New Initiative
In an attempt to broaden
the Kashmir dialogue process, the Government of India under Prime
Minister Manmohan Singh invited all separatist and non-separatist
groups for a round table conference to find a solution to the Kashmir
issue. Even before the conference, Prime Minister Singh had invited
Sajjad Lone of the People's Conference for talks on 14 January 2006.
Sajjad Lone's party had fielded proxy candidates in the 2002 Assembly
elections in some places. People's Conference, under the chairmanship
of Sajjad's father and senior separatist leader Abdul Gani Lone had
contested Assembly elections in the state before 1980. He represented
Handwara constituency in 1967 and 1972 as a Congress member, while in
1977 he won on a Janata Party ticket. However, after that he never
participated in the elections. A day after the invitation to Sajjad
Lone, J&K chief minister Ghulam Nabi Azad told reporters that the
dialogue invitation is not exclusive but is for all the separatist
leaders who want to talk to New Delhi. Sajjad Lone, along with a
four-member party delegation comprising of Hafizullah Makhdoomi,
Abdul Rashid Lone, Rashid Mehmood and Mirwaiz South Kashmir Qazi
Yasir met Prime Minister Singh on 14 January in New Delhi. Though
details of their discussions were not disclosed, it was reported that
they held a wide-ranging dialogue and discussed all relevant issues.
The Government had made it clear that the Hurriyat is not the sole
representative of the Kashmiri people and therefore, it had initiated
a broad dialogue in order to reach the hearts and minds of the people
of the state by including groups outside the electoral process as
well.
Apart from the open dialogue process, the Prime
Minister's Office (PMO) had also held parleys with separatist
leaders. According to a report in The Hindu (24 January 2006)
National Security Adviser (NSA), M.K. Narayanan, has held a series of
top-secret meetings with key figures, including the Jammu Kashmir
Liberation Front leader Mohammad Yasin Malik. Mr. Malik met with Dr.
Singh shortly before leaving for the United States on 28 November
2005. The report said that the meeting explored what could be done to
facilitate an open dialogue between Mr. Malik and the Prime Minister,
of the kind, which recently took place with Sajjad Lone. However, no
details were available on the substance of the discussions. National
Security Advisor M. K. Narayanan has also reportedly held a separate
meeting in January 2006 with Farooq Kathwari, a well-connected
ethnic-Kashmiri businessman who heads the US-based Kashmir Study
Group (KSG). Media reports also indicate that the Central government
is keen on inviting the Ladakh Union Territory Front and other groups
for talks so that all three regions of the state can be included in
the process. On 15 January, Prime Minister Singh announced that his
government would also invite the Kashmiri Pandits for talks at a
later date.
These steps clearly indicate that New Delhi is
seeking to broaden the dialogue process by involving different groups
related to the Kashmir issue. However, the Hurriyat is clearly
seeking to place itself as the sole representative of the Kashmiris
even though leaders from Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) have
questioned its claim. In an interview to The Hindu on 4 February,
Prime Minister of PoK Sikandar Hayat Khan said the Hurriyat cannot
claim to represent the entire State of Jammu and Kashmir. According
to him "the All Parties Hurriyat Conference is certainly not the
representative of the entire State and any person who knows the State
in its entirety will agree with me. I already told them during my
interaction when they called upon me recently that the dialogue has
no meaning till the time it becomes representative of the
wide-ranging diversity which exists in the State of Jammu and
Kashmir. A particular region or a locality cannot decide the future
of the entire State on both sides of the Line of Control. There are
divergent urges and aspirations in the State and the best way to
reconcile these is through a process of dialogue and open mind. The
dialogue is a civilised medium to hear from the other side. I am a
strong votary of keeping the unity of the State intact and this is
something which I have gathered from realistic understanding of
facts."
