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Omar Abdullah’s own goals

Rarely has any politician come to office with as much public goodwill as Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, a modern secular man with a liberal face and a clean image. Thanks to a succession of own goals, he has managed to lose some of it in record time. Most of the first six months of Mr. Abdullah’s six years in office have been spent trying to stamp out Islamist-led protests against his government’s human rights record. The 39-year-old Chief Mini ster has sought to defuse the anger on the streets by punishing police officials and pulling out central forces alleged to have used disproportionate force against protesters. Thus far, these measures have failed to restore the peace. Mr. Abdullah, his party, the National Conference, and its coalition partner, the Congress, would do well to reflect on their diagnosis of the malaise and the efficacy of the measures taken to address it.

J&K voters who queued up in the bitter November cold to vote for development and good governance deserve better. Feuds within the Congress have ensured that the alliance has the services of only the nine Ministers sworn in six months ago. The National Conference constituency in northern and southern Kashmir, the regions that have seen the worst violence in recent weeks, is unrepresented in the Cabinet. Public grievances are not redressed and services are not delivered effectively. The State administration needs to be toned up. Chief Minister Abdullah is yet to build a new team that can articulate and realise his vision for the State. As though this were not enough, he seems to be repeatedly let down by poor advice. He ignored voices calling for credible scientific investigation of the alleged rape and murder of two women in Shopian, despite evidence that the autopsies police investigators were relying on had been badly botched. Mercifully, on July 4, the J&K government was ordered by the High Court to exhume the bodies of the victims. The National Conference party apparatus seems to be in disarray. During the recent crisis in Shopian and Baramulla, the party’s Working Committee did not meet. Senior party leaders travelled to Baramulla just once during the recent rioting while the Chief Minister has failed to visit the victims’ families either there or in Shopian. Naturally Mr. Abdullah’s opponents — the People’s Democratic Party on the one hand, and the Islamist-led secessionist movement on the other — have capitalised on these weaknesses. Most recent protests have taken place where the National Conference is weak — in the Jamaat-e-Islami strongholds of Shopian, Pulwama, Sopore, and old-town Baramulla. It is still early days for a Chief Minister of whom there are great expectations. But he needs to reflect on what has gone wrong and quickly do a course correction before stasis sets in.

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