Roundtable hopping in Kashmir

Mufti, whose People8217;s Democratic Party is part of the Congress-led coalition government in Jamp;K but who has not been wary of taking an independent political line, was appreciative of the seriousness with which Manmohan Singh had addressed the Kashmir issue. At the roundtable in New Delhi, for instance, 8220;From 11 in the morning to 6 pm he sat there, using the lunch time also for talking to people. It was not just done for 8216;khanapuri8217;. And different points of view came to the fore.8221;

Indeed, the PM has announced a roundtable in Srinagar in May to carry forward that dialogue process. But, Mufti argued, it was important that the Hurriyat leaders, who had boycotted the Delhi meet, attend the conference. To ensure this, the PM needs to 8220;use political elements8221;, not just officials. He had heard that junior IB officials had called up Hurriyat leaders to invite them for the Delhi meet, and believed they might have attended the meet had it been handled differently.

Mufti, who was chief minister in a rotational arrangement with the Congress till late 2005, recalled the interest shown by Manmohan Singh when he became prime minister in June 2004. 8220;J.N. Dixit the national security adviser called me and said that the PM wanted to visit Jamp;K and he would announce a package.8221; Said Mufti: 8220;To begin with I felt irritated. The idea of another package was such a mechanical way of thinking about Kashmir, I thought. But the PM came, announced a Rs 24,000 crore package and he saw to it, personally monitoring every step of the way, that from to A to Z every penny was cleared.8221;

Today, Mufti would like the prime minister to strengthen his initiative by calling a round table of national parties in Delhi on current 8220;openings and opportunities8221;. 8220;It is not necessary that only General Musharraf should talk,8221; he said. 8220;The prime minister has taken many initiatives but he does not speak about them.8221; The PM should now take national parties into confidence on the latest situation, the offers made by different groups in the state 8212; the National Conference is talking again about autonomy, and the PDP about 8220;self rule8221; 8212; and the various ideas enunciated by Musharraf, so that a way forward could be evolved by consensus.

Mufti was confident that the BJP would cooperate. 8220;The whole process was initiated by the NDA and they cannot delink themselves from it,8221; he said. 8220;The Congress, which resolved the Assam and Punjab problems, would also gain enormous strength from a breakthrough on Jamp;K, but it needs ground work.8221;

In fact, Mufti advocates a Pugwash type of conference in Srinagar, bringing together people from both sides of Kashmir. The Islamabad conference last week was attended by mainstream parties from Jamp;K, including the National Conference and the PDP, the Hurriyat and other separatist leaders, personalities and groups from Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir. It was also addressed by Musharraf.

Asked about Musharraf8217;s suggestion that such a conference of Kashmiris should be attended by both him and Manmohan Singh, making it in effect a tripartite exercise, Mufti was cautious. 8220;Not yet,8221; he replied. But he suggested moving on other fronts. The five points on the LOC which had been opened up for facilitating earthquake relief to POK should 8220;be activised8221;. The Srinagar-Muzaffarabad bus procedure should be 8220;simplified8221; 8212; 8220;it is cumbersome, and should not be limited to divided families.8221;

With Manmohan Singh having made it clear that there would be no compromise on the country8217;s territory and that anything except secession could be discussed, and with Musharraf having resiled from Pakistan8217;s earlier insistence on plebiscite and the the right to self-determination, Mufti said that 8220;this is a golden opportunity8221; to look at the various ideas that have been thrown up.

Musharraf has talked about 8220;demilitarisation, self-rule and joint management8221;. The PDP has all along been for demilitarisation, making a case for the responsibility to be given to the Jamp;K police. Mufti8217;s party also advocates 8220;self-rule8221; in both parts of Kashmir. This, Mufti said, meant going back to the 1947 position when accession took place, and the Constitution of Jamp;K along with Article 370 could be basis of self-rule. 8220;In fact, Muzaffar Baig argued at the roundtable that if you reopen Article 370, which the BJP keeps demanding, you will be undoing the Instrument of Accession.8221;

8220;Self-rule8221;, as proposed by the PDP, would mean the Union of India looking after only defence, foreign affairs and communications. This, he said, was somewhat different from the autonomy advocated by the NC which meant a return to the 1953 position when Sheikh Abdullah was arrested. 8220;Self-rule8221; would also have wider application, whereas autonomy centred on the aspirations of the people of the Valley. 8220;Whatever Kashmir got after accession had led to a sense of grievance in Jammu. Nehru and Sheikh Abdullah couldn8217;t take all the regions along. Since then the special position of Kashmir kept getting eroded.8221; With Pakistan endorsing the idea, it could offer a solution to the Kashmir problem. The idea of self rule, he cautioned, should not be looked at narrowly, for, after all, with India8217;s 8220;thriving democracy8221;, the states had come to enjoy more powers and regional parties to play an important role in governance.

As for Musharraf8217;s suggestion for 8220;joint control or joint management8221; of both sides of Kashmir, Mufti said this was 8220;a grey area8221;. But these were things which could be sorted out by dialogue.

The former CM placed immense importance on enhancing connectivity 8212; for instance, with the Rs 7000 crore project taking the railway line up to Uri and the super highway project.