Dialogue: A crude joke in Kashmir

Though Prime Minister Narendra Modi has again made it emphatically clear that talks can be held in Kashmir with only those who “believe in the constitution of India and are ready to live and die for India” but yet again Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti in her republic day message has exuded confidence that all concerned that all concerned would join the dialogue for which the central government has appointed Dineshwar Sharma as its special representative in Jammu & Kashmir. Not only Prime Minister Modi and Chief Minister Mehbooba but even naives within and outside Jammu & Kashmir know that those conveying their unwillingness to join dialogue process are neither ready to accept the talks within the ambit of Indian constitution nor willing to endorse the state’s accession with the Union of India .People fail to understand what makes Chief Minister to exude confidence that people challenging both the Indian constitution and the state’s accession with the union of India would show their willingness to join the dialogue under the conditions trashed by them not once but thousands of times in the past. Both PM Modi and Chief Minister Mehbooba know that those unwilling to join dialogue with Dineshwar Sharma hold key to restoration of peace and normalcy in Kashmir. Forget the agenda and the road map for talks, both the incumbent central and state governments commanded and controlled by Narendra Modi and Mehbooba Mufti respectively hasvenot so for made even a single effort to win the hearts and minds of the angered populations in Kashmir but are taking pride in the conduct of Cordon & Search Operations (CASO) in Kashmir villages during which both the militants and the civilians are killed day in and day out.
The Chief Minister as minister incharge home department and head of the unified headquarters (UHA) has an institutional administrative obligations to look into the complaints of the violations of the Standard Operation Procedure (SOP) during cordon and search operations (CASO) by government forces but she does not bother to do so and such an approach proves detrimental for the creation of a conducive atmosphere for a meaningful political dialogue in Jammu & Kashmir. Chief Minister says that for the first time the central government has granted its point man Dineshwar Sharman the status of the cabinet secretary the highest bureaucratic office in the country but even naives can understand that not the status of the point man but the mandate and road map given to him for political engagement shows seriousness and purposefulness. So neither the central and state government bothers to take measures for creating a conducive atmosphere for dialogue nor the special representative Dineshwar Sharma has the mandate and the roadmap for dialogue and consequently the dialogue for political engagement for which Sharma has been appointed has become a crude joke in Kashmir.