Three days after his Kashmir visit, renowned columnist and renowned Indian civil society member Prem Shankar Jha Monday said that time has come for India to rewind the Kashmir Clock back to 1947 and give maximum freedom to state of Jammu and Kashmir. “Kashmir is in danger of spinning out of control. If Prime Minister Narendra Modi will not act, Kashmir will slip away from India. The best option available with India is to rewind the clock back to 1947 and by doing so, Kashmir will get freedom and at the same time the bond between India and Kashmir will not get disconnected. India must bring back Article 370 in its original shape that connects Kashmir with India through Defence, Communication, Foreign Affairs,” Prem Shankar Jha told Kashmir based news agency CNS adding that incumbent government is clueless about the current unrest in Kashmir.
“One fails to understand what this government will get by showering pellets and bullets on people. Government is clueless and it doesn’t know how to tackle the situation as a result common people suffer. The harassment faced by people on Kashmir roads indicates that government has no concrete policy to restore normalcy in Valley,” Jha said.Jha said that after visiting Kashmir and interacting with common people there, he arrived at this conclusion that there is a lot of anger against State and Government of India. “People in Kashmir are very angry and they are no mood to budge. The only solution and way out is to grant freedom to them within the framework of Indian constitution. Let Government of India reverse the clock and take Kashmir back to 1947. This will prove beneficial both for India as well as Kashmir. People in Kashmir are in pain and they have been suffering day in and day out. Being a democratic country, India must act and grant them freedom (within the ambit of Indian Constitution),” he said.Responding to a question, Prem Shankar Jha said that post Burhan protests in Kashmir were spontaneous and Pakistan can’t be blamed for that. “In fact Pakistan has instigated violence in Kashmir but this time protests were spontaneous. We can’t blame Pakistan for everything but it is our responsibility to set our own house in order rather than raising a finger on our neighbor,” he said.Jha further added that advisors of Prime Minister Narendra Modi might not be giving proper inputs to him about Kashmir. “May be Modi is afraid that he will be blamed by others if he takes a firm position on Kashmir. This is the biggest tragedy for Kashmir,” he said. (CNS)