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| Chidambaram, Kashmir and separatists | | Result-Oriented Talks | | RUSTAM
JAMMU, Jan 4: Union Home Minister P Chidambaram has complicated things in Kashmir by making controversial statements. There should be no doubt about it. He has said certain things about Kashmir no one in the New Delhi's South and North Blocks ever said. Take, for example, his October 2009 Srinagar statement. He had said in Srinagar that "Kashmir has a unique history and unique geography and Kashmir is a unique problem that needs a unique solution". It is this statement that is being exploited to the hilt by the votaries of autonomy, self-rule and independence and by those who say that Jammu and Kashmir just cannot be considered an integral part of India. Even interlocutors for Jammu and Kashmir like Dileep Padgaonkar took into consideration this formulation of Chidambaram while preparing their report. One doesn't know what he has recommended in his report.
Chidambaram is not content with what he said in 2009. He is also not content with what lays embodied in the report the interlocutors submitted to him last October. He wants to engage with the Kashmiri separatists. Only the other day, he said that the back channel talks are on to persuade the Kashmiri separatists to enter into dialogue with New Delhi so that the Kashmir issue was amicably resolved.
Chidambaram made the offer of dialogue knowing it full well that the Kashmiri separatists would not meet him or others in New Delhi unless their demands are met. Their demands include "unconditional dialogue", "meaningful and result-oriented dialogue", "admission" that Jammu and Kashmir is a "disputed" territory, "withdrawal" of the Army, "revocation" of such laws as AFSPA and PSA, "end of human rights violations in the Valley", "general amnesty", "tripartite-talks between India, Pakistan and Kashmir" and so on.
These are their age-old demands. There is nothing knew in it. They have been putting forth these demands since decades and they would go on like this infinitely. They will not change their line because this line helps them remain relevant in the Valley and outside.
Any way, what do the Kashmiri separatists mean when they say that they are for meaningful and result-oriented talks? They mean one thing: India must acknowledge that its presence in Kashmir is illegal and unwanted and, hence, India must quit Kashmir to forge a lasting peace in South Asia. They do not want anything less than that. Once they achieve this, they would not mind the state becoming part of Pakistan or becoming an independent and sovereign entity. Their fundamental lynchpin is separation from India on the ground that the state is Muslim-majority and that the Kashmiri Muslims cannot live or co-exist with others in a secular and democratic India.
Can New Delhi accept the separatists' demand? New Delhi cannot. For, the acceptance of this demand would at once mean the beginning of a process that would culminate in the balkanization of India and a great victory of communal politics. Even otherwise, their demand cannot be accepted because they do represent the general will. They do not represent even Kashmir, which occupies only less than 11 per cent of the state's land area.
Chidambaram must refashion his whole approach towards the state taking into account this stark reality. The best thing for him and others in New Delhi to do would be to hold parleys with the people of Jammu and Ladakh, displaced Kashmiri Hindus and other refugees who have been leading a wretched life in Jammu since 1947. For, they are the worst sufferers. Kashmir is over-empowered, over-fed, over-developed and over-appeased. It is this policy of appeasement that has held Kashmir aloof from the mainstream politics and jeopardized the interests of Jammu and Ladakh. Enough is enough. Do away with the appeasement policy; take care of those who have suffered at the hands of Kashmir and Kashmiri leadership.
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