The peace initiative by the BJP government at Centre on Jammu and Kashmir, through its special representative Dineshwar Sharma, is going on. Sharma, a former intelligence bureau director, has made several trips to the state since November 6. He has met many delegations and individuals in both the regions of Jammu and Kashmir. As expected, the demands and the opinions of the people in two regions have not matched.
Sharma first visited the trouble-prone Kashmir where he met several groups of people from different walks of life and political leaders of the mainstream parties.
Those who came to meet him in Srinagar at Hari Niwas, where he was staying at Gupkar Road, included PDP youth president Waheed Parra, Sanjay Saraf of the Janata Dal (United), delegations of erstwhile panchayat members, lesser-known delegations of youth and Sikh community.
"This is a meaningful dialogue process because the central government has owned it," Parra said after meeting Sharma. Others who came to meet Sharma included Touseef Raina of the Global Youth Foundation, Abida of JK Seva, an NGO, Shafiq Mir, chairman of Jammu and Kashmir Former Panchayat Members Association and a delegation of Gujjar-Bakerwal Conference. Raina told Sharma that youth should be taken into confidence as they are the important stakeholders. Mir told him that the state Panchayat Act should be strengthened as it forms a bridge between state and people. Mir also raised the issue of killings of panchayat members in Kashmir by militants.
The Gujjar and Bakerwal Conference delegation demanded reservations for the community. The same day CPI(M)’s M.Y. Tarigami, former minister and Democratic Party Nationalist leader Ghulam Hassan Mir and People’s Democratic Front chief Hakeem Mohammad Yaseen also held a meeting with the Centre's special representative. On November 8, the former spy chief had a meeting with Omar Abdullah at his residence at Gupkar Road. Sources said Omar told him that the Centre need to have sustained political dialogue on Kashmir. Omar also hinted at the report prepared by the three former interlocutors—Radha Kumar, M.M. Ansari, and Dileep Padgoankar—by Congress after 2010 uprising when he was the chief minister. Sharma also met Chief minister Mehbooba Mufti.
When Home Minister Rajnath Singh announced Sharma's appointment as an interlocutor on Kashmir on October 24, he had said that Sharma will talk to ''all stakeholders of the state and address their legitimate aspirations''. That, however, failed to impress the separatists who have been at the receiving end of the tough stance taken by the BJP government against those who, it deems, are responsible for fanning the fires of 2016 uprising, by imprisoning scores of their supporters and arresting others. The crackdown involved the arrest of eight mid-level separatist leaders including kin of Geelani by the NIA on charges of receiving secret funds to disturb peace in Kashmir. A senior separatist leader, requesting not to named, said the BJP wants to talk at gunpoint. “They want to create an impression that we are talking to people of Kashmir though the fact is that they only rely on force to silence the people of Kashmir,'' he said.
With separatist Joint Resistance Forum of Syed Ali Shah Geelani, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and Yasin Malik calling Sharma's appointment a farce, the possibility of other key players like business community leaders, tour operators and civil society members meeting Sharma was nipped in the bud.
The only worthwhile talks the special representative has had is his meeting on November 30 with a few youth who were involved in stone-pelting incidents in 2016 and suffered pellet injuries. The family members of many youths who have been detained by the government under Public Safety Act also met him in south Kashmir.
In Pulwama, some youths spoke to Sharma only after the officials present there left the room. Some youth also spoke of resolving the Kashmir issue.
In Jammu, the BJP delegation told Sharma that Centre should deal sternly with the separatist's supporters in Kashmir and treat all over ground workers as terrorists. A Kashmiri pandit delegation at Jagti migrant camp told him that they were pained to know that Central government has no plans for constructing townships for Kashmiri Pandits who want to return to Kashmir. Jagti Tenement Association representative Shadi Lal Pandit told Sharma that they want to go back to Kashmir but Centre needs to build townships for them as returning to their old residences was impossible now. The West Pakistan Refugees of 1947 reiterated their demand that they should be granted citizenship of the state.
Despite snub by separatists and important business and civil society members, Sharma has been able to secure the withdrawal of FIRs against more than 4300 first time stone pelters—a demand made by several delegations in Kashmir. He, sources said, took up the matter with Singh, who agreed to the idea of amnesty to first time stone pelters.
In his first interview after being named as interlocutor, which was later changed to the special representative, Sharma had said, ''I do not have a magic wand but my efforts have to be judged with sincerity and not through the prism of the past''. But Sadly, his efforts in Kashmir largely are being judged by the prism of the past because three similar initiatives in the past have yielded nothing positive for the people of Kashmir.
There is also an apparent disconnect between Home Ministry and Prime Minister's Office over his appointment and role. Soon after he was elected, minister of state in PMO Jitender Singh Rana said Sharma would talk development in J&K and there was no problem. Soon, the interlocutor's tag changed to the special representative. Rana's statement was also in contradiction to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Independence Day speech that Kashmir issue will not be resolved by bullets, but by embracing the Kashmiris. The tough talk of Rana, who is considered close to the RSS, is also seen as RSS disapproval to talks with key stakeholders in Kashmir as they want to settle the issue by abrogating the Article 35 A of the Constitution that bars outsiders from settling in Kashmir. RSS chief Mohan Baghwat recently said if an amendment is needed to assimilate Kashmir with India it should be done, a veiled reference to the Article 35 A which has been challenged in Supreme Court by RSS backed NGO We the Citizens and other petitioners considered close to the ultra-Hindutwa organisation.
