Er Rashid urges GoI, Opp to end ‘politics over Kashmir’, seek reconciliation

Srinagar: Jailed Member of Parliament from Baramulla, Engineer Rashid, has written a detailed letter to his parliamentary colleagues, launching a sharp critique of what he described as the continued “vote bank politics” over Jammu and Kashmir while appealing for a national consensus to resolve the Kashmir issue through reconciliation and dialogue.

In the letter, Rashid said Jammu and Kashmir had been turned into a theatre of political exploitation and proxy confrontation, leaving the common people trapped between rival narratives and state actions. He wrote that the people of the region continued to suffer while being repeatedly portrayed as aggressors rather than victims of prolonged instability.

Referring to decades of violence and counter-violence, the jailed MP said Kashmir had become an “experimental laboratory” for both state and non-state actors, reducing Kashmiris to mere labels of Indian or Pakistani proxies despite being the main stakeholders. He stressed that lasting peace could not be achieved through force or political point-scoring but only by treating Kashmir first and foremost as a humanitarian issue.

Rashid called upon political parties across the spectrum to take a pledge to keep the Jammu and Kashmir issue out of electoral calculations and instead approach it with a sense of responsibility and humanity. He asserted that dialogue must not be mistaken for weakness, stating that civilised societies resolve conflicts through engagement, not prolonged confrontation.

In his appeal, the MP demanded concrete steps, including the release of political prisoners, restoration of full statehood to Jammu and Kashmir, and an end to what he termed state oppression. He also urged the government to ensure the safe return and rehabilitation of Kashmiri Pandit migrants and those displaced from border areas during the turmoil of the early 1990s, noting that many had fled due to shelling and insecurity and not militancy.

Rasheed warned that unless genuine efforts are made toward reconciliation, the entire subcontinent would continue to pay the cost of unresolved bitterness. He concluded by urging all political forces, whether in power or opposition, to commit themselves to a realistic and humane policy for lasting peace in Jammu and Kashmir. [KNT]