Dr’s Kashmir prescription is warm and clinical

‘‘I was yearning to come here and talk to you and understand your wishes and aspirations,” he told a public rally at the Sher-e-Kashmir cricket stadium here.

At the rally and later at a university convocation, he talked of the fruits of the current peace process but underlined that what the state needed was ‘‘rebuilding’’ and that couldn’t wait for the dialogue process to end.

On his decision to withdraw troops — the first batches were packing up just as Singh was entering the Valley— which has elicited a positive response from Islamabad, he pressed home his advantage by saying that if levels of violence came down in the valley more troops could be pulled out. ‘‘I have extended a hand of friendship towards Pakistan,’’ Singh added. ‘‘I told General Musharraf that if we make the right moves, we can come up with concrete solutions and together give new hope to a new Kashmir.’’

When he stepped off the plane, Singh seemed aware that the people he was trying to draw into the peace process had to be wooed with the right nuances.

Picking his words with care, he spoke in Urdu, avoided all mention of the Hurriyat Conference, even downplayed the gift he had brought to the state — a reconstruction and development plan worth Rs 24,000 crore over four years, with massive investment in infrastructure and the potential to create 24,000 jobs. The Prime Minister even avoided using the word ‘‘package’’ as he did not want to give the impression that he was buying peace with cash.

But if anything, Singh was over-cautious. Congress general-secretary Ambika Soni had raised the already high expectations another notch by saying on behalf of the audience: ‘‘Everyone wants to know what you have got for us.’’

Since Singh, by nature and intent, is not one to make tall promises, he merely ignored the orchestrated cries in the audience asking him to lift the ban on state government recruitments. Earlier in the day, he had revealed his mind on the subject when he told a university gathering: ‘‘The government cannot be the only source of employment. In fact, the necessity is to reduce the size of the government, not to enlarge it.’’Still, he promised to persuade top private companies, especially in the private sector, to make Kashmir a priority destination.

Until this point the visit had gone as planned — even though a bandh called by the hardline Geelani faction of the Hurriyat emptied the roads enough to start dozens of impromptu street cricket matches. Then a couple of militants opened fire barely 200 m from the spot where Singh was to address the crowds, forcing him to postpone the function by an hour. Both militants were later killed but they had sent a reminder that insurgents here are willing to pay for TV time with their lives. The action took place before the parked OB vans.

On holding talks with groups in the Valley, Singh said: ‘‘I don’t have any conditions, if your hearts are clear and your intentions honourable, I have no conditions (for a dialogue) but you have to come forward peacefully.’’

Reiterating the traditional line of successive Governments, Singh said: ‘‘I have made it clear to President Musharraf that any redrawing of the international border is not acceptable to us. Any proposal which smacks of further division is not going to be acceptable.’’ He said that New Delhi was willing to look at proposals that were on the table but the contours of Musharraf’s formulation were still not clear.

Musharraf had suggested that India and Pakistan consider the option of identifying some ‘‘regions’’ on both sides of the LoC, demilitarise them and grant them the status of independence or joint control or bring them under UN mandate.

Asked if India agreed to the conversion of the LoC into a permanent border, Singh said that it was a technical question and ‘‘when proposals are put on the table, we will consider that.’’