Kashmir Crisis

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Pakistan's President Asif Ali Zardari made a historic statement that Kashmiri militants were terrorists. It was a far cry from Pervez Musharraf calling them freedom fighters. Meanwhile, gunfight continues between Indian security forces and the separatists, killing and injuring people. Even as a cloud hangs over the political scene, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has offered to hold talks with all sections of the people of Kashmir. Violent protests erupted in Srinagar and Baramulla district as hundreds of people took to the streets. A strike was called by the separatists' coordination committee in protest against the Prime Minister's visit. Manmohan Singh has said that the most controversial issues can be resolved through dialogue. It is obviously a reference to the agitation led by the Hurriyat Conference. Manmohan Singh knows how rough the terrain is. For the last four years, the conciliatory approach ran into one hurdle after another. But the Indian government is committed to dialogue as far as Kashmir is concerned. The talks with the Hurriyat got stalled after 2004. The Prime Minister hopes that it will come up with constructive proposals. The government is ready to hold assembly elections in J & K next month. Adequate forces are available to conduct the exercise.

One may say that Delhi is pursuing an ostrich- like policy over J & K. The peace process with Pakistan may get a boost with the new government in place in Islamabad. But that will not solve the problem of militancy in Kashmir. Separatism is rife in the state and the terrorists are as uncompromising as the ULFA in Asom. A dialogue with the Hurriyat may or may not be advisable. But there is no point in talking with the separatist militants. What cannot be denied is that they enjoy great popular support. The questions to be addressed are whether the Indian guns can settle the issue in the strategic interest of the country and whether that will be to the detriment of the country's international image. source: the shillong times