New Delhi-appointed interlocutor M M Ansari on Tuesday dropped a bombshell outlining the solution to the Kashmir problem in an article saying “panchayat provides an ample opportunity to resolve all the outstanding issues, which have contributed to the process of alienation among the people”.
“Empowerment of panchayats with adequate resources, commensurate with the requirements for discharge of local responsibilities provides an ample opportunity to resolve all the outstanding issues, which have contributed to the process of alienation among the people,” wrote Ansari in an article to a J-K’s leading newspaper Greater Kashmir.
Ansari is among the three-member panel of Kashmir formulated by Union home minister and prime minister in October last year after Kashmir witnessed 112 deaths in five-month long street protests.
The panel is headed by Dilip Padgaonkar with Radha Kumar and Ansari its members.
The panel is supposed to submit it report drawing outline for a political settlement for the Kashmir problem in October this year. The report was delayed because of non-participation of separatist leader in the interlocution process.
“Aam Admi (common man) has realized that resorting to violent methods for securing peace or for separation of a legally held territory is generally counter-productive; and a durable and acceptable solution can be worked out only through a dialogue process, which should be based on realistic and practical approaches,” wrote Ansari.
{{/usCountry}}“Aam Admi (common man) has realized that resorting to violent methods for securing peace or for separation of a legally held territory is generally counter-productive; and a durable and acceptable solution can be worked out only through a dialogue process, which should be based on realistic and practical approaches,” wrote Ansari.
{{/usCountry}}Ansari, who visited Kashmir several time in the past eight months, sees “militancy and insurgency declining to negligible level”. “This augurs well for both reductions in all forms of violations and moving towards a solution based on dialogue and negotiations,” he said.
Pointing towards the UN resolution of 1949, which mandated the conduct of a plebiscite in the pre-1947, as the major source of fueling the separatist’s sentiments and feelings of alienation among certain sectarian groups, Ansari said: “The status of pre-1947 J&K has changed. The provinces of J&K are administered, in parts, by India, Pakistan and China. On the present reckoning, it seems unlikely, rather impossible, that in the foreseeable future any of these countries would vacate the occupied territories for which they have fought prolonged wars at huge political risks and economic costs, the burden of which have been borne by the poorest of the poor people of the world living in these countries.”
Ansari went ahead saying “recognizing the legal validity of accession to India, a compromise on the basis of maintaining the status quo, with or without minor adjustments, has to be reached between India and Pakistan”.
Ansari’s the first article by any interlocutors so far, reflecting his sense of understanding of the Kashmir problem.