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| Beware of interlocutors for Jammu and Kashmir | | | RUSTAM
EARLY TIMES REPORT
JAMMU, Dec 18: Such are the persons behind whom Padgaonkar and Kumar, Habibullah and Bhushan, stood solidly. As if this was not enough to cause alarm in the nationalist camp across the country, the interlocutors crossed all limits when they landed in Srinagar on October 23 and explained their mandate to reporters, saying, "Pakistan's involvement in any future dialogue on the political settlement of Kashmir dispute is a must. Pakistan has a role. There is a Pakistan dimension to Kashmir issue. It was there since 1947. We can't find a comprehensive solution to Kashmir dispute without taking Pakistan on board. Prime Minister of India has recently stated that India was ready to move beyond half way to settle all issues with Pakistan. Their mandate is limited to finding a permanent, comprehensive and political settlement of the Kashmir dispute. Our primary focus will be to find out a comprehensive permanent solution to the Kashmir dispute… We would love to talk to youth especially students and stone throwers. It won't be good to spend just 10 or 15 minutes with the youth. We would like to spend a whole day with them probably on Monday. The stone-throwers would be given opportunity to talk at length about their future, apprehensions and whatever they want to discuss… We would try to get a feel of alienation that Kashmiri youth are suffering from. We will exchange ideas with the students as they are the ones who wanted to say something through stones and not guns. There are many sections who are for five-point proposal, autonomy, self rule, merger with Pakistan and even Azadi. We have to listen to everybody and are ready to talk on all these things. We want to know what people lodged in prisons have to say. We also want to meet the people in hospitals. When we met UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi, she stressed that we should talk to youth and women with a human touch. That is why Radha Kumar is there."
Stung by Padgaonkar thus internationalising the so-called Kashmir problem by shamelessly asserting that Pakistan is a "party to the Kashmir dispute," the BJP at the national level asked the Prime Minister's Office to "clarify the matter and tell the country if they (interlocutors) had been given the brief by him."
Several Jammu-based political parties and groups expressed similar views and denounced the interlocutors for their unwarranted remarks. Bear in mind that when Padgaonkar talked of the resolution of the so-called Kashmir problem, he did not mean Pakistan-occupied J&K and Gilgit-Baltistan region. He also didn't mean the February 2004 unanimous resolution of the Indian Parliament that mandates the Union Government to take back from Pakistan all the illegally-occupied Indian territories. He meant only the India-retained part of J&K.
As expected, Congress' response to the interlocutor's outrageous statement was highly vague. Its spokesman said, "Dileep Padgaonkar is capable enough of explaining what he said or what he did not say," thus adding fuel to the fire. The cornered and controversial Padgaonkar, who along with his team moved heaven and earth to induce the Kashmiri extremists to meet them (to give legitimacy to their sinecure) and who visited jails to meet those responsible for the orgy of death and destruction in Kashmir Valley, stuck desperately to his foolish and untenable stand - a stand he perhaps took to create an environment that he hoped would motivate the Kashmiri separatists, including APHC (M) chief Mirwaiz Umer Farooq, to meet them and create an impression in South and North Blocks that he and his team were capable of "breaking the ice."
Reacting to BJP's well-founded charge, Padgaonkar said: "I carry the mandate to say what I said. Pakistan is involved since 1948. We have been encouraged by the Prime Minister and the Home Minister, and the Home Minister had said there are no red lines for the interlocutors." If one goes by Padgaonkar, then one is to presume that the PMO, Union Home Ministry and interlocutors are on the same page. If so, this is a serious development that has to be taken cognizance of.
It would be suicidal to allow these interlocutors to function in the manner in which they have started functioning. There is no doubt that whatever Padgaonkar said in Kashmir was what Pakistan and virtually all Kashmiri 'leaders' - Geelani, Mirwaiz, Yasin Malik, Omar Abdullah, Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, Mehbooba Mufti, have been saying.
Padgaonkar and his team have not only complicated the already rather complex situation in the sensitive border state and promoted the Pakistani cause and cause of Kashmiri separatists and fanatics by saying what he said and reiterated, but also brought disgrace to the Indian nation by knocking at the doors of the merchants of death and destruction, and meeting those in jails who have been seeking to dismember India.
It appears that Padgaonkar and the well-known supporters and sympathizers of the Islamic separatists and Maoist terrorists, and persons Habibullah and Bhushan, are working in tandem. It was not a coincidence that a number of supporters of dreaded Maoists and Islamic zealots, Arundhati Roy, Gautam Navlakha, Sanjay Kak, Asmit Roy, Varavara Rao, to mention a few, reached Srinagar when Padgaonkar and his team were there.
These Maoists reached Srinagar as per a diligently crafted strategy. Padgaonkar and his team reached Srinagar on October 23 and the Maoists landed a day later to demand separation of Kashmir from India . It was also not a coincidence that only Padgaonkar, Kumar, Habibullah and Bhushan defended Geelani and Arundhati Roy, and Nidhi Razdan and Pankaj Pachauri of NDTV 24x7 and NDTV India organized highly controversial, motivated and ill-intentioned debates on the right to speech and expression. There must be certain elements which are operating behind the scenes. It could be the ubiquitous Uncle Sam.
New Delhi would do well to rein in these interlocutors. They do not represent the nation or the national sentiment. Their words and actions show that they are causing an irreparable damage to India and the minorities in the state. (Concluded) |
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