It was on October 23, 2017 when Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh announced the appointment of former intelligence bureau chief Dineshwar Sharma as Centre’s special representative on dialogue with all stakeholders in Jammu and Kashmir. Sharma has been in this position for one year now, and it is time for the Centre to answer few questions , and the first among them is , that how much distance has been covered in reaching out to the alienated sections of the people in Jammu and Kashmir .
To Delhi, it may seem to be an inconvenient and unreasonable question for it can raise a counter-question, how can anyone ask for the resolution of the decades-old Kashmir crisis in just one year .? True. One year may be too short a time to see the shape of the results in offing for a problem that has existed for more than 70 years . At that, the Kashmir armed militancy is now approaching 30 years . So, it is not only difficult but also impossible for any individual to come out with any concrete results to show .
Sharma, a suave personality who , by habit, is soft spoken , was ideally spoken for the role that he was assigned. He has deep knowledge about Kashmir affairs because of his background as the spymaster and work in the Valley . He has his own contact list exceeding the permitted limit on smart phones . These are the essential qualities that a negotiator should possess . But ultimately, the success of his mission would be judged by what has he achieved at the end of the day .A year may not be time to show the final degree of success , but the progress report card should have been visible . It is not .
There were many inner flaws in his appointment as a special representative with the status of a cabinet secretary . He was dealing with the insurgents in Assam and at the same time he was tasked with holding talks with the “stakeholders” in Jammu and Kashmir . The Government of India committed a big mistake by clubbing the two places, people and their problems together . Assam-Kashmir problem may appear to Delhi on the same page , but it is not . That means that Delhi was viewing the whole issue through the prism of security – internal security and external threats . Delhi followed American model where Washington D C clubbed Afghanistan-Pakistan together while appointing its representatives to tackle with the problem of terrorism in the two countries . Delhi did it by clubbing two states that sit apart by hundreds of miles . Pakistan and Afghanistan are neighbours and also share ethnic affinity , particularly in respect to Pashtuns, who are both part of problem and also hold key to the solution .
For conducting any level of talks , the interlocutors should know about their mandate . Sharma’s chances of approaching the stakeholders in J&K or spelling out his mandate were marred by a high-profile Minister of State in Prime Minister’s office Dr. Jitendra Singh who is in much as spotlight as his leader . Dr. Singh described Sharma as good a ” spokesman ” as one of the six spokesmen in Jammu and Kashmir unit of the party . The MoS PMO ‘s remarks were out of his insight into the affairs or the lack of it created initial difficulties for the interlocutor.
Those difficulties persist still . And those are manifested in the cloud of things that have come to bog down Jammu and Kashmir . The Government of India should have worked out on a plan before appointing him as the interlocutor or special representative on J&K . It should have drawn a roadmap and done some homework before Sharma flew into Srinagar in the first week of November last year . It was a landing with no mandate and the options he chose was to start talking to the political groups . PDP, then ruling the State , in coalition with BJP, jumped to welcome it , and NC’s Omar Abdullah questioned him , ” what is your mandate .”
Over the past one-year, events overtook his mission . He had to cancel or postpone his visits because of the troubles that erupted and also because of Delhi’s flip-flop on certain sensitive issues . Sharma did try and succeeded in meeting one or two pro-dialogue leaders on the other side of the fence , but that he also knew was not a big breakthrough .There is another big problem that needs to be understood in its entirety – Kashmiris don’t want to involve any other region or the people in dialogue with the standard reply , ‘ the problem is here , why are you looking for solution of our problem by involving Jammu and Ladakh . Sharma was aware of their penchant for exclusiveness but Delhi didn’t . So there is an impasse . Why ? Delhi owes an answer for it is a fair question.
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