J&K peace talks: How the past interlocutors and groups failed to break any deadlock

The Centre on Monday, in a surprise move, appointed an interlocutor for talks in Jammu and Kashmir. Ex- IB Chief  Dineshwar Sharma who has experience of working in the Valley has been roped in as the special representative with Cabinet rank with an agenda of 'sustained dialogue' with all stakeholders with 'legitimate aspirations'. 

Rajnath Singh while announcing mentioned PM's Independence Day statement which said problems in the state could be solved "neither by bullet, nor by abuses but by embracing the people". He said this showed government's intention towards solving the Kashmir problem. 

Union Home Minister expressed hope that Dineshwar Sharma can make a way forward to solve the Kashmir puzzle and said that failures of such initiatives in the past shouldn't affect the present. Rajnath Singh also said that being apolitical is the greatest strength of Sharma, and he can assess the ground situation properly. 

Dineshwar Sharma has worked as assistant director of IB in Kashmir from 1992-94 and was later head of the Kashmir desk in the capital. It remains to be seen the contours of talks Sharma undertakes. But here is a look at what has happened in similar such efforts in the past. 

From 2000, this is the fourth interlocutor appointed by Centre. The first one was done by Vajpayee government when former Union Minister KC Pant was named. The second effort was when NN Vohra was entrusted with the job (who is incidentally the Governor of the state currently) and the third one was done in  2010 by UPA government when a three-member committee of Dileep Padgaonkar, Radha Kumar, and MM Ansari went to Kashmir as interlocutors. 

In the case of KC Pant, he failed to achieve much as none of the separatists except Shabir Shah talked to him. The Hurriyat Conference played spoilsport with its demand for getting Pakistan also part of the talks. A united Hurriyat at that time was steadfast even before the start of talks that Pant had no real agenda. Pant on his part decided to snub APHC saying it is not a major player in the Valley.

However, the fact remained that Vajpayee government did believe Hurriyat was a significant stakeholder in Kashmir. In 2002, the Kashmir committee was formed to reach out to all stakeholders in the Valley. Led by Ram Jethmalani, it comprised of the likes of Ashok Bhan, Shanti Bhushan, Dileep Padgaonkar, VK Grover, MJ Akbar. As an informal committee, it managed to meet the separatists but didn't result in any tangible results. Some reports suggest, Jethmalani claimed that he managed a deal with Hurriyat, but it was scuttled by Mirwaiz Umar Farooq. 

In 2003, the Indian government appointed NN Vohra as their new point person in the Valley. It was pretty much the repetition of the old story. However, Vohra managed to get the moderates of the Hurriyat for talks with LK Advani which weren't really fruitful. 

The UPA1 started with an earnest effort to break the imbroglio. Manmohan Singh in 2006 set up five working groups on Kashmir after a couple of roundtable meets in 2005. Interestingly Hurriyat stayed off the meetings, even though it initially decided to attend.  The five working groups on strengthening relations across the Line of Control, confidence-building measures across segments of society in the state including detainees, economic development, ensuring good governance and centre-state relations submitted their report but their recommendations were not acted upon. 

Incidentally, Mehbooba Mufti in July 2016 in an all-party meeting at the height of unrest in Kashmir referred to the five committees and backed the Manmohan formula saying, "A beginning can be made by implementing the recommendations of the five working groups constituted by the then prime minister". 

UPA government's next step of very public outreach in Jammu and Kashmir was the interlocutor committee formed in October  2010. It was formed in October 2010, post massive violence in the Valley. The committee headed by Padgaonkar suggested in their final report in 2012 among other steps review of AFSPA, talks with Hurriyat and setting up of the constitutional committee. Neither the UPA or the NDA government bothered to discuss the report on the floor of the House and the recommendations, as usual, got a cold shoulder. At that time, the Union government said, "  .“The government has not yet taken any decisions on the report. The government will welcome an informed debate on the contents of the report". It also advocated for permanent status to controversial Article 370, which guarantees special status to Jammu and Kashmir. 

In 2016, when Kashmir again witnessed a cesspool of violence, Dileep Padgaonkar was quoted saying violence could have been prevented if their recommendations were accepted. Incidentally, the separatists stayed away from talks with the panel also. Analysing the reason behind it, Radha Kumar said that they wanted to talk with political authorities and hence gave them the cold shoulder. 

So a brief history of the talks in the past shows either they were marred with non-inclusion of all major stakeholders or in some cases like the working groups, lack of follow-up of a good initiative. The recommendations at the time were not politically suitable for the government of the day to ensure a proper follow-up. Between an ideal solution and realpolitik, somehow solution eluded Kashmir. 

The Centre has turned a new chapter in the Kashmir talks by appointing a new interlocutor. This comes after a hard stance cracking down on armed militants post the unrest which started after Burhan Wani's death. The centre also repeatedly said that no talks will be held with separatists. Now with Dineshwar Sharma in the mix, that equation is likely to change.Will the carrot work now, that the stick has done its part? Will the Hurriyat and other stakeholders come to the table? The questions are many, with no proper answer at this point in time. But Dineshwar Sharma will do well to look at the failed broth of past reverses, in his attempt to craft a new recipe, to solve Kashmir's perennial problems.

With PTI inputs