Zuhaib Maqbool Hamza (30) doesn’t keep loose change in his trouser. The clinking of coins disturbs him. A photo journalist, Hamza lost his left eye on September 1 last year while covering a protest in Srinagar’s downtown. A policeman, whom Hamza recognises, emptied over 500 pellets at his body. At least two pellets became stuck in his left eye. When doctors operated on him, they extracted the metal piece from the corner of his left eyelid and put it in the bowl kept next to his face. He could hear the clink of the pellet as it slithered down the ceramic bowl. The sound haunts him now.
Ask Mr. Hamza about the visit of the Centre’s Special Representative Dineshwar Sharma to Srinagar and he says, “I don’t care.” Mr. Hamza says he is oblivious to the entire peace process initiated by the Centre as many like him were neither contacted by the Centre nor the State government.
“Who are the people he [Dineshwar Sharma] met? On the one hand, Modi ji says jawans from Himachal Pradesh are targeted by stone-throwers in Kashmir and, on the other hand, he sends this man [Mr. Sharma] for a dialogue. I was doing my job when a Jammu & Kashmir policeman fired at me,” Mr. Hamza says.
In an election rally in Himachal Pradesh’s Kullu on November 5, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had said, “Jawans from Himachal are targeted by stone-pelters in Kashmir.”
A day later, Mr. Sharma, who was tasked by the Centre to initiate and “carry forward a dialogue” with elected representatives, various organisations and concerned individuals in J&K, began his visit. Some of the people who met Mr. Sharma told him that Mr. Modi’s statement had hurt them.
A post-graduate student at Kashmir University, who did not wish to be identified, said the entire process was “a farce” as Mr. Sharma was a former Intelligence Bureau official and Mr. Modi’s statement was dividing the people. “The so-called process is not going to yield any result. It is a political gimmick. Who are the stakeholders he met? Even if they engage the Hurriyat leaders, we are not interested. If they really want to fund a solution, they should involve someone from the international community,” the student said.
Mr. Sharma had earlier said that he “would try to meet the Hurriyat leaders” but the separatists showed no interest in engaging with him.
Another student said, “We would accept anyone who was associated with former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee — someone who understood the process. They don’t want to resolve things and only buy time.”
Last year, 15 civilians were killed and 396 were injured, many blinded, in various incidents where pellet guns were used by security forces on protesters. The incidents occurred after July 8, 2016, when Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani was killed in an encounter with security forces. In a major shift from its earlier policy on Kashmir, the Centre announced Mr. Sharma’s name as the Special Representative to carry forward the dialogue process in the State. It has not defined the ‘terms of reference for the initiative and, as one researcher put it, “We still do not know the objective of his visit. But he should be given a chance.”
In all, Mr. Sharma met around 60 delegations in Srinagar. The list was prepared by the State government, with many questioning the choice of people he met. One of the primary objectives of Mr. Sharma’s meeting was to address the youth of the Valley. Several young delegations were seen being ushered into the Hari Niwas Guest House on the heavily fortified Gupkar Road, where the Special Representative received them.
Adnan Manzoor of the Jammu and Kashmir Youth Alliance, who met Mr. Sharma on November 7, said that he received an invitation from the Divisional Commissioner’s office in Srinagar a day ago. G.M Wani, of an organisation called Kashmir Society, also said that he had received an invite from the Commissioner’s office.
A Home Ministry official said it was the State government that decided the composition of delegations. “They had taken control of the entire process and sent out invites. When there was a lukewarm response on the first day, the State government asked people to register at the Divisional Commissioner’s office on their own and meet Mr. Sharma. We will be careful next time that all sections of society are represented, including pellet victims and students,” said the official.
“We invited only those people who were selected by New Delhi. We had no role to play in this,” the J&K government official said.
Mr. Sharma is expected to visit the Kashmir Valley again by the end of this month and would travel to districts in south Kashmir to get first-hand knowledge of the problems being faced by the people.
A Home Ministry official said that the Centre could not reject the delegations arranged by the State government and most people who met Mr. Sharma discussed issues relating to “governance and corruption”.
