The silence by Kashmir’s political elite on Operation Sindoor was louder than any speech. Leaders who have for decades claimed to represent the pain and pulse of Kashmir—Mehbooba Mufti, Omar Abdullah, Farooq Abdullah, Sajad Lone, Altaf Bukhari, Ruhullah Mehdi, Waheed Para—chose not to issue a single word in support of the operation, or to congratulate the forces for this precise operation. – Mudasir Dar
In the aftermath of Operation Sindoor—India’s meticulously executed strike on terrorist infrastructure across Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Jammu & Kashmir—the nation has responded with rare political unity. From the ruling benches in New Delhi to opposition leaders across national capital and states, commendations poured in, affirming a collective will to stand behind the armed forces and against the infrastructure of cross-border terror.
But within this resounding national affirmation lies an equally powerful silence—one that is neither neutral nor accidental. The conspicuous non-response of Kashmir’s mainstream political leadership has emerged as a defining, if not unsettling, feature of the post-operation landscape.
The operation itself was distinguished not by its scale alone, but by its surgical precision. It targeted launch pads and camps linked to internationally proscribed groups—Jaish-e-Mohammed, Lashkar-e-Taiba, Hizbul Mujahideen—without civilian or military casualties. It was, by all strategic accounts, an act of restraint with clarity of purpose.
India’s top leaders responded accordingly. Prime Minister Narendra Modi hailed the move. Home Minister Amit Shah declared, “Bharat remains firmly committed to eradicating terrorism from its roots.” Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge extended his party’s “categorical support” to any decisive action against cross-border terror, while Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, NCP’s Supriya Sule, and RJD’s Tejashwi Yadav all issued heartfelt, unambiguous statements saluting the forces and mourning the victims of the Pahalgam attack.
This united response was not a matter of political calculation—it was a moral consensus. A signal that, for once, partisanship bowed before principle.
And yet, in the Valley, the silence of its political elite was louder than any speech. Leaders who have for decades claimed to represent the pain and pulse of Kashmir—Mehbooba Mufti, Omar Abdullah, Farooq Abdullah, Sajad Lone, Altaf Bukhari, Ruhullah Mehdi, Waheed Para—chose not to issue a single word in support of the operation, or to congratulate the forces for this precise operation.
The dissonance is sharp. Across India, parties and people alike embraced a shared national grief and applauded a response that was careful, legal, and necessary. Yet, Kashmir’s political establishment—who never miss an opportunity to critique the Centre for perceived overreach—found no words when the country acted in measured self-defence.
Observers say this silence reveals a deeper crisis: a leadership unwilling to recalibrate its moral compass in a post-370 Kashmir. As the Valley’s people move towards integration, education, enterprise, and electoral participation, the political class remains tethered to a vocabulary of ambiguity that no longer resonates with the aspirations of the new generation.
What remains now is a question—pointed, uncomfortable, and enduring: When terror returned to the Valley’s soil, when India responded not with vengeance but with vision, why did its oldest political voices choose retreat over response?
In the annals of Kashmir’s turbulent political history, this silence, too, shall be recorded—not as restraint, but as retreat from responsibility. – News18, 8 May 2025
› Mudasir Dar is a social and peace activist based in South Kashmir. He received a Rashtrapati Award and has contributed to many local and national publications.
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