karan Singh. The biggest betrayal was when Shiekh sahab converted Muslim Conference – a party he founded – into the National Conference. The biggest betrayal was when Shiekh sahab – on being thrown out of power on August 8, 1953 – started plebiscite movement and sought implementation of UN resolutions, but 22 years later called his entire movement as political wilderness. The biggest betrayal was when Shiekh sahab agreed to become the chief minister of J&K in 1975 with the support of Congress MLAs whom he otherwise called ‘gutter worms’ and asked people to socially boycott them. 

The biggest betrayal, in fact, was when Farooq sahab, against the wishes of Kashmiris, contested the 1996 elections without even getting the pity autonomy restored. The biggest betrayal was when Farooq sahab became part of the team of Indian politicians at UN and other forums to give cover to grave human rights abuses in J&K in the mid nineties; and when he visited Pakistan and was seen waving gun along with JKLF leaders, but only to blackmail New Dehli. 

The biggest betrayal was when the father and the son duo, Farooq and Omar Abdullah, cried in every public meeting that Engineer Rashid was a BJP proxy because they could not swallow Omar’s defeat in the 2024 Lok Sabah elections. The biggest betrayal was when Omar Abdullah praised Modi and claimed that weather was so clear in Srinagar, to say that even God approved what Modi did. 

The list of betrayals NC has made is unending and every betrayal is bigger than the previous one. It was Farooq sahab who claimed that he would like to seek help from even China in getting article 370 restored, but now is playing in the arms of Modi only to remain in power and avoid New Delhi’s wrath. Many untold betrayals can be found in Dulat sahab’s – A.S. Dulat, former secretary of R&AW – latest book The Chief Minister And The Spy. 

Mehbooba Mufti too needs to not forget that she and her father, Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, have taken birth from the Congress, the party which is responsible for all the betrayals and cheatings with Kashmiris. Should she not answer that why her father chose to be a part and parcel of all the oppressions which Congress carried out against Kashmiris, from eroding the special status to snatching away everything we had?

It was Congress that divided Pakistan into two and now Mehbooba has suddenly become a peace preacher. She just wants to win sympathy of Kashmiris and also that of Pakistan. 

Rubber stamps

The fact is, be it Omar or Mehbooba, they act like double agents and have been given liberty to do so by their masters as the space for the real representatives stands chocked. Mehbooba is right in reminding Omar about Shiekh sahab’s blunder, but Omar is also right in reminding her that she herself called Shiekh sahab as the tallest leader of J&K. However, we know that Mehbooba said so when Gupkar alliance was intact and they had no clash of interest. 

More importantly, should Omar not be reminded that did Shiekh sahab’s sins got washed away only because Mehbooba has called him great leader some time back? Them blaming each other is like one thief shouting over another. If Omar Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti are really worried about our waters, what about the NHPC which is looting our resources, leaving us with nothing in return. Has either of the two dynasties during their respective governments been able to urge the Union government to compensate the losses J&K has suffered because of IWT? They could not even provide free power to people of Uri as agreed in the MoU. 

Both of them are rubber stamps, dancing in a circus where the rope is controlled by Delhi. By telling Mehbooba ‘let her keep on posting’ while he does some ‘real work’ is nothing but reminder for Mehbooba that he is the CM. It exposes Omar's non-seriousness and proves that for him, the entire discussion was futile and a waste of time. 

Mehbooba too claimed: "In contrast PDP has consistently upheld its convictions & commitments. Our actions speak for themselves." However, she too is simply proving her arrogance by forgetting that her party gave BJP its much sought for launching pad for the political invasion in J&K. 

She has never apologised for the unholy alliance and keeps on justifying it as if Kashmiris were fools. She is right in claiming that action speak for themselves. Be it the killing of youth in 2016 agitation, her father’s and her alliance with BJP, or diluting the Kashmir issue with introduction of self-rule formula, these are the actions for which Kashmiris will never forgive or forget the Mufti dynasties. 

The two main parties – rather dynasties – of Jammu and Kashmir should understand that times have changed and a day will come when their politics of opportunism, hypocrisy and exploitation will end.

Abrar Rashid is the son of Baramulla MP, Engineer Rashid.

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