Baby steps in Kashmir

Hope does not get a free run in Kashmir, so even a glimpse ought to be cherished — that’s the way it has been in the Valley. As a particularly trying year bade farewell, Kashmiris could finally send SMS messages to friends and family wishing them a ‘Happy New Year’. At midnight, the Centre restored mobile messaging service nearly five months after its suspension. Though the Internet ban remains in place, broadband services are now allowed in government hospitals across the Union Territory. Mobile Internet facilities were also restored in Kargil, which is a part of the Ladakh UT, on Friday. The curbs were part of the communications clampdown imposed after scrapping of Jammu and Kashmir’s special status on August 5.

In a trade-friendly development, the goods toll charged at the entry points to J&K has been done away with, something which has been a longstanding demand in the region. ‘Our direction has been progressive, positive, and movement forward,’ the UT’s spokesperson proclaimed, but had nothing new to say on political detentions. Five NC and PDP politicians were released from custody on Monday, but their leaders Farooq Abdullah, Omar Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti continue to remain in detention. Why this is being allowed to continue in the name of security and national interest defies logic.

Restoration of every legitimate right taken away from citizens needs to be welcomed, but the incremental and slow process does little good in minimising the enormous trust deficit that has been allowed to fester. The apparent arbitrary decision-making in saying yes to lifting one restriction and no to another in the absence of a definitive timeline and plan amounts to playing with the minds of people already nursing a grudge of being under siege. Statecraft demands a more humane approach. Every Indian citizen deserves it. A few hours of Internet curbs during the anti-CAA protests had the national capital crying foul. Imagine the plight in the Valley. The status quo has to change, the sooner the better.

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