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Jethmalani went to Kashmir for talks without preparation?

Jethmalani went to Kashmir for talks without preparation?

Author: A. N. Dar
Publication: The Free Press Journal
Date: August 26, 2002
URL: http://www.samachar.com/features/260802-fpj.html

What can one say of Jethmalani's ambitious foray into Kashmir to bring peace to that troubled state infested with mediators week after week? That he collected seven honourable men of action and told them that he could bring them face to face with history by making the Hurriyat give up its stand on carving out the future of Kashmir and make Farooq Abdullah bow to the arguments of one of India's best-known lawyers? But within two and a half days he was back in New Delhi a sadder and a bitter man.

The situation was not as comic as this would seem to be but it was more tragic. Jethmalani was like a babe in the woods. He went to Kashmir without any preparation. All that he seems to have done was to put his faith in Allah to change people's minds. And of himself he thought that on landing in Kashmir he would be told: "Come tell us what we should do".

Jethmalani did not seem to know what Hurriyat has been asking for. He gave the impression that he did not know what was backing the Hurriyat. He did not even seem to know whether the Hurriyat would like to exist without Pakistan's support. The lasting impression he left behind was that the frozen minds of the Hurriyat leaders would start melting once Jethmalani's broad smile bloomed over their faces.

In simpler terms, no preparation had gone into holding talks with the Hurriyat leaders, most of whom have been close to the Pakistani line of taking Kashmir into its fold. They have made it known that the polls to elect a new assembly to rule over the state mean nothing to them. If they had any recent doubts about the wisdom of their stand or the prudence of giving up the Pakistani line their stand was reinforced by the furious words Pakistan's martial administrator parading himself as President had said in his Independence Day speech. Whatever one may say of Gen. Musharraf's reluctance to give up the Kashmir slogan, he managed to convey to the pro-Pakistani elements in Kashmir that he would go along with them. Everyone knows he has nothing to live for if he gives up the fight for Kashmir. Also known to everyone is that the Hurriyat would crumble like a house of cards once it has lost Pakistan's support. These are facts which Jethmalani seemed to be quite unaware of. If he had known them, he would not have flown into Kashmir at such quick speed and without knowing what the other side would like him to talk. India's best-known lawyer looked like a trout out of water.

It was into this atmosphere that Ram Jethmalani, looking for a noble role for himself when everybody else was failing, decided to change overnight the Hurriyat mind-set. Ordinarily one would have expected that the good lawyer that he is would send soundings to the Hurriyat, probe their minds, send out signals and see what is the ground he could tread on. But this doesn't give one instant fame. This is not what instant committees work on. This is why Pant is said to have failed and the Prime Minister's emissary, Dulat, didn't get any headlines. They did not go for instant fame.

For once the Union Government played its cards well. It made known that if anyone wanted to talk to the Hurriyat and other Kashmiri leaders he would be welcome. But it carried no message from the Central Government. Incidentally, who named it "Kashmir Committee"? This gave the idea that it represented the government or a political party or parties or an ideological stance. There was nothing like that. They should more honestly have called themselves "Mr. Jethmalani's friends to bring peace to Kashmir". There would have been nothing derogatory in that. Jethmalani after all is an honourable person and he set out to achieve an honourable compromise. Had he succeeded, it would have been something very good for the country. But he went about it in a way no novice would have done.

The Kashmir Government also did not put its foot wrong though the use of "Rambhai" and "Farooqbhai" on television did not conceal the contempt each had for the other. Everyone seemed to have wondered why Jethmalani had stepped where even fools fear to tread. Some little effort to know what is itthat has been troubling Kashmir would have sent a sadder and a wiser Jethmalani back to New Delhi from Srinagar.

As it is he did what in popular perception critics of Kashmiri leaders criticise them for - saying one thing in Srinagar and another in New Delhi. In Srinagar he favoured the postponement of the forthcoming Assembly elections to facilitate the participation of more Kashmiri groups in the democratic process. He said many Kashmiri groups "promised conditional participation in the elections" provided these were postponed for some time. He said there were other "minor difficulties" such as protection of the aspiring participants in these elections. The demand for postponing the elections was not unreasonable.

But it was a different Jethmalani who spoke on his return to New Delhi. He said "First, the Hurriyat is dancing to the tune of Pakistan and, second, they have no strength to show as they are paper tigers". This, he said, was not his own inference, but "what the people would think". Why didn't he say this in Srinagar? Was he afraid that the Hurriyat would not talk to him again?

The Hurriyat's credentials to know the people's mind have always been suspect. One would not quarrel with this but what the Hurriyat would quarrel with is who gave Jethmalani the vote to know in two and a half days what the "people would think" about it. If the Hurriyat has got stuck to its own and Pakistani mind-set, how come Jethmalani has been able to come to know the mood in Kashmir in two and a half days?

Whether you like it or not, the Hurriyat has been true to its word. It has always said that it does not want to fight the local elections. Jethmalani should have known that forming the government in Srinagar is not the Hurriyat's aim. Most of its members either want to fight for an independent Kashmir or take Kashmir to Pakistan. It has no other ambition. It lives on Pakistani support. If that is denied to it, the Hurriyat would collapse. Then only can the likes of Jethmalani go there for the Kashmir elections.

Those who want to understand the Kashmir problem should know the minute the Pakistani support to the militants is withdrawn, there would be no Kashmir problem. Pakistan wants to keep on helping the militants because it keeps the rulers (whoever they are) in power in Pakistan because they live on the Kashmir slogan. And the Hurriyat will not ask for a settlement by withdrawing itself from Pakistani support. It will in that case collapse.

This simple truth Jethmalani should have known before he started touching the elephantine problem of Kashmir. The only ray of hope is that Shabir Shah has conditionally shown himself in favour of elections. In the present context his is the only voice nearing wisdom. Jethmalani might like a little to learn playing politics from him.
 


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