What after June? `July' will be the straight answer. But the way speculations are made on one side and `fingers crossed' on the other, makes one rephrase the question. After three consecutive upheavals, are we predictably heading to a fourth one on the trot? Will the valley continue to boil or after three storming summers, we will have calm at last? If a Prime Minister is really `concerned' about Kashmir, is he concerned about his own party-supported government or about the people of the valley?
Manmohan Singh's statement that “no quarter would be given to secessionists” makes a simplistic assessment of the situation which is too complex to be finished in a word or two. As if denying space to separatists is the only logical way to ensure peace. Seeing in retrospect as to what actually triggered the whole agitation in Kashmir reveals a different story. Separatists normally come as a sequel to what already happens. If Kashmir erupted in 2008, the event was not sudden and spontaneous. A Sinha-scripted story ultimately had its effect and we experienced an uproar we had witnessed never before. Second question that those who fish in troubled waters did have their day, but the point that figures first is the very origin of the trouble. How a public uprising was mowed down resulting in the loss of life and property is a nightmare of an unforgettable enormity.
Come 2009. Where was the first salvo shot from? A blood curdling tragedy that struck at Shopian engulfed the whole valley and why not? All state-made promises evaporated. Too many Inquiry Commissions and judicial probes eventually lead us to a CBI `disclosure' thereby drowning the whole file without leaving a trace of the crime which who knows who committed and where? As the `inquiries' were being  conducted, the valley was burning. Here again what happened was a prequel to what followed as a reaction to it. So the source once again lay beyond separatist politics which always enters later.
The third and the recent disaster hit us last year after the lid was taken off the Machill can of worms. Add to it the shooting down of some innocent young boys and the subsequent brute use of force by law enforcing agencies which perhaps Gaddafi is today taking a cue from. Where could it all have led us to? The summer number third offers the answer. 
Having said this, we can't completely absolve those elements who are always there to provide a prod. Rumour mills alone can't do the damage unless the grist is provided by the men who hold the reins. And after all a system of governance is not there to kill only, it's also to punish the killers. You can't always protect your paramountcy by adding to the dead. Public security is to be ensured first to keep trouble at bay.
If Manmohan Singh is bothered about the space that according to him is to be denied to secessionists to keep the situation from spinning out of control, he has to be equally bothered about the roots of the agony which lie just around him. Take a pledge. Hold your men back and wait. This summer, we hope, will be the coolest one.

Lastupdate on : Sat, 26 Feb 2011 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Sat, 26 Feb 2011 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Sun, 27 Feb 2011 00:00:00 IST