One more question has come to haunt Kashmir.  Who is scripting its future.  We are told that three interlocutors, appointed by the  Centre, have got some kind of the divine right to  pen down the  way our future should look like. That may be true, as they are wise people. But, the main question is : Do they themselves have an idea as to what they have to write  about Kashmir, its people, their problems and solutions. It seems that they are as much confused as  we, ourselves are.  It is not to challenge their intellect or capacity or to write beautiful English, or their capacity to grasp the seriousness of the issue, but they themselves are betraying the traits of fighting among themselves, at least  on the  common minimum programme that they are to suggest or propose for the future of Kashmir, a complicated issue.
Their “ ball to ball commentary”  might have changed the discourse in  Kashmir, as Union Home Minister P Chidambaram and Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah made us to believe so. How? That is beyond our comprehension.  The slogans  : “ We want  freedom” are not being heard in  the streets of Kashmir, stone pelting has  taken a break or  the tourist season has  got extended beyond mid-June or Amarnath pilgrimage is safe, or panchayat elections  have been held so successfully that it has triggered  altogether a new hope.
At least, I don’t remember in any of the talks of the interlocutors that the panchayat elections should be held before those were announced or conducted. A silent study of the things, interaction with the  people of all walks of life, giving them a sense of participation and, not repeating what has already been spoken or  written, was the least  that was expected from the eminent people, Dilip Padgaonkar, Radha Kumar and M M Ansari. That’s precisely what has not happened.
Instead,  the interlocutors focused their attention on  suggesting to the government, how it should  arrest or release the stone throwers,  and how the police should function and who all are the stakeholders.    It was given out as if the state did not have any clue on what to do and  had reached a dead end. From the basics of political science and reconciliation process,  I understand that  there are certain tools to conduct the dialogue  and draw the conclusions. As far as Kashmir is concerned, what’s  clear to everyone is that there are regions, sub regions, ethnic groups, internal and external players and where  lines  of conflict of interests and  ways to solution become so distinct  at times and blur completely on other occasions.
There are myriad ways of dealing with a  particular situation, but Kashmir is not a situation. It is a combination of so many situations, which have acquired dimensions of a high conflict  in hearts and minds, travels beyond the  day to day economics or politics, military presence or otherwise, elections or otherwise,   shutdowns, guns  and  import of foreign trained groups or otherwise.  Some of us are in habit of talking about the pre-1947 status of the state, uniting the territories, realistically looking at the geography and political landscape of the state the way it exists today, that is even remotely possible. It ‘s easy to talk about the fall of Berlin wall or reunification  of the areas, which are not even in the control of Pakistan or India. China is  having its own stakes. It would be too risky to suggest  an answer to this, because the political dynamics  are far beyond  the comprehension of the  strategic experts or the students of geo-politics of the region.
Leaving big  things aside, let’s focus what we have.  The part of Jammu and Kashmir with India.  Sorry to say, but the fact of the matter is that, even the so called mainstream parties of  the Valley, be it National Conference  or  Peoples Democratic Party, or the leaders of the national parties --  CPI-M, Congress (some of whom  have come from National Conference  which was once the champion of Plebiscite  for Jammu and Kashmir under  its  existence as Plebiscite Front for 22 long years) have not been able to   decide on the finality of the accession of the state to  India. The accession in unique circumstances, conditional or it is not a merger, may be technical  terms, yet these are there in the minds of the people. The lack of clarity in their minds and words  only helps those who, day in and day out, challenge the  status quo. There is an urgent need for political honesty and clarity and the stands  should not change with the  change of the governments at the Centre.  An ally today  cannot become an enemy tomorrow,   may be good politics, but  reading the pages of history should not change  with the change of the political equations.
Separatists in Kashmir--They are as much Kashmiris as others are. They are  as much concerned about the future of Kashmir as others are.  They have their own politics. Certain accidents  on  Kashmir’s  journey in the past 63 years have thrown certain opportunities-- chances, is a better way to put it, their way. They, with the help of the powers that always wanted to see trouble in Kashmir,  showed that they, too, commanded  something in the Valley and beyond. Sometimes the clock shows that they are the most relevant people, and on other occasions, they  don’t figure at all. This lack of consistency causes more confusion. Neither meeting with separatists is an end itself, nor it would ever be.
 The best  teacher is the one who  makes front benchers and back benchers to feel alike  in the class room. The interlocutors have  yet to achieve that goal. They need to make a new beginning. Sorry to say, so far their contribution, has been  repeat of what five working groups  said so far. Their reports are gathering dust, and the report of the interlocutors, if Mr. Padgaonkar  is to be believed, is yet to be submitted, but his colleague M M Ansari says, the interim report is  already with Ministry of Home Affairs.  Let them be clear  about their report, before they script Kashmir’s future.

Lastupdate on : Mon, 4 Jul 2011 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Mon, 4 Jul 2011 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Tue, 5 Jul 2011 00:00:00 IST