Way out of Kashmir

Only one viable route

A lot remains difficult to explain about the attack in Kashmir’s Uri sector. There has been a new pattern to Indian provocation since Modi took office. Repeated LoC violations have long been the norm, but aggravating the working boundary was more significant. And not so strangely, it coincided with the political novelty – New Delhi suddenly does not accept Hurriyet liaising with Islamabad, another significant departure from tradition. Curiously, now the insurgency has come to the strategic town of Uri, so far spared such attacks despite its logistic significance; it overlooks the LoC and the point from where Jhelum enters Pakistan.

Washington’s position is also interesting. So far, Modi has played the Pakistan card to perfection with Obama. The two naming Pakistan-specific militant outfits added yet another dimension to the Pak-India equation. But then there’s been Zarb-e-Azb, and following Gen Raheel’s US visit, Washington seems convinced – at least for the moment – that the army has indeed decided to go after terrorists “of all hues and colours”. That explains the State Department’s cautioning against assuming too much about hidden hands that the Indian establishment is so used to mentioning. Modi did it very recently in Washington, with much success. Washington, interestingly, also asked the two to get back to talks to sort things out. Judging by the sequence of events, Delhi might have expected a different response.

One thing that has not changed, however, is the typical knee-jerk reaction of the Indian government and media to such attacks. The hysteria following Uri shows little has improved about India’s understanding of the insurgency it so unsuccessfully faces in the valley. It immediately blames Pakistan whenever one of its many insurgencies exploits security loopholes; without evidence. And, like Mumbai, it only plays into the hands of terrorists bent upon destabilising both India and Pakistan. Little surprise, then, that little has changed in the long decades since partition, except that the relationship is perhaps at the sourest point now. Therefore, the less time India wastes in returning to negotiations, the better. There is no other way out of Kashmir, however much India’s far-right deepens its hold on the state with its sabre rattling.