May not be what it seems.

"J&K's (Jammu and Kashmir) residents may not have been completely accepting of the loss of full statehood along with Article 370, but they too know changing times call for changing resolutions," wrote Shashi Shekhar, after his visit to the valley in March where he found "that people were fed up with violence, and the young felt that this was crippling their chances at a normal life". Article 370 allowed the state "its own constitution, a separate flag and freedom to make laws" and also to "bar Indians from outside the state from purchasing property or settling there", BBC. Article 35A "defined a permanent resident as someone who was a state subject on May 14, 1954, or who has been a resident of the state for 10 years", and, hence, stopped Indians from outside J&K from acquiring property or applying for jobs with the state government, Economic Times (ET). Both Articles 370 and 35A were revoked in August 2019, all political leaders in Kashmir were arrested and telecom and internet services were cut off, (ET). A curfew was imposed on all of Kashmir and citizens prevented from traveling or meeting, wikipedia. The coronavirus outbreak resulted in a lockdown just as schools and colleges were opening up, India Today. Last week Prime Minister Narendra Modi held a meeting with politicians of all parties from J&K where he proposed new elections after delimitation, which means creating new constituencies for the assembly, NDTV. Why? "On the face of it, the external environment -- in which Pakistan might be in the driving seat in Kabul through the proxy of the Taliban before the end of this year, the situation on the Line of Actual Control where the Chinese have adamantly stayed put, the spectre of a two-front war, therefore the need to strengthen the Line of Control and begin a dialogue with Pakistan, as well as remove Kashmir from the agenda of US Congressional hearings -- does present a compelling package of national security reasons for the sudden decision to engage these political parties after two years of saying they don't matter," wrote Nirupama Subramanian. "The Union government's 'historic' decision to bifurcate Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh as two separate territories have bolstered national security and led to a major reduction in terrorist activities, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said on Monday," ET. "In a significant development having far-reaching ramifications in respect of strategic alignments in South Asia, both India and Pakistan have agreed to 'mutually beneficial and sustainable peace' along the borders from the midnight of February 24/25 2021," ET. In April, President Joe Biden announced complete withdrawal of all US troops from Afghanistan, starting May 1 and ending by September 11, NBC News. "The Taliban are advancing at lightning speed across Afghanistan as US troops withdraw. They now control a third of the country, are fighting for the control of 42 percent more -- and may even be slowing their advance on purpose," NBC. "India's August 2019 move in Kashmir is stuck in Pakistan's throat. It can neither swallow it nor spit it out. Pakistan's current Kashmir debate is about finding a way out," wrote C Raja Mohan. Maybe not. Pakistan has been stuck on the grey list of the Financial Action Task Force since 2008 because of hosting terrorist groups on its territory and has suffered a loss of $38 billion to its economy in all that time, "according to a research paper published by the Islamabad-based independent think-tank, Tabadlab", ET. Now it has secured its northwest border as the Taliban has become respectable with both the US and India negotiating directly with the terrorist group, Prof Harsh V Pant and Kriti M Shah. India has had to shift 50,000 troops to its border with China so that we have 200,000 troops on that border, ET. "Two explosives laden drones crashed into the IAF station at Jammu airport in the early hours of Sunday, ET. A Special Police Officer (SPO), his wife and daughter were gunned down at 11 PM inside their home two days back, ET. India is facing two enemies. Peace in Kashmir is imperative. Modi needs help of Kashmir politicians.