SRINAGAR: Narendra Modi’s Kashmir visit on Saturday yet again proved how myopic and ignorant the leadership in Delhi is when it comes to Kashmir and its turbulent politics. The Prime Minister’s announcement of a 80,000-crore rupees package may have cheered few faces in the valley, particularly his local allies - Chief Minister Mufti Sayeed and his party men, but by the evening, the bitter truth of Kashmir was again out on the streets as a stark reminder to the Indian state that that it is dangerous to think that money can restore calm in the troubled valley.

Gowhar Ahmad, a 22-year-old Computer Science student, was killed in Srinagar when a tear gas shell hit his head during a protest against Modi’s visit to the valley. The military apparatus may have succeeded in foiling the Million March called by the Hurriyat Conference against Modi’s visit but as it happens it could not bottle up the emotions and aspirations of Kashmiri youth for long. They were again out on streets as soon as the restrictions eased to perhaps tell the Indian Prime Minister that they were not up for sale. Death again revisited the valley on the day the PM promised Insaaniyat (Humanity) and Jamhooriyat (Democracy) to Kashmir’s people.

The mistake of looking at Kashmir through an economic perspective while overlooking the glaring political reality of Kashmir has been an old policy of the Indian state but the youth on the streets in the valley have again and again debunked the myth perpetuated by New Delhi that Kashmir was merely a law and order problem. They have revealed their demand of a political resolution and a right to decide their future through continuous resistance, be it by picking up the gun in the early ‘90s or today by throwing stones on the Kalashnikov-wielding soldiers.

Gowhar’s murder by men-in-uniform should again remind Delhi that Kashmir problem cannot be solved by keeping open the treasury in Delhi or announcing an economic package. Modi, who does “not need advice or analysis from anyone…on Kashmir” must come out of his slumber and read the writing on the wall that the youth in Kashmir can no longer be swayed by the oft repeated Vajpayee rhetoric on Kashmir.

Modi’s announcement of the package, that had become necessary to announce for his local ally Peoples Democratic Party to save its face in the valley, may have acted as a breather for Mufti and his ruling alliance but a common Kashmiri is surely disappointed. The aam aadmi bearing the brunt of an unending political strife needed more than purse strings to heal the wounds inflicted by the government’s representatives in valley – the gun-toting soldiers stationed in every village and town of Kashmir. The mantra of Insaaniyat and Jamhooriyat is hollow as long as India allows the gun and its exceptional laws to do the talking in Kashmir.

The Prime Minister’s visit had been sold as a major dream to the valley by but he not only dismayed his only ally in the region but also failed to win the hearts of Kashmiris who would have hoped that PM Modi would go beyond the usual rhetoric given his government’s mass popularity and dominant say in Indian politics.

Instead, PM Modi’s speech in the heavily guarded Sher-i-Kashmir Cricket Stadium only reflected his lack of understanding of the Kashmir subject. There was only a semblance of former Indian Prime Minister Vajpayee but in reality he failed to achieve anything substantial to remove the alienation of people in Kashmir by failing to address their long-pending demand of a political engagement and deliberation.

(Ahsan is an undergraduate journalism student based in Kashmir. The views expressed in this article are the writer’s alone).

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