Separatists miss significant opportunity
On
14 January, the Central government announced that Prime Minister
Manmohan Singh has convened a round table conference in New Delhi on
25 February to discuss steps for resolving the Kashmir issue.
Earlier, a separate invitation for talks with Prime Minister Singh on
17 February was also extended to Yasin Malik. During his meeting with
the Prime Minister on 17 February, Malik asked the government to talk
with the militant outfits. Though he did not take any name, NSA M K
Narayanan made it clear that it was not possible for the Centre to
engage the militant leadership as past experience has not yielded any
positive results. The invitation for the round table was also
extended to hard-line Hurriyat faction leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani
as well. According to a report in The Indian Express (17 February
2006), a high ranking official from Home Ministry had extended the
prime minister's invitation to Geelani. However, Geelani stuck to his
hard-line position and refused to participate in the round table
conference. Geelani and Shabir Shah were the first two separatist
leaders to refuse participation in the conference. On 18 February,
People's Conference faction led by Bilal Lone refused to participate
in the conference. Two days later on 20 February, the moderate
faction of the Hurriyat announced after a meeting of its executive
and general council that it will not participate in the conference.
Apart from the separatists, other leaders like former J&K chief
minister Farooq Abdullah also rejected the Centre's invitation though
he said that party president Omar Abdullah would participate in the
conference. Farooq Abdullah said that the round table conference was
'agenda-less' and it would have been a fruitful exercise if
sufficient groundwork had been undertaken. One of the few leaders who
agreed to participate in the round table conference was Jammu and
Kashmir Democratic Liberation Party (JKDLP) led by Hashim Qureshi
whose party decided in favour of participating on 22
February.
Analysts say that the refusal by most separatist
leaders to participate in a broad dialogue is mainly because their
interests would be pitted against each other at the conference, which
would have had over 50 groups claiming to represent Kashmiri
interests. The question as to whether the militant outfits should
also be involved in the dialogue process as suggested by Yasin Malik
remains irrelevant until the violence level in the Valley comes down
and Pakistan shuts down the terrorist training infrastructure.
What is clear from these developments is the fact that there is a broad consensus at the highest level in the government on the new initiative by Prime Minister Singh to resolve the Kashmir issue. Even President APJ Abdul Kalam had stated categorically that a final solution to the issue should be agreeable to India, Pakistan and Kashmiris. The government has also said that redrawing of borders is not possible and whatever is decided should be within the framework of the Indian constitution. At the meeting itself (held in New Delhi on 25 February 2006), Prime Minister Singh made a strong pitch for "mutual tolerance, understanding and accommodation" to build a better future for the region battered by over 15 years of separatist violence. "I am of course acutely aware that all of us do not think alike. The people of Leh and Kargil may have different ideas about the future from those living in Srinagar. Those in Kathua may think differently from residents of say Sopore," he said in his speech. "But that is the real strength of our democracy, which celebrates differences and does not smother them. "A new Jammu and Kashmir must be created, after all, on the basis of a shared vision of the people and can never be mechanically imposed. We need to explore jointly new pathways to build a better tomorrow for the people of Jammu and Kashmir," he said. Among those who attended the meeting were: state Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad, National Conference president Omar Abdullah, People's Democratic Party chief Mehbooba Mufti, central minister Saifuddin Soz, Congress leader Karan Singh, state Bharatiya Janata Party chief Nirmal Singh, K. Chawang (Ladakh), former cabinet secretary M.K. Kaw, and Ajay Charngu, a Kashmiri Pandit leader. Hashim Qureshi, who had hijacked an Indian Airlines aircraft to Pakistan in 1971, was the only separatist face at the meeting, according to a news report.
The separatist outfits have clearly lost out on a significant opportunity by refusing to participate in the round table conference. The conference would serve as a platform to discuss commonalties between mainstream political parties, Centre and militants and difference of opinion amongst these three constituents. Even issues like self governance and demilitarisation on which the separatists have had no problems talking to the Pakistani leadership during their visit to Pakistan, these issues would be have been discussed in the conference. On the issue of demilitarisation, the question that needs to be answered is whether Kashmiris will remain free after the withdrawal of troops? The absence of security in Kashmir would be an open invitation not only for militant outfits but also for the Pakistani army. The open invitation for the conference has clearly caused ego problems within the extended Hurriyat umbrella to surface. It has also exposed the unwillingness of its members to share a platform which confirms the lack of a genuine agenda and excessive pique. Rather than participating in the conference and discussing ideas which could have helped in setting up a framework for the final resolution of the Kashmir issue, the Hurriyat chose to bypass this significant opportunity.