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| Chidambaram needs to review his Kashmir policy, urges Panun | | | RUSTAM
EARLY TIMES REPORT
JAMMU, Feb 3: Ajay Chrungoo-led Panun Kashmir (PK) has done well to expose the nature of the ongoing movement in Kashmir and strongly urge the Home Minister and others in New Delhi who deal with Jammu and Kashmir to revise their Kashmir policy so that things in Kashmir are set right and the national interest not only defended, but also further promoted. The PK's was a very timely intervention. The PK on Wednesday presented a true picture of facts regarding the problem in Kashmir.
Reflecting on the nature of problem in Kashmir, the PK leader, in fact, said, "We have keenly observed the functioning of the interlocutors appointed during the recent 'Quit Kashmir' unrest fomented by the separatist formations in Jammu and Kashmir. The apprehensions that the appointment of the new interlocutors has, in fact, been a decision taken in continuity to push forward the so-called agreement between India and Pakistan, now recognized as 'Musharraf Plan', have only grown since the interlocutors have started functioning. We don't feel hopeful that they have been appointed to retrieve the situation in the state, combat effectively and resolutely the pernicious separatist movement and undo the damage done to the national interests."
He bemoaned and further said, "Our hope that the 'Quit Kashmir' campaign would have made Government of India wiser to recognize the regressive content of the separatist outlook has been belied. We continue to witness the government of India's flirtations with various separatist formations in the state, as also the respectability being conferred upon them. For years Government of India has pursued a course of trying to contain or curtail communalism and separatism in Jammu and Kashmir by pampering and promoting variants of communalism and separatism rather than investing in secular nation-building. This approach has proved to be a process of gradual self-annihilation. This policy perspective has made all patriotic people in the State, particularly Hindus, Sikhs and Buddhists" as insignificant people to be "sacrificed."
The upshot of his whole argument was that the authorities have sought to throw in the lot of the minorities in the state, who constitute nearly 78 per cent of the population in the state, with the separatists and compromise the Indian position on Jammu and Kashmir. Another refrain of his was that the acceptance of the shared sovereignty formula as advocated by Musharraf, a number of Kashmiri leaders and some Delhi-based think-tanks, would undo all that the nation has done thus far in the state. One cannot but agree with him. Only banana republic can behave this way and buckle under pressure.
The PK leader did not stop here. He went on to say that it was time for the "Government of India to realize that retrieval of situation in the State does not lie in cohabiting and traversing the path of separatism and pandering to communal forces" and added that "the real retrieval lies in the delegitimisation of all variants of separatism in the State, as also in exposing their regressive content." "The conflict resolution models adopted in the state have been, in fact, a construct which has only complimented those forces who see Jammu and Kashmir as a separate Muslim sphere," he, in fact, said.
The operative part of what he told media persons was all the more candid and quite meaningful. It read like this: "We call upon the Government of India to unambiguously reject the 'Musharraf Plan' for Jammu and Kashmir without delay or dithering. This has become imperative because Pakistani leadership has claimed umpteen times in the recent past that the 'Musharraf Plan' had almost become the basis of an agreement between India and Pakistan on Jammu and Kashmir, which was just a few notches away from a formal endorsement. We strongly emphasize the need of the Government of India to come clean on the issue that has caused alarm across the country. We urge the Government of India to immediately dispel the impression that it is on the side of those forces which are seeking the retraction of India from the state of Jammu and Kashmir." The operative part further read: "We demand that government of India must stop calling the problem in Kashmir as a 'Political' one. This has only undermined the national efforts over the years to defeat separatism in Kashmir. We are of the considered view that the problem in Kashmir is neither constitutional nor political and economic. It is basically problem of uncontested communalism."
The PK leader only hit the nail on the head when he said all this. During the past few weeks, statements have emanated from Pakistan, and even from Delhi, suggesting that Musharraf and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had virtually reached an agreement and that they simply had to sign it. "It was just a signature away," according to former Pakistani Foreign Minister Kasuri. As per the reported agreement reached between the two, the state had to be demilitarized, Actual Line of Control and borders to be rendered irrelevant, India and Pakistan were to control the state jointly and the state was to enjoy self-governance. It needs to be noted that none in New Delhi has ever contested the claim of Kasuri. Hence, what Ajay Chrungoo said needs to be viewed in this context.
Will the Home Minister and others who matter in the corridors of powers in New Delhi take into consideration what the PK leader said and what a vast majority of the people in the state long for? They must. Not to consider them and to continue to cling to the same old Kashmir policy would be only create more problems in the state, something that needs to be averted at any cost. For, the nation just can't afford more troubles in the state, where a handful of extremists have disturbed everything and created a volcanic situation. |
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