Tag: kashmir politics

Kashmir’s New Parties

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With the political permutations and combinations continuously at play in Jammu and Kashmir since the last assembly elections in 2014, the region has witnessed the formation of 22 new political parties in the last eight years, reports Yawar Hussain
JK Police arrested the founder of Awami Awaaz Party on February 16, 2023, for being anti-national. The party came into being after the reading down of Article 370 in August 2019. Pic: JKP
The Democratic Progressive Azad Party (DPAP), recently formed by Ghulam Nabi Azad has been a new entrant in Kashmir’s political space. While he managed dissensions from the Congress, the clock reversed soon as six leaders including three former lawmakers re-joined the Congress around Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Joda Yatra.
Like Congress, the Peoples Democratic Party also faced similar dissensions after the fall of the BJPDP alliance in June 2018. While it paved way for the making of the Jammu and Kashmir Apni Party as 12 former PDP leaders joined it, the rest choose Jammu and Kashmir Peoples Conference which now has 10 former PDP leaders.
Unlike JKAP and JKPC, there are many parties – registered and unregistered, which have cropped up post-August 2019.
Not Traditional
Jammu and Kashmir Nationalist Peoples Front, launched in 2021, is headed by Sheikh Muzzafar who says that the party’s core ideology is violence, drugs and corruption-free Jammu and Kashmir while the issues like Article 370 aren’t their cup of tea.
“The parties raking up the 370 issues should address it. We have only these three issues on our plate,” Muzzafar said. On being asked about how different JKNPF is from parties with similar agendas, Muzzafar said that the traditional parties have exploited both India and Pakistan. “They have added to the violence, the root cause of which is corruption which we plan to eradicate.”
Along similar lines, the Jammu and Kashmir Awami Awaaz party was formally launched in February 2022 with Suhail Khan as President. The party came into the news soon after they went to hoist the tricolour at Ghanta Ghar.

