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| Did Pakistan foreign office write statements for Kashmiri separatist leaders? | | | agencies
New Delhi, 4-The recent meeting between Pakistan foreign secretary Jalil Abbas Jilani and Kashmiri separatist leaders here has gone on the expected lines. They have apparently mounted pressure on Pakistan not to move forward in improving bilateral ties with India unless Kashmir issue is discussed as the main dispute between the two countries.
Both Syed Ali Shah Geelani and Mirwaiz Omar Farooq have asked Pakistan to announce that unless the Kashmir dispute is resolved there can be no forward movement in India-Pakistan relations.
On the face of it, the common perception carried by the people is that the Kashmiri separatist leaders have again repeated their oft stated positions and the Pakistan foreign secretary Jalil Abbas Jilani has simply given them a patient hearing.
The real story is something that has been missed in the entire episode. The fact of the matter is that before the foreign secretary level talks started between India and Pakistan the visit of the separatist leaders to New Delhi was arranged by Pakistan foreign office. Nobody would believe that the foreign office of Pakistan expected the separatist leaders to ask them to go ahead making bilateral ties stronger with India without taking on board the separatist agenda.
Statements made here by both Syed Ali Shah Geelani and Mirwaiz Omar Farooq have said Pakistan must tell India plainly that unless Kashmir is resolved there is no point discussing other CBMs with India.
It is clear that the statements made by the Kashmiri separatist leaders are those which the Pakistan foreign office expected them to make or to be exact, which the Pakistan foreign office asked them to make.
It has been the traditional policy of the Pakistan foreign office to try and mount pressure on their Indian counterpart by raising the bogey of Kashmir. Otherwise what is the legitimacy of statements made by separatist leaders whose public acceptability has never been tested? While the Mirwaiz has not fought a single election and what he can win if he chooses to do so, remains highly debatable, Geelani has remained a member of the state assembly representing Sopore assembly segment in the past.
Giving outright legitimacy to the Kashmiri separatist leaders without ever asking them to try and prove their standing among the people of Kashmir is something Pakistan has been doing for the last over 60 years.
Pakistan harped on the singular popularity of late Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah for nearly 40 years stating that the late Sheikh was the only representative voice in Kashmir. After the Sheikh returned back to mainstream politics and fought elections once again in 1977, Pakistan suddenly started looking for 'real representatives of Kashmiris from outside the National Conference".
The Sheikh was labeled as somebody who had sold out on his ideals and lesser known leaders who preferred not to test their standing among the people through a democratic process were promoted as the 'real representatives of Kashmiris'.
The game of pressure tactics and the bogey of popular sentiment has been blown out of proportion. Yes, there are legitimate problems faced by the people of Kashmir and many might still have misgivings about the political dispensation in Jammu and Kashmir. Yet, it is doing no good either to India-Pakistan bilateral ties nor the cause of the Kashmiri people to suggest that unless everything else is forgotten and Kashmir resolved, the two south Asian neighbours cannot move forward in improving their ties whose larger implications concern not only the state of Jammu and Kashmir but lie far beyond the borders of the state. |
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