PM reaches out to Kashmir

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh reached out to the Valley, urging the people of Jammu and Kashmir to give “peace a chance’’, while recognizing the need for a political solution that addresses their “sense of alienation’’.
In a televised speech, the PM expressed sorrow over the loss of lives and acknowleded the resentment that the Armed Forces Special Powers Act evokes from people even as he noted that any peace outreach could yield results only if there was “prolonged peace’’. Although his remarks came at a meeting with an all-party delegation from J&K, he was appealing to a larger audience. Speaking in Urdu, the lingua franca of the Valley, he struck a note of empathy for the youth in Kashmir who he said had grown up scarred by the ever-prevailing violence. “I can feel the pain and understand the anger and frustration that is bringing young people out on to the streets of Kashmir,’’ said Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Tuesday. This marked a change of tonality; also because the PM refrained from mentioning the role of outsiders—an euphemism for Pakistan’s well-known role in stoking trouble. “The cycle of violence must now come to an end. We must collectively ensure that no innocent life is lost again,’’ he said, while asserting that thegovernment had to ensure that peace is established. In his concluding remarks at the end of the three-hour meeting, the PM said if there was a wide enough consensus in J&K, political devolution could be considered “within the four walls of the Constitution’’. He pointed out that “all of us are servants of the Constitution’’.
He also referred to the initiatives that the Centre took under him, interpreted as an attempt to emphasize that he had the right credentials to attempt the bridge-building. “Our government has invested heavily in the peace process in Kashmir,’’ he reminded his audience. The pitch also appeared to be a fresh invite to the PDP whose leader Mufti Mohammad Sayeed was CM when those steps were taken. The attempt at partnership was reflected in compliments he paid to the people for the “brave rejection of militancy’’—a reference to high turnout in assembly polls.
While acknowledging the “prevailing public sentiment’’ over the AFSPA, Singh said that “eventually J&K police has to take on the burden of normal law and order duties’’. Singh acknowledged the disconnect between CM Omar Abdullah and people, but pledged full support to the young CM for making efforts “to renew contact with the people’’.
He made it clear that a political solution cannot be attempted till peace returns, but talked of the attempt to coerce J&K police personnel into abandoning stations. There was also an appreciation for the vilified security forces for “performing an extremely challenging task in difficult circumstances’’.
While BJP leaders attended the meet, PDP leader Mehbooba Mufti kept away. Agency reports said she welcomed the PM’s initiative but on a TV channel, she called it a “facade’’. Hurriyat hawk Syed Ali Shah Geelani rejected PM Manmohan Singh’s employment package, saying “Kashmiri youth aren’t on the streets for jobs but are fighting for their rights’’. Singh on Wednesday announced setting up of a high-level expert group led by former RBI governor C Rangarajan to formulate a jobs plan for Jammu and Kashmir to improve “employability” of youth there.