BRP Bhaskar
Gulf Today
For the first time since militancy began in Jammu and Kashmir in the 1980s the state has a politician, Satya Pal Malik, as the Governor, and media reports have quoted Central government sources as saying his appointment is “a prelude to a genuine effort to start talks with the estranged Kashmir Valley.”
The unnamed sources’ words imply two things. One, the Centre recognises the growing alienation among the Kashmiris, especially the youth. Two, the earlier efforts at talks were not quite genuine.
A veteran politician from Uttar Pradesh, Malik was in the Congress, the Janata Dal and the Samajwadi Paty before joining the BJP on the eve of the 2014 elections and was named one of its National Vice-Presidents. He was appointed Governor of Bihar last year.
All major parties of J and K welcomed his shift to the state, which has been under Governor’s rule since the Bharatiya Janata Party brought down the coalition government in which it was the People’s Democratic Party’s junior partner in June.
All these are positive factors which augur well for the success of the proposed political process. But there are also negative factors that cast doubts on its chances of success. Foremost among them is the reluctance of successive governments to move from gestures to meaningful measures.
In 2001 the BJP-led government, headed by AB Vajpayee, appointed seasoned UP politician KC Pant as interlocutor to talk to various groups in the state and suggest measures to ensure peace and tranquility. He recommended a broad measure of autonomy and some steps to improve the working of the official machinery.
The following year a committee headed by Law Minister Arun Jaitley was charged with the task of exploring the scope for greater “exclusivity” for the state, whatever that may mean. Later an unofficial committee headed by former Law Minister Ram Jethmalani held talks with separatist groups in a bid to persuade them to participate in that year’s Assembly elections.
After a wave of unrest in the valley in 2010, the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance government, headed by Manmohan Singh, set up a three-member committee under the chairmanship of eminent journalist Dilip Padgaonkar to talk to all sections, including students, youth, political parties and separatists, and prepare a roadmap for a settlement in Kashmir.
It made a number of recommendations, which are believed to include release of youth held for stone-throwing, withdrawal of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act and de-scaling of barricades and checkpoints to ease movement of civilians in public areas.
As the PDP-BJP government faced a new wave of unrest in 2016 Padgaonkar said it might not have happened if his panel’s suggestions had been acted upon.
Last year the Modi government appointed former Intelligence Bureau chief Dineshwar Sharma as its interlocutor for Kashmir. He could make little progress.
Normalisation in Jammu and Kashmir calls for action at two levels. Apart from talks with groups representing various sections in the state there has to be an India-Pakistan peace process, too, since the problem has an internal as well as an external dimension.
In the Shimla Pact of 1972, Indira Gandhi and Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto committed the two countries to resolution of the Kashmir issue through bilateral talks. The only serious attempt in the last 45 years to find a solution through such talks was made by Vajpayee and President Pervez Musharraf when they met in Agra in 2001. Published narratives, including first-person accounts of some participants, indicate that although no agreement could be reached they had come close to one
A BJP-led government has an advantage over any other in reaching out to Kashmir and to Pakistan as it can do so without being accused of appeasement. But, then, it has to be mindful of the sentiments of its supporters who have been fed on propaganda against the other side.
Modi began on a good note with gestures to Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif but there could be no meaningful dialogue as the atmosphere was vitiated by militancy and truce violations. With Prime Minister Imram Khan yet to learn the ropes and Modi due to face elections in six months, this is no time for a new initiative to improve bilateral relations.
That need not hold up the planned internal process. When Governor’s rule was imposed the State Assembly was not dissolved. This led to speculation that the BJP was hoping to form a new coalition government by engineering defections from PDP and other parties. Such a step will not only damage the thin democratic fabric further but also undermine Malik’s mission. --Gulf Today, Sharjah, August 28, 2018.
Gulf Today
For the first time since militancy began in Jammu and Kashmir in the 1980s the state has a politician, Satya Pal Malik, as the Governor, and media reports have quoted Central government sources as saying his appointment is “a prelude to a genuine effort to start talks with the estranged Kashmir Valley.”
The unnamed sources’ words imply two things. One, the Centre recognises the growing alienation among the Kashmiris, especially the youth. Two, the earlier efforts at talks were not quite genuine.
A veteran politician from Uttar Pradesh, Malik was in the Congress, the Janata Dal and the Samajwadi Paty before joining the BJP on the eve of the 2014 elections and was named one of its National Vice-Presidents. He was appointed Governor of Bihar last year.
All major parties of J and K welcomed his shift to the state, which has been under Governor’s rule since the Bharatiya Janata Party brought down the coalition government in which it was the People’s Democratic Party’s junior partner in June.
All these are positive factors which augur well for the success of the proposed political process. But there are also negative factors that cast doubts on its chances of success. Foremost among them is the reluctance of successive governments to move from gestures to meaningful measures.
In 2001 the BJP-led government, headed by AB Vajpayee, appointed seasoned UP politician KC Pant as interlocutor to talk to various groups in the state and suggest measures to ensure peace and tranquility. He recommended a broad measure of autonomy and some steps to improve the working of the official machinery.
The following year a committee headed by Law Minister Arun Jaitley was charged with the task of exploring the scope for greater “exclusivity” for the state, whatever that may mean. Later an unofficial committee headed by former Law Minister Ram Jethmalani held talks with separatist groups in a bid to persuade them to participate in that year’s Assembly elections.
After a wave of unrest in the valley in 2010, the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance government, headed by Manmohan Singh, set up a three-member committee under the chairmanship of eminent journalist Dilip Padgaonkar to talk to all sections, including students, youth, political parties and separatists, and prepare a roadmap for a settlement in Kashmir.
It made a number of recommendations, which are believed to include release of youth held for stone-throwing, withdrawal of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act and de-scaling of barricades and checkpoints to ease movement of civilians in public areas.
As the PDP-BJP government faced a new wave of unrest in 2016 Padgaonkar said it might not have happened if his panel’s suggestions had been acted upon.
Last year the Modi government appointed former Intelligence Bureau chief Dineshwar Sharma as its interlocutor for Kashmir. He could make little progress.
Normalisation in Jammu and Kashmir calls for action at two levels. Apart from talks with groups representing various sections in the state there has to be an India-Pakistan peace process, too, since the problem has an internal as well as an external dimension.
In the Shimla Pact of 1972, Indira Gandhi and Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto committed the two countries to resolution of the Kashmir issue through bilateral talks. The only serious attempt in the last 45 years to find a solution through such talks was made by Vajpayee and President Pervez Musharraf when they met in Agra in 2001. Published narratives, including first-person accounts of some participants, indicate that although no agreement could be reached they had come close to one
A BJP-led government has an advantage over any other in reaching out to Kashmir and to Pakistan as it can do so without being accused of appeasement. But, then, it has to be mindful of the sentiments of its supporters who have been fed on propaganda against the other side.
Modi began on a good note with gestures to Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif but there could be no meaningful dialogue as the atmosphere was vitiated by militancy and truce violations. With Prime Minister Imram Khan yet to learn the ropes and Modi due to face elections in six months, this is no time for a new initiative to improve bilateral relations.
That need not hold up the planned internal process. When Governor’s rule was imposed the State Assembly was not dissolved. This led to speculation that the BJP was hoping to form a new coalition government by engineering defections from PDP and other parties. Such a step will not only damage the thin democratic fabric further but also undermine Malik’s mission. --Gulf Today, Sharjah, August 28, 2018.
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