The vexed issue of Kashmir has been burning since independence. After the partition of India and the creation of Pakistan, solving the problem of Kashmir has been one of the biggest challenges for the government of India. It is no secret that Pakistan has been fishing in the troubled waters. When Atal Bihari Vajpayee was the prime minister of India, he had devised a formula for the solution of Kashmir problem. He had given a slogan – Kashmiriyat, Insaniyat and Hindustaniyat, around which the solution to the Kashmir problem has to be found. His efforts had not entirely resulted in the negative.
It’s not that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has not tried to solve the Kashmir issue using the same approach. If we talk of Insaniyat, Narendra Modi, in 2014 had taken personal interest to see that the Kashmiris are provided proper relief and rehabilitation after a massive flood ravaged the Valley. He had visited the state to see that there is no slackening in the relief operations to the Kashmiris. Not only that Indian Army had left no stone unturned to provide succour and relief to the affected people. This sent a good message across the Valley. Modi government again showed its face of Kashmiriyat when no political party got full majority in the state assembly election. BJP came forward to form an alliance with the hardliner PDP and formed a stable government, marking the beginning of a new era of coalition politics where both political parties, believed to be at extreme ends of the political spectrum and opposite to each other, came together to provide a government leaving aside all speculations. This alliance is still working in the state.
The move to forge an alliance with the PDP was historic in the sense that this party is supposed to have a soft corner with the protagonists of Azadi in the Valley. But to give peace a chance and to send a positive message not only across the Valley but throughout the whole of the country, Modi government went ahead and formed the alliance.
Today, Mehbooba Mufti is successfully running a government along with the BJP proving all political pundits wrong, who had expressed scepticism against the government. Hindustaniyat, the other factor to solve the Kashmir issue suggested by Vajpayee is at test now.
The whole country is now looking at the Mehbooba Mufti-led coalition government with great hope to deliver and take the state on the path of progress and development. Italian philosopher Seninka had once said that the country which does not remember its history, cannot build its future. This must be kept in mind while dealing with a problem like Kashmir. We must keep in mind it’s social, political and historical background so that we do not make the same mistakes as were made in the past to find a lasting solution to the issue of Kashmir. When Mohammad Ali Jinnah had talked of creating Pakistan, he had said the relations between the two nations will be the same as that of America and Canada. This example is before us to see how America and Canada sharing borders with each other lived in complete harmony and prospered over the years. Will India and Pakistan do the same and repeat history? Well, it remains to be seen. Pakistan is today boiling, the reason is simple – its formation on the basis of religion. How can you expect secularism from a country whose very foundation is based on religion?
When Jinnah was demanding the creation of Pakistan, Gandhiji had said that the goal and the means to achieve that goal must be sanctimonious. But we all know that the state of Pakistan was created on the basis of religion and the result is for all of us to see. If we look at this problem from Indian point of view, exploiting Bhindrawale against Akalis by Indira Gandhi in Punjab in the eighties proved to be the biggest mistake of her life resulting in her assassination. Not only this, playing games with LTTE in Sri Lanka, the dreaded militant organization demanding separate homeland in the North-East of the country, resulted in the death of her son Rajiv Gandhi, who was assassinated by the people of the same dreaded militant group. The principle of neutral justice played its part here.
The move to forge an alliance with the PDP was historic as it seems to have soft corner with the protagonists of azadi in the Valley
But the crisis of Kashmir is the biggest cause of concern for the future of India. The theory that demonetization will break the backbone of militancy in the state proved wrong as there is no let up the incidents of militancy in the Valley. The most worrying is the involvement of youth who in order to protect the militants can go to any extent even rushing to the site of the encounter without any fear of life. The government has so far not been able to curb this tendency and stop the radicalization of the gullible youth who seem to be misguided by the local leaders. Modi government is completing its third year in office, but so far we have not witnessed any concrete step towards the normalization of the situation in the Valley.
The government seems to be at a loss and appears to have no plan to wean away people from militancy especially youth. The government is using all its might to somehow stop the insurgents but with very little success. Now the situation in the Valley is getting out of control and government must think afresh to address the issue. Both state and the union government along with other political parties must find a balanced political approach to find the solution. The government also has to think of the security forces, the hostile situation they are facing every day. The army chief Vipin Rawat had said this a few days back. When will Kashmir issue be resolved? A solution to the Kashmir issue can be found on the day when Pakistan will be isolated internationally. The double game that Pakistan is playing will eventually lead to its own downfall one day. Afghanistan President said this recently. Therefore it is imperative to curb this tendency of Pakistan and stop it from playing a double game.
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