Seeking Stronger Solutions

There is frustration because the Kashmiris are feeling left out of the peace building process between India and Pakistan

By Murtaza Shibli

Wajahat Habibullah is one of the best-known Indian Muslim civil servants. Currently, he is the chief information commissioner of India. Considered as an expert on Kashmir, he has served in various capacities in the disputed territory. He has held negotiations with pro-independence militant groups as well as political parties, including the Hurriyat Conference.

Wajahat Habibullah has also served as India's minister of education, secretary of consumer affairs and secretary to the Ministry of Panchayati Raj (local government). A former senior fellow at the United States Institute of Peace (USIP), Washington DC, he was honoured with Rajiv Gandhi Award for Excellence in Secularism for his distinguished services.

Wajahat Habibullah's recent book, entitled My Kashmir: Conflict and Prospects of Enduring Peace, published by the USIP, is a valuable addition to the literature on understanding the Kashmir issue and the efforts at peace building there. The News on Sunday interviewed him recently. Excerpts follow:

The News on Sunday: There is a strong lament in your book My Kashmir: Conflict and Prospects of Enduring Peace about the destruction of Kashmir, yet you sound so hopeful of a solution. Why?

Wajahat Habibullah: I sound so hopeful of a solution because there is a very strong yearning for peace in the people and because they want to live with dignity. I think most of the people are sick of violence, and they want to seek a solution through the constitutional and legal mechanism. It is now the duty of India, Pakistan and primarily the Kashmiri leadership to afford a sense of dignity and participation to the people of Held Kashmir, for ensuring a long-term solution. Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's idea of roundtable conference was part of extending that hope and translating it into action.

TNS: Whenever there is some hope of a solution, it is punctured by some untoward incidents. Isn't the recent controversy over land transfer to the Shri Amarnath Shrine Board exactly the kind of setback that reverses such hopes?

WH: The controversy over land transfer to the Shri Amarnath Shrine Board is a cause for great pain and apprehension. It is a major setback to the process of peace. In fact, it has killed a part of me. We can't shut our eyes to issues like this. Unfortunately, former Governor SK Sinha failed to gauge the aspirations of the Kashmiri people. He equated the problems with what he had seen in the rest of the country, but Kashmir is different. Thankfully, new Governor NN Vohra has a great understanding of Kashmir, unlike his predecessors, and this will prove beneficial to the people of the Valley as well as rest of the country.

TNS: You mention about the Indian policy being always guided by its perception of 'security' and 'national interest'. Now, however, it seems that this 'national interest' is being extended to the entire religion. Giving land to the Shri Amarnath Shrine Board is seen as a legitimate function and role of the Indian government, for ensuring Hindu presence in the state. Is religion now also being 'securitised'?

WH: It has been by some, but not by the government. As you know, the land was never actually transferred to the Shri Amarnath Shrine Board. When the government became aware of the public resentment, the order was revoked.

TNS: Despite progress in the India-Pakistan peace process, the Kashmiris are very sceptical of a solution emerging. What do you think is the reason?

WH: There is frustration because the Kashmiris are feeling left out of the peace building process between India and Pakistan. Their scepticism can be mitigated by their being made part of the peace process. This can be achieved through different means, but it should ideally start from an effort to build their trust.

TNS: There is a general belief that India's slow response to President Musharraf's proposals killed the initial optimism about the peace process and now the new political challenges in the two countries have nearly stalled the process. What are your views on this?

WH: President Musharraf's proposals on Kashmir were responded to in a positive manner by no less than the Indian prime minister. It, however, is true that there are people within the Indian establishment who were averse to these proposals. In any case, it is my firm belief that democratic governments will be able to reach a more enduring settlement acceptable to their peoples. Such solutions, therefore, will be stronger.

TNS: You have made an observation in your book My Kashmir: Conflict and Prospects of Enduring Peace about the Kashmiris' penchant for cooking up conspiracy theories. But isnít it true that your explanation of the Hazratbal siege -- blaming a Jamaat-e-Islami sympathiser police constable for the same -- sounds like a conspiracy theory too?

WH: Well, that is my suspicion, based on being part of the negotiations. Moreover, the constable was the one who had delivered the highly exaggerated misinformation that provoked the siege of the shrine.

TNS: In your book, you seem to discount the massive human rights violations in the Valley, as well as their impact on fuelling insurgency and winning new recruits to it. Is there any particular reason you see money as the main motivation for insurgency, rather than human rights violations and the anger that they generate?

WH: I do not discount the cost of human rights violations and have in fact spoken of my direct experience of such incidents. I, however, cannot claim to have covered those incidents of which I had no direct experience. Let me also clarify that I don't see money as the reason at all! The outbreak was precipitated by a genuine anger and that was the major reason for its persistence into the mid-1990s. After that, however, money has started to play a larger role. I have known several young men who have or whose parents have admitted to me as much. I agree that this very susceptibility to resort to violence for money does indeed stem from anger.

TNS: You say freedom is the choice of every Kashmiri, but then claim that this freedom is guaranteed by the Indian Constitution. How do you reconcile the two ideas? Isn't it true that most Kashmiri separatists don't want to operate within the ambit of the Indian Constitution?

WH: Freedom, in my view, is freedom; and the Indian Constitution guarantees this. My argument is that the Kashmiris should be allowed to enjoy that freedom.

TNS: What is your position on Article 370? Why certain Indian political parties, such as the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), lobby for its abrogation?

WH: Article 370 allows Jammu and Kashmir to be the only state in India to have a constitution of its own, something that is the right of every state in a federal system; the leading example in this connection being the United States. Its abrogation would be regressive, but it should not be used to perpetuate the dominance of ruling elite in Jammu and Kashmir. It must allow the people of the state as much, if not more, freedom as the other people of India have under the constitution.

TNS: There is this greater talk about south Asia as a reference point where borders can become irrelevant. Can't President Musharraf's plan for Kashmir be the beginning of a post-Westphalian South Asia?

WH: A counter-question: why should the people of Jammu and Kashmir submit to management by another or worse still by joint management of more than one? Are any of India's other states managed by the Centre?

TNS: You discount any link between Kashmiri militants and al-Qaeda, yet in many official Indian accounts stress is laid on international jihadism, including links between al-Qaeda and Kashmiri insurgency?

WH: I have seen no links and I have seen the insurgency from close quarters.

TNS: What is the state of information regime in south Asia and how could this help in promoting peace and co-operation in the region?

WH: India's Right to Information Act 2005 is among the world's most enlightened legislations of this nature. I have been working with the Jammu and Kashmir government to adopt this legislation for the state, if not take advantage of Article 379 to have an even stronger law of this nature. The Jammu and Kashmir law, passed originally in 2004, is totally without substance; as a result, it has hardly ever been used. In May 2008, Bangladesh adopted the Right to Information Ordnance, which is based in great measure on the Indian legislation; Nepal had done so earlier. Pakistan's Freedom of Information Ordinance 2002 has some weaknesses that need to be overcome.

TNS: How do you see the current situation in Pakistan?

WH: I have never been to Pakistan, but have always been an ardent supporter of democracy. Unfortunately, like many other Third World countries, Pakistan has been experimenting with short bouts of democracy alongside dictatorship. Dictatorships succeed in the short-term, but they bring ruin in the long-term. The current situation is Pakistan is interesting and I see it as the first step towards genuine democracy. The onus, however, is on the new government. It is a difficult road, but I sincerely hope that democracy would flourish in Pakistan.

Courtesy: The News Pakistan