Normalcy In Jammu And Kashmir

The advertisement published by the Jammu & Kashmir government on 11 October 2019 has come under flak from many quarters. Many have termed it as an acknowledgment by the government that things are not normal in the state despite claims to the contrary by authorities. This interpretation is not very wrong if one sees the advertisement a bit closely. The government’s intention in publishing the same was perhaps not wrong but the content of the advertisement and its execution turned out to be like a self-goal. One would be inclined to surmise that the latter happened because of bureaucratic apathy, lack of application and appreciation of the situation as it exists in the state today.

It is well known today that the whole of Ladakh and most of the Jammu region are normal. A few parts of the Jammu region, mainly close to the international border, possibly still have a few restrictions. The advertisement fails to highlight this important aspect of the situation in J&K today. The advertisement seems to paint the entire state with one brush. That is where it fails miserably in communicating the right message to the people of the state and to the rest of the nation. Surely there are no closed shops in Jammu and Ladakh and public transport is plying in a normal manner in these regions. The locals in these regions have never given in to threats of terrorists in the past and there was no reason for them to do so in the current situation. So where is the question of people of these regions being at crossroads or scared of a few posters or threats? For them, the state has always been their home and India their nation. Without a doubt, they have always worked towards the prosperity and wellbeing of both. In short, the advertisement was being unjust to people of these regions as by default it equated them with people in the valley.