The party spokesperson Mohammad Arif said that the traditional parties have only pushed the common masses down while siphoning the money for themselves. “Our youth are mainly into drugs because of unemployment. We would get multi-national companies here so that youth get jobs like in rest of India.” He said that Article 370 is a right of the people of J&K that they should get. “Party would decide on the course of action on 370 in coming time.”
As per the party’s vision statement, the members have “affirmed to strive for national integration, peace, brotherhood, communal harmony, development and all other issues for the betterment of inhabitants of Jammu Kashmir without consideration of Caste, creed, region, religion, sex colour and so on.”
Jammu and Kashmir All Alliance Democratic Party was launched in July 2022 by Raquib ul Rashi, Navneet Misra and Nasir Ali Kochak, who all switched from Aam Aadmi Party.
Mishra said that the party’s core agenda is statehood which was snatched unfairly. “The traditional parties in Jammu and Kashmir have only divided the people of the area on religious and regional lines. We will try to bridge those gaps.”
He said that JKAADP is for the restoration pre-August 5 status on the lines in which the farm laws were reversed which were also passed by parliament.
Haq Insaf Party, registered with the Election Commission of India in July 2019, is headed by the former Aam Aadmi Party. Its leader Bilal Khan says that the party was formed for addressing basic developmental issues which the traditional parties couldn’t deliver in the erstwhile state. However, Khan believes that Article 370 shouldn’t have been read down.
Gareeb Democratic Party J&K (GDBJK) was launched in September 2022 by Bashir Ahmad Ganie who rechristened his earlier party Rajya Navjawan Shakti Party started in 2005. The party’s core agenda is to give tickets to people from financially weaker backgrounds so that they can become part of the developmental process.
Aman Aur Shanti Tehreek-e-Jammu Kashmir founded by hitherto unknown Abdullah Kashmiri is registered by the Election Commission of India under the unrecognised party category.
Before August 5, the party was a votary for protection of the Jammu and Kashmir’s special status. Recently, Abdullah during a protest asked the leaders associated with the Hurriyat Conference to leave the resistance and become part of mainstream politics.
All India People’s Nationalist Party, launched in November 2021 is headed by Mudasir Ahmad and Sheeraz Zaman Lone Tantray.
Mudasir says that the party’s core agenda is the restoration of the statehood that the Home minister and Prime Minister have promised. “We plan to go to each part of India as well as Jammu and Kashmir for our demand, unlike the traditional parties.”
He says that the party also wants to be a messenger from J&K to other people of India who think that Kashmiris aren’t nationalists. “There is a gap which might be our fault. We want to tell the people of the country that we too are nationalists.”
Jammu and Kashmir Save Party (JKSP) started by Ghulam Hassan Dar is also critical of the traditional parties. Dar says that the PDP and NC have both killed and maimed the people of Kashmir for power while accusing each other of public consumption.
He said that NC sold autonomy while PDP sold self-rule while others sold the right to self-determination and Azadi to the “beleaguered” people of Kashmir.
“The youth of Jammu and Kashmir want to change. We formed the JKSP to only save the people from these traditional parties.”
Jammu and Kashmir Workers Party came into prominence during the 2018’s Panchayat elections which the PDP and NC boycotted against the central government’s non-assurance on protection for Article 370. Since his party put up candidates in that Panchayat election, Mir Junaid, its leader has been vocally critical of both the PDP and NC.
Terming NC’s and PDP’s Gupkar Alliance as ‘Ali Baba Aur Chalis Chor’, Mir said that pre-August-5 these parties were saying that if Article 370 goes they won’t abide by the Indian constitution and won’t even hold the tricolour. “When District Development Council elections were announced, they both jumped into the contest. That is the proof of their hypocrisy.”
“What is wrong if someone from Jammu becomes Chief Minister this time around? Kashmiris have ruled the region for so long,” Mir said. His party has been supportive of the August 5 moves vis-à-vis the erstwhile state.
Mir managed to get dissension from the National Conference when his wife and former lawmaker Shenaz Ganai parted ways with the party before their marriage.
In line with the new parties emerging against the traditional ones, Sheikh Imran, a Srinagar Municipal Corporation councillor has now started Khanyar Darbar which is yet to be established as a party.
Imran, like Mir, came to prominence during the Urban Local Body elections of 2018, which were also boycotted by NC and PDP. He started with Congress and then Peoples Conference. Currently, he is critical of the PDP, Congress, NC and everyone else under the Khanyar Darbar umbrella. However, he has had rekindled bonhomie with JKAP Youth President and SMC Mayor Junaid Azim Mattu but has been critical of JKAP Chief Altaf Bukhari in a rather timid tone.
Challengers
This new political crowd apart, Kashmir’s traditional parties will face the challenge from the Jammu and Kashmir Apni Party (JKAP), Jammu and Kashmir Peoples Conference (JKPC) and the newly formed Democratic Progressive Azad Party.
JKAP, formed in March 2020, has been critical of the Gupkar Alliance while being silent on the JKPC. The party’s core ideology has been the restoration of statehood along with securing land and job rights for the people and basic development including job creation.
The party floated at a time when all top mainstream leaders of Kashmir were in custody post-August 5. JKAP managed to win 12 seats out of 172 seats in the DDC elections of 2020 but installed its chairmen in two district development councils of Kashmir Valley.
Like the JKAP, the JKPC, which had just two seats in the previous assembly, gained substantial leaders from the PDP.
