There are some articles coming out in the Indian media on Jammu and Kashmir that make one furious. These are written with a sense of arrogance and ignorance with prejudice pouring out every sentence. This certainly does not help as it polarizes the situation, keeps the Kashmiris in the firing line, and ensure that peace does not return to the Valley.

Every person or delegation who has visited the Valley with an open mind has come to the same conclusions: one, the protest is sincere and serious and two, it needs to be resolved fast. It now seems that the slow, ponderous wheels of government are working to find some way out, although the path is strewn with ‘ifs’ and ‘buts’ and enough obstacles such as these articles that warn the authorities not to ‘concede’ too much, and to let the people of Kashmir know who is the boss.

There has been talk and some efforts for an Eid package with the ingredients including the Armed Forces Special Powers Act, release of political prisoners, release of the youth arrested in large numbers, and of course dialogue for autonomy. The government has been finding it difficult to come to grips with the first and the last, particularly because of strong opposition from the army and parties like the BJP respectively. However, sources do claim that work is still on in the hope that a package, cutting through suspicion and cynicism, can come out of the exercise.

The Prime Ministers Office is particularly interested in whittling AFSPA down to a level where it ceases to be an issue with the Kashmiris, and yet convinces the Army that its interests have not been compromised totally. The just way out would be to repeal the Act altogether as what good is  a law if it ceases to convince people that it will ensure their security. In Kashmir and in the north east AFSPA is regarded as a draconian law that works against the people, and makes them insecure instead of secure. A general recently compared it to a religious book, saying if some persons violate religion, it does not mean that the religion itself should be discarded. One understands that he was addressing his jawans who are working in tough conditions, for no fault of theirs, but even so AFSPA is a man made law and given the anger and unhappiness it has caused it should have been discarded by any caring or concerned government a long time ago.

The people of Kashmir might be alienated, but they are not aliens. It makes it doubly necessary for New Delhi to reach out but not with candy laced with arsenic, but with measures that will heal. Strangely whenever there is a problem in the Valley, the government at the centre unilaterally pinpoints the reasons and the remedy. Surely both have to come from the ground. Those in power have to listen and understand the reasons and then work with the people on the ground, in this case the Kashmiris, to find the remedy. The attitude has always been to impose decisions that are so far removed from the reality and the peoples' aspirations that they have chipped away at the trust and confidence to a point of almost no return.

Poverty is not the issue. Kashmiris know that poverty is worse in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh. Development alone is not the issue. They know as well as anyone that large parts of the north Indian states, particularly those under Naxal influence today, do not have water, electricity, roads or health care. Justice is the issue, and the colonial hangover of successive governments who have treated Kashmir as a private fiefdom for their diktat. Sheikh Abdullah was jailed because New Delhi at the time was suspicious. Farooq Abdullah elected by the people for the first time was dismissed because New Delhi preferred to impose his brother in law G.M.Shah instead. Laws are imposed and never withdrawn. Leaders are arrested and release and arrested again at will. People are killed in encounters and trials are not conducted. No one is caught, tried and punished. Minors are caught and jailed in the same manner as the adults. Even security measures become an experiment to be tried in Kashmir. From bullets, to rubber bullets, to plastic bullets to cluster bullets, protesting Kashmiris are the targets.
This is not the way. When the BJP insists that Jammu and Kashmir is an ‘integral part of the country” then it should ensure that the Valley is not treated as an enemy. The UPA government has had six uninterrupted years in office and even today has been unable to open even a tiny window of hope in the Valley. The situation has gone from bad to worse, and it is time that all those who contested the elections and are living in palatial bungalows in Delhi----Saifudin Soz and Farooq Abdullah included-----should resign. They are not representing themselves or the chattering classes of Delhi, they are in Delhi as the representatives of the Valley. They derive their legitimacy from this, they are recognized and spoken to only because of this, and frankly only two options are available for them in my view. One, they should insist that the government act on a series of pro people measures and ensure that this happens, including repeal of AFSPA; or two, they should resign.

There have been many letters from Jammu and Kashmir on the columns in Greater Kashmir. One of these was a long platitude about why I was not writing against the Kashmiri separatists. What is there to write? The people of Kashmir have made their position clear by not allowing the separatists to lead their movement. Strike calls by the separatists are followed when the people want to do so, these are ignored as happened in the last Friday of Ramzan when the people feel that these are counter productive. Those in Delhi and in the state who want to focus on non issues are basically again looking to create non issues, instead of grappling with the challenging reality.

Kashmiris are still peaceful. They are only hurling stones against armed constabulary carrying heavy weapons and with the entire might of the Indian state behind them. As I have said in earlier columns, only a sensitive, responsive government would have heard the cry for help in every stone that was hurled. And for this they are being shot at, killed, injured and tortured in jails. Is this how the government of India is going to conduct itself, as an arrogant oppressor? Saifuddin Soz and Farooq Abdullah and all their cronies in arms should answer. There is no point in running around Delhi, shaking hands with the top bosses and giving interviews to the media. First let the people of Kashmir embrace you, then seek recognition elsewhere.

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