By Arun Deep Sin
Hurriyat chairman Mirwaiz Umer Farooq, who headed the five-member delegation
that met PM Manmohan Singh on September 5, expects New Delhi to take some "bold
initiatives". At the same time he does not expect any "miracle" right away.
He explained that setting out a "proper mechanism to take forward the dialogue
process", would be the thrust of his meeting with the PM. He is confident of two
things: that the present situation is "more conducive" for dialogue, with
Indo-Pak CBMs already in place. In fact, he ventured to say: "It's now or
never". Secondly, he is confident the "hardliners" in the Valley will come on
board, once the process is set in motion.
He said he was optimistic that a solution would emerge gradually once this
dialogue process in a triangular form-India and Pakistan, New Delhi and
Kashmiris, Islamabad and Kashmiris- moved forward in an amicable manner. "We
have to be more realistic. What is important is that we have to build trust and
confidence and, thereafter, some framework for improving the situation has to be
worked out."
Three distinct trends emerged from the meeting between Dr. Manmohan Singh and
Hurriyat leadership. First, both sides agreed that violence must end in the
valley for the peace process to move forward. For this Hurriyat must do the
needful to demonstrate their clout in the Valley. How far the Umer Farooq
faction of the APHC will succeed be an acid test of its claim to be an effective
representative of people of Kashmir Valley.
Second, the onus of putting an end to violence to enable the Central government
to address other issues like withdrawing troops from the valley. Dr. Manmohan
Singh agreeing to review the Public Safety Act speedily gave an element of human
touch to the Kashmir problem. This is lacking among Hurriyat's sympathizers of
terrorism and violence. In fact Hurriyat's insistence on Pakistan as a party
even though later was primarily responsible for all the violence in the valley
sounded strange to every outside observer. The plethora of evidence that has
come out about the involvement of Pakistani elite never received any
condemnation by Hurriyat.
Lastly, though it was not explicitly stated, the dialogue between the Prime
Minister and the Hurriyat leadership repeatedly threw open whom do the APHC
represent. The three major components of J&K, the Ladakhis, Jammu people and the
people in Pakistan occupied Kashmir are not even represented in the APHC. In
essence this has converted the APHC in to another group trying to show one
upmanship over the elected representatives of J&K legislature.
That takes us to the next question, where does New Delhi go from here? One
option could be the next stage of talks should take place under the aegis of
State government with Chief Minister, Mufti Mohammad Sayeed holding talks with
all groups including APHC. The elected representatives from various regions in
J&K state could participate including the representatives from PoK, if Pakistan
allows such participation.
Such a round table conference will bring out various shades of opinion to the
forefront. Unfortunately APHC never attempted such an exercise in the recent
past. In the 1991s they thought they could liberate Kashmir through the barrel
of gun. Their recent gesture to Kashmiri Pandits who were forced to flee when
APHC cadres were let loose, also lacked any substance.
To such an exercise, probably India in consultation with Pakistan can set the
ground rules for discussion.
At another level, the centre must find ways and means to extend developmental
process to impoverished Pakistan Occupied Kashmir and Northern Areas. If
development is the key word in the entire confidence building Measures exercise,
much of the aura of organizations like United Jehad Council will wither away.
From all known economic indicators Northern Areas under Islamabad rule have no
representatives and PoK Assembly functions under the whims and fancies of rulers
in Islamabad. One Kashmiri even observed, "when there is no democracy in
Islamabad, how can you think of such novelties, in Muzafarabad." Probably to
give an element of credibility to the next PoK Assembly elections,
representatives from various political parties can travel to Muzafarabad and act
as election observers. If need be the same can be extended to PoK Assembly in
the next J&K elections.
Lastly, the resources at the disposal of people like Ali Shah Geelani is playing
an important role in sustaining them in lime light. Both India and Pakistan has
to work ways and means to put an end to hawala transactions. The recent Delhi
police arrest of a Kashmiri militant sympathizer carrying Rs 60 lakhs is an
indicator of this. The much talked about ISI financing the J&K militancy to be
brought to open. In fact in the next round of Indo Pak talks, this aspect needs
to be discussed threadbare. It will be in fitness of things if Dr. Manmohan
Singh gives his thoughts on this aspect to Gen. Musharaf in their forthcoming
New York meeting.
All in all, Pakistan has been the raising J&K issue as a dispute between both
India and Pakistan for the last 57 years. It requires a tenacious approach to
mould the public opinion carefully. There are so many vested interests in
Pakistan to keep the Kashmir issue alive. The APHC is only a pawn in this
exercise. After assuming that they have made themselves irrelevant after the J&K
Assembly election, they did their pilgrimage via Muzafarabad to get some
legitimacy through Pakistan, a lukewarm response in Islamabad made them realize
the ground realities. How far APHC will translate them in to action is to be
seen. -CNF