Kashmiris celebrate fall of Mehbooba's govt

A day after the BJP pulled out of the alliance government with the PDP in Jammu & Kashmir, people in the Valley have been expressing unusual jubilations with humour gaining momentum on social media.

“Oh idiot, North is North and South is South, and never the twain shall meet,” Srinagar based senior journalist Showkat Motta wrote on his Facebook page.

When the PDP entered into an alliance with the BJP on March 1, 2015, Mehbooba’s father and the then chief minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed had termed the BJP-PDP alliance as coming together of 'North Pole and South Pole.'

Wahid Wani tweeted: “Why can't @MehboobaMufti and @OmarAbdullah join hands to form govt? Won't you both be responsible for atrocities and killings under the new 'iron fist' policy? Aren't you worried about Kashmiris (sic)?”

In another sarcastic tweet, Wani said, “Or have the Masters ordered you to lay off and you are following faithfully? Is this happening in collusion with you?”

Abdul Majid Zarger, a chartered accountant, felt that the dismissal of the Mehbooba Mufti government means to “keep her away” from the investigations in the killing of veteran journalist Shujaat Bukhari. “After all, skulls shouldn’t fall in hands of Kashmiris once they roll down from the cupboard,” he posted on Facebook.

People are also posting messages to ridicule the ousted government with the PDP being the prime target.

However, there are others who say that it doesn’t make much difference as to who rules the state. “The policy matters are always decided by Delhi. Security matters are directly under Delhi’s control. So in a way, the breaking of PDP’s alliance with the BJP is a good riddance as Delhi has now no shoulders to fire from,” Rais Ahmad, a university student, told DH.

He claimed that mainstream politicians were already in a "coma" in the Valley. “The politicians, sensing trouble, have decided to lie low and let Center run matters directly. In a way, it is a political escapism which will cost them dearly in future,” Ahmad added.

Sohail Nasti, who runs a chapter of an international humanitarian organisation in Kashmir, hopes that the fall of the government doesn’t compound the problems of already suffering people in the Valley.

“People here have already suffered a lot and people fear the latest development has potential to create more violence. Let us hope and pray situation normalises soon,” he said.

Reports of people bursting firecrackers in some parts of south Kashmir and Srinagar after the fall of the government were also received. Witnesses said Syed Altaf Bukhari, one of the most powerful ministers from the PDP, was hooted near his private residence in the heart of Srinagar.