Speaking at a session in The Huddle, former national security adviser MK Narayanan called for the resumption of political engagement with leaders in Jammu and Kashmir. Narayanan said that the government was “running out of time diplomatically” to explain its action on the decision to amend Article 370 in J&K and the communication shutdown and the mass detentions that have followed.
“I am not in favour of Pakistan, but we must move towards a dialogue with Pakistan,” he added. The panelists in the discussion titled The Kashmir gambit: can it pay off? also felt that it was too early to predict whether economic development of J&K might be accelerated now given the government’s plan to hold ‘investors’ summit’ to attract industry. Narayanan also said it would be a “mistake” to believe that economic development alone would reduce incidents of violence.