Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is visiting Valley again this June. The visit follows an entire chain of events which saw Kashmir question being relegated again to the background. The precarious Indo-Pak relations that teetered between a silent estrangement and a vocal animosity put the progress on the settlement of the matters over the state in limbo. The differences over Pakistan’s action on the alleged perpetrators of Mumbai attack and the occasional Taliban strikes against Indian targets in Afghanistan have kept the atmosphere on edge.  This stagnation on the bilateral front has not been compensated by any domestic initiative on Kashmir. Despite some attempts at back-channel engagement, the process has been aborted midway. Now, will PM’s visit infuse some fresh impetus into this stalled effort.  Though signs appear encouraging considering that it comes after resumption of talks with Pakistan, the past visits of the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh have left much to be desired. For one, the dialogue with the separatists, despite noises to this end, has not been restored. The assurances of zero tolerance for human rights violations and the more hassle free travel across Line of Control are still pressing concerns. During his visit in 2009, PM did not announce any new policy initiative on Kashmir.   He, however, had reiterated that the Centre wanted borders to be rendered irrelevant so that there was no difference between Srinagar and Muzaffarabad. And as for his overtures to separatists, Manmohan Singh had little to offer them except for an “open-ended invitation” to all sections of the public opinion.  He had also extended a hand of friendship to Pakistan but the offer soon fell through in the rising din of opposition to any such initiative in the country. However, things look entirely different now. A part of that uneasy baggage has been shed away following the summit meeting between Prime Minister and his Pakistani counterpart Yousuf Raza Gilani, in Thimpu. This is being followed up with a foreign ministers meeting in June. What is silent, however, is a domestic process on Kashmir. In fact, this is the area where UPA government needs to actuate into a more purposeful initiative. While this coalition went all the way to consolidate gains of Vajpayee-led NDA process with Pakistan, same didn’t happen within. The only initiative of such nature was the offer of roundtable dialogue in 2006, which separatists didn’t join. Engagement of the diverse political opinion in Kashmir, separatists thought, was premature and ahead of its time. Subsequent offers of the dialogue were also of the inclusive nature and didn’t get anywhere. Similarly, back-channel succumbed to their own contradictions. They operated in an environment of diplomatic vacuum with Pakistan and without any mutual sense of confidence with the separatists. Now, most of these hitches have been removed. There seems suddenly an opening. With the two countries talking again, time for re-invigorating a domestic Kashmir initiative looks ideal. And this initiative need not be only about engaging separatists but also about connecting input from Kashmir with the bilateral process with Pakistan and may be at some later time integrate the entire process into one whole. This could loosen the sixty year gridlock on the search for Kashmir resolution which alone will guarantee long term peace in the subcontinent. The conflict over Kashmir, it can be argued, has not only been the basic source of discord between India and Pakistan but has also been the source of perennial turmoil in Kashmir. What PM’s visit can do is to revive the political engagement with the state’s separatist opinion which stands all but broken for the past six years. For Indo-Pak dialogue with a parallel Kashmir process is unavoidable if the goal is to guide sub-continent out of its 60 years history of unremitting hostility and suspicion.

Lastupdate on : Wed, 19 May 2010 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Wed, 19 May 2010 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Thu, 20 May 2010 00:00:00 IST