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Second round table on Kashmir : Hurriyat’s irrelevance |
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B.I. Saini
The Hurriyat Conference - in both its incarnations, the hardline and the socalled moderate - exposed its irrelevance when it refused to take part in the Prime Minister’s second round table conference on Kashmir held in Srinagar last week.
Dr. Manmohan Singh’s interaction with leaders of the moderate faction of the Hurriyat earlier this month had raised expectations that they would take part in the Srinagar round table and contribute their mite to the peace process. But this was not to be. There were strong signals from terrorist groups and their backers in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir that they did not want the Centre’s initiative in holding round table conferences to bring together people belonging to various shades of opinion together to succeed. Even before the conference could get underway, the terrorists sent a strong message by their suicide attack at the Youth Congress rally in Srinagar on Sunday, May 21. If anybody did not get the message, they followed it up by a series of grenade attacks in Srinagar and surrounding areas with the sole objective of disrupting the round table. At the end of the two-day round table, they struck again targeting tourists who had returned to Jammu and Kashmir in a big way bringing economic prosperity and employment to the state’s people. Clearly, the attempt was to scare away tourists from the valley as they were bringing back a semblance of normalcy there.
It is to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s credit that he decided to go ahead with the round table despite the terrorist attempt to disrupt the process. But after the clear message from the Pakistani masters of the terrorist outfits operating in Jammu and Kashmir, the Hurriyat Conference could not be expected to pick up the courage to attend the round table. Expectedly, the Hurriyat made lame excuses to justify its decision not to take part in the round table. It said that it was not happy about the credentials of the mainstream political parties taking part in the round table - those which had fought elections in the state to have their voices heard in the state legislature. Ironically, it accused them of being responsible for the bloodshed in the state during the past several years. It chose to ignore the fact that Pakistan-based terrorist outfits are to be blamed for the violence in the state, especially the Kashmir valley.
In an attempt to show that it has not completely turned its back on the dialogue process, the Hurriyat leaders demanded a separate meeting with the Prime Minister on the sidelines of the round table conference. The Hurriyat had employed a similar tactic during the first round table held in New Delhi. But this time, Dr. Manmohan Singh stood firm and turned down the Hurriyat demand, as having a separate meeting, when they had been invited to attend the round table, would have sent a wrong message to the political parties and groups participating in the round table. The opposition National Conference had already made it clear that it would not take part in the round table if the Prime Minister chose to have a separate meeting with the Hurriyat Conference.
By its actions, the Hurriyat Conference has again made it evident that its objectives and motivations are no different from those of the terrorist groups. Both are governed by directions from across the line of control.
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