PM’s healing touch for wounded
Prime Minister Narendra Modi faces a stern challenge in troubled Jammu and Kashmir where the unprecedented disturbances show few signs of abating with curfew being in force for seven weeks. He has acknowledged that development is not the solution and veered round to seeking a political remedy to the recurring problem in the Valley. Sustained administrative and police action has only further alienated the Kashmiris, particularly the youths who are frustrated and desperately looking for answers.
Modi expressed grief at the loss of every single life in Valley. He told the opposition leaders from Kashmir led by NC leader and former chief minister Omar Abdullah to throw their weight behind efforts to restore peace and calm in the Valley. It has, therefore, become imperative to set up an institutional arrangement for sustained political dialogue. Interestingly, the Hurriyat leaders have said they will wait for the PrimeMinister’s invitation rather than rejecting it outright as evidenced in the past.
In a highly unusual and unexpected development, it took some courage for the Northern Command chief Lt Gen D S Hooda to underline the need for talks to end the face off lasting nearly 50 days. “Everyone needs to step back and look at ways to deescalate the situation rather than provoking it further,” the General observed.
The gravity of the situation in the Valley cannot be undermined amid demands for the chief minister Mehbooba Mufti's resignation which can be disastrous. With the overall situation deteriorating by the day, a delegation of opposition leaders from the only majority Muslim state in the country flew to the national capital and first met President Pranab Mukherjee Saturday last. They impressed upon the First Citizen that the Centre must get the political dialogue started involving all the stakeholders.
There is no doubt that the unthinkable PDP-BJP alliance has inexplicably remained adrift in the wake of the continuing stone pelting and use of petrol bombs with police stations becoming targets. Terrorist elements from Pakistan continued with their nefarious, interventionist role in keeping the pot boiling. The administration failed to cow down the youthful agitators.
The violence in the streets is doing more damage to the psyche of the people in the Valley where schools have remained closed and the youths are not even allowed to go to the parks. The blame game among political parties is an exercise in futility. The opposition leaders categorically told the President that taking administrative action like stopping fuel supplies to Kashmir is not the panacea to growing unrest especially among the youth. The death toll has already crossed 60 and the pellets used by the law and order machinery has blinded and maimed considerable number of youngsters. They urged the Prime Minister to ban the use of pellet guns.
Already Kashmiri businessmen are moving their establishments to other parts of the country. Lack of employment in Kashmir is frustrating the youth to no end. Omar Abdullah says Pakistan's role over the last 25 years in spreading unrest in Kashmir has been successful to some extent. Shockingly, children are telling their parents to move out of the nightmare forever.
The situation urgently requires the constituency of peace being rediscovered so that people are given their voice, extended support and protection. Policy makers in Delhi must be cautioned that this is not the time for experiments. Upsetting the applecart at this juncture will complicate and make matters worse for the state government and the Centre. The writ of the state must run. What is significant is that abrogation of Article 370 of the Constitution according special powers to Jammu and Kashmir is no longer on the table.
Mehbooba's father, Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, who died earlier this year in January, believed he had no option but to join hands with the BJP failing which the state might have been starved of direly required financial resources. Under the circumstances, he conjured up the unimaginable “North pole and South pole coming together” despite strong opposition within the PDP.
Mehbooba wants central intervention to restore peace in the Valley. She believes if the “agenda of alliance” agreed upon by the PDP and the BJP which remains in a limbo is implemented it could go some way in applying the soothing balm. It has become imperative at this juncture to go far beyond the agenda of alliance. BJP is handicapped in playing its part in the Valley essentially because it has not won even one seat from there in the assembly. The Lotus party's representation is entirely from Jammu region. Deputy chief minister Nirmal Singh’s role in the Valley has been inconsequential. Nevertheless, their core team is visiting Delhi for consultations.
It has become imperative to restore peace in the Valley and get the political dialogue going, the basis for which can be the relevant and realistic recommendations of the five working groups as well as the interlocutor's report. These have been gathering dust in the union Home ministry. A declaration to implement those recommendations which are agreeable to all can well be a non-controversial starting point.
This is where the Prime Minister not averse to thinking out of the box needs to use his guile in convincing and ending the alienation of the Kashmiris. The question is whether he can bring about a change in the mindset of the people in the Valley and bring them into the national mainstream. It’s no easy task by any stretch of imagination. It is not for nothing that politics is seen as the art of the possible.