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Playacting over
Kashmir
By Syed Saleem Shahzad
KARACHI - "There is a lot of
extravaganza between India and Pakistan through
cricket, music, exchange of delegations and bus
services [in Kashmir]. India has engaged
[President] General Pervez Musharraf in a lot of
fun activities and he is conveniently 
lost in it. It is ironic that
Indians wanted to abandon the Kashmir issue once
and for all, and now Pakistan is helping India to
do so."
So said a grim Syed Ali Shah
Gillani [1] in a telephone interview with Asia
Times Online from New Delhi. Gillani is the
chairman of the All Parties Hurriyat Conference
(APHC), which Pakistan's military establishment
has nurtured over the past 13 years as the icon of
the Kashmiri liberation struggle.
A
delegation of the APHC's Gillani group led by
Gillani called on Musharraf in Delhi on Sunday at
the Pakistani High Commission. Musharraf was in
India ostensibly to watch a cricket match between
India and Pakistan, but he also met senior Indian
leaders.
By all accounts, Gillani's
meeting with Musharraf left the general "shocked",
and Gillani angry. "I told him [Musharraf], 'You
have sold us out.'"
Musharraf's bilateral
talks covered the Kashmir bus service, trade and
other issues, but without reference to resolving
the Kashmir dispute - the "core" issue that has
traditionally been the foundation of any Pakistani
dialogue with India.
"I had questions for
Musharraf," Gillani informed Asia Times Online. "I
maintained that Pakistan showed a lot of
flexibility, but what is the Indian response? Are
they ready to show any reciprocity? Is there any
change in the ground realities? Human-rights
violations in Kashmir are still rampant. Recently,
30 of our youths were given life sentences, there
is no reduction in the presence of the [Indian]
army in Kashmir. Confidence-building measures are
supposed to lead to a reduction in atrocities in
Kashmir, or are they just fun activities between
the rulers of the two countries?
"I
emphasized that good Pakistan and Indian relations
should have yielded [results] for the Kashmiris in
the shape of relief in political activity, a
reduction in military operations by the over
700,000 Indian forces etc ... but there is none.
Pakistani rulers do not appear to talk business on
Kashmir, rather they are more interested in
playing cricket with Indians and having some fun -
and letting Kashmir bleed. We Kashmiris are
watching these developments and a negative opinion
is growing against Pakistan.
"Musharraf agreed, but said that [the] post-September 11 situation
left Pakistan with little options," Gillani said
when Asia Times Online asked for Musharraf's
response.
"We are enraged not because
Pakistan is retreating from its active support.
The issue is that Pakistan is now playing a role
which is tantamount to active support of the
Indian agenda," Gillani fumed.
"Initially, General Musharraf dished out a proposal to
set aside the UN resolutions on Kashmir [calling for
a referendum] and meet India 'halfway somewhere'.
It was the first retreat by Pakistan, but we
swallowed this bitter pill and thought that it was
a step to seek Indian cooperation for the
resolution of Kashmir. The Indians did not show
any reciprocity. Then, a further retreat, and
Musharraf dished out a proposal to divide Kashmir
in seven zones. India did not respond. After all
of this, India played the gambit of the
Srinagar-Muzzafarabad bus service. In the past,
Pakistan never approved of the idea as it was an
old Indian one. The incumbent so-called Kashmiri
Chief Minister Mufti Saeed contested the elections
with the same rhetoric in 2002, that he would open
the Srinagar-Muzzafarabad road. After 57 years
[since partition], Pakistan has opened that route
and spoiled our struggle. We saw it as
'right-sizing' of the Kashmiri cause by Pakistan,"
Gillani maintained.
Showtime
The question is, does Musharraf really care
what Gillani thinks and expresses? The reality is,
Musharraf's main concern with regard to internal
and external affairs is what the army
thinks.
Yet Gillani is a by-product of
Pakistan's military establishment, created to
serve as a strong pro-Pakistani face in the
indigenous struggle of Kashmiris in the Valley. He
has always been approved by the military
establishment as the only acceptable face, while
all others were disapproved, and their integrity
and familiarity with the Kashmir issue watched
with a lot of suspicion.
In many ways, the
very existence and continued pre-eminence of
Pakistan's army relates to Kashmir - it has fought
several wars over the issue. From the rank of
major up to brigadier, all officers work in a
single direction under a manual that has not
changed in the past 57 years on the Kashmir issue:
no quarter given.
The beads of sweat on
Musharraf's forehead after his meeting with
Gillani were understandable. Everyone knows that
army chiefs come and go, but the military
institution never changes its manuals.
Musharraf knows that he will not change
the views of Gillani, who is now publicly
expressing his condemnation of Pakistan and its
rulers. Yet Musharraf does not have a viable
option for any new "pro-Pakistan" leadership among
Kashmiris as neither his intelligence apparatus
would approve their integrity nor would Kashmiri
armed groups accept them.
There is
no doubt that what is playing out on the South
Asian stage bears little resemblance to what
is happening behind the stage. Kashmir has
been described as a "lifeline" for Pakistan and an
"integral part" of India. Glitzy presentations for
the public will not change the situation
overnight.
Note
[1] Syed
Ali Shah Gillani is a former chief of the
Jamaat-i-Islami (a separatist party) in
Indian-administered Kashmir and among the pioneers
of the All Parties Hurriyat Conference, a group of
Kashmiri groups striving for the right of
self-determination for over a decade. Gillani was
recognized by Pakistan as the only acceptable
Kashmiri leader when the APHC split into two
factions. The United Jihad Council, a conglomerate
of Kashmiri militant groups involved in armed
struggle against the Indian presence in the Valley
also recognizes Gillani as the only political
leader of Kashmir.
Syed Saleem
Shahzadis Bureau Chief, Pakistan, Asia Times
Online. He can be reached at saleem_shahzad2002@yahoo.com
(Copyright 2005 Asia Times Online Ltd. All
rights reserved. Please contact us for information
on sales, syndication and republishing.) |
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