Abdullah, the scion of Indian-administered Kashmir’s most powerful political dynasty, assumed the office of chief minister in 2009. It has been interesting times for him. During the 2010 intifada, he kept confined to his official quarters. He has also been accused of covering up human rights abuses perpetrated by Indian troops. Newsweek Pakistan’s Shehrbano Taseer spoke with him recently about this and more. Excerpts:
People are realizing the futility of protests and violence. The loss of lives was the most tragic, but the economic losses were huge as well. People did not want to see this anymore or live like that. Secondly, the government was far more proactive in dealing with flashpoints that arose—the techniques and tactics were more refined and nonlethal equipment was used for crowd control. The single largest factor, though, was that people really did want to give peace a chance and have a summer without disturbances.
How unique were last year’s protests, and what lessons have you drawn from the Kashmiri intifada?
The rural local bodies have had elections and this has been a concrete step toward empowering people. The government was more proactive in reaching out to people and engaging with them at the bureaucratic and political levels. The police have worked to change the perception of them as being at odds with the public.
We’ve already made a start in reducing the footprint of the security forces. The more we can consolidate peace and the more the levels of violence come down, the more we will be able to stretch the removal to other areas.
It’s all very well for Pakistan to demand a plebiscite while conveniently forgetting that it has not made it easy for that to be the case. It was Pakistan that invaded Kashmir in 1947 and then refused to vacate the territories. Pakistan has done nothing to retain the character of the parts of Jammu and Kashmir that it controls. It’s taken out the Northern Areas and made them a part of a centrally-controlled territory and then gifted parts of Jammu and Kashmir to China. Unless Pakistan is willing to admit its own failings, it’s not fair to demand action from our side.
(Courtesy: Newsweek)
People are realizing the futility of protests and violence. The loss of lives was the most tragic, but the economic losses were huge as well. People did not want to see this anymore or live like that. Secondly, the government was far more proactive in dealing with flashpoints that arose—the techniques and tactics were more refined and nonlethal equipment was used for crowd control. The single largest factor, though, was that people really did want to give peace a chance and have a summer without disturbances.
How unique were last year’s protests, and what lessons have you drawn from the Kashmiri intifada?
The rural local bodies have had elections and this has been a concrete step toward empowering people. The government was more proactive in reaching out to people and engaging with them at the bureaucratic and political levels. The police have worked to change the perception of them as being at odds with the public.
We’ve already made a start in reducing the footprint of the security forces. The more we can consolidate peace and the more the levels of violence come down, the more we will be able to stretch the removal to other areas.
It’s all very well for Pakistan to demand a plebiscite while conveniently forgetting that it has not made it easy for that to be the case. It was Pakistan that invaded Kashmir in 1947 and then refused to vacate the territories. Pakistan has done nothing to retain the character of the parts of Jammu and Kashmir that it controls. It’s taken out the Northern Areas and made them a part of a centrally-controlled territory and then gifted parts of Jammu and Kashmir to China. Unless Pakistan is willing to admit its own failings, it’s not fair to demand action from our side.
(Courtesy: Newsweek)