NEW DELHI: Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi reached out to India-held Jammu and Kashmir on Sunday with a roadmap for a healing touch — saying “ekta” (unity) and “mamata” (compassion) could be the “twin mantras” for the region.
Mr Modi’s unusually soft comments are being seen as particularly important as they come two days ahead of a visit to New Delhi by US Secretary of State John Kerry. He will arrive from Dhaka on Tuesday.
The United States has expressed concern at the violence in which scores of civilians have been killed and over 5,000 injured in firing by security personnel.
Violence broke out as after the killing of a young militant on July 8 by Indian security forces.
“We encourage all sides to make efforts to find a peaceful solution to this,” State Department spokesman John Kirby told reporters on July 30 when asked about the ongoing violence in Kashmir. “We are obviously concerned by the violence and we want to see the tensions de-escalated,” he said.
“From the interactions I had with all parties on Kashmir, one thing emerged, which can be put in simple words as Ekta and Mamata. These two things were the basic mantra,” the prime minister said in his monthly radio address ‘Mann ki Baat’.
“It is the view of all of us, of 125 crore people from a pradhan of a village to the prime minister, that if any life is lost in Kashmir, whether of any youth or any security man, that loss is ours”.
He said all parties were united on Kashmir. “They sent a message to the world, to the separatists and reached out to the people of Kashmir.”
Published in Dawn, August 29th, 2016