New Delhi-appointed interlocutor faces resistance in Kashmir

NEW DELHI: The visit of the Indian government’s newly appointed interlocutor to Jammu and Kashmir, Dineshwar Sharma, has been branded a “meaningless exercise” by the leader of the Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF).
In an interview with Arab News, Yasan Malik pointed out that Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has rejected any talk of autonomy for the Indian-administered territories in the valley.
“Nobody is bigger than the Indian prime minister,” the JKLF leader said. “And when he opposed former Home Minister P. Chidambaram’s statement on autonomy, what remains for the interlocutor to discuss in the valley?
“When the Indian government is not comfortable with the idea of autonomy, how can they discuss our main agenda of right to self-determination? So, there is no scope for dialogue with Sharma,” he said.
Malik claimed that Sharma has been appointed by New Delhi “to buy time and satisfy the international community.”
Malik, who — along with Syed Ali Shah Geelani and Mirwaiz Umar Farooq — is part of Kashmir’s Joint Resistance Leadership, rejected the offer for talks with the interlocutor a few days ago.
“I don’t think the government of India is serious about discussing or resolving the problem in the valley,” said Malik.
“They have only one agenda — to integrate Kashmir with India. People have reason to be angry; they have been promised the right of self-determination, and when they are asking for their democratic rights, you are killing them, putting them behind bars. And then you offer us the bait of an interlocutor?
“When you want a dialogue, then all three parties — India, Kashmir and Pakistan — should be at the table,” he continued. “You cannot bypass one party and engage the other party. How will you resolve the issue when all parties are not present?”
Various Kashmiri traders’ associations have also decided to boycott Sharma.
“(India has) not done anything for the development of Kashmir for the last three years,” Yaseen Khan, president of the Kashmir Traders and Manufacturing Association, told Arab News. “And when the main stakeholders are not talking with the interlocutor, what purpose will it serve when we talk? Even if we talk, what will happen? Nothing will come out.”
But Sharma, currently on a four-day tour of Jammu and Kashmir, remains optimistic.
“Only the result will say whether the government of India is trying to buy time or not,” said the former director of India’s Intelligence Bureau. “God will guide me to reach out to the people in Kashmir, and I hope to meet the separatist leaders also.”
Political analyst Sadiq Wahid feels that “the signals are so mixed that it is very difficult to say Delhi is serious in the appointment of Sharma as an interlocutor.”
Wahid believes that, under the Hindu, right-wing Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP), the Indian government “has only one agenda, and that is to make India a Hindu state. That is their long-term strategy. Everything in between is tactical.”
He added that the government is undoubtedly more concerned with pleasing their hardcore supporters than they are about appeasing Kashmiris. And so he concludes there is little point in Sharma’s visit, particularly when the prime minister “torpedoed the whole agenda by rejecting talk of autonomy.”
“I think lots of people are skeptical of the appointment and agenda of the interlocutor,” Wahid said. “I think it is a waste of time unless there is clarity. There are many things in the air except clarity.”

source arabnews