Farooq Abdullah's gambit of getting the J&K Assembly to pass the resolution on autonomy has set the cat among the pigeons. But the BJP and the All-Party Hurriyat Conference (APHC) have only themselves to blame. Talks have remained stalled because the Union Government insists on certain preconditions. Equally uncalled for is the insistence of the Hurriyat Conference that there must be tripartite talks, with Pakistan also participating. The only crucial question is whether Pakistan is willing, as India claims it is, to agree to make the Line of Control (LoC) the international border. It is only in this sense that Pakistan has a role to play. The Hurriyat Conference's insistence on involving Pakistan flows from various considerations ..
Surprisingly, the APHC has never challenged Pakistan to announce publicly that it is willing to give the option of independence to the whole of J&K - Pakistan has incorporated Gilgit as part of its territory and leased permanently hundreds of miles of Aksaichin to China. Of course, no one suggests that India can accept independent Kashmir - the dangerous consequence of the area becoming a pawn in the geo-political designs of the U.S. is too real for any Government to even consider such an 'eventuality.
That is why the only practicable solution is for the LoC to be made the international border and to concede pre-1953 status to J&K, with regional autonomy to the three regions, Jammu, Ladakh and Kashmir (hoping Pakistan will also give similar autonomy to its occupied portion of Kashmir) ... I feel there is panicky overreaction that with pre- 1953 status, the position of the minorities will become worse. The rights of the individual and the privileges of minorities in the matter of religion and 'language will be constitutionally guaranteed. And this evidently will be done after mutual consultations among the three regions of J&K ...
It is shameful that the Congress(I), which during P. V. Narasimha Rao's term as Prime Minister had announced maximum autonomy, should seek to freeze the Kashmir situation in a 1975 time-frame. It is sheer recklessness to refuse to learn from what has happened in the Valley in the last decade. No group in J&K can ever dare to come forward for talks on the basis of the 1975 accord. But now it would appear that the Central Government, which had earlier given the impression that it was for an honest dialogue which could result in an agreement on the pre-1953 status and thus allow the APHC, Shabbir Shah and others to face the masses, seems to be backing out. May be it is being fed reports by intelligence agencies that the people are so tired of violence that militancy will die out by itself - how wrong, considering that compared to last year there has been an increase in casualties. This suspicion is heightened by the statement by J.P. Mathur, BJP spokesman, that greater autonomy will never be granted, provoked possibly by the Congress(I) stratagem that it will not accept any pre-1975 solution.
The Kashmir question is getting mired in small-minded politics. It should be clear to anyone even a little familiar with the movement of the last 10 years in the Valley that while no Union Government can agree to an independent Kashmir, no group in the Valley can possibly agree to anything less than a pre-1953 status, if a permanent, peaceful solution is to be found.
But more serious doubts about the intentions of the Union Government are bound to arise from the reported statement of the Union Home Minister, Advani, at the Sindhu Darshan festival at Leh that he was not against the idea of trifurcation of Jammu and Kashmir on religious lines (as proposed by a US- sponsored study group). The proposal can never be accepted by the people of India as it will strike at the very root of our secular republic. In this thinking of the Government of India, I feel that we are witnesses to a conspiracy - already the RSS has given public support to this plan.
If trifurcation of J&K is envisaged, Pakistan's claim to the Valley, which is a Muslim majority area, can hardly be opposed. May be the RSS desires this communalisation so that it can spread its venom against the minorities .... to serve its fundamentalist approach. Cannot right-minded persons see through this dangerous game ?..
Above all, it must be appreciated that no settlement is possible unless the guns fall silent in the Valley. Of course, there is the difficulty that the gun-wielding militants are sponsored by Pakistan, and the APHC and others express their inability to control them. However, ...the Government of India could take a bold stand and announce that it will unilaterally silence its guns immediately, for a short period, in the hope of a similar response from the militants so that peace will prevail permanently. I know this is risky venture. But it was risk-taking by both sides that brought peace in Northern Ireland. In this exercise, the APHC will have to play an equally responsible role. It should simultaneously appeal that in view of the Government's announcement a similar response must come from the militants. But the anger and resentment of the populace can only be assuaged by extraordinary precautions to prevent excesses by security forces ... The people of J&K want relief from the sense of insecurity and the denial of economic opportunities. Can politicians rise above their petty selves to respond to this plaintive cry?
