Channel to solution in Kashmir

This column last week advocated that Delhi should satisfy the political aspirations of Kashmiris in some measure without which India canrsquot have peace and security Such an advocacy might seem a fantasy as Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Bharatiya Janata Party have become ideologically more rigid since they abrogated in August 2019 Article 370 and Article 35A and bifurcated and demoted Jammu and Kashmir to a Union TerritoryMy advocacy might also seem a fantasy because the disenchantment of Kashmiris with Delhi has only grown not lessened In the best of times Kashmiris were ambivalent about their political and emotional identification with IndiaBut Modi was not always so inflexible The evidence A draft agreement between India and Pakistan on Kashmir finalised under his predecessor Manmohan Singh seemed acceptable to Modi Awaiting to be signed the draft agreement was an outcome of backchannel diplomacy conducted between late Indian diplomat Satinder Lambah and three of his Pakistani counterparts Lambah provides an account of it in his book In Pursuit of Peace IndiaPakistan Relations Under Six Prime MinistersSince the Congressled government seemingly shied away from signing the draft agreement in 201314 Singh appended a note to the official file on IndoPak backchannel negotiations saying this ldquocould only be openedrdquo on the next prime ministerrsquos instructionThe next prime minister was Modi A senior official in the Prime Ministerrsquos Office told Lambah that after the draft agreement was reviewed it was decided that ldquono major change was requiredrdquo to be made to it ldquoThere appeared to be an intent to continue the backchannel processrdquo Lambah wroteOn April 20 2017 the senior PMO official told Lambah that Modi wanted him to visit Pakistan to meet Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif Two days later he was informed that hersquod be given details of the points to be discussed with Sharif On the same day Lambah and the senior PMO official met the late legal luminary Fali Nariman to ldquorefresh some pointsrdquo from the perspective of the Indian ConstitutionBut the next day a media report claimed an industrialist had gone as Modirsquos emissary to Pakistan for meeting Sharif Believing it would be improper for two people to represent Modi for the same purpose Lambah withdrew from the goingsonNow rewind to 2014 when Lambah with Singhrsquos consent spelled out the broad contours of the agreement in a speech at Srinagarrsquos Lalit Hotel on May 13 2014 He said the past six decades had shown that the Kashmir issue couldnrsquot be settled through ldquowar force or violencerdquoLambah then outlined the agreementrsquos broad contours mdash no redrawing of borders free movement of people from one side of the Line of Control to the other removal of tariff and nontariff barriers for locally produced goods for facilitating trade between the two Kashmirs an end to terrorism and thereafter reduction of the military forces to the minimum on both sides particularly in populated areas ldquoselfgovernance for internal management in all areas on the same basis on both sides of the LoCrdquo and reintegration into society of those engaged in ldquoviolent militant activitiesrdquoIndeed Modirsquos acceptance of the draft agreement to whatever degree is a far cry from his current position that any talk with Pakistan would be only on the status of its Kashmir Itrsquos tempting to think the draft agreement could be resurrected even nowFrom Lambahrsquos book it doesnrsquot seem the draft agreement was shown to the Kashmiri political leadership This was certainly a big flaw Yet the draft agreement does articulate the concerns of Kashmiris other than the one espousing selfdeterminationKashmirrsquos slate of concerns obviously has expanded since the abrogation of Article 370 Itrsquos delusional to think Kashmiris would be satisfied with just the restoration of JampKrsquos statehood What they fear most is the demographic flooding of JampK with outsiders allowed to buy land there and secure domicile certificates Out of 3412184 domicile certificates issued in the last two years 83742 or 238 percent were given to those who were not ldquostate subjectsrdquo before 2019 Between 2020 and 2022 just 185 individuals from outside of JampK bought land there but their number worryingly for Kashmiris rose from one in 2020 to 127 in 2022Hundreds of political prisoners languish in prison and well over 2000 were detained after the Baisaran massacre with nearly 90 of them according to a Kashmir Times story booked under the draconian Public Safety Act for pelting stones and protesting in their teenage years Newspapers have been compelled to become government mouthpieces A murmur of dissent invites retributionThis ambience creates a breeding ground for militancy conducive for Pakistan to foment terror India may retaliate against Pakistan but every military crisis between them invariably invites thirdparty mediation Itrsquos in Indiarsquos interest to revive the 201314 draft agreement for offering to Kashmiris a solution that wouldnrsquot seem to them a betrayal of their bloody past Yet even such overtures canrsquot be made until the BJP dilutes Hindutva politics which doesnrsquot score very high on either humanity or rationality And thatrsquos a problem for what the Centre can give Kashmiris must precede what they might willingly acceptThe writer is a senior journalist and author of Bhima Koregaon Challenging CasteSend your feedback to mailbagmiddaycomThe views expressed in this column are the individualrsquos and donrsquot represent those of the paperatOptionskeyd0ddb8ef8f1a62a8cdd22fac27fc5ea7formatiframeheight90width728params