The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

Monday, May 15, 2000,
Chandigarh, India

THE TRIBUNE SPECIALS

50 YEARS OF INDEPENDENCE

TERCENTENARY CELEBRATIONS

M A I N N E W S

Don’t reopen accession issue: CM
From M. L. Kak
Tribune News Service

JAMMU, May 14 — The Chief Minister, Dr Farooq Abdullah, is not opposed to the Hurriyat-Centre talks but the reopening of the issue of the state’s accession with India, during the talks.

“Accesson is no longer debatable as the issue was settled by my father, Sheikh Abdullah, when he linked the state’s destiny with India 52 years ago,” the Chief Minister is said to have conveyed to his political friends in Delhi.

Dr Farooq has also conveyed to Delhi that he is not opposed to talks with Hurriyat Conference leader or with any separatist group but the Centre needs to examine whether these proposed parleys can restore peace in Jammu and Kashmir.

The Chief Minister’s argument is that neither the Hurriyat Conference nor any other separatist group “controls” the gun in Kashmir. “The Pakistani agencies and generals control the guns that roar in Kashmir,” he is said to have told his political allies at the Centre. He has informed the Central Government that had the Hurriyat Conference been in control of the militant outfits, they would not have been visiting the Pakistan High Commission in Delhi every now and then.

Dr Farooq’s analysis is that the Kashmir turmoil may not end with negotiations with the Hurriyat Conference. The problem has to be resolved with Pakistan that has actually introduced the gun culture in the state and had been waging a proxy war for the past 10 years.

The Chief Minister is critical of the Hurriyat Conference on two counts. First, the Hurriyat Conference lacks representative character and most of its leaders have never participated in the elections Second, he treats the latest strategy of the Hurriyat Conference as a “temporary political u-turn” because they have been instrumental in the killing of thousands of innocent people in the state during to past 10 years.

Dr Farooq believes that the Hurriyat Conference leaders are keen to assume power in the state. “They are welcome. Let them test their strength at the hustings. If they are impatient to gain power, I will dissolve the Assembly and order fresh elections provided they make a firm commitment that they will contest the poll, “he has conveyed to his political opponents in the state.

The Chief Minister has one regret. Separatists, including the Hurriyat Conference, have not understood the fragility of the political system in Pakistan. He wants his opponents to understand how easy it has become in Pakistan to “rape democracy” and butcher the judicial system.

“It can happen only in Pakistan that the judiciary is kept under the thumb of military rulers to get verdicts in favour of military regimes,” he says.

Dr Farooq, according to sources close to him, is highly critical of those who support the division of Jammu and Kashmir. He is of the opinion that dividing Jammu and Kashmir in Hindu, Muslim or Buddhist dominated regions will set a bad precedent and people belonging to other ethnic groups could demand separate states. The Division of Jammu and Kashmir may ultimately lead to the “Balkanisation” of India. And if the Centre accepts the demand of those seeking the trifurcation of the state, it would mean government is playing into the hands of those who have supported the two-nation theory.

The Chief Minister is said to have told the central leaders in clear terms that he would support any move that could lead to the restoration of peace to Jammu and Kashmir. At the same time he will not sit silent if talks are held to weaken the state’s integration with India and no government could afford to lose Kashmir whose people had linked their destiny with India under the stewardship of Sheikh Abdullah.

He has also conveyed his support to Indo-Pakistan talks for promoting ties between the two neighbours and not for changing the alignment of the LoC which if converted into an international border may lead to the resolution of the Kashmir crisis.

Move on talks gains momentum
From Satish Misra
Tribune News Service

NEW DELHI, May 14 — Even as the All-Party Hurriyat Conference (APHC) remains “ambivalent” over the offer of talks with the Centre, move of talks is gathering momentum with former Sadar-e Riyasat Karan Singh extending support to it.

While non-Hurriyat parties, groups and senior political leaders of the state are coming forward to support the Centre’s move, the APHC chairman, Mr S.A.S. Geelani’s statement that the Jammu and Kashmir, if need be, could be divided into four parts has caused considerable consternation even among some of the Hurriyat constituents.

It is a direct challenge to the age-old culture and beliefs of the common man in the state which have evolved the spirit of “Kashmiriat” over centuries. ‘Kashmiriat’ is characterised by a liberal tradition and ‘secularism’, the APHC insiders said.

Youth is being encouraged to undertake suicidal mission which is contrary both to Islam as well as to the spirit of Kashmiriat, a senior official told The Tribune.

Kashmir is going through a phase of Islamisation, the official pointed out adding that if the militancy did not stop now, or if the Government of India did not find a way to win back the people of the state , there would be nothing left of the tolerance that used to be the hallmark of Jammu and Kashmir.

It is a cause of serious concern to all of us, a senior political leader of the state said adding that mosques were being used for the Islamisation of the Kashmiri society. The young minds are being poisoned and that is what is disturbing us, the leader said.

That is precisely why, senior leaders like the former Chief Minister, Sayed Mir Qasim and Union Home Minister, Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, former militant-turned peacenik Azam Inqualabi have been coming forward to support the dialogue move.

Meanwhile Dr Karan Singh has also extended support to the government’s move to release Hurriyat leaders but has cautioned that ‘multi-lateral and multi-level’ talks were required for a lasting solution to the Kashmir problem.

The dialogue has to be within the ambit of the Constitution and representatives of the Dogra Sadar Sabha, the Ladakh Buddhist Sabha, the Panun Kashmir and other parties also should be involved in it, he said.

Talks were the only way to sort out differences in a democracy and the all parties including the APHC must work for a congenial atmosphere in this regard, he said.

The Congress leader, talking to reporters here after inaugurating the Chandigarh chapter of an inter-faith organisation, the Temple of Understanding, pointed out how Pakistan had always “mistaken” Indian gestures towards peace. In this context, he referred to the past accords between the two countries.