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Pandering to Hurriyat will not end but worsen Kashmir's woes

Pandering to Hurriyat will not end but worsen Kashmir's woes

Author: Sumer Kaul
Publication: Free Press Journal
Date: May 12, 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.

Send in your comments on this article to samachar_editor@sify.com


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