Pitched by the Prime Minister’s Office as a major initiative to fulfill Kashmiri aspirations and speed up the peace process, the J-K roundtable in New Delhi tomorrow has been reduced to an all-party meeting with the separatist leadership deciding to stay away.The roundtable’s taking place at a time when a wave of anger is sweeping the Valley in the wake of the Handwara incident where four persons, including two children, were killed in firing, allegedly by the Army. Hurriyat chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq has even written to UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, citing Handwara as another instance of India “unleashing a reign of terror and oppression on the innocent people of Kashmir”. Sources today said that at least 45 J-K leaders from Congress, BJP, National Conference, PDP, CPM and CPI would be attending the meeting chaired by PM Manmohan Singh. Prominent faces would include Omar Abdullah, PDP’s Mufti Mohammed Sayeed and Mehbooba Mufti, CM Ghulam Nabi Azad, his deputy Muzaffar Hussain Baig, Union Water Resources Minister Saifuddin Soz, Karan Singh, CPM’s Yusuf Tarigami, CPI’s Abdul Rehman and Kashmiri Pandit leader Agnishekhar.Kashmir interlocutor N N Vohra and Muzaffar Hussain Baig met the PM today to discuss the possible agenda. The National Conference wants pre-1953 status for J-K while PDP says the state must be consulted before imposition of President’s Rule and the audit of state finances must be an internal affair and not by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG).At the meeting, the PM, sources said, will reiterate that the UPA does not have the mandate to make cartographic changes and wants a solution within the parameters of the Constitution. The issue of alleged human rights violations and excesses by security forces is likely to dominate the discussions with the government.Unlike the September 5 meeting, Saifuddin Soz and Wajahat Habibullah, the Kashmir specialist who’s now Chief Information Commissioner, have been kept out of the initiative this time. In fact, Soz told The Indian Express that though he would be there for the roundtable, his services were not sought this time to get the Hurriyat to the table.Sources said that the exercise to get the Hurriyat was undertaken by the PMO through Vohra and National Security Advisor M K Narayanan. With the separatists announcing a boycott, officials now say Islamabad may have had a role in the decision.Incidentally, the separatists and mainstream parties would be sharing a table and discussing Kashmir at a conference in Islamabad slated for March 9-10. Being held under the aegis of Pugwash, the conference is likely to be attended by Vohra, Omar Abdullah, the Mirwaiz, Sajjad Lone, Abdul Ghani Bhat and Yaseen Malik.
