By Sajjad Shaukat
In wake of continued siege and prolonged curfew, Indian security
forces have martyred more than 100 innocent persons who have been protesting
since July 8, 2016 against the martyrdom of the young Kashmir leader Burhan
Wani by the Indian security forces in the Indian-occupied Kashmir.
Without caring for severe criticism all over the
world, during his address on the Independence Day of India on August 15, 2016,
Indian extremist Prime Minister Narendra Modi who is also leader of the ruling
fundamentalist party BJP went aggressively further in a diatribe against
Pakistan by claiming that people
of Gilgit-Baltistan, Azad Jammu and Kashmir are thankful to home for raising
voice for their suppressed rights.
On the other side, against his false
anti-Pakistan statement, huge rallies and demonstrations were held in
Balochistan, Azad Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan, including some other cities of
Pakistan. Opposing Indian intervention in Balochistan and other parts of
Pakistan, the speakers on this occasion strongly condemned Prime Minister
Modi’s aggressive designs against Pakistan and Kashmiris. They urged
international community, civilized world and human rights organizations to take
serious notice of the Indian state terrorism—genocide of Kashmiris in the
Indian-held Kashmir and interference in Pakistan’s province of Balochistan.
In this context, Pakistan Prime Minister’s
Adviser on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz said that the situation in Balochistan
cannot be equated with Kashmir and Indian Prime Minister was only trying to
divert world attention from the “grim tragedy” unfolding in Kashmir over the
past five weeks.
One can clearly not that Indian-controlled
Kashmir (IOK) is burning since July 8, 2016. The lava of resentment from the
bursting volcano of IOK is now spreading from the urban centers to rural areas.
Indian rulers have been trying to brush aside the issue by keeping it under the
carpet, accusing that Pakistan is fuelling the flames.
At this critical juncture, the interview of A.
S. Dulat, former chief of India’s spy agency RAW published in the magazine,
‘The Wire’ of August 27, 2016 sheds some light on finding a settlement of the
Kashmir dispute. A.S. Dulat is relevant to the issue and helps in understanding
the crisis in Kashmir and seeking possible solutions. Dulat who also was
director of the Intelligence Bureau, has served in Kashmir for a long time. His
most important tenure was between 2001 and 2004, when he was the advisor on
Jammu and Kashmir in Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s office. In 2015, his
book Kashmir, The Vajpayee Years, co-authored with senior journalist Aditya
Sinha, created uproar since he became one of the few members of the Indian
security and intelligence community to advocate a reduced military presence in
Kashmir and to argue the need for India to build confidence amongst Kashmiris
through humanitarian measures.
Dulat, while emphasizing that Pakistan’s role is
not the only catalyst for the crisis, talks about the need for the Indian
government to start talking to separatist leaders in the Hurriyat Conference,
Pakistan, and other important political players. He indicates as to how
Vajpayee’s and Narendra Modi’s strategies on Kashmir are poles apart and
elaborates on why Kashmiris warmed to Vajpayee. He stresses that India should
engage in principled dialogue with people in the Valley, instead of taking a
naïve and aggressive line. His condemnation of the Modi government for not
talking to Hurriyat and for its high handedness in IOK is spot on. He rightly
concludes that the Kashmiri uprising is 100% indigenous and Pakistan was taking
advantage of the situation in IOK.
However, realistic analysis of A.S. Dulat shows
his pragmatic approach regarding the Indian-occupied Kashmir, as he points out
that the problem has been there for a while. Under the surface, there has been
a lot of anger, hatred and alienation. Never before has it seemed so much in
the open. In this context, He said, “Now, you have slogans put up: ‘Indian Dogs
Go Back!’ It’s bad and the common Kashmiri is suffering.” He attributes all this,
unfortunately, to the BJP-PDP alliance in the Indian-controlled Kashmir. In the
2014 elections, the result was such that this was the only alliance which could
work. It was a natural alliance and [PDP leader] Mufti Mohammed Sayeed,
therefore, opted for it although he stated that it was an alliance between the
North Pole and the South Pole. Everyone hoped that it would bring Jammu and
Kashmir together.
In fact, it has torn Jammu and Kashmir apart,
because the Kashmiris have been very apprehensive that the BJP and the RSS are
gradually penetrating into the Valley. They are very sensitive to that because
with that comes fears of the repeal of Article 370, that there may be a change
in the demographic pattern of Kashmir and so on. So as long as Mufti Sayeed was
there, he muddled through. He was an unhappy man because Delhi did not
understand what was happening. So he died an unhappy man.
As war of liberation in the Indian-held Kashmir
has accelerated, Indian Prime Minster Modi has no option, but resuming the dialogue
process with Pakistan, starting where Vajpayee and Manmohan Singh left it.
Modi’s diversionary tactics, drawing the attention off IOK and talking about
Balochistan would not help as the problem lies in Kashmir and New Delhi will
have to talk to Islamabad.
In this regard, another news item reported in
various news papers is the speech given by Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati
in Azam Garh, Utter Pradesh. In her speech she has said that BJP may start a
war with Pakistan and engineer Hindu-Muslim riots prior to the upcoming polls
in utter Pradesh. She has predicted that BJP will use these tactics to divert
attention from its failing government policies. Mayawati’s predictions merit
attention because BJP is an irrational party, which comprises extremists, who
can go to any extent to achieve their gains. Modi, who ignited Gujarat and is
responsible for the slaughter of 2000 innocent Muslims in 2002, only because he
was seeking re-elections in the province, can well take India to war so that
the elections in UP may be won.
Nevertheless, Indian rulers must take cognizance
of the interview of the ex-chief of RAW A. S. Dulat in order to seek a peaceful
solution of the Kashmir dispute, as he has shown a pragmatic approach on
Kashmir.
No comments:
Post a Comment