Home Minister Rajnath Singh’s remarks Saturday that the government was working towards a permanent solution to the seven-decade-old Kashmir issue was not just a bland political statement, aimed at gaining time. Events over the past few months indicate New Delhi has indeed started initiating a plan which is being slowly and systematically implemented across the Valley.
Broadly, it appears to be a four-pronged approach—one, give the Army carte blanche to ‘neutralise’ terrorists and their sympathisers, both at the border and inside the Valley within two months; two, cut off the funding for terrorists and separatists; three, block communications during ongoing military operations to prevent flash mobs from distracting the process; four, ensure an aggressive media blitz to highlight how all this is done without ‘collateral damage’, an euphemism for innocent lives lost.
Of course, tackling Pakistan, the root of the discord, is a given for this plan to succeed. The aggressive shelling of Pakistani outposts known to give covering fire for militants trying to sneak in means phrases like ‘dominating the LoC’ are empty words no more. Internally, the Army, armed with a ‘kill list’ supplied by intelligence agencies, will no doubt do its job of cleansing the Valley of terrorists to a large degree.
Witness the gunning down of Hizbul commander Sabzar Ahmad Bhat and the fact that no more than 3,000 people were able to gather for his funeral, compared to the massive hordes that gathered for Burhan Wani, an earlier commander shot July last year. As for the money, the raids on Hurriyat leaders and businessmen laundering money for terrorists and stone pelters are a much-needed step and will hit them where it hurts. As for the fourth item, one only has to see the flood of reports about Kashmiri youth queuing up to join the police and security forces, and other ‘feel-good’ stories from the Valley. But the question that remains is: After all this, what?