In Kashmir’s political theatre, the script rarely changes—only the actors take turns at the podium. The latest exchange, with Jammu and Kashmir National Conference leader Tanvir Sadiq invoking the 2016 unrest, is a familiar move. Predictably, the Peoples Democratic Party is expected to counter with references to the 2010 unrest. This cyclical blame game has become the defining feature of mainstream politics in the region.
What is striking is not the accusations themselves, but the absence of introspection. Both parties, having held power at different times, continue to highlight each other’s failures while carefully sidestepping their own. The narrative remains trapped in the past, 2010 versus 2016, while the present realities of governance, accountability, and public welfare are pushed to the margins.
Caught in this political crossfire are the people of Kashmir. For many, these debates no longer evoke anger as much as exhaustion. There is a growing sense that the political class is disconnected from ground realities, more invested in scoring rhetorical points than addressing pressing concerns. Jobs, healthcare, infrastructure, and dignity remain secondary to rehearsed arguments over who did worse in moments of crisis.
This pattern has consequences. Public trust, once a fragile but existing thread, is steadily eroding. Politics in Kashmir is losing both its credibility and its sheen, reduced to a repetitive contest of accusations rather than a platform for solutions.
If anything, the continued back-and-forth only reinforces a deeper perception: that both the National Conference and the PDP are, in effect, sailing in the same boat—differing in language but not in approach. Until that changes, the distance between the people and their political representatives is only likely to widen further.
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