Moral Clarity

In a Valley often scarred by blood and cynicism, it is rare to witness a politician step away from the podium of opportunism and speak not as a party leader, but as a statesman. Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, scion of Kashmir’s most famous political dynasty, did just that after the gruesome Pahalgam terror strike by refusing to use their tragedy as a pretext to reignite the contentious demand for Jammu and Kashmir’s statehood.

For once, Kashmir’s pain was not reduced to political currency. That Abdullah chose not to raise the statehood issue in a special Assembly session on the Pahalgam attack is not just commendable but unprecedented in the political history of his family. In Kashmir’s turbulent troubled past, grief has often been grist for the dynastic mill. Instead, Omar chose restraint. Such moral clarity has been long absent from the Abdullah playbook.

Contrast this with the past. In 1987, under the watch of his father, Farooq Abdullah, an election that was allegedly rigged had shattered Kashmiris’ faith in democracy and served as the ignition point for the insurgency that still plagues the region. That stolen mandate paved the way for mass alienation and bloodshed, from which the Valley has never fully recovered. Likewise, Omar’s grandfather, Sheikh Abdullah - the much-romanticised ‘Lion of Kashmir’ – while justly credited with land reforms and ending Dogra feudalism which improved the lives of impoverished Muslims, was no stranger to political expediency. His flirtation with plebiscitary promises and abrupt turnabouts sowed confusion and distrust that still clouds his legacy.

Indeed, the Abdullah dynasty has often spoken the language of integration and secularism, while overseeing moments that betrayed those very ideals. The Maharajgunj riots, in which shops owned by Pandits were torched, remain an indelible stain on the National Conference’s secular pretensions.

Yet in his remarks after Pahalgam, Omar Abdullah did not equivocate. He did not dodge responsibility, even though, as he reminded the House, security lies outside the remit of the elected government. It was a refreshing act of political accountability often absent in leaders across the spectrum, be they from the ruling or opposition parties.

He also acknowledged the sweeping popular condemnation of the attack from Kathua to Kupwara, which, he rightly observed, is the real beginning of the fight against terror. Not a jingoistic chest-thumping exercise, but a people-led repudiation of violence.

That makes it all the more vital that the state does not squander this rare moment of public unity. A heavy-handed response in the form of dragnet arrests, indiscriminate detentions or collective punishments could undo the solidarity now visible on Kashmir’s streets.

Omar Abdullah’s remarks were a rebuke to the old political script of Kashmir. He did not reach for Article 370 or trot out tired grievances. He stood with the people, not over them. In a land burdened with inherited tragedy and political theatre, that is a radical act. Let it not be a fleeting one.