No dead bodies doesn't mean everything's normal, says Srinagar Mayor
Just because there aren't dead bodies lying around on the streets of Kashmir, it doesn't mean everything is normal, feels Srinagar Mayor Junaid Azim Mattu, who was given the status of Minister of State (along with his Jammu counterpart), after Centre revoked Article 370 last month. Mattu, who is also the spokesperson of Jammu and Kashmir People's Conference (JKPC), slammed Centre's "excess". Here's more.
J&K was put under an unprecedented security cover on August 5, before Centre decided to split the state into two UTs, and withdraw its special status. Mainstream politicians, including PDP's Mehbooba Mufti, NC's Omar Abdullah, and JKPC's Sajjad Lone, were also detained. Notably, it's been almost a month and there is little clarity on when the Centre, run by BJP, plans to release them.
Now, JKPC was seen as BJP's most-likely ally. In fact, Mattu was elected to the post of Srinagar Mayor last year, with the help of BJP. But he himself doesn't approve of Centre's move. "Over the years, political activists in Kashmir have braved threats and violence by terrorist elements to survive in the mainstream. But today, they are hunted and hounded," he told NDTV.
Further, Mattu claimed Kashmir is facing "existential crisis" with Article 370 becoming a thing of the past. "We have always lived with the very palpable threat of violence, that's not a new scenario. But to use that to justify the withdrawal of fundamental rights... that's at the very core of alienation in Kashmir," he said, adding that people haven't been able to contact their families.
"The media and administrative narrative seems to be content in defining 'normalcy' in a purely operational context. If the absence of dead bodies is the new definition of 'normalcy' - what can one possibly say," Mattu told Indian Express in another interview.
When asked if the government confided in him, as he wasn't arrested like other leaders, Mattu told the newspaper he was allowed to visit Delhi on August 13 for medical treatment. "I wonder if that amounts to 'relative freedom' - but you are entitled to your interpretations. No, the Centre has not kept me in its confidence," he went on.
The clampdown has put the government at receiving end of criticism, but it has been fiercely defending it. Not long ago, Foreign Minister S Jaishankar justified the blackout in an interview with Politico. "How do I cut off communications between terrorists and their masters on the one hand, but keep the internet open for other people? I would be delighted to know," he asked.
