The invitation from Pakistan to the Hurriyat Conference cannot be considered in isolation. Observers say that it has New Delhi’s tacit approval. But is it a serious exercise given the political scenario in Pakistan. The country’s leadership might change after the general elections in 2013
Khursheed Wani
After a lull of over five years, separatists in Kashmir are back on the scene, thanks to the new bonhomie and the revival of cricketing and trade ties between India and Pakistan.
Last month, the Pakistani Government invited pro-dialogue faction of the Hurriyat Conference led by Mirwaiz Umar Farooq to visit Pakistan. Responding to the invitation, a delegation of Hurriyat is embarking on a week-long visit to Pakistan on December 17 to hold a dialogue with the political leadership there.
The Hurriyat delegation last visited Pakistan in January 2007 — a time when General Pervez Musharraf’s regime had developed signs of crumbling. The visit was part of the Hurriyat’s engagement (with the Government of India) that had begun during the NDA regime in January 2003. The UPA Government too had raised the bar of the process when Prime Minister Manmohan Singh held talks with the Hurriyat leaders. Mirwaiz was happy that his group remained part of a ‘triangular’ process, although the group was ideally demanding a trilateral dialogue to resolve the Kashmir issue. He went ahead with the talks despite stiff opposition from hardline leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani and militant groups including the United Jehad Council.
However, unlike in the past, when Mirwaiz returned to New Delhi in January 2007 from Islamabad, he was denied an audience with the Prime Minister. India had perhaps foreseen the imminent fall of Gen Musharraf in the aftermath of the Lal Masjid raid and the lawyers’ agitation. Envisaging that it would be futile to engage with a precarious Musharraf regime or any other dispensation on the crucial Kashmir issue, India put the ‘progress’ on Kashmir, which was being trumpeted by Gen Musharraf as his four-point formula, on hold.
The 26/11 attack in Mumbai rendered a crushing blow to any further possibility of reviving the talks. Ultimately, Mirwaiz announced the withdrawal of his faction from the dialogue process.
Five years on, the Hurriyat is again on the dialogue bandwagon. The invitation from Pakistan cannot be considered in isolation. Observers say that New Delhi’s tacit approval is tagged to the invitation. As a prelude to the official visit, Mirwaiz’s confidant and former All-Party Hurriyat Conference chairman Abdul Ghani Bhat, spent two weeks in Pakistan and held discussions with several ruling and opposition leaders.
Interestingly, a Mirwaiz faction leader, Shabir Shah is seeking his inclusion in the delegation. Shah does not possess an Indian passport because he does not want to declare his nationality as an Indian citizen. After a meeting with Pakistan High Commissioner Salman Bashir in New Delhi, he has applied for alternate travel documents to be able to travel to Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir through the Srinagar-Muzaffarabad Road. In any case, Shah’s visit will require New Delhi’s consent.
Meanwhile, Union Minister for Home Sushil Kumar Shinde has urged the separatists to join electoral politics and work together for the betterment and welfare of the younger generation. Mr Shinde’s comments are significant in the backdrop of reports that the Hurriyat’s main agenda would be to discuss the achievements or otherwise of the “armed struggle” and the possibility of contesting the 2014 Assembly election in Jammu & Kashmir — if Pakistan gives them a green signal.
However, the negative aspect of the Hurriyat’s latest mission is that the present regime in Pakistan is unstable; the general election is due in March 2013. Unless a new stable Government is established in Pakistan, New Delhi is unlikely to proceed on sensitive issues like Kashmir.
Aware of the ground realities, the Hurriyat, unlike in the past, has announced that it would hold deliberations with civil society members and intellectuals before embarking on the visit. On November 20, a meeting was held with traders and industrialists at the Hurriyat’s Rajbagh headquarters. Interestingly, a prominent industrialist flanking Mirwaiz was till recently a member of a group appointed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, to implement an economic policy for youngsters in Kashmir. The policy was introduced following the 2010 massive anti-India uprising carried mostly by youngsters.
Mirwaiz said that opinions of the conscious class of the society were sought to understand the Kashmir issue in a proper perspective. He said the issue should be resolved according to the resolutions passed by the United Nations Security Council or by the three main stakeholders of the K-issue — India, Pakistan and the people of Kashmir
A major irritant for the Mirwaiz is Syed Ali Shah Geelani, who has been critical of the efforts to engage with India or even Pakistan, on the terms and conditions that are dictated by the two countries. Interestingly, Geelani was barred from visiting Pakistan recently as his passport had not been renewed. A religious group had invited him to deliver a lecture in Pakistan.
(Khursheed Wani is a senior journalist with Daily Pioneer)
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