The statements on Kashmir emanating from Delhi suggest a national consensus on the continued state of denial and delusion. Delhi’s obsession with operational measures has thrust Kashmir on a path of a new mode of resistance. The young men in charge are the children of conflict, born and bred amidst the 1990s with painful childhood memories of crackdowns by army, brutalities, killings, funerals and slogans. 

The harsh operational measures used by Delhi in 1990s has gifted the Delhi establishment of 2010 with this new breed of dissenters. The current establishment is emulating the traditional practice and planning to send more troops and more bullets. It is most likely that Delhi will be able to control the situation, in the interim. But the circle will go on. The protests are going to be more virulent at future dates set by the current establishment for the future establishments. And a day will come when they will simply run out of dates. 
It is time Delhi looks at the structural aspects of the Kashmir conflict. Delhi should have no ambiguity in comprehending that the reference point of any past strife or the current strife is secession. Next, Delhi needs to exhibit the will and imagination to draw the contours of a possible ‘content and a context’ . The content would be an acceptable summation of the desired movements away from the reference point by the Kashmiris and movement towards the reference point by Delhi. The context would incorporate a range of dimensions including psychological dimensions, internal political dimensions and the most important external dimension, viz, Pakistan. 

Delhi could, in the interim, dismount from the high operational horse and express remorse over the killing of young boys. The temptation of walking into the trap of false dawns has to be resisted and making sales of trendy Western wear and MTV viewership as an index of Indian popularity in Kashmir needs to be discarded. Delhi needs to stop eroding the credibility of institution of dialogue and moderate leaders and needs to stop lulling itself to believe that Kashmir can be outsourced to the Abdullahs, the Muftis or the Governor. 

(Courtesy: The Economic Times)

Lastupdate on : Fri, 6 Aug 2010 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Fri, 6 Aug 2010 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Sat, 7 Aug 2010 00:00:00 IST