“You cannot shake hands,” Prime Minister Indira Gandhi said famously in a 1982 interview, “with a clenched fist.” Ever since he took office, Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram has been quietly working to un-clench the hands of Jammu Kashmiri secessionists and secure the support of the All Parties Hurriyat Conference for a peace deal. The Hindu recently broke news of a second round of secret meetings with key Hurriyat leaders, a sign that Mr. Chidambaram’s initiative is making some headway. Secret diplomacy is a key weapon, sometimes an effective one, in the arsenal of states seeking to solve intractable conflicts. However, New Delhi’s covert search for peace in Jammu and Kashmir has a less than luminous record. Despite two decades of sustained contact with various groups of secessionists, the results have been disappointing. As People’s Democratic Party leader Mehbooba Mufti has pointed out, a purely covert engagement involves the risk that any agreement arrived at will be perceived to be a ‘sell-out.’
The secret talks are intended to prepare the ground for a public engagement. But there is a major problem. The Hurriyat wants Kashmir’s Islamist patriarch, Syed Ali Shah Geelani, as well as Pakistan and its jihadist allies, to endorse the dialogue. Islamabad, beset by internal crises, is in no position to agree to anything domestic Islamists can attack as capitulation to India. Mr. Geelani has rejected talks on ideological grounds. Past peace efforts floundered on the same rock. Little came, for example, of Deputy Prime Minister L.K. Advani’s 2004 meeting with the Hurriyat. Pakistan rejected the process because it would have undermined its leverage in J&K. For his part, Mr. Geelani walked out of the Hurriyat before the talks. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh sought to address the problem by authorising secret talks with Islamabad even as he met with Hurriyat leaders in September 2005. Diplomats Satinder Lambah and Tariq Aziz agreed on the broad contours of a solution. By 2006, however, it became clear that a beleaguered Pervez Musharraf was in no position to deliver on the five agreed principles. The Hurriyat, for its part, failed to come up with an agenda for talks. Dr. Singh then changed tack: he called a conference, involving all major parties in J&K, in an effort to build consensus on the way forward. The secessionists, unsurprisingly, resiled from promises to participate. Mr. Chidambaram evidently hopes his renewed engagement will break the impasse. Some influential voices in the policy establishment are believed to be sceptical about the chances of success. Both Mr. Chidambaram and Hurriyat president Mirwaiz Umar Farooq must be applauded for giving peace a chance. Given the complexities of the endeavour, there can be no guarantee of success — nor should one be sought. But the time has come to conduct the dialogue in the clear light of day.
Keywords: Jammu Kashmiri secessionists, All Parties Hurriyat Conference, APHC, secessionist leaders, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, Abdul Gani Bhat, Bilal Lone, Union Home Minister, P. Chidambaram, talks
At least an effort toward the solution of the Kashmir problem is a welcome sign. It is better if we draw a 'larger than the largest' frame for the problem. There is a real problem that a major chunk of Kashmir is illegally held by Pakistan. It must be retaken not through violence and war but through dialogue and determination. That is the real problem for which we must be prepared to go any length.
Despite Mr.Chidambaram's optimism and Mr.Mirwaiz's positivity of approach for giving peace a chance,it is very unfortunate that there are external forces which probably do not favor a rapprochement between the two and thus delaying indefinitely a solution to the problem which has been defying resolution.One can only hope that the parties to the dispute do not make it an issue of prestige but sincerely reach a mutually acceptable conclusion.
Though the step taken by the government is commendable, the political scene in Kashmir is too messy to find a solution. The self appointed leaders of Kashmir seem to only use the Kashmir problem for their personal benefit without wanting to see a solution worked out. It is difficult for the government to take all their views for reaching a solution; as most of these views are mutually exclusive. The best way to sort this issue is to speak to elected representatives only. By participating in the election process and electing their representatives in the last held Assembly elections, the people of Kashmir have spoken loud and clear about what they want.
While shaking hands with someone with a cleched fist is difficult, shaking hands with several people at the same time is impossible. When there are several parties to a dispute,all of them have to be satisfied by the final solution to the problem, Now, if any or all the parties are against a joint discussion to explore a solution, it will be running against logic to expect that a solution saisfactory to all concerned will ever be be found. In a long-standing dispute like that on Kashmir,in which the positions of contending parties to the dispute have hardened over time,it will be highly optimistic to think that the dispute will be resolved by secret talks of the type which Mr.Chidambaram has undertaken, The dispute can perhaps be resolved only by using the good offices of common friends of the contending parties. Unfortunately New Delhi has rejected this alternative method of conflict resolution outright.
The leaders emerging on the Kashmir issue always make references to Pakistan, a country which has been suffering in the hands of religious extremists. It will be appropriate to have discussions with leaders who represent people at large of the region. The government also should sincerely attempt to resolve the issue.
"Something" is better than nothing!! Though, the probability of failure in these secret agenda may be very high, but this is the only way we can handle this issue. Our Home Minister is doing everything to fight the odds and bring in peace in to the region. CHAK DE Mr. P.C.!!
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