Ashiq Hussain Bukhari: Between owning and disowning of Kashmir's top cop

It might surprise many in New Delhi. But in Srinagar no one is batting an eyelid. That a senior police officer, known for carrying out scores of anti-insurgency operations in Jammu and Kashmir, has no place in mainstream politics.

On Wednesday former Superintendent of Police (SSP), Ashiq Hussain Bukhari, who retired in January this year as SSP Srinagar addressed a rally in Kupwara along with Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) patron, Mufti Muhammad Sayeed.

On Wednesday evening, a PDP spokesman in his press release confirmed that Bukhari addressed people besides the PDP patron. The spokesman described him as a senior PDP leader. But next day when a newspaper published that Bukhari has joined the PDP and stated that he had reportedly killed 300 militants during his tenure, the PDP was quick to disown him. The PDP stated he had not joined the party at all.

The ruling National Conference (NC) took on the PDP for giving space to Bukhari. "The latest addition to PDP's hall of fame in corruption and questionable track-records is former Special Operation Group specialist and retired SSP Ashiq Bukhari who was at the forefront of police response to 2010 unrest and is known for having made a career out of torturing, hunting and tormenting hundreds of young men in the Valley," National Conference spokesman said.  

"This is the same Ashiq Bukhari who boasted of having killed 300 militants...There are hundreds if not thousands of allegations of extortion against Ashiq Bukhari during his extremely questionable tenure in the police. And today he is the new face of PDP. Is this not but rubbing salt into the wounds of our youth?" the NC asked.

There is much learning in the owning and disowning of Bukhari by the PDP and his outright condemnation by the ruling National Conference which posted him as SSP Srinagar in 2010. The learning in this is what might be righteous in New Delhi is outrageous in Srinagar. What might be rewarding outside Jammu and Kashmir can be humiliating in Kashmir. Here public perception changes the political discourse of politicians. It was an independent MLA Engineer Rashid who in 2012 brought a resolution in the State Assembly seeking clemency for Parliament attack convict, Muhammad Afzal Guru. And regional parties didn't oppose the resolution.

Jammu and Kashmir Assembly is the best place to understand mainstream politics of the state. In the Assembly, members call for a dialogue with militants when at the Centre, political parties want the State to go after the militants. They at times call them "our own misguided boys." And when the Narendra Modi led government last month took tough stance against Pakistan over cease-fire violations, mainstream politicians of Jammu and Kashmir were calling for a dialogue with Islamabad.