Show political imagination

Address legacy issues, for disasters can lead to peace

There can be no silver lining in a crisis such as the current one. The coronavirus pandemic has shaken the foundations of how citizens live and work; it has taken thousands of lives; it has caused immense economic suffering. But disasters do also offer an opportunity to address legacy issues. Take the tsunami. In Indonesia, it was after the natural disaster that the government and separatists in the Aceh province signed a peace deal, ending an armed conflict. Closer home, after the devastating earthquake of 2015, political parties in Nepal came together to draft a Constitution after years of deadlock. To be sure, it generated criticism from the country’s ethnic minorities, but the disaster ended up giving the country a stable political order.

India must consider this moment to address its legacy issues, particularly conflicts. The Communist Party of India (Maoist) has offered a ceasefire and said that it will not launch any attacks on police personnel — till the threat of the pandemic subsides — and asked for a response from the government. This comes soon after a Maoist attack led to the killing of 17 security personnel in Chhattisgarh. The Maoists are against the Indian State and Constitution; they have used violence and killed State officials and innocents; and the security establishment must not, for a moment, allow them to have the advantage. But this is a moment when the regime can also display political imagination and see if it is possible to not just have a ceasefire but also have a more sustainable peace agreement. For this, the precondition, of course, remains Maoists renouncing violence and abiding by the Constitution.

This is also an opportunity to heal the wounds in another key region suffering from internal turbulence — Jammu and Kashmir (J&K). The government has done well to release leaders such as Farooq and Omar Abdullah and revise its domicile policy based on the sentiment on the ground. It must follow this up with the release of other political detainees and the promise of eventual restoration of statehood. For its part, J&K’S political leadership must accept that the nullification of Article 370 is final. This can then be the framework for politics to resume in the Valley. Crises such as the pandemic should make all stakeholders in a conflict recognise that there are common challenges humanity faces and there is a bigger battle to be fought, in unity with each other, not in conflict.