Kashmir is a political problem. It has never been an issue of law and order. It is not an economic issue. A lasting solution to the region’s problems can only be found through a political dialogue. It is therefore vital for the parties to return to the negotiating table. India is leaving no stone unturned to motivate the separatist camp to come forward and start an immediate dialogue to develop a consensus on the resolution of Kashmir issue. Delhi has a history of relying on dialogue tactics to buy time which in turn will buy peace for them on ground. This sudden acknowledgement of Kashmir as a political dispute and consensus on autonomy was seen by some as ‘flexibility’ in Delhi’s approach towards Kashmir while many would believe that this may actually lead to the final resolution of the problem, as the Home Minister said addressing police officials recently.
I believe offering autonomy at a time of azadi sentiment was a well discussed-bait that New Delhi tried to put in front of Kashmiris. It was also a thumbs-up for ruling National Conference as they have been pursuing the agenda for long. The autonomy at a time of crisis was a political move to shrink the space of separatist leadership that proved its might in recent uprising leaving both mainstream parties and security agencies in a shock. Panicked by the helplessness of mainstream parties to woo the public, New Delhi started pouring more troops to give an impression that there is something wrong with the law and order of the state. But a question here many are asking is how big is this law and order problem that eight lakh security forces fall less to handle the street protesters. Handing over the state to armed peacekeepers made things worse. People started experiencing the darkest phase of oppression.
The entire state was up in arms as a unit against the oppression and there was a single cry: the cry for freedom. The second thing that makes present uprising different and unique from previous ones is its mass participation without demographic specialization. Youth, old, men women children were all up against the bullets with bare hands. The do or die situation took place wherein protestors stormed many police stations with bare hands. This was seen last only in the Islamic revolution of Iran where entire nation went mad against the Shah’s regime.
The recent protests have given India a new challenge to convince itself on earlier stand of Pakistan-backed insurgency. The stone replacing gun and the child replacing the militant is a challenge not easier to face for the state that has been in denial mode for too long now. The response in letter and spirit to the Hurriyat-announced calendar has also silenced the mainstream voices that used to term stone pelters “a bunch of unruly mobs financed by Hurriyat.”
 New Delhi needs to conduct self-introspection to come out of confusion as to what they perceive about the stone pelters is not right. Their judgment might be the outcome of misinformation punched by security agencies and state government to curtain their failure in handling the situation. New Delhi has re-designated the stone pelters frequently depending on what serves their interests best. Sometimes a stone pelter becomes a mercenary, sometimes a Hurriyat’s daily wager, sometimes a die-hard fan of PDP, sometimes a Lashkar agent, sometimes an uneducated person, sometimes an educated person without a job and sometimes a hungry person in pursuit of economic package.
But the statistics of dead and wounded stone pelters reveal a different story. The story that will never go well with Indian claims that stone pelters are a bunch of jobless psychos. Ninety percent of the wounded and dead are educated and belong to economically sound families. Except students rest almost 70% are self-employed or holding a job. It is high time that government recognizes these protestors as genuine people with genuine demands and stop branding them as imposters working on the guidelines of remote controlled bosses.
The private media in India also need to display some level of maturity and stop behaving like convention conformists and prove themselves as true and just institutions of democracy. The debates at prominent news channels with famous anchors need to be balanced with statistics. The ninety percent stakeholders get only ten percent of representation and the vice versa, is seen by Kashmiri youth as a ground level strategy influenced by state to dilute the just voices of majority into feeble minority sentiment. 
Many people in India often raise questions on the existence of Kashmir as a separate nation. The answer lies in the fact that Kashmir if restored in its original position is much bigger in geography and population than many of the existing countries of the world and has much more natural avenues to exploit. It is imperative on part of New Delhi to announce some strong confidence building measures like demilitarization, release of political prisoners and revocation of AFSPA with immediate effect or else the hollow call for dialogue makes it the most hated word in Kashmir.

 (The author hails from Kashmir and is working as Assistant Professor in the Department of Management and Commerce, Maulana Azad National Urdu University, Hyderabad and can be reached at managementmaster25@yahoo.co.in)

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