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COVER STORY: INDO-PAK SPECIAL
Home Of Contention
As the Hurriyat fumes at being left out of talks,
the people of Kashmir hope, yet again, that peace will return
By Izhar Ahmed Wani in Srinagar
Hope should have
died a lingering death in Kashmir: a decade of violence and repeated failure
of Indo-Pak talks are not quite the recipe for peace. Two and a half years
ago, hope was poised for resurrection when Prime Minister Atal Bihari
Vajpayee boarded the bus to Lahore. Only to be dashed months later in
Kargil and then, at Kandahar.
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PRAYER FOR PEACE: Kashmiris are tired of living under the
gun
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Vajpayee
and Musharraf are on the right track, believe the kashmiris.
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Strangely then, Delhi's May 23 offer of talks
to Islamabad has the Kashmiris grasping at hope yet again. And as India
and Pakistan gear up for the historic summit in Agra, most people believe
that Vajpayee and Pakistan President General Pervez Musharraf are on the
right track. With an official bodycount of 35,000 in 10 years and a shattered
economy, it could be a belief springing from desperation. Nevertheless,
people have begun eyeing a future where peace is a possibility. "If
good sense prevails, the summit will be followed by a series of dialogues
to find solutions to all the irritants in friendly Indo-Pak relations,
including Kashmir," says Arshi Amin, a schoolteacher in Srinagar.
In fact, Vajpayee's popularity has been on the
rise ever since his November 19, 2000 declaration of the unilateral cease-fire
in Jammu and Kashmir. "Despite being surrounded by hawks, the prime
minister has taken bold decisions to bring normalcy in the subcontinent,"
says Idress Ahmed, another Srinagar resident, who believes Vajpayee has
the will to "resolve all pending issues with Pakistan".
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RETRIBUTION: Massacres, like those of Bihari labourers
last year, could be a price of failed dialogue
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There
is a consensus in the state that even a degree of success in the
talks could usher in peace.
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The Kashmiris are even willing to give credit
to the Pakistani President. Musharraf's stance that he would go to Delhi
with an "open mind" and would be "realistic" in his
talks with Vajpayee was met with approval. His rebuff to separatist clerics
and the advice that they exercise restraint while commenting on India
was well received in Kashmir. So much so that a radical, anti-Indian separatist
leader and former chief of the Jamaat-e-Islami, Syed Ali Geelani, who
never missed an opportunity to condemn Delhi, has begun to sing a different
tune. Geelani now insists he was the first to call for an end to India
bashing "much before Musharraf" did.
The change of attitude among the hardliners,
believe experts, is aimed at appeasing both India and Pakistan, ahead
of the summit. However, as in the past, the appeasement has failed and
the All Party Hurriyat Conference (APHC) has not been invited to the negotiation
table. Claiming to be the true representative of the Kashmiri people,
the APHC had demanded its inclusion in the talks.
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ROLE DENIED: Excluded from talks the Hurriyat's anger, for
once, is directed at Pakistan
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It is still not known if Musharraf will meet
the separatists in Delhi. In an interview to an Indian newspaper, the
Pakistani President said he would like to meet them, but refrained from
making it a condition. Even if the meeting does take place, the fury of
the separatist leaders at being left out of the talks is unlikely to diminish.
For once, however, their anger will not be directed at Delhi, but at Islamabad.
The anger could well be justified. While the Hurriyat had persistently
demanded Islamabad's involvement in talks with India, Pakistan has chosen
to ignore the Kashmiris during the dialogue, feel APHC leaders. "We
have been let down by Pakistan," affirms Yaseen Malik, chairman of
the Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF). Nothing is going to emerge
from the talks without the inclusion of Kashmiris, he told India Today
from London. With all its failings and inherent weaknesses, the Hurriyat-since
its inception in 1993-has emerged as a powerful political forum in Kashmir
and cannot be ignored for long, says the ailing JKLF leader.
Malik has found support from several experts
on Kashmir who believe that Delhi's approach to the multi-party combine
has been riddled with contradictions. "While Delhi has invited the
Hurriyat for a dialogue in the past, it has been reluctant to acknowledge
its representative character," says political analyst Tahir Mohiudin.
The Hurriyat has been the only political group that has been engaged in
the Track II diplomacy by the Prime Minister's Office. Yet, India has
failed to overtly recognise it as a force to reckon with.
Delhi's dismissal of the Hurriyat could be attributed
to the treatment it accorded to K.C. Pant, Delhi's pointman on Kashmir.
During his visit to the state in May this year, the Hurriyat leaders had
declined to meet Pant. Says a senior PMO official without mincing words:
"Had the Hurriyat leaders talked to Pant, we may have allowed them
to meet Musharraf on the edges of the summit." So while in the past
the Hurriyat leaders have turned down invitations from the PMO, it was
now the turn of the PMO to deny them a meeting with Vajpayee.
The sidelining of the Hurriyat has, however,
pleased the National Conference (NC), whose leadership regards the group
as its main political foe. "The ruling party will not want the summit
to succeed," says an analyst, "as it can have a bearing on the
party's very survival." The remarks by the ruling party leaders after
Delhi's announcement of the summit are not only indicative of their doubt
about continuing in power, but suggest that Delhi is on a lookout for
an alternative dispensation. Ever since the talk of the summit, state
Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah and his son and Union Minister Omar Abdullah
have been asking NC activists to be prepared for elections, due in October
2002.
For the moment, separatist militant leaders
are claiming it is "sustained pressure" by them that has forced
Delhi to engage Islamabad in talks. While this is a moot point, what cannot
be denied is the expectations that the impending summit has raised in
Kashmir. So much so that the militants have scaled down their operations.
There is a consensus in the violence-scarred state that even a degree
of success in the talks could be a harbinger of peace. Conversely, failure
could spark a fresh cycle of bloodshed that would make the violence of
the past seem like minor skirmishes.
Full text of all stories at www.thenewspapertoday.com
Also: 'Talks by the Taj': Follow exclusive, interactive news and views
of the Vajpayee-Musharraf summit at www.thenewspapertoday.com
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