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| Separatists may not talk to interlocutors if they are bureaucrats | | 8-point peace package News ANALYSIS | | EARLY TIMES REPORT
Jammu, Sept 26: Will the 8-point package, which the Government of India announced on Saturday, help restoration of pace and normalcy to the Kashmir valley which has been rattled by violent civilian unrest during the last three and a half months which left over 105 people dead ?This question does not seem to have any fixed reply because those separatists who matter in the current Kashmir politics have rejected the package describing it as a mere "eyewash."
Reports indicate that the hardliners among the separatists have started believing that when the Government of India could concede some of "our main demands"why will it not accept "our demand for grant of right of self-determination to the people of the troubled state if the people kept the movement alive."This belief,even if it is far-fetched,has set in motion an impression in Kashmir that when the Government had almost agreed on the withdrawal of troops and AFSPA from some areas in the state time was not far off when the Government will concede the demand for "grant of azadi for Kashmiris."
Another report said that moderates in the separatist camp have avoided reacting to the 8-point package and have preferred to discuss it in the working committees of the JKLF,headed by Mohd.yasin Mailk, and the APHC,led by Molvi Umar Farooq.They tried to gain time so that tthey could,indirectly discuss the issue with Syed Ali Shah Geelani,who has been running the show in the Kashmir valley during the last over three months.Interestingly,Geelani has responded to the package by issuing a fresh calender on protests from September 27 to October 6.
During these three months the moderates were seen playing a second fiddle to Geelani and at one stage Molvi Umar Farooq had sent his emissaries to Geelani for hammering out a unity formula.Though the two sides failed to forge unity,Malik and Umar endorsed all the programmes and calls issued by Geelani.This itself indicates that the moderats had been forced to get relgated to the background and they planned their survival only after they decided to jump into the bandwagon of Geelani.Hence if Geelani has rejected the package chances of peace in Kashmir may continue to be remote.
Yes,possibilities of peace returning to the valley could become bright once the Government took immediate steps on deciding the fate of the AFSPA.Once the Act was withdrawn from some areas in the state and the strength of the troops was reduced in areas within the valley besides releasing the detained youths many among the protesters would be forced to rethink on Geelani's calender on protests.They may opt for peace.But the 8-point package needs to be supplemented with other concessions and the PDP leadership has already conveyed to the centre that he package "is a good beginning but more needs to be done to regain peoples' trust."
The package provides for constituting a team of interlocuters for holding sustained dialogue with all sections of people in the state.Here it may be pointed out that as far as the moderates in the separatist camp are concerned they have and will not be ready to discuss Kashmir with anybody else than either the Prime Minister or the Union Home Minister or a team of central cabinet ministers appointed for the task by the Prime Minister.These separatists refused to talk to K.C.Pant when he was appointed an interlocuter by the Government of India.At that stage the separatists said "we do not want to talk to bureaucrats but to the political leadership in Delhi." Hence the centre needs to think twice before constituting a team of interlocuters.
Under the present circumstancs the package is quite attractive and no Government in the centre can afford to be more liberal.The one it has taken needs to be appreciated by he people in Kashmir,including these separatists and that too when another package will be announced soon provided the 8-point package generated peace in Kashmir.If there can be any grouse from any corner it should be not from the Kashmir valley but from the regions of Ladakh and Jammu besides,the refugees from Pakistan and occupied Kashmir and the Kashmiri migrants whose aspirations and prolems have gone unnoticed.The Jammuites believe that the centre has tried to assuage the ruffled feelings of the people of the region by constituting special task forces for examining the development needs for the regions of Jammu and Ladakh when the needs were fully known to the state and central Governments. |
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