Peace pipe

Peace pipe

The Hurriyat is back in action; this time on the back of the buzz generated by other J&K leaders.

The recent activity in Jammu and Kashmir for reviving political communication between State leaders and the Union Government and taking the democratic process to its logical conclusion by holding the Assembly elections has upset Pakistan. The Kashmir-based Hurriyat Conference, largely silent since the revocation of Article 370 in 2019, could not resist reacting to the growing buzz in the Valley. Its message, however, contains the same old demand, advocating a dialogue between India and J&K that also involves Pakistan. The separatist group, led by Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, issued a policy statement listing some steps to create a conducive atmosphere for talks. It wants the revocation of laws that it claims “disempowers” the people of the region, a halt to what it calls demographic changes, and the release of youth and political prisoners. The Hurriyat could not have remained silent any longer because political events were beginning to overtake it. They were kicked off by the Prime Minister’s invite to the J&K leaders for the resumption of talks that stalled after August 2019. The meeting took place on June 24, allowing both sides an opportunity to size each other up. A significant outcome was the Kashmiri parties not insisting on the restoration of Article 370 for continuing the dialogue, though they demanded the restoration of statehood before holding elections. This was followed by the arrival of the Delimitation Commission in Srinagar to gather inputs for carrying out a delimitation exercise as a prelude to conducting elections.

The Hurriyat would also have noticed that these developments were happening even as the ceasefire agreement between Pakistan and India continued to hold peace along the border. It is not oblivious to the fact that there is a backchannels communication going on between the two sides to induce a thaw in relations under the watchful eyes of a section of the world community. Only a fortnight ago, Pakistan promised the Financial Action Task Force to prosecute and punish leaders of terror groups residing in that country for terror financing activities. Pakistan is otherwise busy trying to play an influential role in Afghanistan after the US troops leave at the end of August and at the same time, keep India away from the talking table. Pakistan, for reasons created by the FATF and Afghanistan, faces a confounding situation of immediately focusing on the big political picture emerging in Kabul but without losing sight of Kashmir. Needless to say, the Hurriyat statement has everything Pakistan would have liked to have included. Islamabad is also aware of the limited role the Hurriyat can play in Srinagar considering that the Indian Government quite unexpectedly initiated the political outreach in J&K and that after the scrapping of Article 370, the subject of separatism loses its primacy in the overall political discourse. In such a circumstance, any instigation to disturb peace in the Valley and thwart the ongoing political process can only come from across the border and attributable directly to the interested parties in Pakistan.