In the run up to Lok Sabha elections, the BJP sharing power with PDP in Jammu & Kashmir is repeatedly denying engagement with both the joint separatist leadership in Kashmir and as well as Government Of Pakistan. For the first time in the coalition politics in Jammu & Kashmir, the BJP running the government at the centre with a thumping majority in the parliament and sharing power with PDP is turning down the demands of political outreach in Jammu & Kashmir despite unstinted support for dialogue over Kashmir by the frontline national level opposition parties including Congress and the leftists. Even after the cancellation of bye elections to Anantnag parliamentary constituency the central government is not responding to the demands for political outreach from both the local mainstream political parties in Jammu & Kashmir and as well as the national level political parties. The BJP is not even encouraging the conduct of Kashmir Conference by one of its senior leaders Yashwant Sinha despite knowing about the willingness of all frontline national level political parties to attend proposed Kashmir Conference. A record making poll boycott in the recently held Srinagar parliamentary constituency was in itself an indication of the growing public anger against the policy of the Modi government on Kashmir. Ironically the Modi government has not responded to Kashmir’s mainstream political parties who even reached Rashterpati Bhawan and Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) with demands for political outreach in Jammu & Kashmir during last year’s unrest in Kashmir valley. The youth pelting stones on army, police and paramilitaries within and outside campuses of schools and colleges in restive parts of Kashmir are not fighting for the dismissal of the incumbent PDP-BJP coalition government but against the use of lethal weapons like pellets which have so far killed over one hundred civilians mostly youth and blinded thousands in different parts of Kashmir valley.
As the demands of the political outreach are supported by almost all political parties both in Jammu & Kashmir and Delhi, the atmosphere is conducive for the political engagement in Kashmir and resumption of Indo-Pak composite dialogue process. It is for the central government to cease the opportunity and take initiatives for engagement with both the separatists in Jammu & Kashmir and resumption of Indo-Pak composite dialogue process to restore calm in the state.
Though highly experienced politicians including the likes of Farooq Abdullah a three time former Chief Minister and leader of the largest mainstream political party (National Conference) are advising Prime Minister to wake up from deep slumber and take some bold initiatives for political outreach in the state but Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his senior cabinet colleagues are not only rejecting the demands of political outreach in Jammu & Kashmir but make provocative statement which only deepen the crisis of political disconnection in the restive Kashmir valley and parts of Chenab valley and Pir Panchal in Jammu division. As the demands of the political outreach are supported by almost all political parties both in Jammu & Kashmir and Delhi, the atmosphere is conducive for the political engagement in Kashmir and resumption of Indo-Pak composite dialogue process. It is for the central government to cease the opportunity and take initiatives for engagement with both the separatists in Jammu & Kashmir and resumption of Indo-Pak composite dialogue process to restore calm in the state.
