Editorial: Paradise regained?

After having been caught sleeping when Jammu & Kashmir erupted over the issue of transferring 40 hectares of forest land to the Shri Amarnath Shrine Board (SASB), it is to Manmohan Singh’s credit that he has managed to retrieve the situation quite successfully. Thanks to the fact that Home Minister Shivraj Patil was not alert when the proposal came to him to clear, the government was never really alerted to the potential damage that could be caused by the proposal to transfer land to the SASB. The proposal angered the people in the Kashmir valley, mostly because of imaginary fears. When the transfer was withdrawn, the Hindus of Jammu saw it as pandering to the demands of a predominantly Muslim Kashmir. And the BJP, sensing an opportunity, tried to raise the temperature, even provoking a counter-productive blockade of the road to Kashmir. What Dr Singh has done now is to wait for tempers to cool before coming up with his solution: give the land to the SASB for the two months of the yatra, to accommodate the needs of the yatris, and then hand it back to the forest department each year. That way, the SASB’s needs have been met without permanently handing over the land. As in the past, the yatra can carry on as a symbol of the tolerance between the people of the two faiths which, as it went along, showered prosperity along the way.

But this is not entirely status quo ante, for the blockade of Kashmir has hardened stands and boosted the spirits of the separatists. Fortunately, after having played with fire, the BJP has behaved with restraint and welcomed the agreement. Thanks to US pressure and possibly the turmoil within its own boundaries, Pakistan is believed to have refrained from fanning the flames, though some militants were pushed across the border. There will continue to be the usual ‘azadi’ cries in the Valley, but temperatures have cooled and there is said to be substantial back-channel discussion going on between the government and the Hurriyat. Perhaps the most disappointing conduct during this entire episode has been that of the PDP. Meanwhile, the fact that Pakistani flags were flying across the state had little to do with Pakistan or a desire for an Islamic state, and more to do with the fact that the economic blockade strengthened the hands of the separatists. It must be hoped that this is something the mainline political parties in the country will keep in mind in the future.