JAMMU: Himself an upright, honest and well-intentioned political strategist, Altaf Bukhari has become the victim of ‘bad company’. Howsoever good the intentions were to form a new and vibrant political platform to meet the challenges in the now Union Territory, Jammu and Kashmir Apni Party has virtually become safe haven for some unscrupulous and corrupt politicians, who are well trained to find some shield to cover up their acts of omission and commission. It is not that antecedents of all in the JKAP are smoky but, as they say, even one dirty fish spoils the whole pond.
The so-called star entry into the JKAP is an established political turn-coat of the Valley, Ghulam Hassan Mir. He deserted his job as a teacher and joined the National Conference but was thrown out from the party for ditching Farooq Abdullah during the testing time of Kashmir politics. He regained the ministerial berth but the arrangement was short-lived. By then he had learnt fully the traits of treachery in politics. Mir unsuccessfully fought the assembly elections as an independent candidate before becoming the founding member of Peoples Democratic Party. But the honeymoon ended when he formed his own political outfit ‘Democratic Party Nationalist’. That was both democratic as well as nationalist that suited New Delhi much between 2009 and 2014 with the Congress led National Democratic Alliance holding reins of power at the Centre. Hassan Mir’s magic worked and he got into the coalition government of Omar Abdullah despite not being the member of the alliance partners-National Conference or the Congress.
For his political maneuvering, Hassan Mir is credited with the nickname of ‘Manager’ in political and security circles. At one point of time, he enjoyed strong influence in security agencies. Back home in the Valley in general and his erstwhile constituency of Tangmarg in particular, Mir is disliked for being the man from agencies, who works for ‘consideration’. In 2013, he created uproar in political circles, when he was in line of fire for having allegedly received Rs 1.19 crore from the technical services division, a military intelligence wing created by the former army chief General V. K Singh in 2010, to engineer a change of government in Jammu and Kashmir. The charges were serious, which embarrassed the then Chief Minister Omar Abdullah. The pressure redoubled to get him axed but again New Delhi came to his rescue. The demand for a CBI probe against his acts of omission and commission grew.
The Chief of the world’s largest army had himself alleged payoffs to Mir, who was the agriculture minister then, by his controversial special intelligence unit in 2010. The demands for probe, thorough investigations and independent inquiry etcetera continued to emanate at that point of time in the run up but eventually faded away.
Instead of refuting the allegations, Hassan Mir had paraphrased his response whenever the media asked questions on the payoff, ‘let the dust settle down’. A classic reply that was followed by classic actions by the man in the line of fire thereafter. But the dust seems to have settled down for his shady deal forever. This, together with other allegations, kept Mir mired in controversy. The political upheaval in the wake of the fall of PDP-BJP government opened up vistas of opportunities for politicians, who remain always in search of safe havens to avert action for their unethical and unscrupulous activities.
Hassan Mir has done what suited him politically as also strategically, keeping in view his acts of omission and commission. But how can the Apni Party justify the entry of dubious persons, who remain in the thick of controversies. The payoff by the army is not just a controversy. It is more than that. The receiver is supposed to reveal the truth. He cannot hide his sins under the cover of a political outfit, which is supposed to be enjoying the support of New Delhi. His interests might have been secured for the time but it is the Apni Party that remains under clouds.
The shady acts of dubious politicians will not take any political outfit anywhere in its evolution, least to speak of being the contender for governance in a sensitive Union Territory. The charges against Hassan Mir are very serious. He has not been cleared so far. And, this is going to cost the Apni Party most. It will bleak and block its political fortunes, if any.
A political outfit, which emerged in the fluid and murky political horizon of the sensitive Jammu and Kashmir with promise of deliverance in the wake of abrogation of Article 370, can hardly afford to be a cushion for shady political entities.