Muhammad Ahseem
The much hyped visit of all party delegation to valley is now a thing of past. Contrary to what the national media projected it to be, the event just turned out to be dampener. As many as 40 members of Indian parliament who stayed in valley for about 48 hours seemed to have denied their senses the feel of the sentiment in air here. Apart from some of these lawmakers going beyond the official protocol in their visit to meet top separatist leaders at their homes, the broader message that emerged is New Delhi’s lack of empathy towards the Kashmiri community. More importantly the visit which appeared, to many, a twist in New Delhi’s Kashmir policy couldn’t make any headway as far the resolution of the vexed issue is concerned.
The eight point formula announced by the Union home ministry on the recommendations of these parliamentarians and dubbed as great confidence measures by the Chief minister of the state, towards reaching out to the alienated Kashmiri community were as futile as any of the past attempts made by successive regimes in New Delhi. Time and again Kashmir observers, both in mainland India and Kashmir, including intellectuals and media personalities, have been reiterating that Kashmir needs a political solution, yet the eight point formula circulates around the economic sops. Several such attempts aimed at integrating the Kashmiri community with the rest of India, have been made in the past, where governments in New Delhi tried to buy a solution for Kashmir.
These include the free-rice strategy during the reign of G M Bakshi to the recent economic sops that ran into some thousand crores. However observers this time were quite optimistic that a sincere effort will be made by New Delhi towards the resolution of the long pending issue. Unfortunately nor was it an out-of-box thing and neither had it the warmth to break any ice. A hundred crore fund towards development of educational infrastructure in the state, in the wake of 109 killings, most of whom were students, seems absurd.
Allowing the police and paramilitaries to kill and disable the youth of Kashmir, with full impunity and simultaneously upgrading the educational infrastructure, meant for the same youth is nothing less than mockery of the ideals of liberty that forms the bedrock of Indian constitution. As far as opening of schools and the conduct of examinations in valley is concerned, it seemed to be more of a diktat than a reconciliatory attempt.
The continuous siege of the valley coupled with the unprovoked harassment of the common man at the hands of security agencies has created a fear psychosis among the populace in general and children and the youth in particular and expecting the parents to send their children to schools in such an atmosphere is unjustified. In the past 63 years, New Delhi nominated several negotiators and facilitators to address the Kashmir issue but the constrained mandate within which these worked and the fate these met is known to everyone. What needs is a change in the mental setup which lies behind any effort of New Delhi towards resolving Kashmir Issue. Solving Kashmir in the context of the genuine aspirations of the people of Kashmir would enhance the growing image of India as a super power in the present world order.