An ally of the BJP in the previous government, JKPC also won the chairperson posts of two DDCs in Baramulla and Kupwara. The party was a part of the Gupkar Alliance pre and post-August 5 but they parted ways alleging that PDP and NC had put proxy candidates against them in the DDC elections.
However, all Gupkar Alliance constituents alleged that proxy candidates were put up by them against each other including by the JKPC. JKPC has been a votary for the restoration of Articles 370 and 35-A.
Both JKAP and JKPC have been dubbed as BJP’s B-team.
The traditional parties are now also bracing up to either an ally or fight against Azad’s DPAP who had earned goodwill across the board for his three-year term as its chief minister from 2005 to 2008.
Even though Azad hasn’t been critical of the traditional parties barring the Congress, he has termed his chief ministerial era as the “best” in a direct snub to these parties who have ruled J&K multiple times.
His party’s ideology is in contravention of the Gupkar Alliance but in line with the JKAP. DPAP is also vouching for the restoration of statehood along with the protection of land and employment rights for natives and development.
While Gupkar Alliance avoided dubbing DPAP as BJP’s second fiddle, the Congress and JKAP alleged that they were propped up by the Centre. The DPAP hasn’t had a smooth run so far as the party’s few founding members are in the doldrums while some have returned back to the parent Congress party.
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), which voted in favour of the reading down of Articles 370 and 35-A along with the downsizing of Jammu and Kashmir to a UT, has been looking for inroads into the Jammu province based on their performance in the neighbouring Punjab state.
After facing many hiccups since 2014, the party last year got a shot in the arm when the Jammu and Kashmir Panthers Party almost merged into AAP with former’s chairman Harshdev Singh joining the bandwagon.
The party has been eyeing the Jammu province’s Hindu heartland areas where it sees Congress’s downfall as a window of opportunity to challenge the BJP which has been ruling the region since 2014.
Swept Away
Earlier in March 2019, babu-turned-politician Shah Faesal launched Jammu and Kashmir Peoples Movement (JKPM), which he deserted after August 5 to join back the civil services. JKPM became conspicuously absent from the discourse even though it was launched with much fanfare – Hawa badlegi. Initially, the party tied up with former lawmaker Engineer Rashid’s Awami Ittihad Party (AIP) for the 2019’s general elections. Rashid, currently in Tihar jail in a militant funding case, had managed to garner over one lakh votes in a closely contested election.
However, Faesal along with scores of mainstream politicians was detained under Public Safety Act (PSA). After his release in 2020, Faesal left politics and is currently Deputy Secretary of the Union Culture Ministry.
His party was then in hands of former Peoples Democratic Party lawmaker Javaid Mustafa Mir who also deserted the ship to join the JKAP.
Like JKPM, the AIP also witnessed dissensions after Rashid’s arrest. Former AIP Spokesperson Sheeban Ashai left the party last year in August to form the Jammu and Kashmir Peoples Party.
He accused his former boss Rashid’s brother Sheikh Khurshid of engaging in close-door negotiations with JKAP Chief Syed Altaf Bukhari.
His party’s agenda would be healthcare, education, infrastructure development and job creation.
“Resolution of Kashmir problem, Articles 370 and 35-A and statehood along with repealing of draconian laws is sacrosanct for us,” Ashai said.
In July 2020, cricketer Sayim Mustafa launched his Jammu and Kashmir Socio-Political Movement (JKSPAM) party which fizzled out soon with no activities visible on the ground. However, last year in March, Mustafa personally participated in a youth convention at Sher-e-Kashmir Park where he spoke on the engagement of youth.
New Jammu Parties
National Awami United Party, founded in July 2019 by Sandeep Singh Manhas is registered with the Election Commission of India under the unrecognised category. The party is focused on clean governance in Jammu and Kashmir.
National Democratic Party (Indian) launched in November 2018 by Rajesh Gupta has been critical of the traditional parties barring the BJP. In May 2019, when BJP returned to power in the centre, Gupta while congratulating Prime Minister Narinder had said, “It is a golden opportunity for Modi to remove article 370 as he promised in his Party’s manifesto. He can overcome this issue once and for all by removing Article 370.”
Jammu and Kashmir Peoples Party Secular was founded by Sushant Bakshi on the issues of clean governance and development.
The two important parties which emerged in Jammu post-2014 include the ultra-right wing Ikk Jutt Jammu headed by Ankur Sharma and Dogra Swabhiman Sanghathan (DSS) headed by former Congress and BJP lawmaker Choudhary Lal Singh.
While Ikk Jutt has been championing the cause of a separate state for Jammu while keeping Kashmir valley as union territory without an assembly, DSS has been focussed on safeguarding Dogra identity which it says is under threat following the reading down of Articles 370 and 35-A.
Parties De-Registered
The Election Commission of India de-registered eight parties in Jammu and Kashmir in 2022, which include Jammu & Kashmir Awami League, Jammu and Kashmir Democratic Party Nationalist, All J&K Peoples Patriotic Front, Democratic Janta Dal (J&K), J&K Citizens Party and Jammu and Kashmir National United Front, Jammu and Kashmir Peoples Democratic Front (Secular) and Jammu & Kashmir Save Srinagar Front.
J&K Awami League was founded by Mohammad Yusuf Parray (alias Kuka Parray) in 1995 and had an MLA each in the 1996 and 2002 assemblies. Kuka’s son Imtiyaz Parray joined JKAP last year.
The Democratic Party Nationalist was formed by former minister Ghulam Hassan Mir after he quit Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). He currently is the senior vice president of JKAP.
The Jammu and Kashmir Peoples Democratic Front (Secular) is headed by several-time lawmaker Hakim Yasin. The party since its launch in the early 2000s hasn’t won any other seat. Its deregistration has been termed as a “confusion” by the party which has taken up the matter with ECI.

