No, PM Modi. Development is not a solution to Kashmir crisis
Inaugurating the Kishanganga hydroelectric project in Srinagar on May 19, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that rapid development was the only solution to the Kashmir problem.
Jammu & Kashmir is going to get development projects worth Rs. 25,000 crore. These projects will have a positive impact on the people of the state: PM Modi in #Leh. pic.twitter.com/m0aw7nAMCV
— ANI (@ANI) May 19, 2018
Speaking at a function organised at the Sher-e-Kashmir International Conference Centre (SKICC), Modi said, "Every issue, every conflict has only one solution — development, development and only development."
By repeatedly stressing on infrastructure development and not referring to the core issue of Kashmir's political aspirations and even political confusion, Modi is missing the bus.
Earlier this month, a part of Kashmir's longest flyover in Srinagar was thrown open to the public. Of the 2.5-km-long flyover from Jahangir Chowk to Rambagh, the first phase of 1.56km between Amarsingh College road and Barzulla in Srinagar was opened for traffic. The flyover is admittedly a major development project in Kashmir and was also much-awaited. This infrastructural relief for the public, however, cannot be imagined to have resolved the Kashmir dispute in any way.
During his speech in Srinagar, Modi urged the youth to shun violence, whether in the form of militancy or stone-pelting, and join the mainstream. The message is right, but the government will have to chart out a cohesive, effective policy to get the youth back from the path of violence and rehabilitate them.
The prime minister said he has the niti (strategy), niyat (intention) and also the boldness to take strong nirnay (decision) on Kashmir. Indeed, backed by the huge mandate of the people, Modi is the strongest political leader India has seen in many decades. Large sections of Kashmir are waiting for the prime minister to walk the talk, and take the bold decisions that are so urgently needed to proactively address the Kashmir issue.
PM Modi's Kashmir advisers should inform him that development is good, but secondary. Speaking at the SKICC function in Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Mehbooba Mufti for the first time publicly sought the support of the prime minister for the implementation of the PDP-BJP "Agenda of Alliance".
In her address at SKICC, Mehbooba quoted her father, late J&K CM Mufti Mohammad Sayeed. Mufti had said that even if the roads in Kashmir were made of gold and the drains of silver it would all go in vain even if one person was hurt.
Some key components of the Agenda of Alliance is dialogue at external (with Pakistan) and internal (with separatists) levels to find a solution to the Kashmir problem, the return of two NHPC-owned power projects to the state, demilitarisation and revocation of AFSPA.
Army chief Bipin Rawat recently admitted that the Kashmir problem does not have a military solution. It is time for New Delhi to acknowledge that Kashmir is a political problem, and has to be resolved at the political level.
Modi's message for Kashmir underlined at the conference was largely correct. He strongly urged the youth to return to the mainstream. He called upon all those with any grievance in Kashmir to speak to the Centre's special representative, Dineshwar Sharma.
But the core issue is that Kashmir needs a strong policy for dialogue. Speaking in Srinagar, Modi said that former prime minister Atal Behari Vajpayee was a "fan" of Kashmiriyat, and he himself is a murid (committed disciple) of the same Kashmiriyat.
Modi has admitted that he has the will and the strength to take bold decisions. His words will carry meaning for Kashmir only if he comes up with a bold policy initiative for the beleaguered Valley.
Prime Minister Modi has compared himself with Vajpayee. Vajpayee had the statesmanship and the vision to engage in dialogue with the Kashmiri separatists, and also with Pakistan's former prime minister Nawaz Sharif and former president Pervez Musharraf.
Modi must take these two most significant components from Vajpayee's Kashmir policy to resolve the dispute which is bleeding not just Kashmir, but India as well.