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| The ball no longer in PM's court | | High-profile Huriyat leaders haven't done their job | | From B L Kak
NEW DELHI: If the moderatre Hurriyat leaders led by Maulvi Umar Farooq experienced little difficulty as they kicked the ball into the Prime Minister's court on the eve of the recent meeting they had with him in the Indian capital, Manmohan Singh's ability to set them thinking anew became an open secret when he assigned them a crucial task of evolving a mechanism for the continuance of the peace dialogue purposefully and meaningfully.
It was the "cordial" meeting--the second by an Indian Prime Minister--with a delegation of Kashmir's All Party Hurriyat Conference (APHC) on May 3, 2006. Much-awaited talks did take place, even as Islamist rebels in Jammu and Kashmir sought to derail the dialogue process by carying out the brutal killing of more than 30 Hindu villagers in Doda and Udhampur districts of the troubled Himalayan State. The Hurriyat delegation leader, Maulvi Umar Farooq submited to the Prime Minister a list of demands. And his senior colleague, Prof. Abdul Ghani Bhat, was given an opportunity to elaborate on some demands such as release of political prisoners and putting in place a mechanism which could prevent "violations" of human rights in Kashmir.
Even as the Hurriyat team gave a patient hearing to the Prime Minister's strong advocacy of a stronger economic order in Jammu and Kashmir, Manmohan Singn too found it necessary to listen to the "politcal visitors" from Srinagar when they raised for discusion certain political aspects of the Kashmir situation. Pointed references were also made to the ongoing New Delhi-Islamabad dialogue process and to the Hurriyat's demand for tripartite talks on Kashmir, involving India, Pakistan and the people of Kashmir.
That the smiling host (Manmohan Singh) did not want the Huriyat leaders to return to Srinagar empty-handed was borne out by the Prime Minister's assurance to ensure an early review of the future of a set of political detainees. And apolitcal Prime Minister, after noticing that the Hurriyat delegation was convinced by his government's desire and sincerity to pursue the dialogue process to resolve the Kashmir crisis, chose to play politcal ball on the ocasion.
In plain language, the Hurriyat team facilitated Prime Minister's task--that is, kicking the ball into the Huriyat court. When the Hurriyat leaders highlighted the relevance and need for a mechanism which could usher in a new era in the troubled State, the Prime Minister was quick in his response, telling the "political visitors" from Srinagar to evolve the mechanism for further discusions between the two sides in the near future.
If this task were that easy then the language of Maulvi Farooq and his colleagues would have been different at the end of the two-hour parleys with the Prime Minister. That Manmohan Singh created a bit of difficulty for the Hurriyat leaders was borne out by Maulvi Umar Farooq's expression of inability to give any time-frame for putting in place the mechanism the two sides had agreed upon. Nonetheless, the Prime Minister evoked friendly response from the Huriyat delegation after he told them: "We have a meeting of minds. This augurs well for future of Jammu and Kashmir, for the people of India and the region".
The Prime Minister acknowledged that in the overall situation prevailing in Kashmir, there has to be a mechanism. Happily for New Delhi, the Hurriyat leaders had no option but to accept the Prime Minister's proposal--that is, the Hurriyat will find the mechanism and come back to the Minister for Home Affairs, Shivraj Patil, to carry forward the talks.
After the rendezvous with the Prime Minister, Hurriyat chief, Maulvi Umar Farooq, said that the talks were “an effort to ensure to move forward in Jammu and Kashmir. We had free and frank dialogue on all sensitive matters of the State and we agreed to discuss specific and lasting solution”. He said that the APHC would sit shortly and find a mechanism. It would address the internal and external dimensions of the Kashmir problem.
How long will the Hurriyat faction led by Maulvi Umar Farooq take to evolve the mechanism? A precise answer has to come from the Maulvi himself. So far, there is no word from the Srinagar headquarters of the Hurriyat Conference about broad contours of the Hurriyat's line of action. |
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