In March 1990, when an all party delegation headed by Rajiv Gandhi visited Kashmir, the Valley was up in revolt. Srinagar was curfew bound. Militancy which had just begun had caught on like wildfire. The delegation could hardly find anybody to meet. The separatists boycotted them as did the civil society. But the delegation which also included Atal Bihari Vajpayee did get a taste of Kashmir’s fury. As the delegation was waiting to meet the people, a flotilla of shikarahs carrying people moved up the Dal lake outside their hotel and raised Azadi slogans. The leaders were horrified at the state of affairs in Kashmir and promised to make some concrete suggestions to the government. But nothing was done. The delegation made no significant recommendations, and the government didn’t act upon even their routine suggestions.
Twenty six years and the two more delegations later – one in 2008 and another in 2010 – an all party delegation has visited and left Kashmir in more or less similar circumstances. The delegation again faced a sweeping boycott with all separatist and civil society groups following the Hurriyat G chairman Syed Ali Shah Geelani’s suggestion that no “stakeholder” should meet the visiting leaders.
This drastically reduced the prospects of the visiting delegation to do anything meaningful in Kashmir. The members were reduced to meeting the anonymous and insignificant organizations and individuals which hardly made any difference. Mirwaiz Umar Farooq declined to meet Assadudin Owaisi. Similarly, Yasin Malik also refused to talk to the MPs, Sitaram Yechury, Sharad Yadav and D Raja. And Geelani refused to open the gate when these three leaders visited his Hyderpora residence.
In the end, far from lending momentum to the peace efforts, the all party delegation to Kashmir only ended up deepening the stalemate in Kashmir. At a press conference, the home minister Rajnath Singh clarified that the government had neither approved, nor disapproved of the decision of some of the leaders of the delegation to visit the unwelcoming separatists.
The home minister said that the separatists, by refusing to meet some members of the delegation had made it clear that they don’t believe in “Insaniyat, Jamhooriyat and Kashmiriyat”. He also told the reporters that there were no two ways about the fact “that J&K is a part of India, was a part of India and will be a part of India."
On the other hand, separatists stuck to their traditional absolutistic line on the engagement on Kashmir: talks outside the ambit of constitution and the involvement of Pakistan. But New Delhi snorts at the idea of even extending an invite to them under the framework of constitution, leave alone agree to talk outside the constitution. During all party delegation’s visit, these two political positions played out predictably. Both parties wanted the other to blink and none did.
And Hurriyat groups by refusing to talk have also, in a way, painted themselves into a corner. Their only strategy so far has been to issue the weekly protest rosters comprising endless hartals and the protests. This is geared to force New Delhi to terms, which is unlikely going to be the case. At the same time, they are not ready to talk unless their maximalist demands are met. This also is not likely to happen.
On the other hand, the unending shutdowns and curfews are taking a huge toll on Kashmir’s economy, which is soon going to make the extended protests unsustainable for the people. The mortifying toll of lives and the injuries is rising by the day. Now around 74 people have been killed in 59 days and around ten thousand have been wounded, several hundred of whom have lost their sight either in one or both the eyes.
This calls for a serious rethink of the strategy. While New Delhi being the disproportionately powerful entity is unlikely to change its course of action, onus is on Hurriyat to rethink how it wants to take its struggle forward and make it sustainable. Endless hartals will decimate the economy and cripple the capacity of the society to continue protesting. New Delhi will do, what it will do, but Hurriyat has to be more smart and not base its struggle entirely on the wholesale sacrifice of its people. More so, when there is no foreseeable concrete outcome in sight.
Follow this link to join our WhatsApp group: Join Now
Be Part of Quality Journalism |
Quality journalism takes a lot of time, money and hard work to produce and despite all the hardships we still do it. Our reporters and editors are working overtime in Kashmir and beyond to cover what you care about, break big stories, and expose injustices that can change lives. Today more people are reading Kashmir Observer than ever, but only a handful are paying while advertising revenues are falling fast. |
| ACT NOW |
| MONTHLY | Rs 100 |  |
| YEARLY | Rs 1000 | |
| LIFETIME | Rs 10000 | |
