The Hindu : A sensible move

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Jan 01, 2003

Opinion

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A sensible move

IN VESTING MORE financial and administrative powers in the Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council (LAHDC) for Leh, the Mufti Mohammad Sayeed Government in Jammu and Kashmir has taken a significant step towards addressing the much-neglected regional autonomy concerns, which have remained a source of enormous discontent and even frustration and have in their own way contributed to the compounding of the larger problem of Kashmir. This and the assurance that the Government would create a similar autonomous structure for Kargil by the end of June should serve substantially to neutralise the demand for making Ladakh a Union Territory which acquired greater stridency during the recent Assembly elections, as it came to be projected as a common poll plank by virtually all parties across the political spectrum in the region. Broadly, the Government's latest decision would mean greater executive powers over the use and management of land, better control over the staff at the higher echelons and enhanced sanctioning authority over development works, apart of course from the conferring of a higher status in the official hierarchy on the Executive Councillors as also their chief. Whether the powers now proposed to be devolved go far enough, especially when measured against the suggestions made by various expert committees that had examined the question, may be open to debate. But there can be little doubt that what is envisaged goes some way in fulfilling the regional aspirations. This initiative on the regional autonomy front is only the latest in the series of measures the barely two-month-old PDP-led coalition regime has taken by way of providing the `healing touch' it had promised under the Common Minimum Programme, an agenda it is pursuing methodically, in all earnestness, with a positive bent of mind — as evidenced, for instance, by its keenness to avoid any confrontation with the Centre on the question of releasing the imprisoned militants/separatist leaders — and in the midst of heightened pressure on the security front due to continuing terrorist attacks.

If all these moves are salutary from the standpoint of building up the goodwill of the hitherto alienated sections and preparing the ground for starting a dialogue in an effort to find a political solution to the Kashmir imbroglio, the signals put out by the Centre are far from encouraging, coloured as they are by the sectarian ideological mindset of those at the helm in New Delhi. The Deputy Prime Minister, L. K. Advani, has of course indicated that the Centre would initiate "talks" not only with the elected representatives — meaning, the new State Government — but also with "other sections" who had not participated in the democratic process. This is as it should be for the simple reason that, unless broad-based, no purposeful dialogue is possible and that, given the nature and complexities of the Kashmir problem, while primacy should be given to elected representatives it would be totally unrealistic to ignore outfits that did not participate in the electoral process. But the trouble lies in the caveat Mr. Advani has chosen to enter: that the Government would not have `talks' with those who considered Pakistan as their "master" and echoed its "voice". And the reference here is to the separatist umbrella outfit, the All-Party Hurriyat Conference, which has always been an anathema to the BJP-led coalition at the Centre. The Hurriyat, all its failings notwithstanding, has of late revealed a definitive attitudinal change, moving away from a hard pro-Pakistan line, and while its support base remains untested it has earned a reputation among Kashmiris as an honest interlocutor. As such, any attempt to keep the Hurriyat out of any serious dialogue may be self-defeating. What needs to be realised is that it would be inexcusable to let slip the new opportunity the latest people's mandate has opened up for finding a political solution to the nagging Kashmir problem.

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