Let’s give 2024 a chance, it’s critical

Hopefully, Jammu and Kashmir will redefine itself in 2024 as a land of perfect peace and harmony. The 2024 has greater significance for this Himalayan territory than openings of all previous years since the armed militancy in 1989. Because the situation has swung between very, very bad to good.

There have been spells of normalcy and evolution of process of integration of the thought with the idea of India, though in all fairness, it must be admitted that the things are yet to be accomplished beyond the administrative measures.

It is pointless to recall each and every event that dotted 34 years of militancy, but of course there is a need to draw lessons from what all happened, how and why. This is a call for an objective study of the history that besmirched the reputation of J&K, and somewhere down the line paid the price of living with a demoted status as Union Territory from the exalted position of a full-fledged and majestic state. This will have to be pondered over.

As sun is setting on 2023, there should be a reflection whether terrorism has ended or the curtains are yet to be drawn on it. The honest answer is that militancy has not retreated to oblivion. Equally emphatic answer is that the counter-terrorism operations continue, and will have to continue if the cult of guns and bombs is to be eliminated.

That means, counter-terrorism operations will continue in 2024 even if there is zero act of terrorism in the year in question. This very thesis, based on the ground realities, indicates that militancy is there, so being men with guns and grenades, and as long as they are there, the counter-terrorism operations will continue.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah has indicated, rather reaffirmed that the fight against terrorism would continue. The use of guns and bombs, it has been understood, is just one of the manifestations of the anti-national activities. Those having these weapons can be neutralized, their life has been shortened drastically.

They are unable to survive for long in the current atmosphere unless there is replenishment of their cadre from across the border or from within. The infiltration is a big problem, and this cannot be addressed in full measure unless or until Pakistan stops sending the men and machinery of militancy.

The Indian army has enhanced the vigilance – its tech power to check the infiltration has improved to a large extent, but the terrain and weather pose their own challenges, which add to the difficulties.

Pakistan will have to pledge and honour its commitment not to allow its territory and the territories under its control to be used for export of terrorism. It has paid a lot of lip service to it, without adhering to the commitment in the interest of the bilateral relations.

Pakistan’s rulers must memorize and implement.

Twenty years ago - to be precise, January 6, 2004 - Pakistan had agreed, in a joint India-Pakistan statement that it will not allow use of its territory for the export of terrorism into India. The joint statement read, “Prime Minister Vajpayee said that in order to take forward and sustain the dialogue process, violence, hostility and terrorism must be prevented.

President Musharraf reassured Prime Minister Vajpayee that he will not permit any territory under Pakistan’s control to be used to support terrorism in any manner. President Musharraf emphasised that a sustained and productive dialogue addressing all issues would lead to positive results.”

Time and again Pakistan continues to mention the “Vajpayee era”, and the progress that Indo-Pakistan relations made during his premiership. Taking its argument further, shouldn’t Pakistan do what it was obliged to do during that era. Vajpayeean concept didn’t exist in isolation. it was pursued even after Manmohan Singh had succeeded his illustrious predecessor.

He also kept on reminding Islamabad that bilateral relations can move on track only if terrorism is stopped from the soil of Pakistan. Dr. Manmohan Singh’s successor Narendra Modi did not start his innings with aerial strikes or surgical strikes , but with an invite to the then Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, at his swearing-in ceremony on may 26, 2014, to give a new lease of life to the relations between the two countries. Vajpayee had a universal message, and his successors have followed that in letter and spirit. He did say, “we can change friends but not our neighbours”. But then neighbours too have certain obligations to fulfil, to put a stop to terrorism as a foreign policy tool. Islamabad cannot escape this responsibility.

Rhetoric has a limited life, because high-sounding words do not change the realities. Pakistan must know this. And it has not only to stop the physical infiltration but also the psyche of separatism that it is sowing incessantly through cyber world.

Pakistan knows that it has lost many games that it played for the past over three decades, so it is now embarking on the strategies that bleed Kashmir from within. It is creating optics of grievances and marginalization for the youth of Jammu and Kashmir as a counter to the optics of development and tourists’ footfall through its negative narratives. It may be wrong to assume that Kashmiri youth is getting lured to the idea of insurgency only because of Pakistan’s propaganda.

They are having their own grievances and frustrations, accumulated over the years. This particular aspect also drives them to weird ideas. The real task is to address these grievances before those get amplified and burst into something unpleasant. The real peace will dawn only when the narratives of terrorism versus counter-terrorism will end. Can this happen in 2024? Let’s wait for the new year to tell its story from Monday – the opening day of 2024.

The road ahead appears to be promising, but it does require content. The stakeholders must mull this, because peace in Kashmir is a necessity for Delhi but it is critical to the people of J&K. Let’s give 2024 a chance.