Srinagar: As Amit Shah takes over as the new Minister for Home Affairs, Kashmir’s mainstream political parties are hoping for a change in policy in the backdrop of the Pulwama suicide attack of February. Dr Farooq Abdullah, Mehbooba Mufti and Engineer Rasheed, while reacting to the formation of the new government said that it was time for New Delhi to change its hard line on Kashmir and take steps to ease the situation in the Kashmir Valley.
Post the Pulwama attack, the Central government arrested most separatist leaders and the security forces conducted cordon and search operations, resulting in the killing of most of the active terrorists in South Kashmir including Zakir Musa.
A senior police officer said that the terrorists were on the run in South Kashmir and they had been able to dominate the area completely. He said that such operations would continue and there would be zero tolerance to violence in Kashmir.
Although media reports from New Delhi have suggested that there could be some breaking of ice between India and Pakistan, but the people of Kashmir are waiting to see if things actually change on the ground. With tourism at its lowest ebb in the past one decade because of continued violence, people of Kashmir have already suffered on the economic front.
As BJP has promised to repeal Article 370 and Article 35(A) in its election manifesto, the people of Kashmir are also worried that the party will go ahead with its plan now that it has got a massive majority. This will cause fresh unrest in the valley.