Home Minister’s call for dialogue with youth of Kashmir is pragmatic way forward

JK News Today Commentary

Union Home Minister Amit Shah made it categorically clear that the Centre will not talk to Hurriyat Conference as it a group of terror outfits and he specified that the talks will be held with the youth of Kashmir instead.

Two critical aspects can be accrued from this hugely important statement- negation of Hurriyat Conference as a stakeholder, and encouraging youth to be the real claimants of Kashmir as of now and future. This also focuses on the fact that despite vast work and accomplishments, some work is still pending . That is to converse with the youth who have tasted normalization in the situation and marginalization of Pakistan’s proxies. Hurriyat Conference is one of them,, which for almost three decades kept the youth in dark and used them to advance Pakistan’s agenda .

After the abrogation of Article 370 on August 5, 2019, the Centre made several attempts to woo youth through various programmes, but those were more in nature of appeal. The dialogue part remained in grey area. Now, the youth stand a chance to visit centre-stage.

The youth of Kashmir hold critical importance in setting and refining narrative for the Indian nation . The accomplishments made in Jammu and Kashmir by the Modi government have scaled new heights . There, however, are certain gaps which need to be bridged, which can be done only through the dialogue with youth.

This is stated policy of the Narendra Modi Government, quite often articulated by the Home Minister that there will be no talks with Pakistan and its proxies. This stand further hardened after Pahalgam of April 22.

Hurriyat Conference , once a conglomerate of more than two-dozen organizations, is defunct now. . It was founded in 1993 and since then it has been loud voice of separatism. It advocated implementation of the UN Resolutions , envisaging plebiscite for the people of J&K on both sides of Indo-Pak border.

Home Minister’s this statement of no talks with Hurriyat Conference but with the youth of Kashmir Valley , draws a clear cut imagery of contrasts: the regressive past of Kashmir in which separatists and terrorists called shots , and youth looking toward to future of progress and promise within the country.

The inflection point is that Jammu and Kashmir is not what it was prior to abrogation of Article 370 in August 2019 . It has left many things far behind , and travelled long distance in time and space to set up a new future.

There were times when the Hurriyat Conference was a de facto government . it controlled levers of power .It was a manifestation of separatist thought , expressions driven by the simple desire to gain power within the territory and recognition at the international level as an alternative to the electoral political system.

In today’s Kashmir, Hurriyat has lost both its sheen and relevance . Some of the separatist leaders are in jail, others are renouncing the separatist and pro-Pakistan ideology . It is yet to be ascertained whether they were speaking their heart out or accommodating themselves with the changed reality .

This change hasn’t come overnight. A lot of effort has gone into it. Home Minister Ami Shah worked hard to translate Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision for J&K into reality. The vision is people-centric – justice for all sections and all eras to their issues .

The first task to be accomplished was lifting fear of terrorism from their minds and environment. . It was not an easy task . The Union Home Minister did it with finesse , devoting himself 24×7 to the welfare of J&K.

Now, the big task after all the accomplishments is to open dialogue with the youth..This resonates with the aspirations of this demography . The youth had been waiting for their role and turn to be on the frontline over the past few decades. There always were promise to involve youth in the building of youth in building new Kashmir. But that remained confined to lip service ..

Centre’s determined fight against terrorism and ecosystem that sustained resulted in much sought after normalization of the situation .This gave hope and promise to the youth. This brought clarity that the violence and the ecosystem that supported it were their enemies . They discovered their real well-wishers.

Some of the statistics have been placed in the public domain indicating the declining participation of the local youth in joining the terror-outfits , ascribed to security forces’ continuous operations against terrorists. It reduced the life span of terrorists and the groups that they were part of.

This has enabled them to discover their voice . Now these voices should be heard as that would deepen sense of belonging . That will go a long way in filling the gaps, which still stare at the horizon

The youth in Kashmir have pent up feelings on their aspirations and frustrations . They must be encouraged to say what they want to say . They must feel that they have been given full rights to speak, and there is a space to accommodate their views .During the dialogue process , as and when initiated formally , the issues should be addressed . That certainly would take Kashmir towards perfect peace .