A refusal to address the key demands of the Kashmiri people

The Third Round Table Conference on Kashmir that was held in New Delhi at the end of April heard the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh mouthing pious platitudes about his visions of a “naya Kashmir” and of a new India and South Asia free from the fear of war. Whereas the earlier round table had set up five working groups to look into issues such as governance, “confidence-building measures”, and so on, this latest Round Table Conference set up two more committees. These are supposed to take stock of the implementation of the recommendations of the working groups.

The Third Round Table Conference provided yet another confirmation that the Indian State has no intention of seriously addressing the key issues underlying the Kashmir problem. When the series of round table conferences on Kashmir was first started by the UPA government, the impression was created that this would be an attempt to sort out the problem of Kashmir through dialogue and negotiation. However, the recent Conference was held despite the fact that not a single group that fundamentally disagreed with the position of the Indian state participated. This turned out to be a conference consisting almost entirely of the established political parties that have collectively been responsible, both at the Centre and in the state, for the mess that the Kashmir problem has become.

Various political groups and commentators in Kashmir and elsewhere have rightly questioned what the point was in convening a conference of this nature and what it was expected to achieve. They have asked why, if the Indian state could talk directly with organisations in Nagaland openly working for the sovereignty of Nagaland, it cannot do the same with organisations in Kashmir. Actually, the Indian State did have a purpose in going ahead with a high-profile “multi-party” conference of this nature on the issue of Kashmir. To confuse public opinion in India and abroad, which is increasingly critical of its policy and stand on Kashmir, it needed to show that it was trying to engage in discussion on Kashmir, and that it is those who oppose it who are being 'unreasonable'.

The truth, however, is that it is the Indian State that has all along shown itself to be totally unreasonable and hidebound on the issue of Kashmir. It views Kashmir from the colonial-imperialist outlook of a strategically located gigantic territory which it has the right to plunder with scant regard for the will of the people of Kashmir. It has been unwilling to address any of the key demands of the Kashmiri people. These demands have been made known time and again by the people of Kashmir, through their repeated mass protests as well as through the pronouncements of various political forces in Kashmir.

Among the immediate demands are: an end to the brutal violations of human rights of the people by the security forces and the punishment of those guilty; the withdrawal of the armed forces from civilian areas and the demilitarisation of the region; the repeal of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act and other repressive legislation; and the release of political prisoners and those arbitrarily picked up and jailed. No high-profile conference or election is needed to know that this is what the Kashmiri people have been demanding for so long. Fulfilling of these demands in necessary to create a climate conducive for a political solution to the Kashmir problem in favour of the Kashmiri people and all the peoples of South Asia. And this political solution necessarily means that the people of Kashmir must have the final say in determining their own destiny.

Given the absence of any move on the part of the Indian state to fulfil any of the concerns of the Kashmiri people, the round table conferences and their weak recommendations on a whole range of issues cannot inspire any confidence that anything can emerge from this exercise that can end the misery of the people and contribute to a solution of the problem.