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ISLAMABAD – Former Indian National Security Advisor M.K. Narayanan whileadvocating the resumption of political engagement by the Modi governmentwith leadership in Occupied Jammu and Kashmir has stressed that India needsto reopen a dialogue with Pakistan.
Speaking at an event in Bengaluru, Narayanan said the government is runningout of time diplomatically to explain its actions on the decision to amendArticle 370 in Jammu and Kashmir, as well as the communication shutdown andmass detentions that have followed, Kashmir Media Service reported.
Narayanan, a former police officer and chief of the Intelligence Bureau whowas known to take a hard line during his tenure as NSA under Prime MinisterManmohan Singh from 2005-2010 while referring to composite dialogue processbetween Pakistan and India argued, “we did see a relatively more peacefultime in Kashmir when there were talks in the period between 2003-2008”.
He said there is a divide in India over abrogating Article 370 whichbelieves that the root cause of Kashmir issue is an excess of freedom ofchoice. India is not united in looking at what happened in Jammu andKashmir,” he said.
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He added that the continuing detentions and the strictures on communicationwere leading to misgivings about the situation there.
He also said it would be a “mistake” to believe that economic developmentalone would reduce levels of violence, and stressed that a process ofpolitical engagement was necessary first.
