A series of solutions apart, Kashmir is as messy and as unfinished as it has ever been. Before anything else, the powers that be should stop  distinguishing between the “mainstream” and  “ separatists”. Neither  any one is a mainstream, going by its definition. Similarly, there is no separatist. They don’t have   even the ideological  differences. More often than not, all of them, one way  or the other, are of the same make. Another common thing about them is that they are apathetic to  miseries of the common man. There is a scandal after scandal emerging out of the leaders who are  supposed to be the  custodians of the people’s  needs and also are supposed to deliver the things in a transparent manner.
There is a unique art  at work.  There are hundreds of small, medium and large scale projects waiting completion. No one seems to be bothered.  Union Health Minister  Ghulam Nabi Azad, who  loves to be called as a “man of the development “ in Jammu and Kashmir, has regretted  on his all (recently more frequent)  visits to Jammu and Kashmir, that the works started by him  were moving at a snail’s pace. He has his own political  ways of doing things. He, not only is trying to undermine his main political rival in the party, Saif-ud-Din Soz, but also targeting  the Omar Abdullah government ( without naming it, but the insinuations are too clear to be missed).  On his part, Azad showed quite agility  in addressing  G B Pant hospital where nearly 400 children died in Srinagar.  As Health Minister of the country, he was supposed to do. But, is  G B Pant hospital the only  health care   institution in the country. From All India Institute of Medical Sciences to Primary Health Centres ( PHCs) in the country  are death traps, where corruption is rampant and no one seems to be questioning  the people manning these institutions.  But Azad’s way of doing things doesn’t give an excuse to the state government to  ignore the development or its failure to distinguish as to why certain projects ( sorry project) is being completed in a record time, while others will  probably wait for  22nd  century  to get completed.
The occasional noises by Syed Ali Shah Geelani and Mirwaiz Umar Farooq about the lack of water and power supply, which are  seen in a positive tone and tenor, are, in fact,  to convey a message to Delhi that they too have the capacity to  deliver on  basic  issues confronting the common people in the state.  That is where the mainstream and the separatists’ line disappears.
 There is a need to  accomplish two critical goals: avoiding a potentially devastating  return of violence  and securing the  political space  for all the stake holders. So far what we see  is the cracking foundations. There is a need  to  make it possible to imagine new rules of the game. Still, much remains in doubt, notably the scope and direction of change. The State  essentially has witnessed a political game of musical chairs, one elite faction swapping places with the other but remaining at loggerheads.Militants are taking advantage of  such a vacuum. Socio-economic needs remain unmet. The government must rapidly show tangible progress (security, economic, political) to contain centrifugal forces  bent upon  deepening uncertainty.  The government  should, while reaching out to stakeholders and preparing the political environment for inclusive  dialogue. That may offer some hope, blame game will not.
Leaders like Geelani and Mirwaiz Umar Farooq who  make it a point to  criticize the government on one issue after  another, also need to do a thorough self introspection. Has their ideology  paid any dividend. The Kashmiri youth is frustrated. It  is not just the unemployment, but also something more. The social fabric has been torn apart. A common Kashmiri is asking question to himself, where does he stand today on the   10th day of July  2012. His vision has been clouded.  For him, arrival of tourists is not panacea for  everything. He has been told time and again that  Kashmir issue is not resolved.  True, what is expected of him that he should also destroy himself  like previous two generations, ranging from the days of those who were asking  for Plebiscite to those who have changed the nomenclature to “ Aazadi seekers”. What’s the road map, they ask and there are no answers any where, because first of all it is not clear to them that what exactly the Kashmir issue is.

Lastupdate on : Mon, 9 Jul 2012 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Mon, 9 Jul 2012 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Tue, 10 Jul 2012 00:00:00 IST