The Pahalgam 'amusement'
Men, Matters & Memories

By M L Kotru

Taken in by the Kashmir Government's propaganda blitzkreig that the State was finally as normal as it could be, given its unending State of confrontation with terrorism, I decided to run away from Delhi to my favourite destination, Pahalgam. From Srinagar to Pahalgam it was a swift 90-minute drive in my friend's car. Ahead of me I saw a ten-day holiday in the very lap of nature, watching a less rowdy Lidder sending a steady stream of water over its rock-strewn course. Alas it was not an altogether happy stay.

For one thing the elements turned hostile for early October. Pahalgam can be extremely cold even in early October and yet a sunny afternoon spent on the front lawn of my friend's hut drove away any thoughts of the cold that followed. But then our arrival by itself had an ominous start. As we were driving up, short of Pahalgam, a racing VIP motorcade, complete with pilot cars, an ambulance et al, screaming its way down hill, nearly pushed us into the nearby nullah. Many more VIP motorcades were to pass us by as we finally reached the town's main bazar, strangely bare and ghost-like, except for the presence of the ever optimistic shopkeepers.

The fleeing motorcades which we had noticed on the way up, we were to learn the next day were carrying Ministers, bureaucrats, political leaders and senior officials of the country's ''greatest bank'', the Jammu and Kashmir Bank.

Their presence in Pahalgam was warranted by the opening of an amusement park in the town by the Chief Minister, a gift to Pahalgam from the 'greatest bank'' thriving in one of the poorest States of the Union. The amusement park which we visited on the third day of our stay looks very amusing indeed. It simply does not belong to a place which even otherwise is so richly endowed with nature's bounty, a stretch of verdant flat land surrounded by majestic moutain ranges, with the roar of the Lidder just within an earshot. The park I learnt was a gift of the bank to the townspeople, built at a whopping cost of over Rs 3 crores. So impressed was the Chief Minister with the effort that he has asked the bank and its very able and PR-conscious CEO to build a bigger and better park on the outskirts of Srinagar.

The most amusing thing about the amusement park at Pahalgam was, apart from the outlandishness of the project, that the locals simply cannot afford to buy admission tickets. Then its opening in October, when there are no tourists, local or others, around and a severe snowy winter creeping in. Which alone should mark it out as a most amusing project. The day we saw it from outside there was not a soul around except a half dozen staff members who looked too bored (or maused) to even take notice of our intruding presence.

And just think of all that equipment, fully exposed to the elements rusting under snows that must inevitably cover the bowl surrounded by high mountain peeks. A German doctor who was staying in a nearby hut had also been to the park and loudly wondered how such a monstrosity could have been inflicted on a place so blessed by nature. But who cares about nature and aesthetics when it comes to executing such silly projects at no cost to the State exchequer? Does it matter if the State-owned J&K Bank spent extravagantly on the project ? Don't you dare forget that the bank is ranked as the country's ''best''.

It is another matter that within 72 hours of the opening of the park I was to learn that an important bridge connecting Pahalgam with Srinagar via Anantnag had been blown up by terrorists. Terrorists, too, it appears, were not amused by the opening of the park. They correctly guessed that the unseasonal opening of the park of the effort to build up the ''return of normally'' theory. Four days on a new bridge had yet to be put in place and we were forced and by the cold and the absence of daily consummables, which normally come from nearby Anantnag. We returned to Srinagar via Salur, abandoned for some years as terrorist prone. The terrorists had probably taken a day off to ensure that my friend and I have an uneventful drive back !

The terrorists were of course busy in other parts of the State to remind us of their presence and their capacity to hit wherever and whenever they wished to. Only the other day they carried battle to the Chief Minister's doorstep killing two guardsmen. The Chief Minister had only hours earlier left for Aligarh and we have since been assured by those closest to Mufti Sayeed that the attack was not directed at the CM or his family but only at the guards, a statement that, frankly, does not make any sense. If the guards can be targetted, the one they guard cannot be presumed to be out of harms way, not always.

The drama that unfolded subsequently in nearby shopping complex should have persuaded those responsible for making statements like that ''CM was not the target'' to think before mouthing such observations. Someone might not so stupidly enough be tempted to ask ''are the guards' lives dispensable?''

