Omar and Modi have shaken hands. Now’s the time to do more

The Modi government would do well to seize the window of opportunity and initiate a ‘dialogue’ following the recent election in J&K. The process of political negotiations will go a long way in healing the wound of 2019

I returned to the Valley early this month after a long gap of four years. Jammu and Kashmir had been a regular beat and I had covered and chronicled the many tumultuous twists and turns of a region that has for long been weighed down by the burden of history and the specter of violence.
My last two visits had taken place in quick succession after the state’s history and geography had been altered in August 2019. The Valley was full of angry voices then and there was a sense of deep betrayal. Article 370 had been abrogated, the state had been cleaved into two Union Territories and the Kashmiri resented the assault on their liberty. Most of all, they were scared that a demographic change lay at the heart of the Centre’s move.
shimmer

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