Rajnath’s J&K visit shows Centre unsure

Those who may have looked for identifiable positives to emerge from Union home minister Rajnath Singh’s trip to the Kashmir Valley last week are likely to be disappointed. Which means the Centre is unsure what to do with the wreckage — social, political, psychological — left behind by the spontaneous show of public violence following the shooting down of Kashmir’s “new age” militant, Burhan Wani, on July 8. This seems the main point to emerge from what the home minister said to the media in Srinagar.

More, the BJP’s coalition partner in the state government and for all practical purposes its principal interlocutor, the PDP, too seems to have lost the way, if chief minister Mehbooba Sayeed’s observations are any guide.

The CM just blamed the Centre and the state for not thinking of the Kashmir issue when times are normal, and (for once) criticised Pakistan — may be to balance what she said about the Centre — for promoting terrorism in Kashmir while seeking to flush out (inconvenient) terrorists internally.

So, there is no plan of any kind, evidently. Asking Pakistan to go stew is not a plan. Also, making it plain that India will not countenance a third-party or third-country intervention in Kashmir is old hat. This has been our position since the Simla summit of 1972 and was endorsed at the Lahore summit when India was led by Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, the first PM from the BJP’s ranks.

The home minister said he desires an “emotional” connect with Kashmir, and not one based on need. But what does that mean We, of course, know what it does not mean.

Mr Singh himself made that quite clear. He said there would be no talks with anyone until peace was restored. Probably what he means is that the situation must return to the time before Wani, an important emerging Hizbul Mujahideen leader, was killed.

It is entirely unclear how long that might be. A tight curfew is on. We’ll have a better idea when that is officially lifted across the Valley. But we should note that the home minister has said one more thing, convoluted though that sounds. He said that when normality returns the government would talk to whoever it needs to talk to. Does that mean something very different from a need-based relationship, which Mr Singh indicated he does not want

The home minister is expected to talk to the security forces and the CM when he visits Kashmir and boost their morale. Because the situation was complex, he also engaged the Opposition parties. But the Congress Party did not meet him. Leading civil society bodies also showed no interest. Clearly, no one thought of adequately preparing the ground before his visit. That shows a certain mindset.