POLITICAL SPACE
Government has recently allowed all the mainstream political parties to hold meetings and have lifted the restrictions on their movement and also on their activities.
The National Conference was the first political force to get the space and they held a series of meetings in Srinagar to discuss the ground situation and also to take stock of political developments unfolding here.
PDP was permitted recently by the government to hold the meeting of its leaders after their release from detention and house arrests.
Farooq Abdullah is becoming the main face of opposition to the BJP in Jammu and Kashmir and Mehbooba Mufti is conveying from detention that it is a fight for survival of Kashmiris. While the critics say that they are fighting untidily for their own survival and have yet to devise the mechanism on the ground to convince people of Kashmir that they are with them and not with New Delhi.
In coming months, the rise of J&K Apni party and the encouragement it is getting from the powerful quarters of the government will determine how the other mainstream political parties would be able to convince people that it is an extension of BJP in Kashmir and not for the interests of people here.
The Apni party has increased the attacks on the National Conference and PDP and accused them of exploiting the sentiments of people here by their recent statements that there would be no peace or politics in Kashmir without the restoration of article 370.
