It may not necessarily signal a wholesale change in policy by the government of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, but the appointment of a special interlocutor for India-held Kashmir is a welcome step in the right direction.

Indian Home Minister Rajnath Singh’s surprise announcement of former Intelligence Bureau chief Dineshwar Sharma as a Kashmir interlocutor empowered to speak to all Kashmiri groups — code for meetings with the All Parties Hurriyat Conference — is necessary acknowledgement that the Modi government’s strategy of force is not succeeding in IHK.

The profound violence inflicted on the Kashmiri people for more than a year by the Indian security apparatus has predictably failed to suppress anti-Indian sentiment in the region. Instead, it has politicised a new generation of Kashmiris, who have seen schoolmates and neighbours suffer brutal attacks including being blinded by pellet guns. It is hoped that the announcement of an interlocutor on Kashmir will quickly lead to an end to the daily violence and humiliation that ordinary Kashmiris are enduring.

The willingness to engage the Hurriyat is important for several reasons. Three years ago, India cancelled foreign secretary-level talks with Pakistan after the latter’s high commissioner to India had met Hurriyat leaders. That episode marked not only a fresh low in Pakistan-India ties, but also the beginning of a more aggressive approach in IHK by the Modi government.

The Hurriyat, an umbrella group that accommodates a range of opinion on the Kashmir dispute, remains an important player because unlike other regional groups that the Indian centre frequently engages in dialogue with, it does not accept the illegitimate Indian rule.

A Kashmir dialogue that does not include separatists is essentially meaningless and holds no hope for reducing violence in the region. Certainly, the mere announcement of a Kashmir interlocutor by the Indian government will not automatically or even necessarily lead to a change in policy or a reduction in violence.

Previous special missions and emissaries from New Delhi have failed to bridge the chasm between New Delhi and the people of IHK. Much will depend on the final mandate the interlocutor is given and the Modi government’s willingness to accept and implement difficult recommendations.

Now that the Modi government has bowed to the inevitable and recognised the need for dialogue inside IHK, there is another obvious next step: dialogue with Pakistan. Just as Indian dialogue with the people of IHK is necessary, there is no possibility of reaching a permanent resolution to the Kashmir dispute without engaging Pakistan.

And while the Kashmir dispute is central to a long-term peace between India and Pakistan, there are many other issues that the two countries need to address — urgently — through dialogue. The approach of polls in Pakistan and then India should not delay dialogue; as the experience around the last set of general elections showed, campaigns only produce further uncertainty.

Published in Dawn, October 25th, 2017