Even as the moderate Hurriyat camp decided not to publicly respond to suggestions that Jammu and Kashmir granted be some autonomy, it is not entirely unhappy with the idea.Sections of the media had quoted officials saying that while the government did not want to redraw the map, it wouldn’t mind granting autonomy of the kind that existed before 1953.“We don’t want to comment in haste,” said Hurriyat chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq. The Hurriyat may not find it easy to sell the idea to the people but a senior leader said what it found heartening was the recent urgency on all sides to find a solution.“Earlier we used to get caught in small issues like whether Pakistan should be involved in the discussion. Today, all parties are actually throwing up options. This would not have been possible a few years back.”Mirwaiz, however, was not willing to ignore the jibe, attributed to government officials, that termed the Hurriyat leadership as “small men pushed into big chairs.” He fumed: “The Centre should come clear on this. It should spell out whether it wants to talk to us or not.”Of course the moderates want the dialogue process to continue. Even former Hurriyat chairman Maulana Abbas Ansari put a positive spin on the new developments. He said: “I can only say that New Delhi is trying very hard to search for options.”But there are complications. For example, Ansari said that going to the pre-1953 position would entail scrapping of all accords and agreements that were signed between New Delhi and the Kashmiri mainstream leadership in the period following 1953. ‘‘New Delhi’s sincerity will be gauged if it goes back to the pre-1953 agreement in letter and spirit. To begin with, let it revoke all resolutions it has passed on Kashmir in Parliament. Let us go back to the old titles of Prime Minister of Kashmir and Sadr-e-Riyasat,” he said.The important thing was that India, Pakistan and the people of Kashmir were no longer “parroting old lines” he said. ‘‘Look, today we have a proposal from Pakistan and probably this one from Government of India. That makes it two possible options from two parties,” he said. ‘‘We too have our proposals. We will be sharing them with both India as well as with Pakistan shortly.”
