When the palace of Maharaja Hari Singh, the last Hindu ruler of the princely state of Kashmir, turned into a dark house on 24 October, 1947, news came in that the raiders from the north Waziristan had blasted the only power house in Uri. The tribal raiders had arrived in Mohra village of the border town, near the site of Friday’s audacious strike carried out by Pakistani militants.
There is more symbolism to the audacious strike on the Army’s Uri base. For first time in J&K’s post-partition history, the prime minister of a BJP government at the Centre will address a rally in Srinagar without the assistance of either the ruling party or any other regional party. They have been turned into mere spectators.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi in a file photo. PTI
This is a remarkable shift from what Kashmir used to be in nineties. The "right-wing" BJP’s mega-rally in the heart of Srinagar to host Prime Minister Narendra Modi is reported to see the attendance of over one lakh people. It is a momentous occasion for BJP. The symbolism is also associated with the park named after the founder of National Conference and chief minister Omar Abdullah’s grandfather, Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah, where the rally will be held.
Jammu and Kashmir is in the middle of one of the fairest elections held in its history. People, especially in the restive Kashmir Valley, have shown huge enthusiasm. The first two phases have seen a record 71 percent voter turnout. It was only going to get better, but the Uri attack shows it can get worse too. It illustrates, yet again, how few hours of violence can change the narrative on Kashmir.
There is no doubt that the attack in Uri was an indicator of Pakistan’s discomfort with the huge voter turnout in the J&K. The country’s desperation to make mischief at this time is obvious. The attack may affect the voter turnout in the 16 assembly segments where polling will be held on 9 December but it has not only exposed the fragility of peace in Kashmir, but also raised the old question of Kashmir problem.
The government at the Centre often confuses the voter turnout in Kashmir with the expected dividends of “hearts and minds” doctrine. It is a wrong approach. The wounds in Kashmir are so deep that even centuries of peace will not be enough to heal them. And Pakistan will continue to prick India over the Kashmir issue unless both the countries don’t sit down on a table and resolve the issue through a proper dialogue.
For Modi, the attack has brought many opportunities of reaching out to the people of Kashmir beyond the rhetoric of Article 370 and AFSPA. When he stands up to address the rally at the historic Sher-e-Kashmir Park, he will be barely a kilometre away from Lal Chowk where he helped Murli Manohar Joshi in 1992 to plant the tricolour on the Clock Tower during BJP’s Ekta Yatra in 1992.
The symbolism of this will not be lost on many!
The tribal raid in Mohra in 1947 ended with the Hindu King fleeing the state. The time for making a change in Kashmir is now, when people of Kashmir have come out to vote, braving the cold and militant threats. It is time for Modi to make a departure from the tradition of rhetoric when he visits Kashmir on 9 December by shifting the focus from borders to the dark interiors of Kashmir.
This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service - if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read the FAQ at http://ift.tt/jcXqJW.
from Top Stories - Google News http://ift.tt/1Ii6EI7
via IFTTT
0 comments:
Post a Comment