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( With inputs from : kashmirlife.net )

February 18, 2023
The Sopore College

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Despite contributing to the making of generations of professionals in the last more than seven decades, the state-run Degree College at Sopore is yet to reach a level where it can have NAC top grade, reports Daanish Bin Nabi
The team of teachers who have contributed immensely to the making of Sopore college an important centre of higher education.
Precisely, the credit must go to politician Malik Abdul Gani and businessman Sukhdev Ganjoo who were instrumental in setting up the intermediate college at Sopore in 1949. They later literally chased the then Prime Minister, Sheikh Muhammad Abdullah to upgrade it into a college. On September 27, 1951, Sheikh laid the foundation stone of Degree College Sopore, with 50 students on its rolls. After 71 years, the college has 6000 boys and girls on its rolls. What distinguishes the college is that after the inaugural ceremony, no head of the Jammu and Kashmir ever visited the college.
Till the 1980s, students from north Kashmir would join the college after matriculation and study for four years and leave as graduates. Initially affiliated with erstwhile Jammu and Kashmir University it is one of the oldest affiliate colleges of the University of Kashmir.
“This college has been the highest seat of learning for over 60 years for the entire north Kashmir,” Prof Abdul Rashid, who has served the college for 11 years, said. “We cannot negate the role of this institution in spreading education to the far-flung border areas.”
Till the 1970s, it is interesting to mention, the college was housing SKUAST’s Agriculture College, till it managed its own premises at Wagoora.
The Bakhshi Era
In Ghulam Muhammad Bakhshi’s rule, when Jashn-e-Kashmir dominated the scene. Degree College Sopore was the epicentre of activities in north Kashmir. Teachers who served the institution then, remember that a large stage used to be installed and artists from all over Kashmir like the famous Qawal Zakhmir and Gani Trali (a famed Bach Kot from Tral) would perform.
Interestingly, however, during Bakhshi era, the college had fewer enrolments of girl students. There were only three girl students in college in the 1950s. Their number only increased from three to ten in the 1960s. It was only at the dawn of the 1970s that girls started to enrol in impressive numbers.

