Modi Independence Day speech: Embracing all Kashmiris can solve Kashmir issue

New Delhi: As India celebrated the 70 years of independence on Tuesday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his Independence Day speech from the Red Fort laid a special emphasis on the Kashmir issue.

With the Kashmir Valley embroiled in militancy and civil strife, Modi said the way to resolve the crisis lay not in violence, but by “embracing all Kashmiris” and working for their betterment.

“The Kashmir problem cannot be resolved through goli ya gaali (bullets or abuses). It can be resolved by embracing all Kashmiris,” Modi said in his fourth Independence Day speech.

Modi’s remarks came even as Kashmir remained on tenterhooks on Tuesday, with the authorities suspending all cellular and internet networks in the valley as a precautionary security measure. Security had also been beefed up in Srinagar after a militant attack in the city’s Nowhatta area on 15 August last year.

“We have to work for the progress of Jammu and Kashmir and we all stand shoulder-to-shoulder with our brothers and sisters in Jammu and Kashmir. They have suffered a lot due to terrorism,” Modi added.

The Union home ministry in June stated that the UDAN scheme for low-cost regional connectivity would provide jobs to skilled youths in the state. With more than 13,000 youths having gained from the central skill development initiative, the home ministry also said it aims at providing employment to more than 80,000 young people in the Kashmir valley across different sectors such as aviation, information technology and apparels.

At present, according to the home ministry, 63 major development projects are underway in the state under the Prime Minister’s Development Package (PMDP 2015) with a budget of Rs80,068 crore.

On Tuesday, Modi said the Centre was determined to put Kashmir bring into the mainstream.

“We are determined to develop the state, educate the youth, give them jobs, include them in the mainstream, increase business and jobs and give them reasons to rejoice,” Modi said.

Defence experts were divided over Modi’s remarks.

Drawing parallels with the Punjab of the late 1980s, experts said that a dynamic approach, similar to the one adopted at the height of the Khalistan movement, is imperative in Kashmir.

“The PM’s statements can be a game changer if the government talks to the masses directly. If Punjab can undergo the metamorphosis that it did, so can Kashmir. It is a long-drawn political process and instead of political leaders, the masses need to be spoken to,” said H.S. Panag, former lieutenant general of the Indian Army and a defence expert.

Other experts said neither jobs nor development projects could take away from the sense of disillusionment and alienation plaguing Kashmir.

“The government should allow a Kashmir flag. You cannot keep people by force and so it is important to offer autonomy. The centre should repeal Article 370 (granting special autonomous status to J&K) and Article 35 (A) (which defines permanent residents of the state) when the Jammu and Kashmir assembly unanimously votes against them,” said Gurmeet Kanwal, analyst at the Institute of Defence Studies and Analyses.

The centre as well as security forces have been facing stiff resistance from the youth in the valley, following Hizbul Mujahideen leader Burhan Wani’s killing in July last year by security forces. With Kashmir turning into a tinderbox following Wani’s death, security forces—backed by the centre—have toughened their stand.

While the home ministry stated that 92 terrorists had been killed this year till July, security forces have also come down heavily on stone pelters. According to the home ministry’s data, 2016 saw 2,690 episodes of stone-pelting in Kashmir.

In May this year, Major Leetul Gogoi was rewarded by the Indian Army after he was captured on camera using a Kashmiri man as a “human shield” against stone pelters—an action which only widened the chasm between the people of the valley and the centre.

The home ministry says young people in the valley have been egged on by separatist leaders to hurl stones at security forces.

Modi, while talking about the future growth trajectory of the disaffected youth in the valley, said that the agenda of the separatists was counter-productive, adding, “There is no question of being soft on terrorists. In the fight against terrorism, India is not alone today and is being actively supported by several countries across the world.”