Some hope on the Hurriyat front

By Harish Khare

NEW DELHI, MAY 5. A section of the All-Party Hurriyat Conference leadership, camping here, has opted to interpret as a positive development what it sees as Pakistan's apparent endorsement of a dialogue between the APHC and the Union Government. A spokesman of Pakistan's Foreign Office was reported to have observed on Thursday in Islamabad that Pakistan would accept any decision taken by the Hurriyat about the presumed ``invitation'' from the Vajpayee Government to the APHC for talks.

Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, immediate past president of the APHC, sees this as a ``major shift'', almost as an endorsement of the APHC contention so far that only a three-way dialogue between India, Pakistan and the ``people of Kashmir'' could produce a way out of the Kashmir stalemate. This public formulation, according to the Mirwaiz, is consistent with what the Hurriyat leaders have heard recently from their Pakistani interlocutors. Though he insisted, as have the other APHC leaders, that there has been no formal or informal invitation for any kind of dialogue with the Indian Government, he was also unenthusiastic about a possibly mediatory role for Syed Mir Qasim, former Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir.

``Bilateralism has not worked,'' contends the Mirwaiz. He agrees that it may not be possible to start immediately a tripartite dialogue, but if the principle of ``trilaterlism'' is accepted then that should work out fine. To begin with, there can be a three-way simultaneous, bilateral dialogue: this would involve India and Pakistan talking, Kashmiri leaders talking with Pakistan and India talking with the ``Kashmiri'' representatives. ``Instead of going to Moscow or Washington, why not go to New Delhi and Islamabad'', argues the young Mirwaiz. The unstated contention is that the APHC leaders should be allowed to visit Pakistan; ``we can start a process.''

Next week the Hurriyat leaders, including those released recently from jail as well as the district level functionaries, propose to meet in Srinagar. The inclination is to talk to ``all political in Delhi, Islamabd, Muzzafarrbad (capital of POK), Jammu and Ladakh''.

Though he concedes that there are ``foreign mercenaries'' who probably subscribe to the ideology of Islamic fundamentalism, ``it is also a fact that the foreign militant is being given support and sympathy by the Kashmiri people, who feel alienated enough''.

As the Mirwaiz argues, ``though Islam is an important part of our life, our movement is a political movement and not a religious one,''; but, he insists that he and other APHC leaders believe that the efficacy of their political methods would be totally eroded if New Delhi continues to rely on the gun to deal with the ``Kashmir problem.''

Hence, the need to start the peace process by a dialogue with the ``representatives of people of Jammu and Kashmir.'' The Mirwaiz says that the Hurriyat would have no problem if ``pro-people'' leaders such as Mr. Shabir Shah are associated with the dialogue; at the same time, he believes that Dr. Farooq Abdullah's National Conference has become ``irrelevant'' and that the people of Kashmir would not be taken by the Chief Minister's ``belated discovery of autonomy'' and ``army high- handedness''.

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