The Centre’s Kashmir moves are welcome
Release other leaders, continue to allay apprehensions, and reach out to citizens
Over the past week, the government has taken two positive steps with regard to the situation in Jammu and Kashmir (J&K). The first is the decision to release former chief minister, National Conference leader, Member of Parliament, and one of the senior-most figures in Indian politics, Farooq Abdullah. The second is the reassurance given by both Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and home minister Amit Shah, to representatives of the newly-formed J&K Apni Party that there are no plans to change the demography of the Union Territory (UT). The home minister went a step further and said that J&K will have a better domicile policy than other regions. And the Centre assured political leaders that the gradual restoration of statehood remained on the agenda.
Both steps, seen together, are an indication that the Centre has, somewhat belatedly, recognised the need for normal political and democratic activity to be restored in the UT. Mr Abdullah’s detention was legally tenuous and politically counterproductive and sparked international concern. It is also time to release the other two former chief ministers — Omar Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti — and allow them to express their views freely, and conduct political activity. All these leaders have firmly stood by the Indian Union in difficult times, and despite their differences with the government’s current approach, their fundamental rights must be respected.
The Apni Party will need to be the voice of Kashmiris, rather than of the Indian State, if it is to win credibility on the Srinagar street. It is noteworthy that the party has indeed conveyed apprehensions that exist on the ground that the nullification of Article 370 will lead to a change in the composition of the population. It is equally noteworthy, and laudable, that at the highest levels, the government has allayed these apprehensions. The Centre must now build on it, unveil a more intensive outreach, and come up with a concrete plan that leads up to the restoration of statehood. This is the only way to restore political normalcy in J&K, even as the security apparatus remains alert and battles violence and cross-border terrorism.