Today, the discourse about Kashmir is not whether it’s a safe destination  for tourists, nor is it about  how to  rediscover the life   for the new generations. It  is in a transit mode. It is trying to  find its path  amid all sorts of uncertainties  and promise of new hopes. But it is  also not true that the   situation  has come back to the good old days, when  neither tourists nor  locals knew  no midnight deadline to  go back to their hotels and homes.  This is a different kind of situation that is being talked about;  how to climb the stairs of future, where the Kashmiris  sit on the top and rule  from there, rather than being ruled.
This difference in the discourse has not come about just because 11 men and women made it to IAS this year, and may be next year the number is doubled. It is also not the byproduct of the “ peace” of the last year.  The political leadership has not stopped playing  games, so they are not the game  changers. But the change has come and the discourse has changed, it has  woken  the people to new threats, new opportunities and new future- dark or bright.
Indeed, the 2011 is a  stepping stone  for 2012. How the crowds were managed and how the police and paramilitary forces were trained to convey a concrete message that they were there in the streets, patrolling the pathways, but had no intention to kill or injure any of the protestors, if at all the protests ever reached the level of the  2010 or for that matter uglier days of 2008. It also cannot be said that all this came about without a strategy and sensitivity. It was  a sensible and  sensitive strategy that delivered this all important message. There were pressures from the ruling coalition, and also the opposition- though the two sides might continue to blame each other, but the fact is known to  both the sides that  2011 happened and happened  because their hands were guided by the people who had an interest in  running the show of Kashmir as a place where  arms were opened for tourists  and  where schools and colleges held regular classes, and were not the source of the protests  in streets.
The year 2012 is  full of promises and perils. That’s why it’s a transit period, where if the aspirations of the people are allowed to find an expression  in debates, seminars, and a capacity is developed to hear and bear the counter argument with the  similar  round of applause, if the arguments are convincing enough, the  things will change for the better. It is always easy to  find  a way forward in cool  atmosphere, rather than in surcharged one. Tourists will come and go, but the problem needs a solution, and that too a lasting one. Time and again, looking toward what Islamabad’s first step would be,  is like proposing a self –defeating  idea. Or, for that matter, same is true of  Delhi. A simple question would answer everything : “ If Shah Faesal of Kashmir can top the civil services exam and others follow him with the same spirit and zeal and achieve success, can’t the same logic be applied to other issues.” Some would contest this proposition that cracking IAS is one thing and finding a political solution is an all together different. Sure enough. But the process is same, you have to work hard and remain focused. This message should travel from mere rhetoric, whether at the public gatherings, or  congregations to the grassroots level.  The people need to be involved.    They alone can tell you the way forward – if the government and the Opposition could hold meetings of panches and sarpanches – and interact with them in a  calm atmosphere and elicit their suggestions, same thing can be repeated for  finding an out of box solution. It can happen, be sure of it.

Lastupdate on : Mon, 14 May 2012 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Mon, 14 May 2012 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Tue, 15 May 2012 00:00:00 IST