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| Mattoo on an important mission in Jammu | | Finishing the unfinished Delhi agenda | | Early Times Report
JAMMU, June 7: Controversial former Vice-Chancellor of Jammu University, Amitabh Mattoo, is in Jammu. He has little or no say in his own community. Many community members say that "he stands excommunicated from the community for all practical purposes because he flirts with separatists, Islamabad and others who want Kashmir to become part of Pakistan". Of course, he is very close to the RSS and the BJP, which also today stand totally discredited in the eyes of the very vast nationalist constituency in the state and rest of the country.
Those close to Mattoo say that "he has come to Jammu on an important mission and one of his objectives is to induce the Kashmiri Pandit refugees to pack up and return to those localities they left in early 1990 to save their lives and honour". Yesterday, he was in Rajouri. Sources inform that he was also present in a meeting which was held in New Delhi last month for the same purpose in which BJP general secretary Ram Madhav was also present. That meeting was also attended by three-four other KPs, including KN Pandita, who do not enjoy the confidence of the community to which they belong. That meeting had not yielded the desired results. Ram Madhav was so upset with the outcome of the meeting that he accused certain elements in the community of playing a "negative" role and "misusing social media".
The purpose of the Delhi meeting was to motivate the KP refugees to return to Kashmir. Mattoo and Madhav and those at the helm of affairs in the state and at the centre, like separatists like Syed Ali Shah Geelani, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and Yasin Malik, are against the KPs' demand for separate homeland in the Valley, as also against the suggestion that separate or composite townships should be created for the KPs wihin the Valley. They consider separate settlement for the KPs as "Israel-type settlements". They all want to solve the Kashmir problem but the KPs, according to them, are not allowing them to move forward because the persecuted and hounded out KPs are not prepared to compromise their stand on homeland, Indian sovereignty and those who expelled them from Kashmir to establish there Pakistan-type rule. They want them to become part of the Kashmir solution, but they are creating problem by opposing the Kashmiri Muslim sub-nationalism as well as their urge for separation and Pakistan.
Sources say Mattoo has come to Jammu to "finish the unfinished Delhi agenda" by bringing on board the alienated but determined KPs. Only less than two weeks ago, Mattoo had suggested that the KPs should hold talks with Kashmiri Muslims so that they were accepted by them. He did talk about the role of the state government and the central government, but that role will be played once the KPs and Kashmiri Muslims reached an understanding or after the KPs accepted all the terms and conditions. In a way, he considered the role of the state government and the central government not that important and gave everyone to understand that the Kashmiri Muslims were the final arbitrators.
"There is no magic mantra, no quick fix. No one has a solution that can be mechanically adopted. I think to believe, or create a mechanical construct of the perfect way for Pandits to return, is unreal - you require a dialogue between Pandits and Muslims at civil society level, so that you can arrive at an understanding. Then, state government and Delhi can facilitate whatever is arrived at. I think no one has spoken to Pandits directly or to civil society in the Valley. Rather than impose solutions, you need consensus in an organic way - that would be a way of ensuring durable, sustainable return of Pandits with dignity," he had said.
Mattoo had also talked about reconciliation, saying there were many stakeholders in Jammu & Kashmir. He didn't say that the Indian nation was the only stakeholder in its Jammu & Kashmir, which it is. Nor did he say that others in Jammu & Kashmir were the stakeholders in the governance of the state, which they must be. He urged everyone to "create a climate for reconciliation which, in the case of J&K, means not just one but multiple processes".
"You need reconciliation between Kashmiri Muslims and Delhi. For decades, Kashmiri (Muslims) have felt deeply alienated from the Centre's policies. In the Valley, you need reconciliation between Pandits and Muslims. Everyone recognises they were faithful to a syncretic culture for centuries - but the gulf between them has widened. Then, within the state, you need multiple reconciliations between the Valley, Jammu and Ladakh and within these regions, there are sub-regions. Finally, there has to be reconciliation between two parts of Kashmir across the LoC. And, in a grand kind of reconciliation, we need to build foundations of India-Pakistan peace," he had said. It is not difficult to understand what he meant by reconciliation. People of the state, including the KPs, are not fool; they understand what he meant.
Mattoo had also defined role for Prime Minister Narendra Modi. "Prime Minister Narendra Modi has demonstrated he no longer wants to be just leader of a section of people but be seen as an international statesman - he wants to rise above partisan politics. The greatest hallmark of his success would be durable peace in Kashmir. One of the markers of it would also be withdrawal of all other extra legislations" (in this AFSPA, Disturbed Areas Act and Public safety Act), He had said, adding "Well, you need to address a genuine sense of insecurity in the Valley".
"This is the broad framework within which he would work in Jammu during his stay," source close to him inform. It will be seen if he succeeds in his "reconciliation" mission or a mission that is aimed at throwing in the lot of the nationalist minorities with the Pakistani agents and fanatics, who have been playing havoc since 1987. |
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