The 65 per cent voter turnout in 2014 was the watershed in Jammu and Kashmir politics when the present PDP-BJP coalition got the absolute majority in assembly elections with hope riding high of seeing stability settling and instances of terror incidents coming down. This was the victory of democracy, won over all attempts to boycott, disrupt and delay. All political parties went on record to unambiguously acknowledge the fairness of the election. Arguably the successful elections removed the very cause for which the militancy began in 1989 i.e. alleged rigging of elections. Unfortunately, the gains could not muster the much-needed political stability. Since then the situation has changed much rather today ceasefire violations along the Line of Control (LoC), violence in Kashmir Valley from stone-throwing to bandh calls, terrorists attack on security forces have all become statistical references. The intensity and viciousness of the propaganda from Pakistan too has multiplied manifold. In the past one week around thirteen terrorists have been eliminated in operations along the LoC and in the hinterland. The Tuesday’s spurt in terrorists’ activities leaving around 13 securitymen injured is alarming and the challenge to bring in military and political stability becomes much larger especially when the annual Amarnath Yatra is scheduled to begin soon. In order to deal with the emerging situation, first and foremost the mainstream political leaders need to reassert themselves as the military situation improves. There was a statement from the Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh alluding to permanent solution on Kashmir. It had raised hope and more importantly it shows that the Central Government and the State Government are together and not in silos. Kashmir has a huge youth population that is hesitant to step out because of lack of awareness, empowerment and apprehension. The spirit of entrepreneurship too is hardly developed. Kashmir’s potential economic wealth remains much under actualised because of the prolonged disturbed situation and also lack of requisite skills and enterprise. By connecting economics with security and education it is possible to actualise the untapped economic potential and also provide meaningful employment for the youth and can also check the sliding situation.
