Chief Minister of Indian occupied Kashmir, Mehbooba Mufti, has emerged as a voice for peace in the subcontinent. Last Saturday, she called on Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to engage with Pakistan, saying that as a ‘facilitator’ of militancy in Kashmir, Islamabad holds the keys for peace in the region. She stressed that reconciliation was the need of the hour — not just between India and Pakistan — but also Kashmiri Muslims and Pundits. The Modi regime has refused to come to the negotiating table regarding Kashmir, citing Pakistan’s hand in the insurgency in Kashmir as the reason behind it’s non-cooperation. However, this has clearly failed to produce any results when it comes to bringing peace in the region. In fact it has had the opposite effect. Cross-border firing by both India and Pakistan seems to have become a regular affair. On March 19, nine people including two minors were killed by Indian firing in Jammu and Kashmir’s Nakyal sector. Needless to say, it is necessary for the two countries to engage, before the damage done to bilateral relations becomes irreversible. Should PM Modi unexpectedly take heed of CM Mufti’s advice, authorities in Pakistan, including the military establishment should cooperate. This development is significant for the security situation on our eastern border, and it has implications for peace and stability along the Durand line. In February, a senior US official had said that Pakistan need not kill or capture Haqqani Network militants, and that it could simply ‘nudge’ them across the Afghan border, where the US could do the rest. Now that an Indian CM has admitted that Pakistan’s relations with militant groups gives Islamabad leverage in the region, the authorities may reconsider the commitment they made at the recent Tashkent conference on peace in Afghanistan. Pakistan must follow through with its commitment all the way, and this should include reining in veteran Harkat-ul-Mujahideen (HuM) militant Khalilur Rehman, as well as his political party, the Islah-e-Watan Party. CM Mufti’s accusation that India has abandoned Kashmir during times of crisis is also noteworthy. She also complained that India had used nothing but violence to solve the problems in Kashmir. The Modi regime has indeed, behaved just as how Mufti says. Just this weekend, Indian troops killed 13 youths in occupied Kashmir during a cordon and search operation, and injured 100 civilians by opening pellet fire on protestors in the Draged and Kachdora areas. The authorities across the border need to understand, that militancy and dissent will thrive in occupied Kashmir as long as the incumbent regime continues to violate fundamental human rights in this fashion. Pakistan can stop its support of violent militant outfits, but the resentment which fuels these outfits will continue as long as Kashmiri civilians are brutalised by Indian forces. * Published in Daily Times, April 2nd 2018.