Talking to the Separatists

PDP should make use of BJP’s lack of political imagination and engage the dissident camp in Kashmir.

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File PhotoThe past five months have been a roller-coaster ride for J&K Chief Minister Mufti Sayeed and his party, the Jammu and Kashmir Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). Many of Mufti’s ideas and initiatives may not have been very successful as yet, thanks to New Delhi’s unhelpful attitude and BJP’s political stances, but those who know Mufti Sayeed would realise that being an experienced and wise politician that he is, Mufti is perhaps waiting for the right moment to strike.

In some ways it is gratifying to see that the BJP, after some initial ill-advised noises about abrogating Article 370, has completely given up on that regressive project. That said, the Mufti government, five months since inauguration, has a lot of work ahead. Indeed, the recent appointment of Amitabh Mattoo, a well-known intellectual and an acceptable face within New Delhi’s strategic enclave is a timely and wise decision by the Chief Minister.

Of the many important items on the PDP’s political agenda, the cross-LoC engagements are likely to take a hit, or that is how it is increasingly looking like, thanks to BJP’s steadily increasing hardline positions on it. Modi government’s ill-conceived policy towards Pakistan also means that New Delhi is unlikely to give any leeway to Mufti Sayeed on that count. Hence PDP’s cross-LoC project may indeed be a non-starter. That is a pity given the great deal of progress made on cross-border CBMs and improvement of Indo-Pak ties vis-à-vis Kashmir.

 

This will also mean that there will be many more casualties on the LOC, on both sides. The point is not that Mufti government should be no efforts, in whatever way possible, to press New Delhi to talk Kashmir with Pakistan, but that Modi is unlikely to listen to the PDP government on the matter under the present circumstances.

 

There is today an increasing and unhealthy divide between Jammu and Srinagar, much of which is artificially created by narrow political interests. Despite the Mufti government’s efforts to avoid any such Jammu Vs. Kashmir politics from hampering the process of governance in the state, the rightwing elements in Jammu and within the BJP will continue to flag such a gulf and make sure to gain from it. Even on that count, Mufti Sayeed will not be in a position to make much of an impact. That is disheartening because this clearly was one of PDP’s key reasons for entering into an alliance with the BJP.

 

Economic development of the state is where I think the Mufti government will be able to make a great deal of impact, provided the BJP stands by its promise of financially empowering Mufti to do so. Even though there has not yet been much action on this count from New Delhi, I still think not all is lost yet: after all, we have only lost five months so far, and as the Chief Minister rightly pointed out in his Independence Day address in the Bakshi Stadium that five months is too little a time to judge the performance of a Government (that too in a place like J&K).

 

That said, there are two things that the Mufti government can and should do: engage the dissidents in Srinagar, and only a seasoned statesman like Mufti Sayeed can do this; and revive the healing touch policies of the 2002-2005 period. Mufti’s USP has been his ability to reach out to the aggrieved masses of Kashmir and he should start engaging them now without waiting for BJP’s concurrence which may never come. Its time to imagine beyond the alliance.

 

The importance of engaging the separatists

 

Modi government has absolutely no intention of talking to Kashmir’s dissidents. All that hope we had, as did the separatists like Mirwaiz themselves, that a strong government in New Delhi would have the courage of conviction to negotiate with the dissidents, is fast withering away. The past year has proven us completely wrong: the BJP, while it may not touch Article 370, would not have any willingness to bring the separatists to the negotiating table as it does not suit them politically or reputationally. If anything, it might cost them reputationally. Doing so is in the greater national interest which I don’t think the BJP understands very well. However, New Delhi is unlikely to oppose if the Mufti government seeks to dialogue with the separatist camp. The government in New Delhi might consider it as a way of temporarily managing tensions in Kashmir. PDP should therefore make use of BJP’s lack of political imagination and engage the dissident camp in Kashmir.

 

Indeed, Mufti could get his newly appointed advisor Amitabh Mattoo to take a lead role in initiating a political dialogue between the dissidents in Kashmir and BJP as well as New Delhi’s strategic community. As pointed out above, the appointment of Mattoo has come at an opportune time when the Mufti government needs people to translate his political vision on the ground. It is also important to get Mattoo engage in this important task given his deep-running links with New Delhi’s strategic elite, which at this point of time does not look favourably at a dialogue with the dissidents, and his familiarity with the new political bosses in New Delhi.

 

By: G K News