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Even
by the grisly standards of Kashmir, last week was exceptionally barbaric:
100 innocent people killed in a single day in seven massacres. Not coincidentally,
the killings happened just as the Government responded to a cease-fire
call and was readying for talks with an important Kashmiri militant group.
The country was outraged but the prime minister took the brave and difficult
decision to continue with the dialogue -- the first with the gunmen of
the Valley. The talks hold out a glimmer of hope to the people of Kashmir
who have become weary of violence.
There have
been many peace initiatives in the past but they have always come to nought.
This time the Centre has moved simultaneously on many fronts. There is
the back-channel diplomacy with the Hurriyat leadership, the discussions
with Farooq Abdullah on the autonomy report, the cease-fire with the Hizbul
and initiatives at the diplomatic level. These moves have encouraged considerable
speculation and it is not very clear how the different and contradictory
agendas of the various players can be reconciled. The question being asked
is: does the Government have a clear game plan? Or is it as much a victim
of confusion as everyone else?
Our cover
story -- the 21st on Kashmir since 1977 -- examines the different agendas
being pursued in Kashmir. Why is the most important militant group talking
peace with Delhi? How will the other hardline groups respond and how will
Pakistan react to India getting the upper hand diplomatically? Equally,
what are the hidden agendas of the various players? Does peace really
stand a chance? If not, why are they still talking?
Says Special
Correspondent Ramesh Vinayak who travelled to Srinagar and visited the
massacre sites: "It's a bizarre chess game -- with the people as
pawns." In Kashmir, unfortunately, pawn seems a euphemism for bullet
fodder.
(Aroon
Purie)
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India
should learn the kung-fu of business or get hammered by China after it
joins the WTO, says Sudeep Chakravarti in
"It
is a frustration that India and Pakistan have not grown up enough to pull
their heads out of the sand." Read an exclusive interview with 
