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Talking in the air
Kashmir Times. Dated: 6/9/2013 11:08:53 PM
This is no way for a meaningful and result-oriented dialogue process
As it has happened in the past on several such occasions, the reports are currently being officially floated that during his proposed visit to Kashmir on June 28 Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is slated to announce some Kashmir- related Confidence Building Measures (CBMs), including the partial lifting of the draconian Armed Forces Special Powers Act ( AFSPA) from certain areas of the State and a rehabilitation package for the youth returning from Pakistan and Pakistan-administered areas of the State. The reports floating through a section of the media also suggested that the Prime Minister is also willing to examine the contents of the controversial and innocuous report of three interlocutors, presented to him over a year ago and since then kept in the cold storage. The feelers are also being thrown that the Prime Minister is willing to talk to the divided moderate section of Hurriyet Conference headed by Mirwaiz and in this connection the PCC chief Saif-ud-Din Soz has claimed that Manmohan Singh’s doors are open for the conglomerate for talks for resolving the crisis. However, in the same breath he urged the Hurriyet Conference to prove its representative character by contesting the polls for the State assembly.
This is certainly not the way to initiate a process of meaningful and result-oriented dialogue process for resolving the prolonged dispute. The issue of Kashmir is essentially linked with the equally complex issue of India-Pakistan relations. Though the people of Jammu and Kashmir are the principal stakeholders and have to be provided space on the dialogue table, India and Pakistan too are the parties in the dispute in view of their controlling two divided parts of the troubled state. For a just and amicable solution of the problem there has to be a multi-dimensional dialogue - between India and Pakistan, between New Delhi and Srinagar/Jammu and between Islamabad and Muzaffrabad. More importantly an intra-Jammu and Kashmir dialogue involving the leaders representing different sections of the people across the line of control is imperative for evolving a consensus on the solution in view of the divergent aspirations of the people living in different parts of the State and belonging to different communities.
The composite dialogue process between India and Pakistan for resolving all outstanding disputes including that of Kashmir peacefully has been disrupted following the execution of Afzal Guru in Tihar jail without informing the family with New Delhi’s refusal to hand over his mortal remains. The situation in Pakistan provides a window of opportunity to New Delhi for resuming the dialogue process without any inhibitions. The assumption of office by Nawaz Sharief with a massive mandate in the elections in the neigbouring country demonstrating people’s expression of faith in democracy and democratic methods creates a conducive climate for breaking the logjam and resume the dialogue process. Nawaz Sharief has already expressed his desire for not only resuming the dialogue but also having friendly relations between the two countries. New Delhi needs to respond positively to this gesture. The beginning can be made by implementing the agreement on the relaxation of visa regime, kept on hold by New Delhi. With the facilitation of visits by different sections of the people to each other’s country and increased people-to-people contacts will result in bridging the trust deficit and creating a conducive climate for moving forward on the road to peace. This is indeed the most opportune time for the Prime Minister to respond positively to Sharief’s invitation to visit Islamabad for establishing closer rapport with the newly established government there. There is need for uninterrupted and uninterruptible dialogue process at various levels - between the bureaucrats, between the security establishments, between political leadership and, most importantly, also between different sections of the people, particularly the peace activists in the two countries.
New Delhi also needs to reach the estranged sections of the people in Kashmir with the Prime Minister formally inviting all sections of the divided Hurriyet Conference for an unconditional, meaningful and result-oriented dialogue for resolving the impasse. For that there is need for New Delhi to announce a new package of CBMs which include a realistic rehabilitation policy, scrapping of draconian laws like AFSPA and PSA, release of all political prisoners, reduction of armed forces from civilian areas, vacation of civil spaces by the security forces, removing of all curbs on the movements and rallies of political leaders and the common citizens, probe into all human rights abuses by an independent agency, strengthening of human rights commission and easing and expanding the travel and trade facilities across the LoC.