Kashmir is always in the Indian psyche.  No Indian can ever accept that Kashmir is a separate country or belong to anyone else but India. We are equally aware of its problems- development, unemployment, quality of life of people as the same issues also plague other Indian states and region.

Kashmir is equally world’s highest militarized zone and it has been so due to the typical psyche of our neighbor Pakistan trying their luck with wars and proxy war on Kashmir. They term Pakistan occupied Kashmir as ‘Azad Kashmir’ only for their strategic diplomatic benefit but do they want to liberate Kashmiri people is a question of contention and facts says just the opposite. They do not. They want to annex a piece of land. Their experiment of twenty-seven years of East Pakistan, now Bangladesh equally speaks of the genocide and political murders done by the same state called Pakistan. India liberated the people and a country called Bangladesh was born and India equally helped it bloom.

Indian do not see Kashmir as a separate entity and is paying heavily to protect it from the mercy of the mercenaries. The political narrative of Kashmir being a state with the special political arrangement was a necessity may be of that time as India was designed to be fragmented by the British on their wish and whims but fortunately for India, people bonded as one nation.

The same is true for Kashmir and Kashmiri people, they equally bonded. We as a Nation and as people of this country, can we afford not to stay in one union and get played in the hands of the politics of division and distrust. The political handlers will try to divide for their own sustenance but people want to survive and survive peacefully.

Now that the boundaries are drawn in Kashmir, the political will has set in, world has acknowledged that Kashmir is an internal matter of India, so it will be for the benefit of India and its people to acknowledge the fact that time has come to restore a new beginning, a new experiment and new trial for people of India (Kashmir and the people residing there are Indians) to do developmental politics rather divisive politics!

I would like to see the following five strategies working for Kashmir.

Zero tolerance to violence

What is needed now is to act tough and have the policy of zero tolerance of violence. People of the state should shun violence of any form, any instigation, and any narrative but should ask for development. Dialogue is the best form of communication.

Better said than done? How will you take out the anti-social elements?  Policing, anti-riot forces have to continue. But the government should also make people free from the ‘seize’ and let the basic civic necessities be taken care of. Hospitals should run. Schools should open and administration should work.

Grass root communication

The government should, if required blatantly start promoting grass-root level communication be it through its political machinery, administrative or media campaigns. People of the state need to know government plan for the people. What benefits the Government wants to bring to the last mile? What schemes are available for the people and how can one avail it? If required use Information and Communication tools heavily.

These cannot be possible if the communication channels are not opened, and opened fast. Media needs to be taken into confidence and equally so, media should play a vital role in disseminating Governments’ point of view besides reporting accesses done by the security forces.

Kashmir now is not a security problem. Let’s not make it so. It is now a human problem. We need to solve it humanely and that is always possible through communication. People’s confidence is the biggest asset of the government, security forces are not!

Politics of development

All these years Kashmir is subjected to divisive politics similar to the entire Indian region. Let the Government counter Kashmir politics with development politics. Government machinery should speak of development, development, and development. The agenda is set and that is to empower people with work and not a gun. Period!

People should also quickly understand and formulate what they need. Special provisions by an article of the constitution or real grass-root level development?  The question itself answers I believe.

The government should equally have the intention of restoring the political system at the earliest. The people’s representation should come in and come in fast. It should be declared. For that Zero tolerance to violence should take effect. You cannot have a political system through the gun, and then Government is equally bound to use security forces. The choice lies in the hand of people and Government intentions should be an honest one.

Securing the Border

Indian Government played well as of now diplomatically which gives them larger strength to protect the country from any aggression or misadventure. We should with all our rights to protect our land. No provocation, or commentary how the region is so much militarized will change our determination to protect our land and that holds true for all our boundaries, be it in Manipur, Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, West Bengal in the East or Punjab in the west, we did and we shall protect our land.

The question is how well we do it with diplomacy and less of guns will determine the level of success. As of now less of bullets have gone out and that status quo should be maintained. No war policy otherwise it’s going to be a long one.

 Building capabilities

Any race or region will flourish when we build up the capabilities of its people. Kashmir now should be planning to build up its people’s skills and each of Government schemes should be implemented with more vigour and people should take it open-heartedly.

With education, enterprises, and empowerment reach the last mile, there cannot be any other thought process but building on one’s lifestyle. Quality of life will usher in happiness and progress.

Let us all pray, act and work towards new dawn…..