New Necessary Gestures

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These conferences in many ways serve a symbolic purpose; it is the process that is of significance. While the Hurriyat has not participated in the round table conferences, participants have included leaders of political parties such as the Congress, the PDP, the National Conference, as well as representatives from a cross-section of J and K society, including the Ladakhi Buddhists, Kargil shias, gujjars and the Kashmiri pandits.

In recent weeks, however, there has appeared a strange dichotomy. The air of expectation around the second round table conference on May 24-25 has been shattered by a series of militant attacks, first in early May, when 35 villagers were killed in twin attacks in Doda and Udhampur districts, and also in Srinagar, where grenade blasts have been a daily feature in the run-up to the talks. But the more disturbing demonstrations broke out in several towns in the valley, Srinagar, Anantnag and Baramullah, as allegations of a sex scandal and its attempted cover-up by senior politicians and government personnel came to light. Of significant concern is the fact that the divergent forms of protest evoked by the scandal reveal first that J and K is also a region seething with change. While extremist groups such as the Dukhtaran-ú-Millat called for a ban on entertainment channels on television, mobile phones and a regulation of cyber-cafes, most protestors out in the streets in their thousands blamed the government, the police and intelligence agencies for the racket. The rapidity with which emotions were stoked, the ease by which responses were evoked using sharply divisive imagery juxtaposing a remote, alien centre against innocent citizens, their traditions, culture and women, shows the underlying divisions and suspicions that prevail. It is this that the usual political method of repeated negotiations and dialogue between one set of representatives with the other appears ill equipped to handle.

It is in this atmosphere of growing distrust that the prime minister, Manmohan Singh, travelled earlier this week to Srinagar for the second round table conference. The nature of this conference, like others before it, is already constrained by existing political realities; the results have come to depend largely on reactions to offerings or announcements made by the centre.

That may well be the tragedy of Jammu and Kashmir. The “impasse”, where talks have become largely symbolic, has been largely because it is (i) a bilateral matter between two countries and (ii) that political methods and approaches that have been considered for a “solution” have overshadowed other grassroot approaches that are equally necessary. Different political groups, India, Pakistan and representatives from the state, whether the Hurriyat or Yasin Malik’s Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) or the Jammu and Kashmir Democratic Front (JKDF) seem to be talking to or at each other, while there has been little effort expended in building up a viable civil society.

It is in this context that the prime minister’s critical announcements at the second round table must be seen. Notwithstanding the limitations that perforce exist, these announcements could assuage doubts and fears that have lingered for too long now. For the first time, the government’s regret over custodial deaths was evident. Manmohan Singh called for more humaneness on the part of the security forces and also invited Kashmiri youths to return, on assurances that charges against them, especially those lesser in nature, would be dropped. These might not make for a politically impressive declaration, but will go some way in building confidence in the ordinary citizen as also students and the youth. This is where the state’s leaders, of all hues, have thus far failed. Beyond tried and tested political methods, it is time to reach out to an entirely new generation altogether. This would imply not merely the presence of a centre with a more “humane” face but rebuilding trust and vital infrastructure, especially educational and other social services, which have been neglected in the terrorism years of the last decade. m

Economic and Political Weekly May 27, 2006