Srinagar, April 20 (Bashir Assad): If the views expressed by senior Congress leader and Minister for Water Resources Taj Mohiudin during an interview with this correspondent, are any indication and if the interim report submitted to the centre by the Interlocutors team on Jammu and Kashmir hold any significance, the resurrection of decades old Kashmir Committee and Kashmir oriented activities by other civil society groups like Centre for Policy Analysis (CPA) seem to be in tandem with the Centre’s realigned Kashmir policy.
Pertinently Taj Mohiudin had revealed that UPA government was seriously considering autonomy for J&K. Taj’s revelations apart, the Interlocutors have again hinted at to recommend more powers for the state to strengthen its special status under the Constitution. The interlocutors favour a political solution that “upholds and fine-tunes the special status of Jammu and Kashmir under Article 370 of the Indian Constitution. While giving the state more political autonomy, the interlocutors want deeper economic linkages between the state and the rest of the country.
The pro-active role of various civil society groups and resurrection of Ram Jethmalani’s Kashmir Committee exactly after ten years is a clear indication that Centre is seriously thinking of a novel solution to the Kashmir issue by bridging the long persistent gap between the peoples of Kashmir and rest of the country. Genuinely so, because the alienation, discontent in Kashmir is further compounded by the miscommunication between Kashmir and rest of the country.
In helping to promote a peaceful resolution to the Kashmir problem ,the Indian civil society groups have a very crucial role to play. The stereotype milieu on both sides , over the years, has culminated in hatred-thanks to the miscommunication rather incommunicado location of both.
Madhu Keshwar, a renowned journalist who is one of the members of Jethmalani’s Kashmir Committee while talking to this correspondent spoke in length about her new initiative of being on board to Kashmir with Jethmalani. Keshwar, who enjoys a very good relationship with both mainstream and Kashmiri separatists said that she was initially hesitant to join the group as she feared that people in Kashmir may see to it as one more “band baja” (noisy seen) but latter on realized the importance of such initiatives.
“There is a trust deficit and alienation of people of Kashmir is not only establishment oriented but they have grievances with the Indian Civil Society also and we are keen to work for lasting peace which is not possible without involvement of Indian Civil Society Groups” Madhu Keshwar said.
She insisted on interactions between the two peoples to remove the trust deficit that could go a long way in resolution process.
Asserting that Indian Civil Society must come forward to help Kashmiris to come out of morass, Madhu Keshwar said that the Indian citizens too have the right and the duty of trying to do what they can to help promote peace in Kashmir, more so because they are uniquely positioned to do so.
She said that Indian civil society members in their personal and individual capacities continue to exercise a profound influence on vast numbers of Kashmiris.
Since last year a number of backchannels have activated in Kashmir, and almost all of these enjoy a good repute among the sections of Kashmiri society. It was quite fascinating to see ex-students in Kashmir who have graduated from outside receiving their teachers from reputed Universities like Jawahar Lal Nehru University as they still maintain links with their teachers.
Given this, I feel that Indian Civil Society Members could be encouraged to play a more active role in helping to promote peace in Kashmir. With the respect that they command among large sections of the Kashmiri people they could prove to be particularly effective.
What was more encouraging was to see a number of Indian Muslim groups and individuals have been involved in promote inter-faith dialogue and communal harmony in Kashmir. Film Maker Sayed Mirza, renowned Journalists Seema Mustafa and Zaheerudin Ali Khan are doing a remarkable job to bring Kashmiri Muslims closer to the Indian Muslims and I believe that they need to be encouraged to further extend their activities. In this regard, I feel that a valuable purpose could be served if Indian Muslim from different socio-political and economic strata could visit Kashmir on a regular basis and interact with local people.