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• The ongoing stir is not motivated by communal overtones. Those who are accusing it of being communal are the people who themselves are exposed to the charge of hobnobbing with the fundamentalists. Kashmiri politicians view the entire issue through tainted regional and religious glasses. Secessionists have revived the slogan of Muslim Kashmir and mainstream parties have also chosen to be on the same fence as that of the separatists. Whereas the fact remains that the agitation is a public movement and what is being witnessed in Jammu is a genuine expression of sense of hurt in an intensely patriotic people against denial of equal status in the same state. New Delhi must understand that the only way to find lasting peace in the state is to catch the bull by the horns. No purpose will be served by brushing the problem under the carpet when both the separatists and mainstream politicians have started fishing in the troubled waters of Jhelum again.

• THE agenda of what is called the Kashmir movement is now open and clear. Syed Ali Shah Geelani used the Muzaffarabad march and the consequent march to the UN office in Srinagar to call for Kashmir’s merger with Pakistan. Directions to kaafirs to quit Kashmir were very clear along with declarations “Hum Pakistani Hai”. The Union Government has itself to blame for the present situation in Kashmir where hardliner Syed Ali Shah Geelani, along with terrorists like Yasin Malik and Shabir Shah, is leading the chorus of slogans against India.

Noteworthy is the support extended to separatist elements by the mainstream leaders Farooq Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti who also extended support to what is called Muzaffarabad chalo movement. Nothing is now under the carpet or behind the curtains. The real face of Muzaffarabad movement is being concealed not only by Hurriyat, non-Hurriyat extremist and mainstream politicians but also by the administration.

It is a sad state of affairs when a Governor goes to the press complaining, “in Jammu they tell me you are a Hindu Governor so solve the problem. The problem is we have reached a situation where we talk of secularism only in the constitution”.

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• Notwithstanding claims made by the authorities about the satisfactory supply of necessities in the state, the situation continues to be grim in the Valley on more than one count. There is not only scarcity but also total shortage of essential commodities in the state. Many state Government-owned public distribution centres are without stocks for the past week. Storage tanks of many petrol pumps have already dried up. It is only because people are remaining indoors that the petrol crisis has not assumed an alarming situation. The shortage of LPG gas cylinders has forced many people to switch over to traditional alternatives. With the Government ration depots in Srinagar fully exhausted, there is likelihood of food crisis in these areas becoming deeper, if supplies are not restored to these depots immediately.

• The happenings of the past week are gradually heralding a turnaround in the political history of not only Jammu and Kashmir but also the entire Indian sub-continent. The events have catapulted the issue back to the centrestage of political discourse across India and Pakistan, besides tugging at the international humanitarian and political conscience. Around 45 persons have lost their lives to bullets across J&K and more than 2,000 have been injured, some of them critically, since the ominous land transfer to the Shri Amarnath Shrine Board (SASB) and its revocation. It has once again exposed the decades-old alienation that lay restless underneath the deceptively calm surface, interpreted by the New-Delhi-based commentators as peace and normalcy.

It’s really time to think of the unthinkable for all those involved in this conflict. The political chasm between the majority of J&K people and the Indian state has widened more after the Hindu fanatics, encouraged by the parties like BJP, VHP, RSS, enforced economic blockade on the Valley, Doda, Poonch and Rajouri.

• We repeat that the prevailing crisis in the state owes itself in large measure to the incompetence of the state administration. So, there is an urgent need to make necessary changes in the bureaucracy. If Governor N N Vohra wants improvement in the situation and help people get rid of the difficulties they are facing, then it becomes incumbent on him to gear up the administration. This will go a long way in restoring the faith of ordinary people in the Government. At the same time, the Governor should engage the Kashmiri leadership, which enjoys support on the ground, not those who have lost their standing. Moves like these are likely to prove helpful in breaking the ice and set the stage for a way out of the present crisis.

• Jammu and Kashmir is burning and Delhi doesn’t seem to be interested in dousing the fire. The puzzling facet of the turmoil in the state is the Central Government’s lax approach in handling the issue. The crisis that surfaced in Kashmir in the aftermath of the blockade of the highway to the Valley, has acquired political colours with every outfit worth its name out to cash in on the hurt public sentiment.