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| | New Compact: Inadequate response to summer unrest 2010 | | By Sahil Showkat | | Just like voices in hills echo back, unrest in Jammu and Kashmir is always followed by nominations of interlocutors by centre to fill in the vacuum of intra - communication channels both within the state as well as with India. The 2010 summer unrest in Kashmir led to nomination of interlocutors by the government of India when the death toll crossed the figure of 120 lives. The killings of the 120 people, a large number of whom were in their teens, demonstrates the lack of seriousness of the Jammu and Kashmir problem. Furthermore, the way the Indian forces and the state police handled it further aggravated it. Unfortunately, the unrest which came to engulf the state in 2010 was still framed as a law and order problem. The genuine aspirations of the people were relegated to the background.
Jammu and Kashmir issue has a multifaceted character. There can be no enduring resolution of the Kashmir conflict without addressing the political demands of the Kashmiri people. All instruments of violence (ranging from guerrilla warfare to the threat to use of nuclear weapons) have failed to resolve Kashmir imbroglio. The offer of Manmohan Singh which promised anything within the parameters of the Indian Constitution was preceded by “anything within the ambit of Humanity” by Atal Bihari Vajpayee and “Sky is the Limit” for self rule of Kashmiris by Narasima Rao. All this “parameter”, “Humanity”, “Sky” came to nothing. All these phrases brought nothing to the people of the valley except the time for the Indian Government to carry on hoodwinking the Indian masses as well as that of international community on the issue. The recent interlocutors report bears the same brunt. For more than two years they traversed the length and breadth of the state holding wide ranging interactions with different sections of people from all the three regions. Finally the panel came up with a New Compact crammed with a communal and segregation therapy giving every section of society in J&K a sense of being no less important than Kashmiris and a sense of different identity in terms of language, ethnicity, religion etc.
The Compact subdues the legitimate voices of the innocent people of the Valley of Kashmir raised in the summer unrest of 2010 when nearly 120 young people were killed in separate incidents of police firing across the Kashmir Valley. This sent shock waves throughout the state and the country as it highlighted the plight of the innocent people in Jammu and Kashmir, and the callousness and indifference of the state government and the authorities that have still not lodged a FIR against those responsible for the deaths, or taken action against the security personnel. In response to that the three member team of interlocutors headed by Jjurnalist Dilip Padgaonkar was set-up by New Delhi towards the end of the 2010 unrest. The team was tasked to look into the sentiments of the people and submit a report on the same to New Delhi for consideration. The report was submitted in October last year and was made public recently. But the important thing is that it was pending for almost seven months in the Home Ministry Department for unknown considerations. The catch lies in the timing of such disclosures. It can be said that recently growing warmth in Indo-Pak relations after the visit by Pakistani President to India may have been the catalyst to restart the confidence building measures indicated in the report. However, the interlocutors claim the contents of the report are primarily the outcome of the Group's interactions with more than 700 delegations held in all the twenty two districts of Jammu and Kashmir and the three round-table conferences (RTCs) they organised since there appointment on 13th October, 2010. Does this report provide anything to those parents who have lost their beloved sons? Does this report provide any justice to Tufail Matto's father, still waiting for justice for his son’s merciless killing by security forces – a killing that became the ultimate cause of 2010 agitation in the valley of Kashmir? The answer is no.
Rather it suggests how autonomy, self rule and achievable nationhood could be situated to buy the mainstream political leaders. These reports have served only to delay the Kashmir problem and to dilute the minds of the people for certain time till situation can be better manipulated by Delhi. Is it possible that the people would feel excited over the recommendations of the Interlocutors report when we all know what happens to these reports later on? Besides, the key recommendations of the interlocutor's report are not new but same old wine in the new fancy coloured bottle designed and framed by New Delhi. It has little to offer to the people of the state. This new fancy bottle of Compact calls setting up a constitutional committee to review all central acts, especially with regard to erosion of the provisions of Article 370, resume talks with moderate Hurriyat parties, involve Pakistan and Pakistan Administered Kashmir in the resolution process, make the dialogue uninterrupted and interruptible, review Armed Forces Special Powers Act and Disturbed Areas Act, allow pre-1953 nomenclatures of Sadr-e-Riyasat (President) for governor and Wazir-e-Azam (Prime Minister) for Chief Minister but only in Urdu, create separate regional councils for Kashmir, Jammu and Ladakh and devolve financial and administrative powers to address regional aspirations etc.
This new compact on Kashmir stresses more on confidence building measures, some of which were already recommended by five working groups appointed by the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in 2005. However, once we look over the recommendations of the interlocutors report, it seems simply the Xerox copies of the State Autonomy Report by National Conference, Achievable Nationhood by Sajad Gani Lone, Self Rule by Peoples Democratic Party, Regional Autonomy Models by National Conference with the inclusion of Hill councils. The report glaringly does not find any mention of irrelevancy AFSPA in Jammu and Kashmir and loss suffered by the state due to Indus Water Treaty. The only positive dimension of the report is that it provides an opportunity for all the shades of opinion, including mainstream leaders and separatists, to come and discuss the issues peacefully and find an amicable and long lasting solution to the long pending Kashmir dispute. However, much depends upon the will of the Government of India to facilitate that and implement recommendations, in the absence of which there is a possibility of mass uprising again and people of Kashmir may again rise in resistance if Kashmir as a political dispute cannot be resolved.
The present interlocutors report contains nothing significant and is bound to go to oblivion. Therefore, practical measures are needed to make any effort for peace process in Kashmir. However, we cannot ignore mandate of the interlocutors was not to find out a quick fix solution to the problem. It was to identify the political contours of the solution and the road map towards it. But the language, the tone and tenor of the report seems meant for greater integration with India. Not only the report has tried to marginalise and gag the major narrative of Kashmir, but it also tried to replace it with peripheral issues of ethnic-communal-regional issues. It seems the report has been prepared to appease the right-wing ideology. Further, the report is prima facie nothing more than reflection of Government of India's known stand on J&K dispute. As such, the nature of the report itself makes it irrelevant as far as dispute is concerned. What is more alarming is dangerous design of trifurcating the state on communal lines in the name of regional councils, a known RSS agenda; needless to say any such attempt can have very serious repercussions. Therefore, in conclusion, the overall report seems a more political one and less realistic, a zero sum game. In short these recommendations cannot be substituted for long pending political dispute rather it needs political solution through amicable means.
(The author is currently pursuing his Doctorate Degree (Ph. D) in the Department of Political Science, University of Kashmir.
Feedback at: sahil showkat@gmail.com) |
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