Green Shoots In J&K indiatoday.in

Six months after a shocking constitutional coup to effectively abrogate its special status under Article 370 and its downsizing to a Union territory, efforts are on to showcase Jammu and Kashmir’s return to normalcy. On February 12-13, a delegation of 25 envoys of European Union member countries, including the EU ambassador to India, Ugo Astuto, were taken on a guided tour of the state, orchestrated by the Union ministry for external affairs, during which they met a select group of politicians, civil society members and media persons.

Byelections were scheduled on March 5-and then deferred for three weeks over security concerns-to nearly 13,000 panchayats, in a first attempt at a seemingly democratic electoral exercise since August 5, 2019. In May, the administration hopes to host the J&K Global Investors Summit 2020, for which it has already started holding roadshows across the country.

Meanwhile, the most prominent faces of the J&K political establishment, now ineffective abeyance-Farooq and Omar Abdullah of the National Conference (NC) and Mehbooba Mufti of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), all previous chief ministers of the erstwhile state-have been summarily removed from the scene, held under the draconian Public Safety Act, which legalises detention without trial up to two years. Former IAS officer Shah Faesal became the latest to be charged under the law on February 15.