Former Union Minister P. Chidambaram said he had a sinking feeling that Kashmir was nearly lost for India because the Central government used brute force to quell dissent there.
Addressing a meeting organised by Manthan, a public discourse platform, on Friday, Chidambaram said feared the situation would worsen if the Centre did not take up course correction like what was done by the Cabinet Committee on security in 2010. The graph of violence rapidly declined after that, but it grew at an alarming rate now.
He said seven million persons of Kashmir valley felt alienated by the oppressive methods of the Indian government, which was a terrible mistake. The statement of Chief of Army Staff Bipin Rawat that anyone who interfered with defence operations would be treated as anti-national was the last straw.
