It is true that the country’s first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru mishandled the Kashmir issue, even though it was a complicated case. Firstly, Indian troops had chased the invaders out of the Valley and were getting into the Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (PoK) area, which is basically Punjabi and Pahari going by its ethnic origins. So the Kashmiri leaders lost interest.
Secondly, by approaching the United Nations, Pt Nehru diluted the case and since the case had gone into arbitration, the Indian Army personnel had to stop their forward march. Sure, the lines of communication and supplies were getting stretched, but a better plan of action would have helped Indians to push the invaders even further into what is now PoK. The whole Kashmir issue has been mishandled from the beginning. The situation has moved beyond scrapping Article 370. It now deals with the bifurcation of the state. But repealing Article 370 is very much a democratic process.
Sushant Sareen, Senior Fellow, ORF