Mufti Sayeed for his part firmly believes that the terrorists are on the retreat and that the key to a solution lies in talks with all shades of opinion in the State including Pakistani separatists. He is also committed to his ''healing touch'' which includes everyone who has suffered during the 13-year-old militancy. His partyman and the Finance Minister, the highly articulate Muzaffar Hussain Baig got it right on one of the TV channels earlier this week when he said healing touch is not on offer to the terrorists but to those who have suffered at the hands of terrorists.

As if to prove everyone wrong you had the attack by the terrorists in a crowded Srinagar bazar on Sunday. In Shopian they enacted another drama by taking civilian hostages, including the Imam of a neighbourhood mosque who was sent in by the local police to persuade the captors to release the innocent villagers taken hostage by them.

A man of transparent integrity, the problem with Mufti Sayeed is that he is seen more and more as a man in a hurry. He has created a vision of himself as a doer. And given the nature of his coalition he is trying to do the impossible by attempting solutions to problems which have defied one for the past 55 years. For example you cannot question his intentions when he pleads for opening talks with all segments of opinion in the State. What he forgets is that given the State of heightened Indo-Pak tension no one in Delhi would be willing to initiate such a process. He wants N N Vohra to be replaced as Centre's interlocutor but what additional mandate will a newly designated interlocutor carry.

It can't be the Mufti's case that the Prime Minister of India should entertain a certain Syed Ali Geelani, who has thrived over the years on Pakistani handouts and continues to draw his pension as a former member of the State Assembly. Geelani in fairness to him has made his Pakistani credentials known. For him all that is to be talked about is how soon will the Valley become a part of Pakistan. As a former Congress leader,Mufti could not have forgotten that Mrs Gandhi did not talk directly to Mirza Afzal Beg, Sheikh Abdullah's right -hand man then, but asked him to negotiate with G Parthasarthy. If the moderates in the Hurriyat wish to talk to New Delhi they must do so through a Central emissary, be it Vohra or anyone else. The Chief Minister himself could perhaps open such a dialogue after consultations with his friend, the Deputy Prime Minister L K Advani.

I am aware of the pressures which the Mufti is facing but then the choice is for him to make-either buckle or fight back. Tokenism is no solution. Releasing the odd prisoner, opening a amusement park or even making visits by the President and the Prime Minister to the State possible is not going to offer the way out.

Nor are other tokenisms like giving facelifts to Kashmiri Pandit shrines or offering to build secure clusters for the migrant Pandits. It may read well in print but carries little convition.

Mufti, Hurriyat wear winning look
Men and Matters

By B.L. Kak

A new leaf has been added to the turbulent history of Jammu and Kashmir, with the Centre finally agreeing to yield to the State's secessionist amalgam, better known as the All-Party Hurriyat Conference (APHC). The Hurriyat Conference, divided though, has reasons to wear the winning look, after the most significant official announcement in New Delhi about the Centre's willingness to talk to the conglomerate. Deputy Prime Minister, L K Advani, will be the Centre's political interlocutor to bold talks with the group led by Maulvi Abbas Ansari.

The Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister, Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, had, earlier this month, called on the Union Government to replace its official interlocutor on J&K, NN Vohra, with someone more 'acceptable' to secessionists. The Mufti, in fact, highlighted the relevance and utility of his proposal during his subsequent meeting with L K Advani.

Hence, all the more reason for the Mufti to wear the winning look after the Vajpayee Government announced that Advani would hold talks with Maulvi Abbas Ansari. Before the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) met in the Union capital on October 22 to evolve the Government's new line of action vis-a-vis Jammu and Kashmir, Finance Minister, Jaswant Singh's name did the rounds at least for two days as the Centre's political negotiator.

L K Advani, who is number two in the Union Council of Ministers, acted skillfully until the Cabinet Committee on Security cleared his name as the political interlocutor on Jammu and Kashmir. By virtue of authority vested in him as the country's Home Minister, Advani has the resources available to him. But can he accomplish the target at a time when the Hurriyat Conference is sharply divided in two factions with many eyes focused on the hardliners within the Hurriyat led by Syed Ali Shah Geelani.

