India should seriously include Kashmiris in tripartite talks to resolve the issueSrinagar, Oct 14, 2010:
Senior leader of Kashmir's All Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC) and Chief Patron of Jammu & Kashmir Ittihadul Muslimeen (JKIM) Maulana Mohammad Abbas Ansari has said that the appointment of interlocutors by Indian government to hold talks on Kashmir issue is a futile exercise primed for deceiving International Community and wasting time as it would fetch nothing. Asking Indian Government to adopt a realistic approach, the ex chairman of Hurriyat Conference (M), in a statement issued in Srinagar today said holding talks with the interlocutors of Indian government won’t serve any purpose.Indian Home Minister P Chidambaram on Wednesday named three interlocutors, eminent journalist Dilip Padgaonkar, Information Commissioner M. M. Ansari and noted academician Radha Kumar to hold talks with all shades of opinion in Jammu and Kashmir as part of efforts to bring peace to the state.
The Statement of Maulana Abbas Ansari follows as under:The government of India has announced the names of three interlocutors and has given them the job of holding talks with all shades of opinion in Jammu & Kashmir. We’ve never been against the talks and APHC was committed to bring about a peaceful and political solution to the dispute through meaningful dialogue, but we have said it again and again that Kashmir is a political dispute which could be resolved politically through peaceful negotiations keeping in view the historical perspective of the dispute. We think that no peace plan for Kashmir can go forward without realization of the right to self-determination of the Kashmiri people. The international community stands committed to the people of Kashmir and their right to self-determination and first Prime minister of India Pandit Jawahar Lal Nehru has promised at different times to give the people of Kashmir this right. There are three parties to the dispute and till talks are held between all the parties involved especially the true representatives of Kashmiris, no headway can be achieved. On our part we are ready and willing to engage and sustain a meaningful and irreversible process of dialogue designed to develop and implement a solution to the Kashmir dispute that is acceptable to all sides – India, Pakistan and above all the people of J&K.
In the past, many interlocutors and committees led by KC Pant, Ram Jehtmalani, NN Vohra and others had been formed but they all failed in their endeavor. In the past we have talked to the level of Prime Minister. However these talks have not yielded any results because the aspirations of Kashmiris and root cause of the dispute was always neglected. Ironically, while extending talks offer India has always been reiterating that Kashmir is its integral part. It is not acceptable to Kashmiris who have been rendering unflinching sacrifices since 1947 for the right to self-determination.
In 2005, after years of back Channel discussions, we choose to start a meaningful dialogue process with the Government of India to resolve the Kashmir Issue and we continue to be committed to that objective. We took risks to do so and some amongst us sacrificed their lives to tread the path of peacemaking, while others amongst us paid with our credibility. We give some suggestions with a view to generating a favorable political climate for a purposeful dialogue but these suggestions were never taken seriously by the Indian government.
The initiatives taken by Indian government in the past to hold dialogue with Hurriyat Conference in Kashmir have suffered due to lack of seriousness and sincerity on part of Indian side. This failure has bred cynicism and destroyed hope. The non-serious approach of Indian government towards Kashmir problem has eroded the credibility of the institution of dialogue. The institution of dialogue deserves a serious approach and restoring its credibility, keeping in view the sensitivities embedded in the Kashmir issue. We were expecting that the Indian government will form the group of interlocutors, while taking into consideration past experiences regarding the dialogue. But it seems yet again, a causal approach has been adapted which again reflected New Delhi’s lack of seriousness with regard to the Kashmir issue. The appointment has once again trivialized and belittled the institution of dialogue and further eroded its credibility. It seems there is no change in the mindsets at decision making levels in New Delhi.
We think that Indian government again failed and showed its non-seriousness to resolve the Kashmir dispute by appointing a non political group which has no mandate to solve the Kashmir problem. Actually India wants to use the dialogue process to buy the time. Recent protests are the biggest threat to Indian rule in Kashmir in many years. The appointments are part of measures aimed at defusing tension. More than 100 Kashmiris have been killed since June in protests against Indian rule. It follows the thousands of lives already lost over the past decades due to the unresolved Kashmir dispute. The announcement of 8 point programme on 25th September and now the names of non political interlocutors is just the repeat of India's convention of confusing and deceiving the Kashmiris and the International community. We are now wary that this appointment of interlocutors represents only an effort at short-term crisis management on part of India and that there is no clear commitment nor path towards effective resolution of the Kashmir Issue and addressing the aspirations and interests of the people of Jammu & Kashmir. We have seen in the past that it is only when a major crisis erupts that visible efforts are made to engage and understand our aspirations. And as soon as the immediate crisis subsides, the demonstrated and inherent political complacency and negligence is restored.
