Political Concessions for J&K

Why in news?

Union government has decided to make a host of political concessions in the form of conciliatory moves on Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) issue.

What are the tensions in Indo-Pak relations?

In the Indo-Pak border the intensity of ceasefire violations had been steadily rising, with damage to civilian habitats and civilian and military casualty rates going up.
India reported 19 military casualties and 12 civilian casualties due to ceasefire violations last year, and Pakistan reported 50 civilian casualties.
Within Kashmir, an increasing number of local boys are joining the ranks of militancy, and terrorist attacks on civilian and military targets have been on the rise.
What were the recent measures taken by union government?
In recent times union government has offered to reach out to the separatists in Kashmir and reportedly carried out talks with the separatist leadership in Srinagar.
Ceasefire was also declared during the month of Ramzan, and the 2003 ceasefire agreement on the Line of Control (LoC) and International Border (IB) with Pakistan was also agreed to maintain.

What are the reasons behind India’s approach?

India’s policy of disproportionate bombardment on the border has not helped to resolve the issues and it has also became a major problem for the locals.
Earlier measures taken by both the sides has not helped to resolve the long standing border and J&K issues.
To resolve this India and Pakistan have been signalling to each other for some time about the possibility of a rapprochement.
This desire for rapprochement is also a continuation of positive bilateral engagement since the resolution of the diplomatic row arising over the harassment of each other’s diplomats.

What are the concerns with Indo-Pak bilateral measures?

Clearly, both India and Pakistan, and in particular the people of J&K, will immensely benefit from India’s measures but it is dubious that how long would it last.
Though the union government is taking steps towards resolving the issues it doesn't have a clearly-articulated blueprint for bringing peace to Kashmir.
Earlier experience suggests that without political dialogue between India and Pakistan, especially on Kashmir, ceasefire agreements tend to break down.
More so, there are fundamental structural flaws in the India-Pakistan ceasefire agreement which make it prone to breaking down even when the decision-makers in India or Pakistan do not intend to break it.

Source: The Hindu