Mufti Sayeed on way to meet Sheikh Abdullah’s fate in IOK

Srinagar, March 01, 2015 (PPI-OT): In occupied Kashmir, there is a palpable sense of deception and betrayal among the people of Kashmir Valley who had voted the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to keep the Hindu extremist Bharatiya Janata Party out of power.

As Mufti Muhammad Sayeed took oath as the puppet chief minister of PDP-BJP, today, people in Kashmir felt betrayed. Ever since the so-called Assembly election results were declared on 23 December, the PDP showed growing inclination towards allying with the BJP. The party even turned down offers of unconditional support by the National Conference as well as Congress.

Detractors took to social networking sites, newspapers and televised debates, warning Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, that he would meet the fate of one Kashmir’s one time tallest leader, Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah, whose grave needs round-the-clock police protection.

“After Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah, Mufti Mohammad Sayeed’s will be the second grave to require police protection if PDP allies with the BJP,” Showkat Reshi, a student at University of Kashmir, wrote on Facebook.

“It needs to be pointed out that a PDP-BJP dispensation will not necessarily be historic in a positive sense. In fact, it would most likely accentuate the Kashmir-Jammu divide because the governance would be predicated on religious identity, not on civic needs,” renowned political historian, Siddiq Wahid, said.

In South Kashmir’s Bijbehara town where PDP has its original roots, residents say the party has already lost its foothold, which was why it lost six seats from the area, which was once considered as its stronghold. “We voted to keep BJP out of power but the same BJP will rule us now. This is not what we have voted for. This is not why we trusted Mufti Sayeed. We feel cheated and the PDP will face the consequences in coming years,” Nazir Ahmed Wagay, who lives in Anantnag, said.

The fears of ordinary people that the fringe elements in the BJP will fiddle with the religious sensibilities of the region, Ajaz Ahmad, who teaches Political Science at Srinagar college, said. To be a power player in the Muslim majority Kashmir is surely a dream come true,” noted political commentator, Shujaat Bukhari, in Rising Kashmir.

Another analyst said that the vote in Valley was to stop BJP’s entry into the power structure. It is a known fact that BJP never had a foothold in Kashmir and it tried all means to do that in the recent elections but failed miserably by losing the security deposit in 33 out of 34 assembly seats. Now that PDP patron Mufti Mohammad Sayeed has made an unholy alliance with BJP, it needs to be seen whether he can achieve his agenda or gets lost in the saffronised power, he added.

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