Kashmir and Delegations:Is New Delhi serious about Kashmir?
Daanish Bin Nabi
The five-member delegation led by senior BJP leader and
former Union Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha, which is presently on visit to
Kashmir, is the third delegation in last few months that is trying to have a
meaningful parley and bridge the gap between Srinagar and New Delhi. The first
two teams to come to Kashmir to cool tempers were the All Party Delegation
(APD) and the one led by senior journalist and “Kashmir expert” Seema Mustafa.
Like the previous two delegation the present one is also
star dubbed, comprising of diplomats, journalists and other famous
personalities. However, its mission remains the same – to pacify the people
only to leave them to rise up again against the establishment.
Like the previous delegations the third delegation has so far
done nothing concrete apart from meeting various stakeholders and issuing
statements like their predecessors.
The question that remains to be answered is whether New
Delhi is committed and serious to understand the problem in Kashmir or just
buying itself time for a relative peace period.
Like the other two delegations that have visited Kashmir,
the Yashwant Sinha led delegation has also added insult to the injuries of the
people of Kashmir. On at least two accounts the delegation is off the track,
which is quite visible from the way things have proceeded.
First, they are following the same old track of meeting
various sections including the Hurriyat leaders. They are meeting even after
each and every one has categorically put his point forward about resolving the
Kashmir dispute. It is also no secret that the stumbling block for every ill in
Kashmir remains the political nature of the dispute. So repeating the same old
process serves no purpose at all.
Second, the delegation has made it amply clear that theirs’
is not a part of any government initiative. Meaning this delegation is also
repeating the mistakes either deliberately or unknowingly. So far all the three
delegations that have visited Kashmir in 2016 have been buying time to douse
the fire that had become uncontrolled in Kashmir.
The present delegation has also accepted that the Government
of India has not approached them, officially saying all – to what direction
this visit is also shaping up. So far the Government of India – be it led by
Congress or Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) – has not responded to these
initiatives in a positive manner and is only maintaining its silence showing
that it is noncommittal.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has missed the plot, like his
predecessors, as far as Kashmir is concerned. He won the 2014 election with a
thumbing majority. The Indians by-and-large were disillusioned by the
corruption and other issues pertaining to national security. People in mainland
India hoped for a visionary leader and saw Modi as their savior. In Kashmir,
people including the Hurriyat groups – especially Mirwaiz Umar Farooq – and
mainstream parties like People Democratic Party (PDP) kept repeating that they
have high hopes from Modi and BJP government. As all these parties basked in sweet
memories and bonhomie of Atal Bihari Vajpayee, who had come up with an out of
box solution for Kashmir and had everyone on board which included Hurriyat and
Pakistan.
On the other hand, Modi views Kashmir dispute only through
the prism of Pakistan, national security and Hindutva-RSS led vote bank
politics. In politics, there exists a difference between a statesman and a
politician. And so far, the much-famed Modi has only behaved like a mediocre
politician. Keeping every aspect of Kashmir dispute in view - he should behave
like a statesman rather than an average politician by solving the jinxed
Kashmir dispute.
If Modi does so it will not only makes his image stronger in
mainland India but it can also build his image in international community, of
which he seems to be more interested.
The retired General, Parvez Musharaff, focused on two
important long pending conflicts of the world. One the Kashmir Dispute the
other the Palestine-Israel conflict. Musharaff had extracted an out-of-box
solution for both the conflicts. The only point Musharaff wanted to make was
prove to the world that he is a peace loving “General” and cared much for the
people of both the places. Both Musharaff and Modi have certain things in
common. To Musharaff’s credit he was very near in solving the Kashmir conflict,
had lawyers’ agitation not gripped Pakistan. Will Modi follow the same steps
only time will tell.
Like any other state in world, Kashmiris also have a right
to live, students have a right to make their careers, mothers have a right to
stop worrying about their sons, and youth has a right to enjoy the life – but
the stumbling block that is Kashmir dispute, does not allow it to happen.
It can be argued that the present delegation needs to do
much more than what it has done so far and it needs to shun the already tested
methods. If the delegation is visiting Kashmir only to douse the fire – then
New Delhi and people of mainland India are living in fools’ paradise – because
no one among us can anticipate this time what is going to haunt all of us in
near future.
Modi government needs to act and act now before its’ too
late. He needs to prove to the Indians and to the world that he is statesman
and not a politician. If he chooses to be a mediocre politician he may even win
a second stint as prime minister of India, but he can never match Vajpayee. As
for Vajpayee, he is still remembered in various capitals of the world and
particularly in Kashmir for his vision of peace.
Published in Rising Kashmir on December 27, 2016. Feedback at daanishnabi@gmail.com
