India: Wither Kashmir? Or Is Reconciliation Possible? · Global Voices
Rezwan

Protests in Kashmir. Image by Flickr user Kashmiridibber. CC BY-NC-ND
After the recent deadly protests in the Indian controlled Jammu and Kashmir region the Indian central government has woken up and sent a delegation of  Indian MPs for talks. The 40-strong fact-finding delegation is headed by the Home Minister and it includes lawmakers from all major political parties of India. They have started their two day mission in Kashmir today amidst prolonged curfew and finally succeeded to start talks with the separatists leaders, who earlier refused to meet them.
The Indian blogosphere has finally come alive on Kashmir issue and they talked about deeper insights and scopes for reconciliation and peace. Indian Political Blog recognizes the challenges of the Government:
The Central Government (also) seems totally unable to do anything significant, since it does not know whom to negotiate with, and cannot just simply drop (Chief Minister) Omar Abdullah since there are not too many alternatives.
Words from Solitude analyzes the steps of the Indian central government:
The Prime Minister has gently floated a statement that the Centre is ready to “consider” the demand for autonomy in the state “if political parties were unanimous on the issue” knowing fully well that nothing is going to happen since the main opposition party BJP is totally against it.
BBC has highlighted some reactions of the Kashmiris who shared their fear, concerns and their anger against the government, and the ‘unlawful and cruel Indian rule’ in Kashmir. Their rage against the Indian army was also evident.
However, veteran journalist M J Akbar questions Omar Abdullah's current stance to blame the Indian army and the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA):
For which sin? Not a single death in the present crisis has resulted from an Army bullet. Those bullets came from the guns of the J&K police and CRPF. Why has everyone chosen to obscure this fact with silence and raise dust against the Army?
Why is the Indian Army the one-point target of those who want to break India? The answer is uncomplicated. The police, whether state or central, cannot defend the territorial integrity of India. The Indian Army can. It is therefore in the interest of secessionists and their mentors in Islamabad to create discord between the Indian Army and the Indian state.
Meanwhile KashmirGlobal depicts the sentiment of the Kashmiris:
Throw a stone and get a bullet. It wasn’t supposed to be like this. But, it is like this in Kashmir. Over a 100 lives later, there is still no stopping the hot lead from freezing the Kashmiri’s hot blood. How many fathers have to bury their children? How many mothers will have to sit stone-faced for the rest of their lives?
Somik Raha at Desicritics looks afresh at the Kashmir situation:
In the refrain of the Kashmiri youth and their leaders, there seems to be a big cry for space, for the fresh air of non-coercion. Whether that non-coercion will lead to inner freedom is uncertain, but we can be certain that coercion is going to remove all chances of getting to freedom. How is the coercion of India justified? Is it really the security situation?
Aparna Pande at Pajama's Media stresses the need for reconciliation, peace and integrity:
As Indians, we pride ourselves on our secularism and our democracy. Right from Prime Minister Nehru onwards, our leaders have always insisted that Kashmir is a part of India — and Kashmiris want to be part of India because of these very attributes. In our 64th year of independence, let us strive to adopt these ideals in our policy towards Kashmir before it is too late.
“Indian government must immediately start a public diplomacy campaign to correct the distorted narrative about Kashmir,” reminds Pragmatic Euphony.
Words From Solitude is hopeful about the efforts of the all party delegation and the blogger has this message to the Kashmiris:
We want to believe that the initiative will help to open an almost closed door and generate an atmosphere for sustained political dialogue with all sections in the state, From the deep of our hearts we want to express our sympathy for the families who has lost their near and dear ones in the recent turmoil and extend solidarity to our Kashmiri brothers and sisters. We appeal to them for pursuing their protests peacefully. [..]
We want to tell you that we really care. We also want to make a heartiest appeal to the political class of India to look into all the wrongs committed in the past and make corrections.