At long last, after the loss of 51 lives, New Delhi has begun to take a more serious look at Kashmir. And for once the noises made sound  refreshingly right and geared to at least touch the cord in Kashmir.  We have come a long way from the apathetic description of the situation by the Home Secretary G K Pillai, who let alone evincing some regret over the deaths of teenagers  even gratuitously contested the age of a nine year old victim. Now Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has set the record straight by an unequivocal expression of pain over the killings in Kashmir and Ladakh. What is more, Prime Minister has also bravely acknowledged the prevailing ground reality in Kashmir. He has granted there is genuine anger, sentiment and aspiration. He also came closest to acknowledging Kashmir as a dispute by underlining the 63 year old  complex historical baggage that needs to be dealt with. Prime Minister, in no uncertain terms, stressed the need for a larger
 political solution. He also talked about the dialogue with Pakistan, its challenges and achievements in the form of many Confidence Building Measures including cross-LoC trade and movement of people.  However, while talking about a political solution, Prime Minister didn't go the desired distance.  To a good measure, he left the talk of a future solution open-ended, stopping short of explaining its contours and giving a political roadmap.  He did though mention autonomy for Kashmir within the bounds of constitution and called for evolving a broader political consensus on the issue. Prime Minister also announced setting up of an expert group under the chairmanship of noted economist Dr C Rangarajan to formulate a jobs plan for the state involving public and private sectors. The committee shall have Infosys chief N R Naryanmurthy, economist Tarun Das and Kashmiri industrialist Shakeel Qalander as its members, while one more member would be nominated by the state government. Although mention of this expert group evoked some sense of de javu, it didn't detract from the general political narrative of the speech.    The speech no doubt has created a feel-good atmosphere. Prime Minister  may not have broken a great new political ground, or announced any radical departure from New Delhi's stance but he has certainly made an effort to  re-adjust the tone and tenor, recognize there is a serious problem and promise a political solution.  The challenge, however, is a follow-up action. And this fundamentally would mean to move forward in the spirit of the speech. And of course, not to narrow down the focus once the situation returns to normal. This will once again break the faith which this speech might have gone a little way to repair. For while Prime Minister's belated speech is a good beginning, there is a long road that has to be traveled. The speech needs to be followed up with a serious dialogue, a sustained engagement that is not the traditional dialogue of the deaf.  And for that to happen New Delhi needs to deal with the raw political reality in Kashmir and not take recourse to addressing the demands which are not made. This more than solving anything creates fresh problems. Issue is if New Delhi is not going to understand or acknowledge the sentiments or hard political reality in Kashmir, how are Kashmiris  going to understand and appreciate New Delhi's concerns about a particular solution. Situation so far has been that while there  are cries for Azadi in Valley, New Delhi interprets it as little more than an economic grievance. As a result, redressal has always been in economic terms. But this approach, as the present unrest amply underlines has gotten us nowhere. After years of engagement  there is no connect at all.  It will need much more beyond feel-good speeches and re-assuring words to find a way out of the dead-end New Delhi's old policies have created in Kashmir.

Lastupdate on : Wed, 11 Aug 2010 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Wed, 11 Aug 2010 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Thu, 12 Aug 2010 00:00:00 IST