The Geelani faction, which has been recognised by Pakistan as the ''Legitimate'' voice of the Kashmiri people, will not hesitate to take action, if Advani sought to depend on the Hurriyat group led by Maulvi Abbas Ansari. The commissioning of Advani as the political interlocutor on J&K clearly demonstrated the Centre's response to Maulvi Abass Ansari's statement of August 25 in which he had demanded that New Delhi initiate talks with the Hurriyat.

Since then other Hurriyat leaders had also made similar statements. The statement made by the Union Home Secretary, N Gopalaswamy, at the end of the meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Security as well as statements from Hurriyat leaders do not contain any pre-conditions.

If N N Vohra had been found unwilling to actively involve himself in interacting with other groups and leaders in the three regions of the troubled State--Kashmir valley, Jammu and Ladakh- the Prime Minister, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, and the Deputy Prime Minister, made him agreeable to continue his mission. Significant, indeed, was Vohra's presence at the meeting of the CCS. He was specially invited to the meeting.

Considering the fact that the secessionists have, in recent times, deeply entrenched themselves across Kashmir. They would not easily permit themselves to get marginalised or in a fit of excitement following the Government of India's proposal to Islamabad of a new bus service between Srinagar and Muzzaffarabad. Like Advani, Yashwant Sinha, Minister for External Affairs, is also an important personality in the BJP-led coalition Government at the Centre. But he cannot take the secessionist tribe in Kashmir lightly.

Yashwant Sinha ought to have thought twice before making public his argument: L K Advani's interaction with the Hurriyat would take place in the same context in which NN Vohra was acting. Vohra hasn't been accepted by the secessionist leaders.

Advani's role is not easy at all. And it would be dangerous if Advani avoided getting himself involved in the nuts and bolts of the negotiations. More dangerous than this would be any attempt which would make Advani go slow after a formal photo session with the Hurriyat leaders.

The Centre's decision to hold formal talks with the Hurriyat Conference has come at a time when the situation in J&K shows hardly any significant change. There is no denying that levels of alienation continue to be high, and anger against the establishment hasn't really diminished.

The decision also comes at a time when the lack of headway in the Vohra round of negotiations with militant groups is highly disappointing. New Delhi cannot escape criticism for having waffled for too long on holding talks with the Hurriyat. Pakistan used this to marginalise the 'centrists' like Maulvi Abbas Ansari, enabling Syed Ali Shah Geelani to take over.

Now that Advani's new role in J&K has become an open secret, the question being asked is: Will talks also take place with hardliners within and outside the Hurriyat Conference? Equally important question: Will New Delhi woo the hidden hands behind militancy and terrorism in Kashmir? One of the hideen hands is Syed Ali Shah Geelani.

Before and after his counter coup, capturing the Hurriyat leadership and leaving the centrists led by Shia cleric and politician, Maulvi Abbas Ansari, high and dry, he had made it abundantly clear that he and his group would not rest until the jihadis achieved the twin objective---exercise of the self-determination right by the Kashmiri people and 'liberation' of Kashmir from the Indian control,

The Islamist radicals' pronouncement that the Hurriyat leadership (a clear reference to the centrists) has ''failed'' to provide direction to the ''freedom fighters'' in Kashmir is a clear indication of the hardcore secessionist' quiet strategy to transform their drive into a pan-Islamic movement against India.

For years Pakistan pumped huge amounts of money and material in Kashmir valley. Most of the Hurriyat leaders, barring a handful, who could barely eke out a living became rich and in the course of time richer. Syed Ali Shah Geelani knows it well and he has, in fact, experienced it.

Geelani and other pro-Pak 'patriots' haven't opposed infiltration across the Line of Control (LoC). Neither have they criticised terrorist violence in the hiterland in J&K in the last three months or so. There is enough evidence to suggest that there has been a quantum jump in infiltration and terrorist violence in the State. If the Indian Army Vice-Chief, Lt Gen. Shantonu Choudhary, were to be believed, Islamabad has revived terrorist training camps in Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK).

''We have photographic evidence of this'', he has stated, rejecting Pakistan President, Gen Parvez Musharraf's claim that his Government had clamped down on the jehadis.