Multiple agendas make Jammu & Kashmir suffer

There can be little doubt that the ineptitude of the Omar Abdullah government is largely responsible for the current volatile situation in Kashmir, where people are dying in street protests almost everyday.

Clashes with the security forces in the past three months have seemingly put paid to all hopes that life in the Valley was on the road to normality. However there is also a cynical manipulation of popular sentiment going on by the state’s regional parties.

The protests have suited the PDP and the Hurriyat and even Abdullah’s own National Conference (NC). Each is using the events, or fuelling them, inadvertently or otherwise, to further his or her own agenda. The idea that democracy and development are the only ways to bring long-term peace and prosperity to the region is not one that suits everyone, specially not in the short-term.

Kashmir’s separatist parties have found a handle which they can use to advantage. The “need” to introduce Pakistan into the equation is once again being voiced. This clamour is bound to get stronger if the protests worsen. It, of course, suits our western neighbour to have a troubled Kashmir since it can then deflect attention from its own culpability in nurturing the Taliban and assorted terror groups that target India.

For the PDP, this is not just an opportunity to win political points against the NC. It is a chance to push for more trade with Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir and tread the “Kashmiriyat” line — softly and without the vigour of the separatists, but to shift to that side nonetheless.

The PDP has been known to run with the hares and hunt with the hounds in the past. Even within the National Conference, there is a growing feeling that the turmoil can be used to demand more autonomy for the state. But given the abject failure of the state government, the NC may well find that it is at a disadvantage.

Regional parties, as we have seen in the rest of the country, run on very limited platforms. The bigger picture must include a plan to bring Kashmir back to the mainstream with some measure of increased autonomy.

For the Centre, though, there can be no dithering. The law and order situation must be contained but the security forces must also be equipped with less lethal weapons so that every protest does not end up leaving more dead bodies in the Valley.