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After Hurriyat snub, Centre, state will have to rework Kashmir push
The Kashmiri separatists’ refusal to meet the all-party delegation puts the onus on the Centre and state government to come up with new ways to restore calm in the Valley where 73 people have died in the two-month long unrest.
The Kashmiri separatists’ refusal to meet the all-party delegation puts the onus on the Centre and state government to come up with new ways to restore calm in the Valley where 73 people have died in the two-month long unrest.
Political analysts blame both the governments for the failure of the home minister Rajnath Singh-led delegation to break the ice in the Valley and say immediate confidence-building measures should be taken to end the violence.
“This was bound to happen. No ground work was done before the delegation landed in Srinagar,” said Prof Gull Mohammad Wani of Kashmir University. “In the past, proper homework was done before undertaking such an exercise.”
The team of politicians arrived in Kashmir on Sunday to assess the ground situation and look for ways to end violent street protests.
With the Hurriyat leaders dismissing it as a futile exercise, the visit that ends Monday is unlikely to yield much.
Sources in the Jammu and Kashmir government said the separatist camp had signalled a few weeks ago that they be allowed to hold rallies and meetings across Kashmir to enable the people to vent their anger. “But the central government had serious reservations about such a move,” a government official said on the condition of anonymity.
The PDP-BJP government is now hoping that “good sense” will prevail upon the protesters in view of Eid-ul-Zuha next week. But the dominant view is that the onus of restoring peace is on the state government.
“As a goodwill gesture, the state government should lift curfew from all parts of Kashmir to enable people to prepare for Eid,” senior Congress leader GN Monga said. “This cycle of violence somehow has to end. That is very important.”
In two months of unrest, the entire Valley was curfew-free for barely few hours before clashes forced the government to bring back the restrictions in some places, including parts of Srinagar.
Members of civil society stress long-term measures to address the Kashmir problem. “Institutionalised dialogue process is imperative for that,” said Dr Farooq Ahmad Kaloo, who is associated with several social organisations. “There has never been any follow-up of the previous dialogues.”
That was what former chief minister and National Conference leader Omar Abdullah told the delegation on Sunday. “All such initiatives have lost credibility as there has been no follow-up of similar efforts in the past,” he said. “The political class has a mammoth task to revive faith in such processes.”
The government will have to take confidence-building measures (CBMs) to win over the “hearts and minds” of the people.
The government, said Kaloo, should desist from “cruel” crowd-control methods such as pellet guns and PAVA shells. Use of pellet guns, which have caused eyes injuries, has fuelled the anger against security forces, who find themselves battling stone-throwing crowds every day.
“The security forces need to have a humane approach towards these young boys. The iron-fist policy doesn’t work all the time,” he said.
Monga agrees. “The state government should have released the separatist leaders much in advance to enable them to draw up a strategy for the all-party delegation’s visit,” he said.
“Instead the CM invites them for talks just on the eve of the visit,” he said, adding the state government lacked direction and was clueless on controlling the situation.
Wani said the Centre should display “more seriousness” and focus on Kashmir. “There is a need for serious and structured dialogue with all stakeholders,” he said.
The suggestion in the last month’s all-party meeting that the protesters would tire themselves out has no takers. “You can’t tire out agitators and crush agitation,” Abdullah said. Kaloo said the argument was silly. “There are no signs of any fatigue on the ground.”
