Adil Lateef
SRINAGAR, Oct 23: Hours after Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh’s announcement of sustained dialogue with people of Jammu and Kashmir, leaders of political parties in Kashmir shared divided opinion with National Conference (NC) working president
optimistic about it and Farooq Abdullah seeking debate on past reports on Kashmir.
Click here to watch video
The NC working president Omar Abdullah sounded optimistic about the announcement of sustained dialogue, saying “we should take what we can get”. “One can’t get everything so for now we’ll take what we can get. More important than the person is the mandate & absence of pre-conditions,” he said in a series of tweets. “The acceptance of the political nature of the Kashmir issue is a resounding defeat of those who could only see use of force as a solution,” the former J&K Chief Minister said.
Omar questioned the Centre over ongoing terror funding probe and asked: “What does this mean for the NIA investigation in J&K? Will investigation be suspended to facilitate dialogue with detained Hurriyat leaders?” In another tweet, Omar in reaction to Home Minister’s statement, however, said: “The ‘legitimate aspirations’ of people of J&K is an interesting formulation. Who gets to decide what is legitimate?” He said that he will keep an open mind & wait to see results of the dialogue process.
Speaking to reporters here, NC president and Member of Parliament, Farooq Abdullah said any talks offer is a welcome step but questioned Government of India (GoI) over past Interlocutors’ reports on Kashmir. “But I question Government of India over the report of Dilip Padgaonkar which is with them. Radha Kumar was member of that panel and there was also another member. A team of three members had arrived here. They spent two years here and for two years, they spoke to every individual in Ladakh, in Kashmir and in Jammu.
“That report is lying with them. If they really have to settle the political situation of this State, then they should see that report and present that in Parliament. There was also another report of NN Vohra and of other interlocutors. These reports are collecting dust in Home Ministry,” he said and questioned the appointment of former Intelligence Bureau (IB) Director Dineshwar Sharma as another interlocutor.
“What is the need to appoint another person for sustained dialogue? Didn’t Padgaonkar hold sustained dialogue for two years? What is the basis for it? One is that Doval doctrine has failed. That how much you suppress (Kashmiris), they will suppress. The Kashmiris have shown that more you try to suppress us, the more we will rise. They (GoI) are seeing that today. They though demonetization would end it (protests and stone-pelting) but nothing ended. The poverty of people increased, not only here but in whole India. So, their policies failed and they acknowledged that they have to open some way,” he said.
Farooq said if Centre has to open some way, then reports of political dialogue which had happened earlier should be opened and present in Parliament and then let Parliament decide which is right way and which not. He said that Pakistan is also one of the parties to the problems of Jammu and Kashmir. “It’s a political problem, it’s not only talking to people of J&K, Ladakh they have to talk to Pakistan also,” he said.
Asked whether this decision would impact BJP in Gujarat polls, Farooq said: “I believe this announcement would have any effect on Gujarat. This is related to Jammu and Kashmir and is our political issue and from decades, this political issue is there. The solution is: take out those reports, Parliament should debate them and they should try to understand the voice of peoples’ hearts. ”
Taking a dig at BJP-led Government, the NC president said that Kashmiris won’t get suppressed by gun. He said several stands of BJP on talks have failed and “now they have thrown chess pawn to do something”. “But nothing will happen. They should remember what Omar Abdullah said to Manmohan Singh and Sonia Gandhi when they came here to inaugurate Train service. He told them categorically that this is a political issue and it won’t be resolved by development and this political issue has to be tried politically,” Farooq said.
He said the Centre has failed in bringing peace to Kashmir. “They employed every tactic to suppress. They sent companies of army, thinking people would be suppressed. They went for demonitisation, saying the money which is coming is of militants. But they didn’t see that this is the pain of Kashmiri hearts which is forcing Kashmiris to rise up and Kashmiri cannot be suppressed. No matter how much force you use,” the NC president added.
Meanwhile, Pradesh Congress Committee president G A Mir Congress said that the party won’t welcome the statement of the Home Minister about declaring an interlocutor on Kashmir dialogue until the centre government says who the stakeholders are and what will be the roadmap for dialogue.
“This (appointing interlocutor on Kashmir) is another jumla (sentence) from BJP. Government of India has not defined the stakeholders in Jammu and Kashmir even though the Agenda of Alliance promises dialogue with all stakeholders including Hurriyat. But the PDP and BJP did not in its over three years rule,” Mir said, adding: “Till there is no result-oriented dialogue, a fully explained list of the stakeholders and a clear roadmap about the dialogue process, Congress will keep its fingers crossed and wont welcome the announcement,” he said.
CPI (M) State general secretary M Y Tarigami said that the announcement by the Centre is though delayed, but appropriate. “Government of India delayed the announcement of starting dialogue process on Kashmir, but finally realised that Kashmir is a political issue which needs political resolution,” Tarigami said.
Tarigami, who is MLA Kulgam, said that CPI (M) as a responsible political party has been time and again insisting on resolution of the Kashmir issue through dialogue and sustained political process. “Any political initiative aimed at resolving the political issue of Kashmir is appropriate,” he said.
The People’s Democratic Front chairman and Independent MLA from Khansahib Hakim Yaseen said that any dialogue aimed at result-oriented and meaningful outcome and with sincerity is welcome. “Any political conflict is resolved through result-oriented dialogue aimed at resolving issues are good. But the process of dialogue should be held through honest and with sincere intentions.
“Many dialogue processes through interlocutors were announced by the centre, but their reports were ignored by the successive government and there was not outcome at all,” Yaseen said, adding: “The current announcement of dialogue should be time-bound and meaningful.” Separatists meanwhile did not comment over the talks announcement so far.
Follow our WhatsApp channel