Kashmir: A step in the right direction

While some realisation appears to have dawned in official circles that the situation in the Kashmir Valley has grown “complex”, in the context a somewhat coy expression used by Union home minister Rajnath Singh on Tuesday, in the month since the killing of Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani by the security forces, it is more realistic to think of current happenings as a brewing insurgency. Indeed, it is a sobering thought that in part the ground situation is getting to resemble the historical juncture of the early 1990s when Pakistan-aided militancy backed by a full-scale insurgency, in which ordinary people got so disenchanted with the state that they unreservedly backed the militants, prevailed in Kashmir, and the Indian State was stretched to bring the situation around.

On Tuesday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi belatedly called for a dialogue with Kashmir’s people in Atal Behari Vajpayee’s framework of “insaniyat, jamhooriyat and Kashmiriyat”. This, at least, is a start. Pakistan, needless to say, is trying to exploit our full-blown crisis to the hilt. However, the dangerous situation that has developed did not originate with Pakistan’s malignant actions, as the government insists, but is a consequence of our own maladroit handling of a sensitive area.

The disenchantment of the Kashmiri people set in with the failure of the PDP-BJP government to fulfil any of the promises it made, specially the one for adequate relief for the unprecedented September 2014 floods that engulfed large parts of the Valley and nearly drowned Srinagar. The subsequent spread of the communal agenda by BJP loyalists made matters worse. The government also allowed the security environment to degenerate, with infiltration from Pakistan rising 200 per cent since 2014. The situation was poised for the balloon to burst, and Wani’s killing became the proverbial trigger.

Many have spoken this past week of the need to engage the Kashmiri people in a process of dialogue. In the absence of constructive engagement, the only choice the state has is to deploy its armed strength — and that will be a disaster. J&K chief minister Mehbooba Mufti, on her recent New Delhi visit, had urged the home minister and others in the security establishment to not hesitate in opening a conversation “with our own people”. She herself goofed up real bad in running the show so far, but her suggestion is valid. In fact, it’s distressing that the Centre has seen fit to be lectured instead of taking the lead in announcing a positive discussion with the people of Kashmir.

Kashmiris are fully aware that their fate doesn’t lie with Pakistan, and that their interests are best served in the democratic environment that India alone can offer. But the democracy on view must inspire much greater confidence.