This is an archive article published on July 13, 2016

Opinion Re-engage, retrieve

As Mehbooba Mufti attempts to step up to a grim moment, Centre must support her wholeheartedly

jammu and kashmir, kashmir, JK, J&K, government, all-party delegation, MPs, member of parliaments, ministers, delegation, peace talks, peace, kashmir situation, kashmir unrest, kashmir news, india news

New Delhi: Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh addresses during inauguration of BRICS Heads of Drug Control Agencies Working Group Meeting in New Delhi on Friday. PTI Photo by Atul Yadav (PTI7_8_2016_000061A)

By: Editorial

July 22, 2016 06:10 PM IST First published on: Jul 13, 2016 at 12:15 AM IST

Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh’s telephone calls to Congress president Sonia Gandhi and National Conference leader and former Chief Minister Omar Abdullah signalled that the NDA government is seized of the seriousness of the situation in the Valley. Treating this as a law and order problem that will soon die down with deft administrative handling would be misguided. The violence may pass, the alienation won’t. That is what the Centre must address — urgently. Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti and her late father Mufti Mohammed Sayeed risked their political credibility to form a coalition government with the BJP on assurances from the top echelons in the Modi government that it was ready to take the political steps necessary to address some of Kashmir’s long-standing grievances. In the J&K assembly recently, the chief minister declared she would tie up with the BJP “1000 times for the sake of peace”. That is an extraordinary statement of commitment from a Kashmiri politician, and the Modi government must not let it go to waste. What the PDP wants is for the BJP to step up to the plate in following the “agenda for alliance” in letter and spirit, which includes the promise of political initiatives apart from developmental schemes and programmes. PM Modi’s outreach to Pakistan is now unfortunately stalled over the Pathankot attack, and there has been no attempt at engaging the stakeholders or the people in Kashmir.

WATCH VIDEO: Kashmir Protests: Visuals Of Curfew In the State

In the ensuing vacuum could be heard Prime Minister Modi’s declaration in the presence of the late Mufti that on Kashmir he needs no advice from anyone, while communal incidents in Jammu and unrest in the Valley become self-fulfilling prophesies of hardliners on both sides. The PDP-BJP agenda speaks of “a broad-based consensus on resolution of all outstanding issues of J&K” in the Vajpayee spirit of “insaniyat, Kashmiriyat and jamhooriyat”. This is the plot the Centre must now make haste to retrieve and build upon.

WATCH VIDEO: Kashmir Protests Victim: 5-Year Old Zohra On How She Got Hit

One immediate measure for re-engagement could be to send an all-party parliamentary delegation to the Valley to reach out to the people in the manner that the UPA government did in 2010, during the stone pelting agitation. The other should be to start looking seriously at rolling back AFSPA, at least from some areas in the state. The chief minister and her ministers are facing a difficult moment just now, with security risks as high as political ones. Even so, Mehbooba must demonstrate that she walks with the people of Kashmir. She was lauded for reaching out to the families of the Handwara victims in the first week of her chief ministership, and she has sent out a video message to the people now. She must extend her hand again, setting an example for the rest of her party. Above all, there is a need for all political parties, in Kashmir and outside, to understand that this is no time for a slanging match.

[related-post]