CPI(M)senior leader Muhammad Yousuf Tarigami Monday said that the other day Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi in Srinagar said that “they will break the back of militancy in Kashmir.” While as fact remains that the genesis of the militancy in Kashmir is essentially political alienation which he didn’t touch. CPI(M) has been consistently emphasizing that violence is not an answer to the unrest in Kashmir as it only leads to death and destruction. What are the roots of the militancy need to be understood first? So many times, in the last three-decades announcements were made that militancy has been controlled. ‘Then where from it has been erupting time and again,’ he questioned. The reality is that the Kashmir unrest is due to the deep-rooted alienation and faulty policies pursued by the successive governments, especially since the present BJP-led dispensation came into power in 2014. By making such statements, Modi is trying to mislead the people of the country. Clearly the BJP Govt. is seeking to use the J&K situation to supplement its campaign of deepening communal polarization in the run up to the general elections.
No substantial initiative was taken by the Govt. to start genuine political dialogue which would have enabled it to talk to stake holders to find out solution to this vexed problem. Relying exclusively on the use of disproportionate force has proved adding fuel to the fire. In 2014, there was a huge democratic participation of the people in elections but what happened thereafter? Why, for the last almost three years, elections could not be held in South Kashmir’s Lok Sabha seat? This is a question that is still to be answered. Unfortunately, BJP-led Govt. is looking at the Kashmir issue from the narrow prism of security only and treating it merely either the cross border issue or law and order problem. What is urgently required is not to follow the beaten tracks of repeated denials. The bold political initiative to reach to the common people can only be a way forward to address the issues.