On October autumn morning in Srinagar, People's Democratic Party (PDP) Headquarters in city's centre was abuzz. Supporters of ‘Bajee’ (as PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti is fondly called by her admirers) had gathered to take out a solidarity march for beleaguered Palestine. Mehbooba Mufti along with her supporters tried to march towards Lal Chowk, however, PDP supporters say they were denied permission by police to proceed further.
A PDP leader told Outlook that the party took the decision after Hurriyat leader Mirwaiz Umar Farooq was not allowed for congregational Friday prayers yesterday, while Imambargahs were also closed given the Israel-Hamas war and mounting casualties in Palestine, particularly Gaza. “This is beyond comprehension the kind of barbaric display that is going on in Palestine. It is surprising to see the international community’s tacit acceptance of the crisis,” said the PDP leader.
“You can destroy the homes of Palestinians, but they are not without support. Kashmiri hearts resonate with Palestine,” the leader said.
He also said the current Palestine crisis underlines that until the flashpoint is not addressed, the problem will linger on. “Be it Kashmir or Palestine, the suffocation and suppression will only make the problem linger on,” he said.
Standing atop a vehicle with the Palestinian flag raised in her hands, Mehbooba chanted: ‘Israel ke zalimon’ as her supporters reverted with ‘Palestine ko khalee karo’. She also raised slogans including: “Go back! Go back! Israel go back!” The PDP supporters also chanted: “Naari takbeer Allahu Akbar!”
They also carried posters in their hands reading: “You don’t need to be a Muslim to stand for Palestine. You just need to be a human.” Mehbooba Mufti, holding a photograph of a minor killed in Palestine talked about “zulum” (oppression) and “sitam”(excesses) committed in Palestine. Later, Mehbooba in her customary ‘abaya’ and ‘scarf’ said: “1500 Palestinian children 1500 have been killed, while hundreds of people have also been killed…It seems to be like the Holocaust of Jews, Israel is doing the same with Palestine.”
She added: “Injustice will make people pick arms.” She exhorted the international community to pressure Israel to stop committing “excesses” and human rights violations in Palestine. She raised concerns about the lack of food, medicine, and other essential commodities for Palestinians, especially in Gaza. She championed the cause of Gazans, and their rights for a day in Kashmir. She mourned the ‘deaths in Gaza’.
In fact, she has been using this 'politics of mourning' during her life following which Mehbooba became ‘Lady Mufti’ for Kashmiris.
After guns began to rattle the Valley’s landscape, killings became routine in Kashmir in 90’s. The abnormal became normal for Kashmiris. It was during those dark days, that a woman in an abaya and scarf on her head, would leave her home in the Nowgam locality on the outskirts of Srinagar. She would throng to the people's homes caught in a quagmire in her ambassador car. She tread a path that no mainstream party had traversed in Kashmir. She would keep herself abreast with the ‘death calendar’. She would sit with the families of the slain, be it civilians or militants. She would just mourn. It was her politics.
Mehbooba was not someone who was brought into politics. She joined it accidentally in 1996, when her father and Congressman Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, couldn’t find candidates for the Assembly polls. Mufti Sayeed had been the country’s Home Minister. It was during those days in Kashmir, when “Ikhwan Raaj”(government-sponsored militiamen) ruled the streets of Kashmir, especially the rural belt. Those renegades are also accused of several human rights violations in Kashmir including torture, rapes and killings.
Mufti Sayeed got his wife, his two brothers-in-law, and his daughter Mehbooba to contest assembly elections in 1996. Later, Mehbooba by her political acumen and her father’s guidance was able to form the nucleus of another regional party PDP which was considered an alternative to the National Conference.
It was Mehbooba’s thought that the PDP filled the space between unionists and separatists during the 90’s. Her party also adopted a symbol — pen and inkpot, which is considered to have been taken from MUF (Muslim United Front). PDP was considered ‘green’ by Kashmiris, and the party garnered mileage out of it to make mainstream acceptable to the masses then.
The party started its electoral innings with a bang in 2002, just three years after its inception. The party joined hands with Congress and rode to power in Jammu and Kashmir. Their win was termed as “Kashmir gets Azadi from Abdullahs”. For the first time, Jammu and Kashmir's grand old party National Conference was not in power.
People had felt in 2002 that with the emergence of PDP, there would be an “honourable resolution of the Kashmir dispute”, particularly after the turbulent ’90s that had traumatized people, who had witnessed the ‘dance of death’. 24 years after PDP was formed in 1999, Mehbooba continues to affirm her brand of politics.
However, in post 5 August 2019 Kashmir, her role was curtailed. Is there now scope for Mehbooba’s brand of politics that had helped PDP carve out a space in Kashmir and position it in a popular territory where it had successfully encroached into separatist territory? Only time will tell.
