E-Paper
Affirmative action
The hallmark of PM?s visit is the creation of an institutional framework through which various aspects of what is a complex problem can be addressed.
The Manmohan Singh government should be commended for its prudent dealings in Jammu and Kashmir. The subject is a tangle of political, ethnic and religious issues that are not amenable to glib or easy solutions. The analogy of Alexander cutting the Gordian Knot has little traction here. Yet the Prime Minister’s visit to the Valley, the Roundtable Conference as well as the decision to create a set of working groups represents an incremental and distinctly visible forward movement in Kashmir. The hallmark of Mr Singh’s visit is the creation of an institutional framework through which various aspects of what is a complex problem can be addressed.
The working groups may sound like a bureaucratic response to problems that are far more serious than they can address. But in this case, for the first time they actually holistically limn New Delhi’s Kashmir policy: Relief and rehabilitation to the those affected by the militancy, not excluding the militants themselves; build on the initiatives to soften the border between the Indian and Pakistani controlled Kashmir; oversee accelerated efforts to improve the State’s economy; address governance issues, especially the manner in which the battle against terrorists can be prosecuted without alienating the people; examine relations between the Union and state governments and take up the whole gamut of issues relating to ‘self rule’ and ‘autonomy’. Considering all this, it is clear that the Hurriyat Conference missed out on an important opportunity. But we must not be too harsh on the grouping. They have almost certainly been motivated by concerns of personal security which are legitimate given the huge security lapse that enabled two terrorists to strike at a public meeting on the eve of the PM’s visit.
The events in the past week have shown that there are powerful forces still abroad in the state that are determined to challenge any effort to restore normality. They retain considerable fire-power and it would be short-sighted to ignore the need to physically root out such groups in the euphoria of a prime ministerial visit. Presumably some of these steps were discussed in the meeting of the unified command. Any Indian policy on Kashmir must walk on three legs — a dialogue with Pakistan aimed at resolving the Kashmir issue, a physical destruction of terrorism,and an effort to address the real, or perceived, problems of the Kashmiri people.
