Held Kashmir fiasco in Indian media

As held Kashmir continues to burn, the Indian fire fighting gets extremely lousy and ineffective. There is a total lack of strategy to get out of the embarrassing situation. A brief glimpse on recent opinion pieces on held Kashmir in Indian media makes an interesting reading. 

Ramachandra Guha’s writes: “As a CRPF officer quoted in The Hindu put it: ‘The Army is confined to their camps when not participating in operations, but we have to interact with the public on a daily basis. The video (man tied to a jeep) has undone whatever outreach we managed in the past. We criticise the Naxals for using villagers as human shields during encounters with security forces — how are we different then?”

He added: “The Indian case in and for Kashmir was made fragile in the past by the rigging of elections. And it is made fragile in the present by the rising tide of jingoism, which insists that the government of India and the Indian Army have never made a mistake in Kashmir, indeed can never make a mistake in Kashmir.”

Yashwant Sinha, a senior BJP leader, admitted: “There is a near complete lack of faith in anything that the government of India says or promises because of a history of broken commitments. Even among those who say that they see a future with India, there is anger that India has not done enough to keep the Kashmiris with it.”

Karan Thapar in his column titled ‘Low turnout in Srinagar bypoll, army videos: Are we on the brink of losing Kashmir?’ writes: “Are we on the brink of losing Kashmir, as former home minister P. Chidambaram has claimed? Or is that disturbing statement an exaggeration? There is, of course, a third possibility. Was Mr. Chidambaram deliberately using provocative rhetoric to draw attention to the crisis in Kashmir?”

Thapar further states: “In fact, there’s a deeper question that must necessarily follow. In the past, when elections in the Valley have recorded impressive turnouts, the Indian state has claimed that Kashmiris are embracing India and the situation is close to normal. Now, by that same logic, with a turnout of just 7.14%, isn’t this a clear vote of no-confidence in the governments both in Srinagar and Delhi?” 

He ends with saying: “Collectively, these are worrying questions for India’s democracy. At their heart lies the apprehension that the Valley is losing faith in India’s democracy. But are we ready to accept that?”

Barkha Dutt advocates Governor’s Rule in the Valley. She talks about a failed PDP- BJP alliance and its fault-lines. 

On the other hand, Tavleen Singh claims: “The Kashmir Valley has become a warzone today because of radical Islam. This is the exact same genre of Islam that caused the terrorist attack in Paris last week. And the exact same genre that lies at the root of all jihadi terrorist attacks. 

Until we admit this, we cannot begin to talk of peace. Just as it is impossible to defeat the worldwide jihad as long as moderate Muslims continue to support it, albeit inadvertently, for reasons of piety, faith and community, so will it be impossible to defeat the jihad in Kashmir.”

DS Hooda, who headed the Indian Army’s Northern Command, states: “The temperature in Kashmir is in the mild 20s, but the heat of conflict is already being felt. Stone-wielding crowds regularly clash with security forces and allegations fly fast and thick on both sides. Voter turnout in the Srinagar election was the lowest since the start of the insurgency, forcing a postponement of polling for the Anantnag seat. For the largest democracy in the world, this is a setback. There are also concerns that we could be seeing the start of a repeat of 2016.

“Where do we go from here? Frankly, there are no easy answers because of the large number of complex issues, but let me talk about a few key steps. I think it is time to take a calm, practical and realistic look at the situation in the Valley.”

The above is a mosaic of Indian opinion, rather confused and mystified by the violence in the valley that shows no signs of ebbing.