Why the all-party delegation to Kashmir seems set to be a case of too little too late

After nearly two months of unrest in Kashmir, an all-party delegation is finally all set to visit the valley on September 4. The 27-member delegation was briefed by Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Saturday.

Singh had earlier visited the troubled valley on two occasions since the unrest began on July 8 with the killing of Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani.

At least 69 protesters have lost their lives in the protests since July 8, while thousands more civilians and security forces have been injured. The unrest has hit daily life as education, jobs, businesses and trade remain mired in the impasse.

The all-party delegation faces a complex situation as the state government has failed to pacify the protestors on ground. There is also cynicism given the experiences of the valley with similar delegations in the past.

Too little, too late

Yaseen Khan, chairman of Kashmir Economic Alliance, an amalgam of trade bodies, said that prominent groups from the trade community had decided not to meet the delegation. He also pointed out that the centre's appointed interlocutors in 2010 failed to do anything substantial.

“We are saying that [the government] talk to the stakeholders because it is a political issue," Khan said. "We don’t think of ourselves as politicians. We are the stakeholders but right now it is not the time [to talk about] development," he added. What the people of Jammu and Kashmir are asking for, he said, is something the governments – both at the state and centre – know very well.

Bashir Manzar, editor of a local newspaper Daily Kashmir Images, put the lack of enthusiasm about the delegation’s visit in perspective. “We have seen these kind of delegations in the past too," he said. "Personally I don’t think this delegation will make any change because they are not mandated to do something except come up with recommendations and we have seen in the past also that all these recommendations fall on deaf ears. They don't care about their own appointed interlocutors who came up with a report during Manmohan Singh's regime. They haven't moved an inch on that report,” he added.

“It is positive, it should have happened a month back," Manzar said. But the government, he added, "waited for two months and after so many deaths they are coming up with this. It’s good they are coming, but it’s too late.”

The state government seems to accept the cynicism. “Our only concern is that it should not be like all such efforts in the past have ended up," said spokesperson for the Jammu and Kashmir government, Naeem Akhtar. "This should lead to a more structured event and more productive outcome.”

Trust deficit

Two days ahead of the all-party delegation’s visit, curfew was reimposed in many parts of the valley on Friday September 2. The separatists on the other hand have called for blocking the roads leading to the airport on September 4, when the delegation is scheduled to arrive in Srinagar.

As the unrest extends, pellet guns continue to remain in use despite outrage over grievous injuries caused by them. The state police and the Central Reserve Police Force has received a fresh consignment of one lakh pellet cartridges.

According to reports Union home minister Rajnath Singh and other central ministers are likely to interact with stakeholders willing to work within the framework of the Indian constitution, essentially leaving out the separatists. However other delegates are not barred from interactions with separatists. The state government spokespersn refused to comment. “I am not privy to that,” Akhtar said, when asked, before hanging up the phone.

However any breakthrough in breaking the deadlock seems unlikely unless separatists are taken on board, a realisation that was expressed by the highest echelons of the Indian army last month. “We all have to sit down and put our heads together to see if we can end this," said Lt Gen DS Hooda, the Northern Army Commander. "Everyone needs to introspect. It is not for me to say who should do what but yes, everyone needs to discuss the issue. After all, where are the protest calendars coming from,” he had said.

Separatist leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani, who heads his faction of the Hurriyat, however, on Thursday expressed a disinterest in meeting the delegation. The separatist leadership, he said, “can’t trivialise the sanctity of this grave issue by participating in a photo-session or for a cup of tea.”

Geelani agreed, however, that dialogue is the only way to reach settlements. But he rued the lack of an outcome of dialogues about Kashmir on the “long and deceptive nature of talks on Kashmir” and the “the unrealistic and arrogant attitude of India.” Geelani also appealed to potential members of the delegation “not to indulge themselves into this futile exercise.”

Senior lNational Conference leader Ali Muhammad Sagar said it would be a setback if the separatists did not meet the all-party delegation. “It is the job of state and central government that they should make serious efforts to ensure the participation of separatists,” he said. “If they (separatists) meet the delegation, it would be fruitful," he added.

A Hurriyat leader, wishing anonymity, pointed out that at present the individual Hurriyat factions were not at the forefront. “It is upto the joint resistance leadership – Geelani sahab, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, and Yasin Malik – to decide on meeting the delegation. As per Geelani sahab’s statement, it seems they have made their mind,” he said, adding: “There is so much trust deficit. It is heading towards a situation where no one is willing to talk.”