Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti has not shared everything with the media after meeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Delhi on Monday because it is status quo in Jammu and Kashmir: the military option has not been ruled out and the dialogue option has not opened completely despite her passionate plea for it.
Mehbooba is not only the head of the government in J&K but also president of the PDP, which is ruling the state in alliance with Modi’s BJP. Therefore, their meeting should have had more on agenda than merely exchanging notes on the situation.
But what she revealed to the media doesn’t give much insight into how the situation would improve and what would be the methodology. She urged Modi to trek the path laid out by former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, whose idea of resolving the Kashmir issue within the parameters of humanity
has become an all-time reference to the peaceful solution to the Kashmir crisis.
Mehbooba has made similar requests several times, and she has been told by the Prime Minister that’s exactly what he wanted to do. It was during his first election speech in Srinagar on December 7 in 2014 when he first promised to adopt the Vajpayee mantras in letter and spirit. But there has been no progress; the situation in Kashmir is nearing the cliff instead.
The Prime Minister, according to her, has given the reassurance that the “Centre will take the necessary steps to improve situation in the state”. In her scheme of things, these steps primarily focus on dialogue with all stakeholders in Kashmir, including separatists, and Pakistan. It is premature to hazard a guess how far the Centre would travel this path.
The time for promises is over. It is the time for delivery now. The “mainstream” has been marginalised while the centre stage has been taken over by the perpetrators of violence and hate.
No one knows how the Chief Minister laid stress on dialogue or demand for compensation for the losses suffered by the state due to the World Bank-brokered Indus Water Treaty of 1960 that gives control of J&K’s three main rivers to Pakistan. She claimed that the talk of a rift in the BJP-PDP alliance was an internal matter, but the other issues impacted the Kashmir situation and, more importantly, the governance.
As the facts stand out, Mehbooba has to fight for her and her party’s survival at multiple levels. The seriousness of the situation should be gauged by the fact that while she was talking to the Prime Minister, her party’s district president in Pulwama was shot dead by militants.
She cannot shut her eyes to this grim reality. But, dialogue alone can revive her position that has been battered by months of violence and the subsequent governance-deficit.
There is nothing else that can satisfy the emotion-driven Kashmiris, who care less for economic stability, education, and normalcy when their passions are stoked by the call for the Kashmir solution. They blame India for suppressing their aspirations while Pakistan, despite having made people in the Valley cannon fodder for its geographical and religious ambitions, is seen as a friend.
It is important for the Prime Minister to explore the possibilities of reaching out to the people of Kashmir. This should be the unifocal agenda.
Time for promises over, it’s time for delivery now: Mehbooba Mufti
