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| Kashmir violence motivates centre to resume talks with separatists | | | EARLY TIMES REPORT
Jammu, Aug 7: Once again Union Home Minister, P.C. Chidambaram, has stated that he was willing and prepared to resume dialogue with the separatists and in this connection he has requested the hardliners, led by Syed Ali Shah Geelani, to join the process of dialogue. Chidambarams' announcement that the Centre was keen to resume talks with the separatists is not as important news as the timing of the announcement. One would like to ask the Union Home Minister to disclose what prompted or provoked or motivated him to favour resumption of talks with those who are other side of the fence. One has not to wait for an answer from the Minister because it is no longer a secret that the central Government has been forced to favour reopening of the channels of dialogue with the separatists as a result of the ongoing turmoil and violence in the valley which has left 30 people killed in just one week.
Those who may not agree with this view need to be reminded that despite repeated pleas from the moderates among the separatists for the resumption of dialogue the channels of dialogue had been allowed to remain choked for the last over four years. A couple of months ago Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had announced that dialogue with all those on other side of the fence would be resumed provided they abandoned the path of violence. This announcement had dismayed the moderates. A senior APHC leader, Prof. Abdul Gani Bhat, stated that "we are not holding guns and indulging in violence. We are a political organisation. There has been no change in our political status that it enjoyed between 2003 and 2006 when the successive Prime Ministers held talks with us."
Bhat, therefore, suspected the intentions of the Prime Minister. He said had Manmohan Singh been sincere in resuming talks he should not have imposed a precondition which did not apply to "us." He said the centre had wasted a number of years and had it not choked the channels of dialogue during the last four years much progress would have been achieved by now.
Well Bhat was not certain whether his colleagues in the Hurriyat Conference and leaders belonging to other separatist groups were inclined to accept an invitation for talks, whenever it was sent to them. And if Chidambaram's statement in the Rajya Sabha was read between the lines one would not dismiss Bhat's fears lightly. It is so because Chidambaram had stated that he had initiated quiet dialogue with the separatists which had got interrupted because of an assassination bid on a senior separatist leader, Fazl Haq Qureshi, on December 4,2009. That fear which was generated when Qureshi was attacked continues to haunt the separatists as most of them know it fully well that the main purpose of launching an assassination bid on Qureshi was to force the separatists to discard taking part in the quiet dialogue.
In the context of this development alongwith the level of violence that Kashmir valley has witnessed during the last two months may not enthuse the separatists to grab the offer for talks as they would have over two months ago. In addition to this agencies across the border, providing moral and material support to the militants, and diplomatic backing to the separatists may not allow Syed Ali Shah Geelani and others to join the dialogue process with the Government of India. Even Chidambaram has accepted the change in the style of operations by Pakistan. He has stated that Islamabad has changed its strategy on fomenting trouble in Kashmir because it has started relying on the civilian unrest. This indicates that the civilian strife can be more dangerous than the activities of terrorists.
Hence Delhi is keen to buy peace with the separatists. Whether it succeeds or not the attempt is worth making. But at the sametime Delhi cannot afford to ignore the sentiments and aspirations of people in Ladakh and the Jammu region. Whether Delhi is able to resume talks with separatists or not it has to ensure that any political and economic package it announces for Kashmir should also cover Jammu and Ladakh regions. Besides this, if the separatists show unwillingness in accepting the offer for talks the Government needs to take firm steps for controlling civilian strife totally which may force the separatists to come forward for the dialogue...Without that these separatists may continue to bask in the sunshine of civilian unrest. |
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