Pellets, Power, and Political Amnesia |
In politics, narratives may shift, but the record remains. The developments of 2016 were not merely a test of law and order, but of governance, accountability, and democratic responsibility. The moment demanded a sensitive political approach grounded in constitutional values, one that protected the future of the youth while maintaining order. Even when dealing with those who had gone astray, the response needed to be pragmatic and forward looking, offering a pathway back into the democratic fold rather than pushing them further to the margins, yet the response that followed continues to invite scrutiny.
At that time, the Jammu and Kashmir Peoples Democratic Party was in power in coalition with the Bharatiya Janata Party. Today, the PDP seeks to reposition itself as a proponent of democracy, dialogue, and cultural identity, including its recent emphasis on Urdu as a symbol of heritage and representation. However, this present day positioning must be viewed alongside the documented record of its actions in 2016, which presents a deeply contrasting picture.
Between July and October 2016 alone, following the unrest, legal records indicate that dossiers were submitted for over 560 people, with approvals granted for approximately 483 of those cases in that short window. These detentions were largely carried out under the Public Safety Act (Jammu and Kashmir), a law that allows for preventive detention without trial. By the end of 2016, total arrests related to law and order reached approximately 8,587 people.
These numbers are not anecdotal. They reflect a governance approach that relied heavily on detention as a primary tool of response. For a political party that had historically projected itself as a champion of dialogue and reconciliation, the scale of these detentions raises serious questions about consistency in both policy and principle.
Equally significant was the........