Heart to Heart moot of Kashmiri Leaders

Pakistan OBSERVER, Tue, May,08, 2007.

Pervaiz Iqbal Cheema

A recently concluded ‘Heart to Heart’ conference of Kashmiri leaders which was jointly organized by the Former Prime Minister and former President of Azad Jammu and Kashmir in collaboration with Panther Party’s Chief Bhim Singh in New Delhi called for a general amnesty for militants and the political prisoners. The conference participants also asked the for government support in facilitating the movement of men and material across the Line of Control (LOC). In addition the leaders also decided to form coordination committees of legislator, women and youth to strengthen accelerate the peace process between India and Pakistan. 

Two points that emerged at the end of conference namely the ‘general amnesty’ and the strengthening of peace process deserve comments. A general amnesty implies all the political prisoners that have been languishing in the Indian prisons and their cases have not been put up for examination and decision by the courts should be released. In addition it was stressed in the conference that militants should also be considered for general amnesty and those who are categorized as foreign militants should be given safe passage. 

Theoretically the call for general amnesty seems rational but the big question is that would Indian government consider such a move seriously. Many would stress that India is likely to ignore such a demand. For years the human rights organizations have been persistently highlighting the plight of the Kashmiri prisoners but not much was done in this direction. In fact there has been no movement on the part of Indian government which can even remotely be considered reflective of recognizing the plight of such Kashmiris.

One has to give credit to some Indians who despite difficulties have tried to highlight the plight of the families and tried to communicate to the government regarding the undesired practices frequently experienced by the people of Kashmir. Similarly the human rights watch associations, both inside and outside India, have also been somewhat regularly engaged in highlighting the gross violations. Some of the specific cases were brought to light with all the possible evidence these organizations could gather yet no tangible policy action materialized.

It is a too well known fact that thousands of Kashmiri prisoners are languishing in jails. Not only they are still denied the deserving legal aid but in many cases the police have categorically denied any knowledge about them. Fake cases and fake encounters appeared to be very common in the IHK. Most of the arrested were branded as infiltrators who entered the valley from the other side of the LOC. Complaints were either curtly dismissed or listed just as missing persons. In addition there are many laws applied to Indian Held Kashmir (IHK) that are generally viewed by almost all the people of IHK as black laws yet one does not find any movement towards their withdrawal.

Many articles written in prestigious magazines by famous authors tried to highlight the undesired activities of security forces. For example two specific articles in the Indian magazine ‘Outlook’ (Oct.30, 2006) and (Feb. 19, 2007) adequately revealed the oppressive tactics employed by the Indian police. The first article was written by the famous prize winner writer Arundhati Roy regarding the case of Afzal Guru. The writer convincingly highlighted the shortcomings of the defense provided to Afzal Guru. Not only she pointed out that Afzal’s lawyer did not visit his client and refrained from summoning defense witnesses but he barely cross examined the prosecution witnesses. In short the accused was never given a fair trial. However she did recognize the existence of judicial objectivity in India but termed it as a shy beast which has to be coaxed out of its lair by efforts of the top lawyers.

Equally revealing article entitled ‘Tales from the Crypt’ appeared in the ‘Outlook’ of 19^th Feb.2007. This article focused on the exhumed bodies of five men from Ganderbal who were killed and buried by special operations group (SOG). Thousands of Kashmiri people are still missing. Ever since the freedom struggle intensified in 1989, innumerable Kashmiris are listed as missing. The families in Ganderbal were considered lucky as there was some sort investigation. Widespread protests had forced the police to exhume bodies buried inside the premises of Ganderbal police station.

Given the incumbent situation in IHK and the attitude of the Indian security forces, it would be somewhat unrealistic to expect that the Indian government would agree to the desired general amnesty to all prisoners.  While the officials are not even willing to look at the plight of political prisoners sympathetically, how one can expects that they would consider the amnesty for the militants. Besides, so far the Indian government has not come out any proposal that is reflective of as ‘out the box’ approach. 

The second stated objective is to strengthen the peace process. This is something the Indian government might communicate that it would try its best to strengthen the process in very general terms. In fact it would not surprise anybody if the Indian officials welcome and openly support this objective. But the question that needs to be asked here is how one tests the increased strength of peace process. There is no doubt that both countries have made impressive strides in the areas of confidence building measures (CBMs), trading interactions and people to people contact. However it needs to be mentioned here that not much progress has been witnessed in the area of conflict resolution. 

Many Pakistanis are extremely disappointed over the non-resolution of Siachin dispute even after 12 rounds of talks. The question that is frequently asked, more specifically in Pakistan, is that if the two parties are unable to resolve a dispute which is considered by all independent observers as easily resolvable, how one can expect progress in more complicated issues such as the ongoing Kashmir dispute. Even the painfully slow public response to many of the Pakistani proposals tend to generate pessimistically orientated vibes. 

While the Kashmiri leaders’ call is commendable and there would be many who would extend support, the translation of such a call into reality appears to be somewhat unrealistic if examined in the light of incumbent policy pursuits of the Indian government. However one cannot minimize the importance of joint approach of Kashmiri leaders from both sides of the LOC.

Among the other aspects of the call that seem likely to be respected and eventually adopted by the Indian government revolve around the idea of softening of harsh restrictions that are operative for those intending to visit across the LOC. At moment the travel between Muzafferabad and Srinagar is subjected to harsh and cumbersome restrictions and invariable it takes a long time in processing the applications of the intended travelers. It would not be surprising for most of us if the Indian government devises a procedure that would accelerate the process of examinations of the intended passengers.

In addition, the call for starting all the historical and natural routes including pony road and rail routes could be subjected to serious considerations. The opening of all routes could further facilitate people to people contact. Since the Indian government have been supportive of increased contacts between the people, it would not be out of order to focus and discuss this proposal as well. But one thing appears to be certain that neither the general amnesty to all political prisoners would be accepted by the Indian government nor the release of militants would be endorsed, at least at this stage.

The writer works for Islamabad Policy research Institute.