Occupied Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti is not a rebel by temperament, but what is happening in her state now seems to be beyond her patience. Reacting to the arrests of seven Kashmiri leaders, she said "you cannot imprison an idea. You cannot kill an idea." If you do that there would be no one in Occupied Kashmir "to carry India's national flag," an apparent warning to Narendra Modi, as raising the Pakistani flag at anti-India demonstrations is a common sight. "Today's human being is not scared of task force, isn't scared of police, isn't scared of army." That's how she admits that despite the most brutish rule the year-long uprising in Occupied Kashmir has persisted. Is she preparing to part company with the BJP with which her party, the PDP, is a coalition partner? Maybe, as reflected from her enigmatic remark, "India is Indira." She also spoke about the special status of Occupied Kashmir, which the BJP is itching to see withdrawn. Anyone "messing up" with the special status granted to Kashmir by the Indian Constitution, she said, would face serious ramifications. Chief Minister Mufti said her government would not allow any move to close the LoC cross-trade and block the Srinagar-Muzaffarabad road, adding let the "caged Kashmiris free."
Such a robust outburst from power-hungry Mehbooda Mufti against the BJP, her coalition partner, may be a machination, and a move to change the partner in power governance. But it could also be acceptance of ground realities in the occupied state. Despite their most atrocious handling of the demonstrations the Indian forces have failed to break the tempo of the uprising. There are miles of graveyards entombing Kashmiri freedom fighters. But the struggle has persisted. As to what the chief minister said, it is difficult to believe that the BJP took it lying, but it is the Machiavellian mindset that seems to have prevailed. Narendra Modi is trying to plant Hindutva in Occupied Kashmir, and in that Mehbooba Mufti's PDP is an accomplice. Even the Congress is upset over her statement. The Congress also took exception to her remark as to who would carry the Indian flag in Kashmir, if not she herself. All of this is nothing but polemic; the issue is who to blame for the failure to stem the rising tide of a struggle for self-determination.