It is astonishing that veteran analyst B G Varghese thinks there is nothing wrong in providing autonomy to Kashmir in tune with the 1952 Delhi agreement confining India’s jurisdiction to foreign affairs, defence and communications (“J&K: Why India has nothing to fear”, October 9). He has ignored the subsequent history and today’s reality in making this suggestion. With the entire valley responding to Gilani’s call for strikes and even J&K Chief Minister Omar Abdullah making a distinction between accession and integration, it is naïve to believe that the “J&K crisis is bottoming out”.
The all-party delegation with little consensus and the proposed interlocutors are desperate measures to restore normalcy. What is needed, however, is a firm handling of trouble makers and reaching out to the people, and the local ruling party has a key role to play in this. With Abdullah transforming into a doubting Thomas, the burden has fallen on the Centre. There’s a Herculean task ahead.
Y G Chouksey, Pune
