The rifle barrels had not even cooled when the cease-hro was serapped in as unilateral a manner as it was nounced ... And as statements and accusations fly thick and fast. (the common people are) left wondering what went wrong.
The pertinent question might be what went right. A government whose competence is open to question, an opposition that hardly lives up to its claim to be responsible, and a militant group that was not really capable of acting independently were all elements in what might be dubbed a tragi-comedy if only its outcome were not so lethal.
It would be all too simple to blast Pakistan, as the government has been doing ... Placing a higher value to perceived diplomatic and political harvests that might be reaped ... India "responded positively" to the Hizbul Mujahideen's (HM) offer even before its complete ramifications had been spelt out ...
. Leaders of the Government and the host of self-styled Kashmir experts were to town - on TV or in print -about how a breakthrough had been achieved, how Pakistan had lost its stranglehold over the largest militant group and the only one with genuine Kashmiri roots ...
All that euphoria might have been justified if aimed solely at creating the atmosphere in which peace talks might progress. Alas, that translated into rather hasty action on the ground ...
Then it was in the full glare of publicity that the Home Secretary and Special Secretary in that ministry ... met the HM leaders at a venue at which the media had congregated. A "photo-opportunity" was created ...
Was it necessary for such high-ranking officials to participate in a meeting at which only the ground rules for the cease-fire were to be worked out? Surely that could have been entrusted to local officials and local commanders of the security forces. The room for manoeuvre was restricted at the first step. It was as though all was cut and dried, only signatures remained to be put to the dotted line ...
Surely the government ought to have opted to entrust the negotiations to a non-official. A person acceptable to both sides who could have functioned as a. genuine intermediary, who by using the time-tested method of shuttling back and forth could have kept both sides talking until common ground was reached, step by step. Peace talks are a protracted process.
.. It was indeed a welcome, and courageous step that A.B. Vajpayee took in declaring that the talks were being held without pre-conditions, within the framework of humanity and not the limitations of Constitutional provisions. It might have sounded great, but it did bring the opposition parties into the picture, awkward questions were asked. The clouds began to gather.
The most unfavourable fallout of that ... was the pressure it placed on the HM. Its leaders, too; had shown a high degree of courage in offering a cease-fire, they might have sought signs of a positive response, but they could hardly have expected that India would seek to create an impression that it had succeeded in snapping the HM's Pakistan connection,
To accuse the HM of changing its stance by suddenly insisting that Pakistan be associated with the talks is a dangerous over-simplification. The stakes were raised sky high even before the cards were dealt. The opposition parties created further complications.
All paid lip service to supporting the peace process but buckled at the first test of national resolve - the killings ... If over-reaction had marked the response to the cease-fire offer of 24 July, it also marked its withdrawal. The tirade against Pakistan - which never supported the cease- fire - might go down well in certain domestic circles but does not cool the climate in which some stray threats might be picked up again. The Home Minister's statement in Parliament ... created the impression that the door to the HM had been shut ...
In the same breath L.K. Advani slamimed the Hurriyat lcaders for not joining in the trumpet-blowing over the HM's cease-fire offer. Did he really expect them to overnight vacate the space they have been striving to create for themselves, space which the government had helped create by the release of its leaders ...
The upshot of the government's skyscraper high posturing is that it is leaving itself with no one to talk to in Kashmir. Even Farooq Abdullah (whose claim to represent the views of the majority of Kashmiris is open to serious question) is being bashed by the Vishwa Hindu Parishad - and the government cannot claim to be free of its influence.
An opportunity has been lost, apportioning blame brings no comfort. The most positive assessment would be that some kind of loose, informal arrangement might still be salvaged by keeping up contacts with those elements of the HM that wish to abandon the gun - for whatever reason. And should that come about there would be no need for "announcements" that only complicate matters.
... The role of the media has to be examined. To what extent did it contribute to making first steps appear the last ... (Source: The Statesman, 12 August, 2000)
