Kashmir: Soz stirs up controversy again; Congress skips book launch

Days after he backed Pakistan former president Pervez Musharraf's position on the Kashmir issue, senior Congress Party leader Saifuddin Soz courted controversy yet again by stating that Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel had offered Kashmir to Pakistan in exchange of Hyderabad. The idea, however, did not go down well with former prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru, Soz added. "Sardar Patel was a pragmatist and offered Kashmir to Liaquat Ali Khan (then Pak PM). He told him 'don't talk of Hyderabad, talk Kashmir; take Kashmir but don't talk of Hyderabad' as Khan was preparing for war and Patel wasn't," he said at the sidelines of the launch of his book 'Kashmir: Glimpses of History and the Story of Struggle' in New Delhi on Monday.

Meanwhile, the Congress had distanced itself from his comments, with former prime minister Manmohan Singh and former finance and home minister P. Chidambaram giving soz's book launch event a miss. Former Union minister Jairam Ramesh was the only Congress leader who attended the event. While Singh, who was invited for the book launch did not turn up, Chidambaram, who was to launch the book and hold a discussion on the Kashmir issue, also skipped the event after the Congress snubbed Soz for his remarks. Earlier, the Congress had termed his remarks as a "cheap gimmick" to promote his book, which was launched on Monday. 

Soz, however, repeatedly said at the book launch that it was his book and his party was not responsible for it.

"It is my book and I am responsible and my party, the Indian National Congress, has nothing to do with it. It is my book and I have narrated facts... I have done the research for this book and I have the confidence in me that these are well-researched facts and I am responsible for it," he said repeatedly.

Soz said that 'azaadi' is not possible in Kashmir and the only way forward is for all stakeholders to sit together and hold a vigorous dialogue to solve the problem.

He claimed that it was Lord Mountbatten and not Jawaharlal Nehru who took the Kashmir issue to the United Nations.

He blamed the "small minds" in politics and the agencies who created this situation in Kashmir and noted, "It is the small minds who ruined Kashmir and did not allow Nehru to move forward... Delhi diluted the autonomy of Kashmir."

Soz said the hopes of Kashmir settling down in eternity faded after Nehru's death, but the issue could have been resolved later on two occasions—once during Atal Bihari Vajpayee's tenure and then again during Manmohan Singh's tenure and "we lost the opportunities".

"The only hope in Kashmir is that you raise a dialogue. If you open a dialogue with conditions, then you will not succeed. The warring parties should come to the middle to the centre of the agreement," he said.

Soz also blamed the media for "twisting" his statement on supporting Pervez Musharraf's proposal for giving autonomy to Kashmiris, which had invited sharp criticism from the BJP. In his book, Soz has noted that Musharraf's assessment of Kashmir "seems to be correct even today. "Musharraf said Kashmiris don't want to merge with Pakistan, their first choice is independence. The statement was true then and remains true now also. I say the same but I know that it is not possible," he further noted.

"Azaadi is not possible, but the Constitution of India should accommodate Kashmir," he said, adding that even Musharraf had told his generals and wanted autonomy on both sides of Kashmir.

"Shedding blood will not solve the Kashmir problem... You can go on killing Kashmiris. Kill them...but the problem will not be resolved," he said, asking "Did the Taliban get killed?"

He also said, "Who took Kashmir to United Nations? It was Mountbatten, not Jawaharlal Nehru who took the Kashmir issue to the United Nations. Facts are there."

Soz also called for dialogue and urged people to get together and the opposition led by the Congress to become a bridge between the people of Kashmir and the government of India to solve the issue.

"Let us leave the extremes and come to the middle... This book shows the middle course," he said.

"It is the people of Kashmir who created the dispute, the problem. The problem is there... Let us not discuss the system, the system of intolerance and that of lynchings and the system of taking lives."

Noting that going into the history will not help as Kashmir is a special situation, he said, "Kashmir has become a laboratory of knowing India. Kashmir is the laboratory of knowing what is happening in India through lynchings, intolerance..."

Earlier, noted journalist Kuldeep Nayyar, a former adviser to ex-prime minister Lal Bahadur Shastri, also said that Shastri had told him that India and Patel were ready to hand over Kashmir to Pakistan.