Last two days – Sunday and Monday – revealed all that happened in September 2016, exactly eight years ago when Kashmir Valley was visited by an all-party delegation led by the then Home Minister Rajnath Singh, and what Kashmir lost in the process- an opportunity of dialogue with Delhi. Today there are desperate voices for dialogue between Delhi and Kashmir, but a precious opportunity was lost in September 2016, all due to lack of communication.
The year 2016 and the turbulences that it witnessed in the aftermath of the killing of militant commander Burhan Wani on July 8 that year are playing out in the campaign ahead of the three-phased Assembly polls, beginning September 18, as the BJP is talking about the end of an era of stone pelting, while all Kashmiri-centric parties have listed the release of the boys arrested on charges of stone pelting and other such incidents in their manifestoes – there is a striking similarity in the manifestoes of National Conference, PDP, Apni Party, People’s Conference on this issue. Apni Party has sought general amnesty for all those who are detained on various charges.
On Sunday, while addressing rallies in Ramban and Banihal areas of the Jammu region, defence minister Rajnath Singh, who was Home Minister in Narendra Modi’s government from 2014 to 2019, disclosed that the government had attempted to open dialogue with Hurriyat Conference to usher in peace in the Valley. “We had come as an all-party delegation to Kashmir to address the issues to restore peace,” Rajnath Singh said. He said he was leading the delegation as Home Minister of the time, and “since the Hurriyat leaders deemed us ( BJP men) with some irritation, I deputed the opposition MPs, including (late) Sharad Yadav to meet them, but doors were shut on them”
This is a real time episode some MPs had landed at the Hyderpoea residence of high-profile separatist leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani who later made no secret about his disillusionment with Pakistan perhaps with a remorse that he spent his life pleading a wrong cause. But despite intense knocks, Geelani did not open the doors and the MPs had to return disappointed with a fair conclusion that separatists were in no mood to talk to them, despite the fact that they were faces and voices of the opposition. The separatist were clueless that they were emissaries of the government and knocking their doors at the behest of the Modi government represented by Home Minister Rajnath Singh.
At that time, Kashmir was under so much turmoil that the youngsters, as young as in the age group of 10 to 12, were hitting the streets, leading the stone-throwing brigades in every nook and corner of the Valley. They had taken control of the roads, and only they could decide who could drive or move on the roads. They were angry with their predecessors who were on the frontline of 2010 stone throwing agitation but later withdraw to their homes after separatists sensed public anger over the stoning of school buses and ambulances. The young of 2016 accused the young of 2010 of betrayal.
On learning that it was a government sponsored initiative, the Hurriyat Conference led by Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, issued a statement on Monday reflecting on the eight-year-old episode, saying that it didn’t know that it was a government sponsored proposition. The separatists who instead of leading the people, it has become evident, presented themselves as hostages to the situation.
In the statement released by Hurriyat in response to the disclosures made by Rajnath Singh on Sunday, it said that in September 2016, its chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq was detained at the Chesmashshi sub jail. “A letter was handed over to him by the jail authorities from Ms. Mehbooba Mufti written in her capacity as president of PDP and not as the Chief Minister which she was at that time, requesting him to meet with a visiting delegation of opposition MPs and talk to them. After which AIMIM head Asadudding Owaisi a member of the visiting opposition delegation, came to see the Mirwaiz in the sub-jail. During the meeting, Owaisi told the Mirwaz that a delegation of MPs wanted to meet the Hurriyat leadership regarding the grim situation “
Expressing great anguish, Mirwaiz requested Owaisi to ask the Government to stop the killings and allow the Hurriyat leadership lodged in different jails and under house arrests to meet with each other and discuss the situation among themselves first before they decide if they can collectively talk to the delegation and figure out if the opposition MPs can help in some serious attempt at long term engagement, or if it is just another attempt at crisis management which will be dumped once the crisis is over as past experiences have shown. No leader is in a position to take a decision regarding this individually, Mirwaiz clarified. Owaisi agreed to it and said that he will convey this request to the government and left. After that, nothing was heard of it.”
It said that it is also “surprised to know for the first time as the media is, that this was an initiative at the behest of Govt of India,” and underlined that “under the leadership of Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, it has always strongly and repeatedly advocated engagement and dialogue with the political aspirations and sentiments of the people of J&K as a means of resolution..”
The statement also recalled: Right from the time of its engagement with PM Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee ,Shri L.K.Advani to PM Shri Manmohan Singh it has participated in every opportunity that was made available by the Govt of India. Even at its peril and despite the huge personal costs borne by the Mirwaiz and other Hurriyat leaders and their families for such engagements it never shied away from them, as it firmly believes that this is the only way to ensure peace and stability in J&K and the region and prosperity for the people and not for any personal profit or power for Hurriyat.
Even after the 2019 drastic unilateral changes and prolonged house detention of Mirwaiz till September 2023, Mirwaiz has been repeating his advocacy of talks at every occasion made available to him during his off /on house arrests but to no avail.”
This statement also shows how the lack of adequate communication led to a situation that could have been avoided.
| 
