Resolving Kashmir

Kashmir as an issue is one the longest political and strategic issue when we talk about the mordern world.With 72 years and still going one has an opinion that there is no solution in the distant future. Rather Kashmir as an issue has deteriorated and new dimensions have been added to it making it more complex. Pundits also say it is A nuclear flashpoint leveraged between two nations. So the bigger question arises how do we solve it. Before we look inward for solutions it is imperative to understand stakeholders. India being the first is directly dealing with the issue. However when we talk about the second stakeholder it is a greater nexus. Pakistan is the director in this play actively exploiting Islamic universalist identity of Kashmir and establishing proxies to fulfill its strategic objectives in the region. Now as we define the stakeholders the greater question to be asked is what are the problems we are dealing with. Since independence our governments have ignored the local populace and it’s issue leading to creation of feelings of alienation. The political parties in the state have just exploited the issue and reaped benefits out of it for their own personal well being. Due to this we provided space to the deep state in Pakistan to exploit the vulnerability of the people and unfortunately it has been extremely successful in disturbing the region and creating a major security threat for us. So now i move on to the bigger picture how do we deal with it in a realistic manner. See India has taken a unilateral way of solving this issue which is logical in nature as Pakistan will only create obstacles for peace in the valley. The first step which needs to be taken is to counter radicalization in the valley. Kashmir has the greatest net penetration in the whole country. With more mosques mashrooming in the valley the number of youth picking up arms is also on the rise so we need to focus on counter radicalization through religious moderation. Second the government should initiate political activity by encouraging more political fronts to establish themselves and take part in election this has to go hand in hand with government initiating comprehensive dialogue with the people through ministerial delegations and interlocutors. On the security front the government and the security forces should strengthen CIG and use cutting edge tech for surveillance. The security establishment should also act against miscreants and separatists to bust networks. We also have to work on our cyber warfare capabilities to counter misinformation a major tool in Kashmir for arson. I will say this that Kashmir used to be a political issue however it was exploited so as to attain benefits from the blood of civilians and security forces. However we have taken a step in right direction and a vibrant democracy like ours has the willpower and strategic outlook to solve this complex problem. Jai Hind