Author: Sumer Kaul
Publication: The Free Press Journal
Date: May 6, 2006
URL: http://www.samachar.com/features/120506-features.html
The Hurriyat Conference, which calls itself
the true representative of the people of Kashmir, refused to attend the round
table called by the prime minister in February. Unfazed by the rebuff, Dr
Manmohan Singh invited the Hurriyatists for exclusive bilateral talks last
week, thus further pandering to their foreign-tutored egos.
They came, they yapped, and they went back
without the slightest change in their secessionist ideology, and with no commitment
at all that they will attend the second round table conference later this
month.
The Centre talking to legitimate mainstream
parties of Kashmir on issues concerning or confronting the people of the state
is to be welcomed. But how can the Hurriyat which according to knowledgeable
sources including the National Security Advisor M.K.Narayanan, represents
only a "minuscule section" qualify to be part of such Centre- State
parleys?
Why, then, is the prime minister wooing the
Hurriyat and, equally questionably, doing this with an air of deference that
does no good to the prestige and authority of the Government of India? The
dubious dialogue, started two years ago, has in no way furthered the cause
of peace and normalcy in the terrorravaged state.
On the other hand, the Centre's misconceived
benignity towards the rag-tag amalgam has lent recognition and respectability
to the anti- India elements, and thereby served the purpose of their Pakistani
mentors of keeping the terror pot boiling.
And boiling it certainly is, as the recent
massacre in Doda and the unabated killings and bomb blasts elsewhere in the
state, including in the capital city itself, abundantly testify.
The Centre does not seem to realise that its
attitude to the separatists undermines the state government which was duly
voted to power in an election that visiting foreign media and observers unreservedly
termed free and fair.
Worse, it has also nonplussed the people who
braved the Hurriyat's boycott call and the terrorists' threats and came out
in unprecedented multitudes to exercise their franchise as Indian citizens.
To see the national government pedestaling
the secessionists sends a wrong message to the people and may even raise in
them seriously destabilising thoughts about the future of their state as an
inseparable part of India, and there by imperil India's territorial integrity
and consequently its composite secular fabric.
This is not to say that the government should
have no truck with the Hurriyat, but they should be seen for what they are.
Where is the need to mollycoddle them? After all, what is Hurriyat's locus
standi? They say they are the real tribune of the people of Jammu & Kashmir.
If there was even a grain of truth in their
claim, they would have fought elections. But they resolutely refuse to do
this because they know the outcome will nail their boast. Nonetheless, they
want to be treated as the paramount voice of Kashmir.
In fact, they would not entertain any talks
with the Centre except at the highest level. In other words, a summit between
Hurriyat and India! The sinister connotations of this stance are obvious,
and yet the Centre goes along, for reasons difficult to comprehend.
Presumably there is a belief that `dialoguing'with
them will sooner or later wean them from their anti-India ideology. This is
gross naivete. Such thinking ignores the fact that the Hurriyat is not a bona
fide party, albeit of misguided or disgruntled politicians. It is a creature
of Pakistan and faithfully takes its orders from the ISI, even on whether
and when to meet the prime minister!
The Centre knows this but having embarked
on a wishful plan it has convinced itself that the Hurriyat is not monochromatic,
that while it does have some Pakistan-manipulated hardliners, it also has
moderates who, with patience and pampering, can be won over. Uncritically
echoed by the national media, this official view gives the word moderate a
meaning that no dictionary gives.
Yes, there are two strands in the Hurriyat,
but they are twisted round each other. The difference at best is one of degree,
not of kind. There are Messrs Geelani and company who mince no words and want
to have nothing to do with India. They want unconditional and complete accession
to Pakistan. Period.
And there are Hurriyat chairman Mirwaiz Umer
Farooq and supporters, the so-called moderates. And what is their take on
Kashmir? Space does not permit a detailed expose. Suffice it to quote some
excerpts from his recent interview with a national daily.
The Hurriyat is all for a round table, he
said, but the round table has to be triangular! No need to guess what he meant
because he spelled it out: Involved in the talks should be Kashmiri leadership
(meaning the Hurriyat), India and Pakistan. He supported the "options"
put forth by Gen.
Musharraf and commended "the spirit of
Islamabad's stance". The Hurriyat, he declared, is for "an acceptable
and honourable settlement of Kashmir".
And what would such a settlement entail? "We",
he declared, "are for a solution outside the Indian Constitution."
This is the face of the `moderates' who Dr Manmohan Singh has chosen to indulge.
We don't know what all transpired at the New
Delhi talks but judging by what Farooq told the media afterwards, the Hurriyat
held on to their stand. The "problem", he said, has internal and
external dimensions.
The internal relate to release of political
prisoners (read terrorists), end to human rights violations (read withdrawal
of security forces) and repeal of black laws (read unfettered sway to jehadis
and anti-India elements).
And the external dimension calls for threadbare
discussion of "self rule" (read independence from India) and "boundary-less
J&K" (read full and free access to and from Pakistan). Musharraf
masquerading as Mirwaiz! It is difficult to imagine any government of a sovereign
country entertaining such views. But ours does.
In fact, according to his media advisor, the
prime minister's response to the Hurriyat's views was to ask them to prepare
a "mechanism" to carry forward the dialogue. "We have a meeting
of minds", he is quoted as saying; "this augurs well for the future
of Jammu and Kashmir, for the people of India and the region." This is
an amazing statement, to put it mildly.
One can hear the ISI and their jehadis laughing
all the way to the LoC! No, prime minister, this won't do. You must abandon
this perilous path.
