Time to hit the Reset Button with Pakistan
- In Politics
- 10:16 PM, Sep 02, 2015
- Sunanda Vashisht
Hurriyat was back in headlines last week when the NSA level talks between India and Pakistan got canceled after Pakistan insisted that Sartaj Aziz would have a formal meeting with separatists from Hurriyat Conference along with the scheduled NSA talks. Pakistan has been meeting Hurriyat for a long time, ostensibly in Delhi and not so ostensibly in Pakistan. Previous governments have either encouraged the meeting or at best looked the other side when photos of Pakistani diplomats with separatists would be splashed in media. Manmohan Singh government, A B Vajpayee Government and PV Narasimha Rao government allowed the meetings on the Indian soil. It is not as if Vajpayee, Singh or Rao did not know that Hurriyat are no legitimate representatives of Kashmiris. They also knew that Hurriyat are stooges and worked on the instructions from Pakistan but successive Indian governments allowed meetings as some sort of concession or Confidence Building Measure (CBM’S) to get Pakistan to the table and to get them to talk. A convenient Policy- we ignore your hobnobbing with Hurriyat, you give us peace if not permanent at least temporary.
For Pakistan however, Hurriyat was peak of their achievement in Kashmir. Pakistan had financed and fueled terrorism in Kashmir and continues in some measure. They have vowed to fight for thousand years for Kashmir and bleed India with a thousand cuts. Amidst all the rhetoric, bringing together separatists and lapsed terrorists to form Hurriyat Conference was crown of their achievement. Finally Pakistan had a bunch of Kashmiris who could be paraded around the world as ‘representatives’ of Kashmiris. This new front against India suited Pakistan. Hurriyat separatists either want to merge with Pakistan or support Independent Kashmir depending on who you talk to but each one of them unquestionably is viciously anti-India.
The genesis of Hurriyat is also fascinating. This goes back to the time when the world had not discovered Islamist Fundamentalism, people still looked up dictionary to find the word Jihad ( I don’t think Jihaad had made its debut in policy papers of wonks either) , the Twin Towers in New York stood tall, and terrorism in Kashmir was being sold to the world as ‘fight for self-determination’. This was a time when India was fighting the Islamist terror alone in Kashmir. India had no allies in the war that was being waged on its territory with active support of Pakistan. The kalashinkovs and AK-47’s had been smuggled, young Kashmiri boys had disappeared overnight to surface months later battle hardened and brainwashed in ISI organized camps in POK, unemployed mujahideens from Soviet-Afghan war had also been sent across the border, but still something was missing. Pakistan needed a bunch of articulate voices that would not only be loyal to them but would ‘stand up’ for the Kashmiri cause and ‘expose’ Indian imperialism in International press and on International fora. Mujahideens had their own limitations. They could fight Indian security forces but a hardened terrorist could not be showcased on International stage. A Mast Gul could never replace a Mirwaiz Umar Farooq. Therefore Hurriyat was envisioned.
Hurriyat Conference was formed in 1993 with blessings of USA, UK and Pakistan of course. A group of 26 separatist organizations came together to form a front to fuel separatism in valley. One word agenda communicated to Hurriyat was to keep the cauldron of separatism alive in valley. PV Narasimha Rao was in power when Hurriyat was born. India of the early 90’s was busy repairing its economy and fighting many demons internally. Therefore, containing Hurriyat even before its inception did not occur to anyone. In any case hind sight is 20/20. It is possible that PV Narasimha Rao did not calculate that a new front that was being created would essentially become a third party on the Kashmir issue and this party would always be loyal to Pakistan. PV Narasimha Rao just ignored the development. Atal Bihari Vajpayee worked hard to get some semblance of peace with Pakistan. Harder he worked for peace, harder Pakistan worked to rebuff him and also humiliate him. Vajpayee in quest of peace even called Hurriyat to talks and opened a channel of dialogue with them. LK Advani was given the job of bringing Hurriyat to negotiating table. In Vajpayee’s time economy stabilized but his Pakistan Policy saw failure at multiple fronts. Vajpayee gave call of Insaniyat ka daayra, Hurriyat remained steadfast on its agenda. Vajpayee hoped for peace by getting Hurriyat on the board. He got neither peace nor was Hurriyat coopted. We do know from AS Dulat’s book that cooption was on the agenda which met only with failure. Manmohan Singh’s tenure saw some overtures to Hurriyat as well. Meetings with Pakistan happened in Delhi and Government of India ignored in the hope that they would be called magnanimous and better behaved of two countries. All this as I said before in an attempt to buy elusive peace.
Modi has reset the equation now. He drew the line in stone a year earlier when Foreign Secretaries were to meet. Ufa followed, where Modi managed to not have Kashmir mentioned on the written joint statement at least. Nawaz Sharif returned to much hostile domestic population and furious Pakistani Army who fall into existential crisis if Kashmir does not figure in India-Pakistan equation. Pakistan’s insistence on meeting Hurriyat is easy to explain and many commentators have already said it was the case of Sharif in Army fatigues triumphing over Sharif in Shalwar Kameez. The question that concerns many on Indian side however is did Modi really win this round by forcing Pakistan to cancel the talks? Do notice however, this restriction of not meeting Hurriyat was only before or after the formal talks. Between talks canceled last year and this year, Hurriyat separatists were invited to Pakistan High Commission for Eid Milan and were not stopped by anybody. The restriction is only when Pakistan tries to give Hurriyat legitimacy to hold the formal talks about Kashmir on side lines of talks with India. This is where Modi has drawn a red line.
Is Modi justified in doing so? I have read more pieces that I can count about ‘muscular foreign policy’ that somehow will be detrimental to peace process. Hurriyat are side actors, they have no relevance, why does it matter if Pakistan is allowed to meet them? Or if it has been allowed for so long then why stop it now? Both are flawed arguments. Hurriyat may be irrelevant, they have never won an election in Kashmir, they are no representatives of Kashmiris, but because they are irrelevant in Kashmir doesn’t mean they are irrelevant in Pakistan also. India was able to make them irrelevant in Kashmir, but for their complete irrelevance they have to become useless for Pakistanis also. That is when pay outs will stop and they will truly disappear. Hurriyat is not on the stage because Kashmiris have put them there. They are on the stage because they are stooges who have been planted. That had to be stopped. Hurriyat is the greatest success story of Pakistan in the Kashmir Theater, their greatest soliloquy. This soliloquy had to be silenced. No sovereign nation can allow a separatist outfit to meet another nation. That is simply not done. Moreover by ignoring such meeting before, we were neither able to avert Kargil not 26/11 Mumbai attacks. So why put up with the nonsense?
The inevitable question now of course is future of India-Pakistan talks. Talks are over rated. Diplomatic Contac t between India and Pakistan remains. Talks over cross border terrorism can happen when both countries are ready. Consistent violations of ceasefire across LOC can be contained even with low key talks between DGMO (Director General of the Border Security Force) and Pakistan Rangers which are scheduled on September 6. India has adopted a two pronged strategy of being tough on LOC and not avoiding talks at the same time. They are willing to have talks ‘with’ terror even though the new nomenclature now is talks ‘on’ terror. This sounds like a sound strategy for now. Previous Confidence building measures haven’t helped. Allowing meetings with Hurriyat hasn’t resulted in substantial long term benefits. It has been clear for a long time that India needs to hit the reset button. Finally it does seem we are in a new era of India- Pakistan diplomacy.
By Sunanda Vashisht
Comments