In these circumstances, New Delhi's effort is a non-serious rather joking one. After the decision to appoint a set of interlocutors was taken at the Cabinet Committee on Security on September 25th, we were thinking that India will realize the sensitivity of the issue this time but it has not. In our joint memorandum to All Parties Parliamentary Delegation of Indian political parties, we had suggested constituting a Parliamentary Committee of all political parties of India and on the same pattern we suggested constitution of Parliamentary Committee of all political parties of Pakistan. Both these panels would have started dialogue and it would have given credence to the institution of the dialogue irrespective of what party would have been in power in New Delhi and Islamabad. Instead of working on that New Delhi, came up with this joke. There is no scope of engagement with them. We suggested some measures to improve the situation on the ground but no relief has been given to people and instead arrests, detentions, restrictions and curfews continue. Nothing of this sort has been done. We expected a political committee comprising members of the opposition as well as the governing parties. Such a committee would talk with Pakistan as well as with Kashmiri leaders.
By appointing academicians and journalists to the committee, the Indian government has sought to make light of the Kashmir problem. We think it is yet another joke played with the people of Kashmir.
It was high time for implementation of the Confidence Buildings Measures suggested by the Hurriyat Conference to Indian government. The need of the hour is to improve the ground situation in the Valley before initiation of talks. On one hand India wants to revive the talks and on the other arrests and harassment of Kashmiris is going on unabated. We have given four-point proposals to improve situation in the Valley but it has met with deaf ears and troopers and cops are leaving no stone unturned to crush the ongoing movement.
In these circumstances we think that the appointment of interlocutors is a mere waste of time and thus a futile exercise. No serious step seems forthcoming from New Delhi. They are just engaged in buying time. India should come forward seriously and include Kashmiris in tripartite talks to resolve the issue.
Nobody in Kashmir will accept interaction with Indian interlocutors as we have already put forward the suggestions and conditions for the talks before Indian government. We stick to our principle stand for future talks and will accept only tripartite dialogue that also for the resolution of the Kashmir issue once for all. I want to maintain that we are not seeking concessions but solution. Unless Indian Government officially accepts to solve the Kashmir issue as per the wishes and aspirations of Kashmiri people through tripartite dialogue, and releases all the prisoners concerned, repeals AFSPA and other draconian laws, starts demilitarization, halts Human Rights Violations; there is no justification of dialogue even the bilateral one. Kashmir dispute has reached such a stage where it demands involvement of the stakeholders at the highest level. So this long pending issue has to be resolved by the leadership of India, Pakistan and Kashmir in accordance with aspirations of Kashmiris
We want to make it clear that we do not doubt the integrity or credibility of the interlocutors. Although the three interlocutors are eminent and highly respected personalities in their respective fields, but we feel that their nomination for the Kashmir mission reflects a lack of appreciation of the problem at hand in the state. There is a journalist, an academic and a researcher. We have no problem with them but the issues are more political in nature and out of their reach. Radha Kumar, who heads the Nelson Mandela Institute of Peace in Jamia Milia Islamia, has been engaged in back-channel discussions with us when the Hurriyat Conference was chaired by Mirwaiz Umer Farooq and then Syed Ali Shah Geelani. She had visited the State several times and interacted with us on several issues related to Kashmir problem. Recently also, she was in the Valley and tried to meet Hurriyat leaders but we refused to met the delegation as we believe that the talks and atrocities cannot go together. Our immediate demand was that the torture, killing and arrest of innocent civilians must stop immediately. Mr Padgaonkar was part of Kashmir committee led by eminent lawyer Ram Jethmalani. Noted educationist and economist M. M. Ansari was a professor and director at the Hamdard University before becoming information commissioner.
In our view, the question is of deliverance and authority to take important decisions. One thing is clear that the Interlocutors have very less space to solve the Kashmir issue. So it may not serve any purpose. In view of the political nature of the present crisis, New Delhi should hold talks on it at the highest level. We had asked for constituting an all-party delegation of Parliamentarians of India and Pakistan to address Kashmir issue and pave way for resolution of the long-standing dispute. During the past 63 years, bilateral dialogues have failed to pave way for Kashmir resolution. This issue has sparked off three wars between India and Pakistan so far.
Indian Home minister has also said that the panel will cover views of all the three regions - Jammu, Ladakh and Kashmir. Now it is important to see whom they would be talking to in Jammu and Ladakh. As usual, they would be taking to those who are in the mainstream camp and have nothing against India and surely will skip those who are spearheading the peaceful protests against the Indian rule in their areas. That remains to be seen. Talking to people in Jammu and Ladakh would be okay, but the primary issue is Kashmir. It is a major issue, and New Delhi should have taken initiatives in line with the four-point proposal forwarded by us.
We also suggest to Hurriyat Conference and to the whole pro freedom camp that they should also put forward the joint penal of their own interlocutors to negotiate with the interlocutors appointed by the government of India as this is the time to introduce and internationalize the dispute to the world by appointing non political people like senior lawyer, journalist, educationist, economist and others, who are known in the public and have the credibility and knowledge to deal and negotiate with Indian leadership.
Posts
