Group led by Yashwant Sinha calls for J&K peace, talks

Srinagar: As the Kashmir Valley is again on the boil, with the ongoing student unrest only heightening tensions, a New Delhi-based group of politicians, academicians, former bureaucrats, judges and journalists — led by former Union minister and senior BJP leader Yashwant Sinha — urged the Centre on Friday to initiate a political dialogue immediately to prevent the situation from going bad to worse.

“We urge the Central government to urgently initiate a political dialogue to prevent the recurrence of violence in Kashmir and restore the faith of the Kashmiri people in democratic processes to resolve their grievances. A continued reliance on military measures alone to sort out a problem which is entirely political is short-sighted, to say the least, and a great disservice to the nation,” the group called Concer-ned Citizens Group said. It added that the recurrence of violence in Kashmir ought to disturb every right thinking Indian. The group visited the state twice recently and had had meetings with mainstream and separatist leaders and civil society groups.

Apart from the CCG’s permanent members, the Friday’s statement has been signed by Justice A.P.Shah, Salman Haidar, Nirupama Rao, Aruna Roy, Shekhar Gupta, Prem Shankar Jha, Ramachandra Guha, S. Irfan Habib, Badri Raina and John Dayal.

The statement said that the worst ever voter turnout of meagre seven percent in the recently held by-poll to the Srinagar Lok Sabha seat is a warning of the extent of disillusionment prevailing in the Kashmiri voter’s mind. “An erosion of faith in democratic processes may eventually threaten the legitimacy of the State itself. This process needs to be stemmed and corrective measures taken,” the statement said.

It also said, “Whether, it is the death of eight protestors (the toll has risen to nine following the death of one of the injured civilians) during the Srinagar by-poll, or the injured troops or the student protests, the situation in Kashmir is only deteriorating by the day.” Urging the BJP government at the Centre to urgently initiate a political dialogue on Kashmir, it said that the same is imperative in order to prevent the recurrence of violence in Kashmir and restore the faith of the Kashmiri people in democratic processes to resolve their grievances. It cautioned, “A continued reliance on military measures alone to sort out a problem which is entirely political is short-sighted, to say the least, and a great disservice to the nation.”

It warned against a recurrence of post-Burhan Wani turmoil of 2016 and said, “Nobody in his right mind should want a repetition of the events of 2016-not the government and certainly not the Kashmiri civilians.” It asserted that peace in disturbed areas has never been achieved through more violence or by retributive measures.

It also said that India’s heart is large enough and its Constitution flexible enough to accommodate the aspirations of all its citizens, the people of Jammu and Kashmir included. Hence, the State government as well as the Central government need to show exemplary restraint in either deploying force or adopting ‘innovative’ measures. It asked the Centre “to carefully fashion a strategy of outreach to the people of Kashmir. It said, “Such an outreach should include not only leaders of Kashmiri civil society, opinion makers, public intellectuals and other stakeholders in the State but also the separatist leadership as promised in the Agenda of Alliance between the BJP and the PDP.”