Uncertainty looms large over the prospect of Kashmiri separatist leaders’ meeting with Pakistan’s National Security Adviser (NSA) during his upcoming visit to New Delhi on Sunday. Pakistan High Commission has scheduled the meetings with separatist leaders much to the resentment of the Government of India. Even as the issue is threatening the commencement of much-hyped meeting between Aziz and Indian NSA Ajit Doval, the separatist leaders are enjoying the spotlight irrespective of whether they would be allowed to fly out from Kashmir for the meeting or not.
Interestingly, the ruling PDP-BJP coalition remained non-committal over the developments taking place at the diplomatic level between India and Pakistan. On Thursday, several separatist leaders were detained for two hours but the curbs were lifted immediately barring those on Syed Ali Geelani.
Chief Minister Mufti Muhammad Sayeed and his deputy Dr Nirmal Kumar were at Uri advocating friendly relations and dialogue with Pakistan, when separatist leaders were briefly detained in Srinagar. Sources said the orders for the detention had come directly from New Delhi.
Separatists have no inclination whether or not their meeting with Aziz materialises.
“We certainly don’t know whether we would be allowed to fly to Delhi or not. There is no word from any quarter except that we have been invited for a meeting with Sartaj Aziz,” National Front chairman Nayeem Khan said.
He said the Narendra Modi’s Government has actually highlighted the Kashmir issue by seeking to put hurdles on secessionists’ meeting with visiting Pakistan dignitaries.
Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, head of the moderate faction of Hurriyat Conference, who has distinction of engaging with NDA and UPA regimes between 2003 and 2007, too criticised Center’s insistence on ignoring the separatist leaders. Terming the imposition of conditionalities on dialogue process as “non-political”, Mirwaiz said there were no red-lines in diplomacy and politics. “Manoeuvering according to the prevailing situation is a must (in diplomacy), he said during his Friday sermon at Jamia Masjid in old Srinagar.
He said that if India and Pakistan were able to carry forward the dialogue process with sincerity, the Hurriyat would not hesitate joining the process sooner or later. Mirwaiz added Kashmir is not the third party to the dispute between India and Pakistan but it is the first and principal party. “We desire that India and Pakistan develop cordial relationship to pave way for permanent settlement of Kashmir dispute,” he said.
He recalled his faction’s engagement with former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and his deputy lK Advani simultaneously with the Pakistani leadership during the previous NDA regime. He said the NDA regime provided documents to Hurriyat leaders to travel to Pakistan.
Mirwaiz is scheduled to fly to New Delhi on August 23. “let’s see whether they allow us (to visit New Delhi) or not. We are waiting,” he said. Syed Ali Geelani, the hardline Hurriyat leader has scheduled his visit on August 24 after Aziz’s meeting with his Indian counterpart Ajit Doval. “We had been given an option whether to come on August 23 or 24. Geelani sahib has an important meeting on Sunday so he has decided to go on August 24,” his spokesman Ayaz Akbar said.
Geelani, however, continued to remain under house arrest on Friday, a routine for him since April this year. JKlF chairman Yasin Malik has decided to skip meeting with Aziz . He would send his comrades Ghulam Rasool Dar and Showkat Baksi should the authorities allow them to fly off on Sunday.
Meanwhile, even as former Chief Minister Dr Farooq Abdullah counselled separatist leaders to withdraw their meeting with Aziz “in the interest of Kashmiris”, his son and National Conference working president Omar Abdullah sought to trivialise the Hurriyat leaders’ meeting in New Delhi. “Whose idea was it to make such a big deal of the Hurriyat -Pak chatIJ Omar wrote on micro-blogging website, twitter.com. “These were such non-events before this Government blew them out of proportion!” added the NC leader,” he said.
The ruling PDP has maintained a discreet silence on the developments.
Meanwhile, legislator and CPM secretary MY Tarigami said the brief detention of separatists has remitted conflicting signals exposing the fragile chemistry between the coalition partners in the state. “The separatists meetings in New Delhi should in no way create a hindrance in the dialogue process as these meetings have been taking place in past and the same should not be used as an excuse to call off the talks Tarigami said.