Timid Half Steps

When a group of interlocutors was assigned the task of preparing a report on the contours of a political solution to the conflict in Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) – raging as it was in 2010 with wide-ranging and open protests against the military units and armed police in the state – the initial reaction in Kashmir was one of disappointment at the non-political nature of the group. Hopes had been raised following the visit of a group of parliamentarians to the Valley to ascertain views from a cross section of the polity and civil society that the political establishment in the nation’s capital would ­finally go beyond its security-centric approach to Kashmir and would resume a more thoroughgoing political dialogue with a variety of actors in the state.

The final report “A New Compact with the People of Jammu and Kashmir” by the group of interlocutors – prepared by journalist Dileep Padgaonkar, academician Radha Kumar and former bureaucrat M M Ansari – does well to come up with recommendations that pushes the envelope a bit on issues relating to devolution of power to regional councils in J&K and on reassessing the years of damage done to the provisions on autonomy to the state. But, overall, the report comes up short on expectations from the Kashmiri public as was predicted when the group was formed in 2010.