Binoo Joshi
J K News Today Special
When new Lieutenant Governor of Jammu and Kashmir Manoj Sinha said that there would be a dialogue with people for peace in Kashmir, it had an out of box connotation .
This was an assurance of knitting together the development and peace with a simple demand that the misled groups of youth should say goodbye to the gun culture of more than 30 years . It is out of box because it makes the people as the only stake holders. They want peace . Peace is the fountainhead of progress, prosperity , and without peace nothing can be achieved .
Sinha was reflecting on the thinking of the Centre that he represents as LG of the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir .
Manoj Sinha who is known for making the statements that can be translated into reality has outlaid his agenda for Kashmir obviously with something concrete in his mind . Since, he is a confidant of Prime Minister Narendra Modi , it means that his words have firm backing of Delhi.
The dialogue with the people is a political and administrative messaging that all the people are entitled to interact and initiate the process of dialogue, for it is not necessary that the dialogue would flow from Raj Bhavan or North Bock in Delhi only. It could be other way round, too.
The people can air their grievances and seek redressal at various levels and various forms. It could also mean that the bureaucracy under the supervision of a political leader cum Lt. Governor would be more responsive .
In Kashmir, however, the dialogue is seen through the prism with the talks with separatists who had been leading a campaign of secession .Now , as it is clear that the mainstream parties and their leaders, too, have their grievances ranging from the political vacuum, shrinking of their political space and restoration of statehood .
It requires a mutual understanding and accommodation to give a fillip to the narration of peace in Kashmir.