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| Keep Jammu, Ladakh also on table | | |
Towards the end of a month of New Delhi’s extension of olive branch to Kashmir with many pleasing statements and policy overtures, the forthcoming visit of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to the troubled state assumes huge significance. The Prime Minister, along with Congress President Sonia Gandhi and Railway Minister Mamta Benerjee is visiting the Valley to inaugurate remaining track of Kashmir rail project. With this inauguration, the marvelous train, already in operation, will connect north of Kashmir Valley to the south. A rare feat indeed, but the significance of Prime Minister’s visit extends far beyond this infrastructural facility. As one clearly makes out from the statements, particularly what Prime Minister said on Sunday and the Home Minister P Chidambram said a fortnight back in Srinagar, the visit is clearly aimed at pushing the peace process or precisely renewing a dialogue between New Delhi and Kashmir. What Home Minister had said during his Srinagar visit was an ample policy statement of the Government of India that it viewed Kashmir as a political problem and is willing to engage with the separatists and other shades of opinions in a course of dialogue. Chidrambram’s statement was widely welcomed by the separatists and two key mainstream political parties –the National Conference and the Peoples Democratic Party. However, reservations were expressed on Home Minister’s opinion of political problem by parties like BJP. The separatists were though overwhelmed by the dialogue offer but they asked New Delhi to first come up with some Confidence Building Measures. Relocation of some security formations from north and south of Kashmir, release ‘grand-imprisoned’ separatist Shabir Ahmed Shah after 14-month detention, freedom of movement and expression to Syed Ali Shah Geelani and statements of credence for the separatists from the central leaders are all seen as the Confidence Building Measures before initiating dialogue. Therefore all the developments suggest that Government of India is much serious in kick-starting a grand dialogue on Kashmir with some logics and intentions of reaching results in mind. The most important question here is that what will be the contours of dialogue? There have been such exercises in the past but desired results are yet to be seen. It will be naïve to expect that New Delhi and its dialogue mandarins are not aware of ground realities but there have been some inherent problems with all dialogue exercises. To say that reservation of Kashmiri separatists with the Indian system and their being outside the national mainstream is the only problem in Jammu and Kashmir will amount to further confusing and deferring the solutions of issues in this state. If some people have problems with New Delhi, some many in Jammu and Ladakh have problems with Kashmir. It is fact that Kashmiri separatists lave larger problems but when it comes to negotiating powers and participating in the decision making process within the state, Jammu and Ladakh have much serious problems with Kashmir. The fact of the matter is that the majority in Jammu and Ladakh have always stood for the national integrity but they have always felt ignored in New Delhi’s approach to Jammu and Kashmir which has largely remained Kashmiri centric. There is no point in suggesting that aspirations and sentiments in Kashmir should not be cared for but ignoring Jammu and Ladakh once more will further complicate problems and widen gulfs in the state. Let there be an all encompassing dialogue.
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