Five months into the government, Jammu and Kashmir’s Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti is sitting on shaky ground. During her maiden press interaction after Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani’s killing, the chief minister lost her cool when a journalist confronted her for shifting moral goalposts from her days as the Opposition leader over the deathly cycle of protests and killings in the valley.
Mehbooba’s outburst was not spontaneous. Curfew remains imposed in the Kashmir valley for the eighth consecutive week. Young boys, as old as eight, have taken control of streets and roads normally patrolled by security forces. Government machinery is defunct. All the weapons in the armoury of the state have been tested to bring a semblance of peace, yet the situation on ground has shown little improvement.