News Analysis
The annual report of ministry of Home Affairs released on Wednesday with regard to Jammu and Kashmir can be translated and understood in actual terms on the ground only if the pages of the history prior to the abrogation of Article 370 are known . The journey of peace in this territory is not an overnight story , it has taken a lot of endavour and strategic thinking aimed at goals of social justice that have brought this change.
The credit is due to the leadership and vision of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his team, especially Home Minister Amit Shah . Their combined vision and the ground work done by the men and women in J&K in the past five years is something that will leave many a lessons for generations to follow to resolve the conflict situations which had become nightmare for the people in the conflict zone as also for the whole nation that aimed at achieving peace .
The annual report, part from social justice ideas that were pushed into J&K for the welfare of the masses in mission mode by the Home Ministry and broadcast by Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha . Statistics do tell their own story but the bigger achievement in changing the mood and atmospherics ingrained in the idea of peace interlinked to idea of India in its full form is the real success line. The report underlines the fact that the work is in progress.
First of all, there is need to understand and study the situation that existed before August 5, 2019 when Article 370 was abrogated , bringing down all the barriers between the country and the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir, which is now divided into two union territories of Ladakh, and J&K. For some the abrogation of the contentious Article 370 was an end in itself . It was a giant jump to achieve the goal of peace in this Himalayan territory where the boom of guns and bombs had drowned out all the aspirations for peace .
Before dwelling on this – that is a to study how the situation transformed in the past over five years , it is important to know why removal of Article 370 was a necessity . It stood as a big wall in the physical and emotional integration of the people of J&K with the rest of the country. There was much more than that – it became a shield for the secessionist elements working at the behest of Pakistan and guided by their own vested interests . This pedaled vicious cycle of violence and anarchy , which is known as terrorism in all its forms and manifestations.
Kashmir was under siege of its frozen thoughts . And it saw thaw in street protests echoing the “ Azadi” slogan or filled with anti-India rhetoric . The valley had become a black spot on the Indian map . With the arrival of Modi era in 2014 , the problem was analyzed from different angles . It attempted to try to test the ground with familiar methodology of involving Pakistan and dialogue with the mainstream and separatist politicians – Dineshwar Sharma , former Director IB- was appointed as an interlocutor while PM Modi started innings with a great goodwill gesture of inviting then Pakistani PM Nawaz Sharif to his swearing in ceremony . His presence was more conspicuous than other invitees from the South Asian countries as Indo-Pakistan relations were in a turbulent state of affairs that time . Later Modi visited Pakistan in a never-before attempt to reach out to Pakistan in December 2015 to attend a personal function of the Pakistan PM in Lahore . That gesture was returned with a terror attack on Air base in Pathankot in the beginning of 2016.
So, all the critics who accuse Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his government of having adopted a hawkish stand toward Pakistan , need to revisit the history. The Modi government, though committed by his party BJP’s commitment to abrogate Article 370 to eliminate the concept and context of dual sovereignty in Jammu and Kashmir despite the fact being that the state was an integral part of India, exhausted all other options that were considered as means of bringing peace in Kashmir. It also is a fact that all such efforts in the past in which the separatist and Pakistani leadership were involved in dialogue had failed miserably .
Now the dividends of the new approach in which constitutional barriers were done away with and counter-terrorism measures launched with free hand to security forces approach combined with the tapping of the people’s will for normalcy and peace are evident. This work is in progress .