A Golden Era
The 1960s is being seen as the college’s golden age and the credit goes to its Principal Abdul Salaam Dhar, a resident of Srinagar. A tough disciplinarian and the main architect of the college, Sopore remembers Dhar by the nickname Hachkal (Woodhead).
“It was our luck that we had him as our head,” Prof Muhammad Abdullah Charoo, who served as Principal for 8 years till July 1998, said. “He was upright, disciplined and honest and would listen to no excuses whatsoever.”
Foundation stone of Sopore college. KL Image Daanish bin Nabi
Dhar introduced a uniform – a grey blazer and grey trousers and a white shirt, the first in any Kashmir college. On the pattern of erstwhile Biscoe-style, he constituted small volunteer groups who would help people during natural disasters.
“No influential person would get admission during his time. All the tenders during his time were full proof. There was no compromise with anything,” remembers Prof Sheikh Sanaullah, who served the college for 33 years. “The cheating during the examination was rampant in the college and he curbed it.”
An Interesting Event
People talk about an interesting event. Veteran Congressman and lawmaker, Ghulam Rasool Kar of Sopore lived in the same vicinity, facing the college. In the early 1960s, he came from Srinagar in a bus that dropped him college gate. Then, the college had no fence. Kar tried to cross the college ground to reach home. Dhar interrupted him and asked him not to trespass on the college property. To Kar’s credit, being a sitting MLA, he patiently listened to the college principal and obeyed his orders.
“I was a student of the college in the 1960s. I vividly remember, Principal Dhar had installed simple boards all across the ground which read ‘trespassers will be prosecuted’. No one dared to cross the college property,” Charoo said. “Those were the days when the institution head would assert the authority and the society would take it very seriously.”
It was in Dhar’s era when the College launched Wullar magazine and every professor had to contribute to it.
Sheikh Sanaullah said that years before militancy broke out, one day students resorted to a protest demonstration in the town. In reaction, on the following day, paramilitary forces barged into the college and clashed with the students. “A professor provoked the students. After the issues were settled, Prof Dhar made an example of the professor. He was quickly shifted out of the college,” Sanaullah remembers.
Institutional Rivalry
Initially, the college opened for students in the eleventh class, then called PUC (pre-university class). Later, the Higher Secondary School was separated. Despite being separate entities, the two had a single umbilical cord – they share a common ground. On paper, the ground belonged to the Higher Secondary School.
In the 1960s, the Higher Secondary School was led by another visionary Principal, Abdul Gaffar Shah, a Geography lecturer. Like Dhar, Shah too was a man of principles, honest and upright.
Then, there was no demarcation of land between the two institutions and both would lay claim to the ground. Both the men stuck to their guns about the claims to the land and the stand-off between the two continued for many weeks. It happened in anticipation of a sports event.
The situation got out of control on the day of the event. The students from both institutions came to loggerheads with each other. Sensing the mess, they were landing their institutions in, and the two men sat down and sorted it out. “Had it not been Dhar and Shah, many would have died that day,” Sopore historian, Rasheed Parveen said. “There was rage on both sides. Students were young and immature.”
Up In Flames
However, the college did not remain unharmed for long. On the fateful night of October 7, 1990, at around 10 pm, a sudden blaze engulfed the entire college and burned it to cinders. The biggest loss was the destruction of a rich library housing 60,000 books. Some of the manuscripts that the Fourth Buddhist Council held at Harwan in Srinagar were also housed in the library along with other rare manuscripts. Nothing could be saved.
Sopore college went up in flames and was reconstructed but it lost hundreds of rare manuscripts. KL Image Daanish bin Nabi
“We have lost a treasure. We could rebuild the college but we never get back that library. We lost our Baghdad that day,” Parveen regretted.
It was Muhammad Abdullah Charoo who headed the college. “Militancy was at its peak,” Charoo remembers. “That evening, I heard loud shouting. As I got out of my house, I saw huge flames from a distance and someone said the college has been burnt. Helpless, I could do nothing. Neither police nor the Fire and Emergency Services reached the spot. It was only around Fajar time that I reached the premises. It was devastating to see the ruins.”
For Charoo, it was a new challenge – running a college that had no edifice. His first drive was to Raj Bhawan. He remembers Governor Girish Chandra Saxena telling him: “We can do nothing. unko bolo jinhoney jalaya.”
Charoo got 20 tents from the Department of Education and started routine classwork within ten days. However, there was no library, laboratory or sports facility for the students. For months, Charoo would go from one government office to another for seeking some support in rebuilding the edifice. Finally, it was Vijay Bakaya, who came up with an idea.
“Bakaya Sahab told me if I can somehow show that Sopore falls in border areas then there is a scheme with the Government of India known as Border Area Development Program (BADP) from where I can get funds for the college,” Charoo remembers the top officer’s help. “I went to Delhi to the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) and told them that Sopore College caters to students from Bandipora, Kupwara which extends to Teetwal and Gurez area.
