New Delhi, Mar 4: Stressing that successive governments have committed the mistake of looking at Kashmir in black and white, without bothering to understand the nuances and improvise with the change in ground reality there, former RAW Chief AS Dulat feels it would do good for politicians in Delhi to realise that nothing can be taken for granted when it comes to the Valley.
"You just cannot predict anything in that region, things change overnight. There has to be enough flexibility in approach to ascertain that the situation remains balanced," he tells IANS in a special interaction.
Stressing that most Kashmiris do not live in utopia and understand that Section 370 is not coming back, Dulat, who served in Kashmir as Joint Director in the Intelligence Bureau (IB) from 1988 to 1990, arguably the most troublesome time in the Valley, however, emphasises on the need to revive the political and democratic process there.
"There has been enough of the Governor's rule, it is now time to for an elected government that the people in the Valley can call their own. A certain sense of 'normalcy' needs to be interjected. Elections are bound to lead to optimism. The local leaders there has an important role to play, it is a different debate about how they were treated when the article was abolished. Elections will give the people hope and empathy. At least they will have dignity," he says.
