NEW DELHI/SRINAGAR, 10 September — Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee yesterday said his government was not considering a demand by Kashmiri separatists to visit Pakistan to resolve a dispute over the Himalayan region.
"There is no such proposal before us," Vajpayee told reporters shortly before leaving for a week-long visit to New York for the United Nations General Assembly session.
On Sunday government-backed Kashmir Committee mediators said they supported a demand by the All Parties Hurriyat Conference, Kashmir’s main separatist political alliance, to be allowed to hold talks with their counterparts in Islamabad and the Pakistani government.
Hurriyat leaders yesterday urged Pakistan to arrange a meeting between mediators of the two countries to speed up a dialogue aimed at restoring peace in the troubled region.
"The Kashmir Committee has supported the Hurriyat’s wish to pursue a dialogue for peace and a durable solution with Kashmiri political elements in Pakistan and with the government of Pakistan," said M.J. Akbar, a senior journalist and a member of the Kashmir Committee. The idea is controversial as the government has in the past refused to allow the Hurriyat to travel to Pakistan to meet Pakistani officials.
Deputy Prime Minister L.K. Advani yesterday made it clear that New Delhi was still not in favor of allowing the Hurriyat to travel to Pakistan.
"There is no need to talk through intermediaries," Advani told reporters.
"Whoever wants they can talk to us (on Kashmir). We will decide when to speak to Pakistan," he added.
The Kashmiri delegation was made up of Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, Hurriyat Chairman Abdul Gani Bhat, acting chairman of the pro-independence Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) Javed Mir and Sheikh Ali Muhammad of the Jamaat-e-Islami.
The Kashmir Committee is headed by former Law Minister Ram Jethmalani and was set up last month to persuade Kashmiri separatists to join elections in the region.
Kashmir is set to go to polls in four phases beginning Sept. 16. But so far the Kashmir Committee has not been able to persuade any separatist group or leader to participate in the elections, as they say it is not a solution to the Kashmir issue. It was not the first time the India has rejected recommendations made by the private committee since it was set up in August with the blessing of the government.
The committee has proposed that Delhi release detained separatists and postpone the elections in Kashmir, but both ideas were rejected.
The committee also tried to set up a meeting between moderate Kashmiri leader Shahbir Shah and Advani last week, but the latter refused to meet him. The setbacks have put a question mark over the group’s legitimacy.
Kalim Bahadur, a professor of South Asian Studies at the New Delhi Jawaharlal Nehru University, said the government’s stance was justified.
"Neither the Hurriyat or other separatists talked to previous official interlocuters appointed by the government," Bahadur said.
"Naturally a committee consisting of private individuals, howsoever eminent they may be, cannot have the legitimacy of government representatives. "Constructive talks have to be held with the government. Therefore the government stand is justified," he said. Bharat Karnad, an analyst with the Center for Policy Research, described the Kashmir Committee members as "interlopers trying to do good".
"It is not a bad thing to happen. But what they do doesn’t have official value," he said.
Meanwhile, suspected rebels shot dead 12 people in Kashmir and injured twenty-six others in a spate of attacks, police said yesterday, a week ahead of state elections. Five members of a family were killed in an overnight attack in Dodasanpai village of Rajouri district, 150 km west of Jammu.
At least 26 people were injured in two grenade explosions set off by rebels, a police spokesman said.
He said suspected militants hurled a hand grenade yesterday at a security force bunker in the busy Batamaloo area of Srinagar. It missed its target and exploded among passers-by, injuring 13. Thirteen more people were injured in a similar grenade explosion overnight in Bijbehara township, 40 km south of Srinagar, police said.
