‘Not much may change in Kashmir,' Colonel (retd) Tej Kumar Tikoo

JampK National Conference JKNC and Congressrsquo alliance swept the Assembly elections in the erstwhile state of Jammu amp Kashmir last week spelling celebration for the INDIA bloc and introspection for the Bharatiya Janata Party BJP In conversation with midday Bangladesh Liberation War veteran Colonel retd Dr Tej Kumar Tikoo talks about what the future may hold for the Union Territory which saw Assembly polls after a decadeThe Noidabased former soldier who served multiple tenures in the conflicttorn state is also the author of Kashmir Its Aborigines and their Exodus He was among the Kashmiri Pandits who fled JampK at the peak of insurgency in 198990Edited excerpts from the interviewOmar Abdullah is back in power Was this expectedsurprisingIt was expected after it became apparent during the campaigning that the National Conference was increasingly gaining groundWhat changes do you visualise will be brought about by the new government in JampKI anticipate not much will change in Kashmir even after this result There is an element of continuity in such situations of conflict So leaving the rhetoric aside nothing much is going to changeThe biggest poll plank of NC was rolling back the Abrogation of Article 370 and 35A in KashmirhellipThose making such claims have no power to restore Article 370 amp35A Things were said in the past and even this is said to mislead Kashmiris One can make certain claims during poll campaigns but the reality is one cannot do things they are not empowered authorised to doThe BJP may never win in the Valley Your thoughtsJampK is not a monolithic land mass There is Jammu Kashmir and Ladakh And across them there are geographical ethnic and political differences too Ladakh is now a separate Union Territory One must realise that local sentiment in Kashmir has always favoured antiCentre parties Currently with the BJP in power at the Centre there is a double whammy as it is seen as a ldquoHindurdquo party This is one of the reasons that JKNCCongress combine have swept the polls However BJP will gradually make inroads into Kashmir too It will take a long time thoughIs there really progress in Kashmir at the grassroots Many say these claims are bogus Your thoughtsTo say there has been no progress in Kashmir is a lie There has been economic progress improvement in law and order and also governance The benefits of government schemes have reached to the masses Almost everybody has a pucca house to live in Even in remote areas the lives of the poor have improved More importantly we had 50 to 60 per cent polling in both Parliamentary as also in Assembly polls Compare that to 6 per cent in 1996 4 per cent in 2000 and 2 per cent in 2004 Unlike the rsquo90s today we see the Tricolour at Lal Chowk We have great tourist influx and they are out and about even at nightNo doubt there is terrorism too It cannot just go away completely due to a slew of factors We have radicalisation of youth wellentrenched separatists and also Pakistan next door These problems exist but the bloodshed has relatively reduced There is effective governance which is vitalWill the Pandits be able to return to Kashmir There was a lot of talk in the aftermath of the abrogation of Article 370 and 35A that Pandits will return But they didnrsquot Irsquom not sure about Pandits returning to Kashmir any time soon This is because no solid steps have been taken to make that happen The government has to create conducive conditions for their return The communityrsquos original numbers were around four lakhIf the government can give free ration to 80 crore citizens for four years can it not relocate four lakh Pandits in Kashmir Canrsquot the government facilitate their return by buying land giving it to them and asking them to pay for it in instalments Not creating suitable conditions for them Pandits may be seen as an appeasement policy It is not enough to simply say that Pandits should return