Farooq Abdullah Government has completed two years in office amidst a disconnected combination of relaxed mood and mounting criticism of not doing enough. Farooq Abdullah ... heads 30-member-strong council of ministers and a huge bureaucracy ... His position has been undermined by the continuing lethargy of his colleagues ... and incessant squabbles in the bureaucracy hampering the agenda that he had promised to address on priority two years ago.

Observers had predicted that it was his last chance to perform and record himself in the history. Today, officials are crediting the Government with bringing down militancy by over 43%, bringing down the killings by 23%, taking the death toll of the foreign militants to more than double in the two years. They have also taken credit for the Government's efforts to lure more tourists, pilgrims and overall relaxed mood that prevails in the Valley. That the Government could provide more than 42,000 jobs, restore to some extent the confidence of the national and international investors and project Kashmir as a safe destination are by no standards mean achievements ... But, the problem is that a majority of these jobs are the result of bribes and all pervading corruption in the body-politic. His minister are unable to deliver - they are unable to answer questions coherently in the Legislature and outside. Some of them are deeply involved in scandals of corruption and other misdeeds ... His own image is of a man who cannot take drastic action.

If the officials want to weave a make-believe world of militancy going down and peace and prosperity coming up, the statistics do not tell the whole story. There were more massacres by militants in these two years than in any corresponding period ... of the past one decade. The excesses have not come to an end nor there is any visible effort to check the slide. People still go missing and the coordination with security forces is at its lowest ebb explaining why the Government and the security forces are found trading charges against each other ... Massacres can take place anywhere and those cannot be prevented unless there are adequate security forces personnel. The question that often crops up is that if the Centre could flood the state with funds and troops as long as there was President' rule, why can't the similar attitude and approach be adopted now, sounds plausible. But a look at the state's own expenditures would reveal that things are not what those appear to be. There is a widespread feeling among ministers and legislators that this is their last chance to rule ... That contradiction is visible in Kashmir after the first two years of democratic rule ... have still four years to go. Say the ruling party leaders. (Source: The Hindustan Times, 7 October, 1998)