So far the noises that have been emanating from New Delhi about the appointment of the new interlocutor on Kashmir have not been encouraging. The interlocutor Dineshwar Sharma has said that a part of his mission in Kashmir was to save Kashmir from turning into another Yemen, Libya and Syria. He has said if the radicalization among the youth picks up people will start fighting in so many groups, which will destroy the society. While there is nothing wrong with this concern per se, its assumptions are troubling. For it would mean that the situation in Kashmir operates in a vacuum. Or is the outcome of some local circumstances, largely shaped by the rise of the radicalization in Mideast and its consequent militant movements like Al Qaeda and ISIS. In that respect, it is a very ahistorical perspective on the state and any resolution effort operating from this assumption will take us nowhere. In fact, if this is how Kashmir is going to be approached, it only further detracts from the political process being initiated by Sharma and reduces it to a one more attempt at engagement with various political, social and cultural groups in Kashmir. This might generate some news, even creating some fleeting goodwill in the process but it will again end up nowhere, thus generating more cynicism in its wake. Already indications are there that the process may be little more than an attempt to strike an engagement for the sake of it than for any resolution.
One more thing that makes it clear is the Finance Minister Arun Jaitleys statement against the Congress leader P Chidambarams pitch for a greater autonomy for Kashmir. Jaitely made it clear that the position Cong has taken with regard to ‘Azadi’ or autonomy to be given to J&K, goes directly contrary to India’s national interest. And if this is the position of the Government of India, what is the new interlocutor supposed to discuss in the state. For let alone Azadi, even the discussion about autonomy is out of bounds for him. Such a narrow mandate for Sharma will affect his initiative in the state. Let alone separatist groups even the mainstream political and social groups will see little gain in the exercise. This will render their participation proforma in nature.
It would be better if the new interlocutor is vested with some political mandate rather than reduced to run pointless errands for New Delhi. It would also be beneficial if his engagement in Kashmir primarily involves separatists rather than a host of NGOs and one man groups and parties in the name of holding dialogue with the diverse shades of opinion in the state. NDA government needs to take recourse to the former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayees policy in the matter. New Delhi under him had successfully set up an exclusive formal dialogue with the separatists, which was abandoned by the UPA government to dangerous consequences. If the past has to be a guide in regard to Kashmir, let it be the Vajpayees initiative on Kashmir which at that time did make a redeeming difference and had almost put Kashmir on the cusp of resolution.
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