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Journalism of Courage
Rail link is finally here. But UPAs failure to win political ground in the years of relative calm continues
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh,along with UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi,will inaugurate the rail link between Banihal and Qazigund,providing significant all-weather connectivity between the Valley and the rest of India. Even in this moment,however,unresolved political questions cast their pall over the Valley. A militant attack killed eight army jawans a day before the PMs visit. Separatist forces called for a strike,and security forces teemed in Srinagar and elsewhere. For all the UPAs fine words on special occasions,there is no getting around the reality that it has wasted the years of relative calm in Kashmir.
The work undone lies in the political domain. The UPA has failed to envision and move towards an enduring resolution,a task that requires the capacity to listen,to restore trust in the states institutions and its intentions,to confront the trauma and human rights violations of the worst of the militancy. As prime minister,Atal Bihari Vajpayee was the first to acknowledge that mistakes had been committed,and he placed a special focus on fair elections. The UPA has not displayed a similar breadth of vision. Its attempts to communicate with Kashmir have been stop-start affairs,to duck immediate crises. Instead of dealing with the whole spectrum of anxieties in the Valley,it has focused on sporadic economic packages. While employment schemes,self-help groups and business incentives are important,and are Kashmirs due,they are no substitute for political efforts to create a sense of belonging. The government remains reticent or non-committal on lifting AFSPA. The principle of decentralised power and the right to information are diluted in Kashmir. The rights violations of the post-1989 period remain open wounds,yet to be resolved by the courts. And there have been no attempts to work out a comprehensive response to the aspirations for autonomy. Instead of a clearly mapped peace process,the UPAs efforts have been confined to gestures and photo-ops,from the Justice Saghir Ahmed commission to the team of independent interlocutors set up by the home ministry. Nothing has come of their reports,they have not even been acknowledged one way or the other. Given these dropped threads,this gap between speeches and outcomes,disillusion in Kashmir is not hard to understand.
As the US withdraws from Afghanistan,turning away from Pakistan and reducing its clout in the neighbourhood,an escalation of tensions in the region cannot be ruled out. A Kashmir more at peace with the rest of India would have made an enormous difference. The UPA has only itself to blame for not actively working towards that reconciliation.
