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| Talk with those who want to talk, strengthen nation | | J&K solution | |
Early Times Report
Jammu, May 30: As was expected, Pakistan-supported, indoctrinated, controlled and directed Kashmir-based Hurriyatwalas have for all practical purposes rejected the New Delhi's offer of talks - offer made by none other than Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh last Friday during an interview to a leading news channel and a leading English language national daily.
Rajnath Singh had said that New Delhi was willing to talk to Hurriyat leaders and Pakistan if they came forward for talks.
It was on Tuesday that three top Hurriyatwallas - Geelani, Mirwaiz and Malik - met to discuss the Rajnath Singh's offer of talks and after the meeting issued a detailed statement. The statement didn't just refer to the statement of Rajnath Singh but also to the statements of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Minister of External Affairs Sushma Swaraj, BJP national president Amit Shah on J&K and even statement of J&K DGP SP Vaid.
They rejected the Home Minister's offer of talks on the ground that his offer of talks was coupled with a condition that "Kashmir and Kashmiris are ours" (in this case integral to India)". They said: "They would talk only if the Government of India declares J&K a disputed territory" and Pakistan was also involved in the talks as it was a party to the so-called Kashmir dispute. They rejected Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Srinagar developmental solution.
"Now the question is what these 'talks' are about to which Mr Singh is referring to? What is the agenda of these talks? Is it about Mr Modi's suggestion of development?", they asked. PM Modi had said in Srinagar that the "panacea to the Kashmir problem, according to him, is 'development' and 'peace is a prerequisite' for that to happen".
They also rejected outright MEA Sushma Swaraj's approach. Sushma Swaraj had on Sunday said that talks and terror could not go hand-in-hand and that New Delhi didn't have any proposal in place for "comprehensive" talks with Pakistan. To be more precise, she put a rider and said no talks with Pakistan unless "terror is stopped".
As for BJP national president Amit Shah, Geelani-Mirwaiz-Malik said that his statement on unilateral ceasefire was disappointing and provocative. "Then Amit Shah gives a spin to the ceasefire that it is not for militants but for people," they said. They also didn't spare DGP SP Vaid, who had issued a statement that the unilateral ceasefire was for "militants to come back home".
The whole point is that the Pakistan-founded Hurriyat Conference has rejected outright the offer of talks and laid down conditions which no Government of India could accept.
Now that they Hurriyatwalas have rejected the offer of talks, it is time for the Union Government to abandon its 70-year-old Nehruvian approach to J&K and adopt a new and holistic approach so that all the issues facing the state's three regions - Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh - were addressed. New Delhi should talk to those in J&K who want to talk and strengthen the nation in the state. It should talk to the suffering people of Jammu province whose demands range from separate Jammu state to regional council to regional autonomy to complete integration into India. It should talk to the people of Ladakh, who have been struggling since November 1947 for separation from Kashmir and for a dispensation that was under the direct rule of New Delhi. The Government of India should also talks to 2 million Hindu and Sikh refugees (all victims of fanaticism) living in Jammu since decades so that all of their grievances are redressed.
In fact, it is time for New Delhi to revisit former President R Venkataraman's solution: "Give UT to Ladakh, give statehood to Jammu and deal with Kashmir separately". Acceptance and implementation of his formula would limit the area of communal strife to the small Kashmir Valley and help New Delhi tackle it more effectively. |
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