The Valley is Still Stuck in the Past
A reference to Article 370 in the recent election campaign of the main opposition party brought the focus back on the situation in Jammu and Kashmir. The public discourse that followed revolved around the historical legacy of this constitutional provision and the critique of the political spectrum that exists within the state. The latter continues to keep the lines hazy between the so-called separatists and the mainstream parties, and between the democratic politicians who do not deny the fact of merger of the state with India and those who do not hesitate to deny the right of the Indian State to upgrade the lot of the people of J&K in accordance with the constitutional rights bestowed on them.
What adds to the concerns of the citizens in the rest of India is the reality that in the recent months, cross-border terrorism has become more intense, that India-specific militant outfits nurtured by Pakistan’s ISI—particularly the Hizbul Mujahideen and Lashkar-e-Toiba—have threatened to escalate their proxy offensive, and that the new ruling elite in Pakistan—facing a messy situation on the Afghan front—has planned to step up its hostility against India on the issue of Kashmir. With the abrasive reference to a possible ‘fourth Indo-Pak war’ on Kashmir made by Nawaz Sharif, the Indo-Pak dialogue already marred by a glaring asymmetry seems to have lost even the façade of relevance in terms of the objective that it wished to achieve.
Looking forward on Kashmir, India should pursue a strategy based on three indisputable facts. One, the unequivocal declaration of Parliament that J&K is an integral part of India confers upon the Indian State the responsibility of doing all it can to improve the human development index of the state. And this can happen only if caste, creed and gender are not allowed to cause any discrimination. Two, the people of J&K like citizens in the rest of the country need to be given three basic freedoms—freedom from want, freedom from fear of violence, and freedom to democratically elect their rulers. The last stipulation has been achieved fairly well but the first two freedoms relating to socio-economic development and security respectively need to be pushed through with greater clarity and vigour.
The Centre should closely monitor all development schemes and punish anybody responsible for corruption during their implementation. All illicit guns pumped in from across the border must be neutralised through intelligence-based operations. It is essential for the security and police forces to avoid collateral damage while handling an insurgency. And three, the apologists of militancy and the vested interests across the political groups hampering the state’s progress should be ignored if not exposed. It seems it is more of the same happening in Kashmir with little to promise an improvement in the long range. The resources of the nation need to be put to better use in J&K.
The writer is a former Director, Intelligence Bureau