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| NC in a hurry to get autonomy, wants PM to intervene | | | NEHA
EARLY TIMES REPORT
JAMMU, Feb 26: The ruling National Conference is in a hurry. It is not happy with the interlocutors, notwithstanding the latter's very positive attitude towards those in Kashmir who have been putting forth all kinds of demands calculated to harm the paramount sovereign interests in the state and jeopardize the legitimate rights and interests of people other than those who inhabit the very small Kashmir Valley.
One of the prominent leaders of the National Conference and Member of Rajya Sabha Mohammad Shafi Uri has even gone to the extent of telling the House of Elders that these interlocutors have "nearly failed in achieving their goal." He has taken this position despite the fact that the interlocutors declared in Jammu on February 24 that they would submit what they called their initial report to the Government of India within the next two days and that the said report would contain "contours of a political settlement of Kashmir" - a declaration that caused considerable alarm in Jammu, particularly among the integrationists. It had caused alarm because the chief interlocutor had stated that their interim report would contain the viewpoints of all the Kashmir-based leaders, including the separatists, as also because these interlocutors had not uttered a single word that could create an impression that their approach would be unbiased and holistic and that they would recommend measures which could satisfy the urges and aspirations of the people of Jammu province and Ladakh region as well as refugees from Kashmir, from West Pakistan and from Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir numbering approximately two million.
Shafi Uri virtually denounced the interlocutors and their methodology and approach on the floor of the Rajya Sabha and urged Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to intervene so that the separatists like Geelani, Mirwaiz, Yasin Malik and Shabir Shah were involved in the dialogue process and "Kashmir problem" resolved and autonomy to the state restored. He expressed these provocative views on February 24 while participating in a debate on the motion of thanks on the Presidential Address to the joint-session of the Parliament.
He made four specific demands. One, the Prime Minister must take the initiative himself to "goad in separatists for talks." Two, the Government of India must come out with a solution that is acceptable to the Kashmiri separatists. "For any solution, it is necessary to include separatists in any discourse," he told the Rajya Sabha. Three, the Government of India needed to table and discuss in the Parliament Justice Sageer Ahmed's report on the Centre-State relations. Justice Ahmed's report has commended Article 370 and supported the National Conference's autonomy doctrine. Four, The Union Government must withdraw the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) from the state. "In this very House, last year, Home Minister had promised a revision of AFSPA. But still nothing was heard from him on this promise," he told the Rajya Sabha.
Why was Shafi Uri so much angry with the interlocutors? He was angry because one of them M M Ansari had taken a line that virtually dismissed the Kashmiri separatists as irrelevant. Ansari had reportedly questioned the "popular support of separatists, saying he did not found any support for them." He had even charged them that "they want to linger on instability, as it is linked to their survival." Shafi Uri described what Ansari had said as a political statement. He had also not taken kindly to the reported statement of Ansari that that "they (interlocutors) would focus on people rather than on separatists."
Shafi Uri is, it seems, not prepared to take any cognizance of the complexities in the state, leave alone his big NO to the Indian Constitution and things Indian. He perhaps belongs to that school of thought that considers one section and one part of Kashmir province as the chief determinants and all other people and all other parts of the state, including Jammu and Ladakh, as no factors in the state's political situation. He doesn't know that what he and similar other Kashmiri leaders say could further complicate the already rather complex situation in the state and bring the people of Jammu and Ladakh face to face with the Kashmiri leadership. In other words, his lop-sided and Valley-centric approach could provoke Jammu and Ladakh to rise in revolt against the Kashmiri leadership and start a full-scale movement aimed at ensuring their segregation from Kashmir.
Shafi Uri and similar other leaders must not forget that they are playing with dangerous tools and that that what they have been demanding is what Jammu and Ladakh bitterly oppose and abhor. It would be better if they see writing on the wall and refashion their whole approach to the state. It is a must considering the fact that what they want to achieve is unachievable because Jammu and Ladakh shall not allow them to achieve a goal that dismembers India and enslaves them. |
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