J&K: Regaining Trust Of Utmost Importance
Editor-in-Chief of indiacommentary.com. Current Affairs analyst and political commentator.
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By Sunil Garodia
First publised on 2021-06-25 13:03:26
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Editor-in-Chief of indiacommentary.com. Current Affairs analyst and political commentator.
View all posts by this Author
It is good that Prime Minister Modi assured leaders from J&K that he will strive to remove both Dil Ki Doori and Dilli Ki Doori and try and restore the trust that has broken down between the UT and the Centre. It is also good that the leaders from Jammu & Kashmir responded positively to the overtures. It now seems that the delimitation exercise will go ahead as planned with active participation of the J&K parties and elections in the UT will be held as early as possible. The matter of restoring statehood, however, will only be taken up after the elections are held and an elected government is in place although the J&K leaders want statehood first and elections later .
But the Centre must acknowledge that this is just the first step. It must now release all political prisoners and show that it is willing to walk the extra mile to restore normalcy. It should also allow these leaders to travel across the state and start political activity, of course by adhering to restrictions imposed due to the pandemic. That would ensure that these parties can put their point of view, as also that of the Centre, before the common man and prevent rumour mongering of the kind about a further bifurcation of the state that rocked the Valley recently. It will also assure the parties that they are not under any kind of restriction or pressure and the Centre will be able to win back their trust.
The developments in J&K will also assure the world community about the government's willingness to adhere to democratic processes and not keep the UT under direct Central rule indefinitely. If an elected government is in place in the UT and then full statehood is restored, it will also enable India to take forward the back channel talks with Pakistan after the success of the ceasefire agreement that has held for a few months now. Hence, the Centre must speed up the process of restoring normalcy in J&K and more such meetings should be held in the coming months with proper agenda after factoring in the progress made on the ground between each such meeting. If the Prime Minister can travel to Srinagar for the next meeting, perhaps after the delimitation is complete, it will be a huge statement and enormously help in restoring the trust.
