Shujaat Bukhari
Prime Minister Narendra Modi began his day-long
visit to Jammu and Kashmir on July 4 by referring
to the auspiciousness of the holy month of
Ramzan and Amarnath Yatra saying that there
could not have been a better atmosphere for his
maiden visit to the state.
But little did he realize that due to his visit people
of Kashmir in general and Srinagar in particular
were not allowed to offer Friday prayers at the
historic Jamia Masjid. Most part of the city was
under curfew and no one including Mirwaiz Umar
Farooq, the head priest, was allowed to enter the
Mosque on the first Friday of the month of
Ramadan.
The strike call given by the separatists is routinely
used to register their protest against a prime
minister’s visit. This time too it was on expected
lines. And surely Modi must have known about
how the police had barricaded the people in the
name of security. This cannot really be reconciled
with the rhetoric describing the month of fasting as
auspicious.
It is a fact that it was Modi’s first visit to the state
as Prime Minister. Much was not expected from
him. He has to be given time to understand
Kashmir and the complexities that entail it
politically. Many analysts would suggest that his
visit was premature in this sense, but he needed to
inaugurate the rail link to Katra and commission
the second phase of the Uri power projects both of
which were overdue. The previous UPA government
started and completed these mega projects but did
not inaugurate them and take credit.
While Modi continued to invoke former PM A B
Vajpayee’s line on Kashmir issue, he ignored it at
the same time. His government has shown
enthusiasm in the return and rehabilitation of the
Kashmiri Pandits, and took up the matter within a
month of coming into power. So far this seems to
be the only priority for BJP government vis-a-vis
Kashmir. Earlier ‘The Hindu’ reported that Omar
Abdullah government had submitted Rs 5,800-
crore project under Prime Minister’s
Reconstruction Programme aimed at incentivising
return of Kashmiri Pandits to the Valley. This also
included the suggestion of repurchasing the
properties that the KPs sold after their migration in
early 90s.
While another plan of settling them in three
separate zones within the Valley evoked strong
reaction from various quarters in Valley, Omar
Abdullah gave it a new twist. In an interview to
Suhasini Haider on Saturday last, he said: “We are
encouraging Kashmiri Pandits to return. We are
saying you are welcome to consider group housing.
4-5-6 of you get together and get a plot of land.
Why should we have a problem with a group
housing project that blends in with the community
in the place you choose to live in? I see no problem
with that”. Return of KP’s to their home and
hearth is also close to the hearts of majority
community but the way it is hurried up as a “war
package” will have adverse impact and cannot help
in real reintegration of the community in Valley.
The BJP has not begun on a positive note in
Kashmir. On Monday its Rajya Sabha member
Tarun Vijay demanded that two flag system in the
state should be abolished thus furthering the
apprehensions that there was surely something
“sinister” in its bag for Kashmir. Earlier on the first
day in office, Minister of State in Prime Minister’s
Office Dr Jitendar Singh touched the raw nerve
called Article 370, saying that the discussion with
stake holders had begun to abolish it. It created a
storm in political circles with opposition from most
of the political parties, but the fact that was
ignored was that BJP did make it a public issue
while being in power, irrespective of the
clarification issued by Dr Singh later.
The party has bagged two Lok Sabha seats in the
Jammu region, but now that it is in power it needs
to expand its area of attention and focus to include
Kashmir Valley as well. It is presently being
perceived as a Jammu-centric government as it
only addresses the “concerns” which are
essentially seen as anti- Kashmir.
Whatever the agenda BJP has, it cannot, rather
should not ignore the ground realities in Kashmir.
The PM could have struck a chord by speaking of
the issues concerning the people, and his silence
has been noticed and commented upon by the
people in Kashmir. The PM’s visit to the
headquarters of the Srinagar based 15 Corps was
also symbolic. It appeared to underscore the
popular Delhi view that Kashmir can be managed
by the Army. Except for Vajpayee, former Prime
Minister Manmohan Singh and now Modi have still
to express their views about the political measures
that need to be taken to restore peace and
equilibrium in the state.
It is naive to believe that while traveling from the
Srinagar airport to Badamibagh and then to Uri,
the Prime Minister would have not seen the
deserted streets below him. He still has to spell out
his choice for ‘managing’ Kashmir, whether it will
be through dialogue or through the Army.
PM Modi has not yet publicly outlined his Kashmir
policy except that he talked about winning the
hearts of people through development.
Development surely is an ingredient to undo the
sense of despair that has been witnessed in past
two decades but it has to be supplemented and
complimented with the political initiatives. Two
tracks of dialogue process between New Delhi and
Islamabad and between New Delhi and Srinagar
are must for addressing the issue through real
pragmatic means. The processes from 2003 to
2008 had shown spectacular change in the
atmosphere and the credit goes to Vajpayee and
then Manmohan Singh.
If at all Modi believes in following Vajpayee he
must start picking the threads from that derailed
process. Development will go on but the sense of
security, confidence and political achievement for
the people can only come through the institution of
dialogue process that is untagged of
conditionalities on all sides. Putting more military
might into action is not the answer to today’s
Kashmir. It needs humane approach that is
embedded with strong political will to see that
there is a dignified and practicable solution to the
problem.
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