If Kashmir could not make to the talks but it was there to break them

The talks between the two Foreign Minister of India and Pakistan ended with no results at all. The talks were doomed to fail because of obvious reluctance of India to discuss beyond limited issues and not move beyond that. Indians wanted just to talk on the issue of terrorism and in particular action against the Hafiz Sayeed and others whom Indians allege to have perpetrated Mumbai attacks. India wants action on this front first and then she says she can talk on other issues of concern to Pakistan . On the other side, Pakistan wants to talk on Kashmir and Water though does not shy away from terror issue. Pakistan wants restoration of composite dialogue which includes talks on all issues which are concern of both the countries.

India has been building its tempo to pressurize Pakistani counterpart to fall into line to guarantee some timeframe for punishing Hafiz Sayeed and others. First Mr. Pillai, Home Secretary, Government of India came out to speak to a media outlet one day before the Foreign Ministers meeting and expressed involvement of ISI and Pakistani establishment in the Mumbai attacks. Not only this excerpts of the confessions had from David Colmen Headly during his US facilitated interrogation by National Intelligence of India were deliberately leaked to CNN IBN English Language Indian news channel just prior of the meeting. Pakistani Foreign Minister too was under immense pressure from the Kashmiri groups and his own people to talk about Kashmir which has been again in news for last month or more. Syed Salahudin, Chief of indigenous Kashmiri resistance group Hizbul Mujahideen too had lashed out on Pakistan for not doing enough on Kashmir in a recently held conference at Islamabad . All newspapers in Pakistan were seen aghast over the silence of Mr. Shah Mahmood Qureshi over some contentious remarks of his Indian counterpart in the press conference which was held after Foreign Ministers meeting.

Many believe that these talks were just orchestrated by United States to make Pakistan feel at ease on the Indian front and make them to do more on the Afghan front where United States is badly embroiled in the so called war on terror. Neither bride nor the bridegroom is ready for this knot then how can a marriage take place. Failure of the talks have resulted obviously because India wanted to push Pakistan back to back but they did not assess that pushing so much can backfire which was finally the result of these talks and was cause of embarrassment for all.

Our take on this issue is that we want that our issue is solved as early as possible because the more Kashmir issue is delayed the more people suffer here. Kashmiris are on strike for last one month, all offices, schools, business establishment are closed and traffic is off the road. Fifteen young people including a girl were killed during the recent protests which were largely peaceful. Many areas are under curfew and Army has been called on streets to flag march. Many people are believed to be out of stocks. Despite a month long strike by the people of Kashmir and even a request to Indian Prime Minister to intervene politically by all its mainstream political parties here recently, Government of India does not seem to be moving. Even its own Army Chief expressed for a need of political settlement. We also believe that Mumbai attacks should not be seen in isolation as one of the leading Indian writer Ms. Arundhati Roy said to Aljazeera TV Channel in a recently held interview that Indians should recognize the causes of such attacks by the tapes of the militants who were talking about revenge over Babri Mosque demolition, Gujarat Carnage and Kashmir problem. If Government version over the matter is believed still it confirms that militant activities are happening only over the festering problem underneath. It is ironical that Government of India while dealing with Red militancy in Central India recognizes for both that is why they are investing heavily in poverty alleviation problems besides tackling with militants. However, when it comes to the justice to Indian muslims and solution of Kashmir problem, Government of India just sees it through the prism of barrel. For India and Pakistan both it is imperative to not to only tackle militancy with force only but also reach to its causes. If causes are solved militancy will itself vaporize.

We appeal to both the Governments of India and Pakistan to restore composite dialogue in which Kashmir and terror are both discussed equally and a timeframe be kept for both of these problems to be solved only then things can be expected to be move ahead. For the time being Kashmiris will be a bit happy that if Kashmir could not make to the India Pakistan Foreign Ministers talks but it was there to break them.

By Hamid Nilnagi
haamidi2003@yahoo.co.in
hamidnilnagi.blogspot.com