The NCC cadets at the Sopore College in a session in 2017. KL Image Masood Hussain
This is how I managed to put Sopore in border areas and got funds for college rebuilding. After it was approved, I remember Education Commissioner, Sushma Chowdhary telling me ‘Mubarak ho Paison ki Barish hai…lelo…’. The college got Rs 75 lakh as the first instalment.
Charoo said he hired a Srinagar Engineer for the re-building of the college. The new building was made fireproof and the old design was retained. Around 25000 books were purchased but rare manuscripts were lost forever.
The Wall of Fame
The College has produced a generation of leaders in diverse fields. Some have brought accolades internationally too. These included doctors, Muhammad Yousuf Kanjwal, M Sultan Khuroo, Khurshid Ahmad Salman, Abdul Rahman Rather, Manzoor Halwai, and Muhammad Shafi Tara; politicians Abdul Ahad Vakil, Hakeem Habibullah, Abdul Gani Bhat, Saifuddin Soz and teachers like Haji Ghulam Hassan Bacha, M A Charoo, Jeelani Kamran and scribes like Shujaat Bukhari.
It has also produced some wonderful debaters like Ghulam Qadir Wani. The colleges bought accolades in 1967-68 when five students qualified for medical courses from the college.
“Prof Maqbool Bhat was my relative and used to teach us Botany. Even as my relative he was strict with me and he made sure that there is no discrimination against other students, former CMO, Khurshid Salman said. “Many of our science subjects were also taught by Pandit teachers.”
Sporting Venue
The Subhan Stadium, locally known as the college ground in Sopore, was named after Sopore’s “legendary” footballer, Subhan Janwari. His legend is interesting: “He was the first Sopore footballer who played football wearing a shoe. Having a shoe in those days was a luxury.”
Subhan Janwari belonged to Mumkak Mohalla of Sopore and played for the Mohammadan Sporting team in 1960.
“Almost all the players who have played at national or international level have had their basic training at the Sopore College Ground,” veteran cricketer, Bashir Ahmad Bhat, said. “However, we lack the basic facilities now. Sopore College has no contribution towards the sports facilities in the town. They even turned their own ground into a concrete jungle.”
During the 1960s and the 1970s, teams from Srinagar like the Transport Department Team; Food Department Team, KMD Team and the Police Team used to play at the Sopore College ground.
In the 1980s, Srinagar Transport Team led by Majeed Kakroo, the ace footballer who led the Indian team to Bangladesh, visited Sopore for a match with the host team. It triggered a crisis and led to Kakroo’s marshalling. The match was never played.
Presently, only two cricket tournaments and three football tournaments are being played between June and October at Sopore College ground. It has lost the sole venue of knowledge and sports.
Space Constraints
Though the college has 105 kanals of land in the heart of the town, the haphazard expansion of new buildings has shrunken the space. There are around three to four classes daily for every subject in 36 departments. The teaching staff caters to nearly 100 classes on daily basis.
College managers said more departments are coming up and there is a dire need for a satellite campus for the college. The departments of Biotechnology, Biochemistry, and BBA and a large Botanical Garden have come up inside the college and the college is craving more space.
In 2013, the college administration required the district administration to provide them with land for the construction of a satellite campus in Tuilbal area. Interestingly, the land identified for the college was eventually given for the construction of police.
“We requested the administration to provide us the land of Sopore’s District Institute of Education and Training (DIET), after the premises was shifted to Watlab but that too was not considered,” Prof Abdul Rashid said. The erstwhile DIET is adjacent to the College and is ideal for its use.
Upgradation
Within the premises, however, there are improvements. The college now uses a smart classroom, comprising a smart board with an internet broadband connection.
If a student misses the lecture he can join the classroom over her/his cell phone through an app. Students alleged that many of these smart classes are rarely used.
The fully automated library has 39850 books for 36 subjects. Students can access the material of other national and international universities too. A special detector Radio Frequency Identification Device (RFID) has also been installed to stop the theft of books from the library. “If a student attempts to steal a book, she/he can be detected and stopped,” Chief Librarian Dr Ansar Hussain said.
A new indoor stadium is also come up. Measuring 110 x 49 ft, it will soon be dedicated to students.
The College also runs two hostels one each for boys and girls. Unlike the boys’ hostel, the girls’ hostel is in shambles due to the management feud with the contractor.
Both its websites were down when accessed in October 2022, at the time of filing this report.
Despite all this, the college failed to impress the National Advisory Council (NAC) in 2015. The College falls in Grade B unlike its junior cousin in Baramulla which falls in Grade A, making it financially independent.
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( With inputs from : kashmirlife.net )

January 23, 2023

Tag: kashmir politics

Kashmir’s New Parties

The Sopore College