New Delhi starts Track-II talks with separatists
CMs including Mufti Sayeed play spoilsport in dialogue with separatists: Bhan
Track-II diplomat and former member of United Nation (UN) Committee on combating terrorism, Ashok Bhan Friday criticized government policy to put separatists under house arrest.He said during his meeting with the pro-Pakistan and pro-freedom leaders he found there was a need for New Delhi to engage with the leaders at the top-level to resolve Kashmir issue.
Bhan who has been deputed by Central government as part of the Track-II mission on Kashmir is in Srinagar and has met both the separatist and mainstream politicians here.
He however said that successive chief ministers including the current one, Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, have been playing a spoilsport for New Delhi to engage with the separatist leadership here.
“During 2001-02 when the meeting was fixed between separatist leader, Shabir Ahmad Shah, and the Home Minister, L K Advani, then chief minister, Farooq Abdullah, put roadblocks. He opposed the meeting saying this will destabilize his government as of result of which Shah met opposition leader, Sonia Gandhi, and former Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh,’’ he said.
Bhan said that chief minister, Mufti Sayeed, was no better than his predecessor and questioned government’s resolve to deliver on governance front. “Government of India is ready to help the Jammu and Kashmir state. Finance Minister, Arun Jaitely, is interested in working out a special economic package for the state. But the performance of the government on governance front is questionable because of inexperience of the BJP leaders and also the concentration of power in the hands of Chief Minister and his daughter,” he said.
“The Ministers in the coalition government are making promises of development to people and explaining that they will be able to deliver in case the government survives. It sends a wrong signal in the bureaucracy and the public,” he said.
Bhan said there are exceptions within the BJP-PDP coalition like the separatist turned mainstream politician and Animal Husbandry Minister, Sajad Gani Lone, “ Who is a man of ideas and will turn out to be one of the best Ministers.”
On the dialogue, Bhan said, “Government of India under Modi’s leadership has to directly reach out to a very large public opinion in Kashmir Valley, which for some reasons here is yet to participate in democracy and positive politics. Unless the opinions represented by various political groupings including Hurriyat are engaged in the positive political process, the Kashmir imbroglio will continue.”
Bhan who is the chairman of Kashmir policy and strategy group (KPSG) which has comprises other members including former interlocutor, M M Ansari, former Governor of Mizoram, A R Kohli, Lt Gen (retd) Atta Hasnain, former Sikkim Governor, B P Sigh, and former RAW chief, A S Dulat, has been in Kashmir for the last over two weeks trying to “initiate the dialogue with the separatist at the highest level.”
He said that chief minister, Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, can only act as facilitator and “not as negotiator.” “Chief Minister should focus on governance,’’ he said.
He added, “There is an exit route available for Kashmiri society after suffering for 16-years to be part of a democratic process and Kashmir’s distinct political and constitutional entity needs to be respected.”
Bhan said that he doesn’t favour the settlement of Kashmiri Pandits (KPs) in separate enclaves, but in composite `smart cities and townships along with the Muslims.”
“But there are some people who are making it an issue when the Muslims are already living in separate colonies like Bathindi and Gujjar Nagar in Jammu,” he said.
