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VIEWPOINT:
FIFTH COLUMN
Bypass
Democracy
Why
are pseudo-representatives and Pakistan being allowed to set the Kashmir
agenda?
By
Tavleen Singh
As
if it were the final solution to the Kashmir problem, we have, for weeks
now, debated the composition of the delegation of Hurriyat leaders that
wishes to go to Pakistan. On almost a daily basis newspapers across the
country carried on their front pages pictures of long-faced, pheran-clad
gentlemen in gloomy discourse. The accompanying stories speculated ponderously
about who would go and what this would mean, as if it were the most important
question for the future of the Indian subcontinent. Few commentators had
the courage to admit that it would make no difference at all, that it
did not matter who went or why. They are, please remember, going only
because Pakistan's general wants to establish his belief that the All
Party Hurriyat Conference represents the people of Kashmir as distinct
from the people of India. This is his way of paving the way for eventual
tripartite talks between India, Pakistan and Kashmir.
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Ninan
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So, sitting
in distant Islamabad, Pakistan's unelected Government has decided who
should represent the Kashmiri people. And, since democracy is not something
Pakistan understands, or even has respect for, it is appropriate that
it chose a group of politicians that has never shown any ability to win
votes. A little like Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale deciding, in those long
gone days, that he represented the Sikh community. The Sikhs never indicated
that they accepted his self-appointed leadership, nobody asked them anyway.
Since they were dealing with death squads which never had time for debate,
few people objected when their elected representatives were marginalised
as Bhindranwale rose and rose and rose.
Something
like this is happening to Farooq Abdullah. As Jammu and Kashmir's legally
elected chief minister you would think that he had some right to speak
for the state. But no, he does not because Pakistan objects to the fact
that he considers himself Indian and India is too namby-pamby about what
it wants to come down firmly on his side.
When terrorists
from Pakistan shot at him last week and declared that they would continue
to try killing him there was the usual feeble response from the Home Ministry.
Tch, tch, very bad, very bad. How can we consider peace moves when Pakistan's
unofficial soldiers are busy (despite our cease-fire pronouncements) trying
not just to assassinate a chief minister but even blow up the Red Fort
in Delhi? In short, we are yet again allowing terrorism to triumph over
democracy. More significantly, we still do not know what we are actually
trying to achieve in Kashmir. If we did we could dictate the agenda and
Pakistan would have to listen.
There can
be no peace process in Kashmir until the Government of India decides what
it wants to achieve and how. Meanwhile, it would help our position considerably
if we were seen to be improving our human rights record in the Valley.
There is no way that peace will come to Kashmir unless our security forces
understand that killing innocent people as terrorists is not good policy.
There is also no way that the average Kashmiri will understand that being
part of India is in his own interest unless he sees around him some of
the benefits of this proposition. Even a casual visitor to Kashmir can
see that it is falling to pieces, that if there were once good roads they
no longer exist and that almost nothing has happened that can be vaguely
described as development for several years now. If Kashmir is, as our
leaders like to tell us, a special state, then surely Farooq's bankrupt
Government could have at least been offered financial help from Delhi.
This is
only the domestic dimension. There is also an international dimension
to the problem that has not been addressed except for our having shouted
from the rooftops that Pakistan is responsible for cross-border terrorism.
Fine, but what are we going to do about it?
Are we going
to talk to Pakistan directly? Are we going to seek international mediation?
And, if we are going to do neither, what do we plan to do? So far all
that A.B. Vajpayee's Government has done is fumble around in the dark.
At one time, senior officials in Delhi said they were not talking to Pakistan
because they wanted the general to stew in his own mess. Then why are
we allowing the Hurriyat delegation to go at all? If Pakistan has invited
them because it sees them as representing Kashmir and not India, then
are we prepared to accept that Kashmir is no longer a part of India?
It is an
absurd situation in which the Hurriyat delegation is yet another absurdity.
Even if the Hurriyat leaders succeed in going, what do they hope to achieve?
Since they consider themselves Kashmiri and not Indian we cannot demand
answers from them. But we certainly have a right to demand answers-if
not a clear Kashmir policy-from our own Government. Can we have some answers
please?
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