Empathy, pragmatism needed in Kashmir

It is not clear what conclusion has emerged from a lengthy all-party meeting on Friday to discuss the current situation in Kashmir and, earlier in the week, discussions in Parliament on the crisis-like context which has come to define the social, political and security situation in the Valley for over a month. The resolution in Parliament noted that all of J&K, including the areas occupied by Pakistan, belonged to India and reiterated that there would be no compromise with the country’s integrity and security. This is old hat and can be found in every parliamentary resolution on Kashmir.

While reiteration of the anodyne is inevitable from the parliamentary forum, there is not a shred in the resolution to indicate that a new — and dangerous — situation has developed and to explore possible ways to surmount it, even if a roadmap is not explicated. The saving grace is that the resolution calls for steps to restore peace. The mechanics of this could have been dwelt upon at the all-party meet. Three important suggestions were made. Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh spoke of finding ways to “defuse” the situation and thinking about a roadmap.

Muzaffar Beigh, the representative of the PDP, BJP’s partner in Kashmir’s ruling coalition, spoke of the need to change the “narrative” among the youth and former J&K CM and Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad spoke about engaging the “mainstream parties, the non-mainstream parties, and other stakeholders”. The government, however, gave no indication of working on any of these lines. Nor did it have anything of practical value to offer — either in the parliamentary discussion or in the all-party meeting. Because Pakistan has been trying to internationalise Kashmir, Mr Modi spoke of internal matters of Pakistan as a tit-for-tat gesture — the terrible state of affairs and human rights violations in Balochistan and Sindh, and government violence in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa. Mr Modi, thus, ended up focusing on Pakistan, and had little to say about the intense popular discontent in the Valley.

By a coincidence, the deterioration in the Kashmir situation began about a month before Independence Day on account of internal developments, and has since been sought to be exploited to the hilt by Pakistan. It is imperative that the Indian government extends the olive branch to its own people in the Valley confident in the belief that the Kashmir Valley has just no interest in being absorbed by Pakistan, although there does exist a sliver of staunchly pro-Pakistan opinion that must be combated using all means. Empathy and pragmatism are both called for.