​Valley and hills: On peace in Kashmir  

The separatist politics that dominated Kashmir for decades appears to be losing ground in the face of the assertive approach by the Bharatiya Janata Party-led central government. The Narendra Modi government has succeeded in altering the ground realities in Kashmir, advancing a new narrative of an aspirational region that seeks prosperity, peace, and integration. Reflecting this shift, members of several separatist outfits — J&K Peoples Movement, Democratic Political Movement, J&K Tahreeq Isteqlal, Tahreek-i-Istiqamat and J&K Salvation Movement — recently announced their formal dissociation from separatist ideology. Union Home Minister Amit Shah hailed the development as evidence of separatism becoming a thing of the past, crediting Mr. Modi’s vision of a “developed, peaceful, and unified Bharat”. That even second-rung separatist leaders or little-known separatist groups are publicly renouncing separatist politics and acknowledging its failure marks a significant departure from the past. It signals the emergence of a new paradigm for separatist leadership in the region. At the same time, it signals the end of an era where political engagement was viewed as a tool to manage separatist sentiment. Earlier Prime Ministers — P.V. Narasimha Rao, Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Manmohan Singh — had engaged in dialogue with separatist groups, and on several occasions, Pakistan had also joined the table. This approach shifted dramatically with Mr. Modi’s rise to power in 2014. In 2019, the government abrogated Jammu and Kashmir’s special constitutional status. Over the last five years, the Ministry of Home Affairs has banned key separatist organisations which include the Jamaat-e-Islami, the Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front led by Yasin Malik, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq’s Awami Action Committee, Mohammad Abbas Ansari’s Ittihadul Muslimeen, and Shabir Shah’s Democratic Freedom Party. The Hurriyat Conference, once an influential coalition of over 20 organisations, including lawyers and traders’ bodies, has been largely rendered inactive. With most of its top leaders jailed or sidelined, separatism now lingers on the margins, overshadowed by shifting political realities.

Still, whether the people and political class of J&K have organically embraced the realities, post-2019, remains an open question. The heavy deployment of security forces across urban centres is a reminder that New Delhi is yet to achieve complete control over the region. Meanwhile, militancy has morphed from an urban threat into guerrilla-style forest warfare, aided by advanced communication technologies and terrain-mapping tools. While Pakistan is entangled in internal crises, it is unlikely to relinquish its interests in Kashmir any time soon. New Delhi must now build upon its gains with deliberate, inclusive, and people-centric policies. Stability in Kashmir cannot be sustained by force alone — it requires trust, participation, and long-term vision. As a first step, J&K must be restored as a full-fledged State of the Indian Union in keeping with the Centre’s commitment to the Supreme Court of India.