{"id":1631,"date":"2013-12-02T21:46:42","date_gmt":"2013-12-02T16:16:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/peacewatchkashmir.com\/blog\/?p=1631"},"modified":"2013-12-02T21:46:42","modified_gmt":"2013-12-02T16:16:42","slug":"the-story-of-climb-downs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/peacewatchkashmir.com\/blog\/point-of-view\/kashmir-talk\/the-story-of-climb-downs\/","title":{"rendered":"The Story of \u2018Climb-downs\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"<\/fb:like>
<\/h6>\n

The present leadership has some lessons to learn<\/h3>\n

Punchline<\/h3>\n

Z.G. MUHAMMAD<\/h4>\n
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Our \u201cleaders\u201d are in a habit of sparking debates- mostly hackneyed ones parsed and analyzed in these columns umpteen times – rather overdriven. Even adding spice to these stale debates does not make them palatable but still they fuel doubts in the public minds. A similar debate has engaged attention of our political commentators but I have a different take on it.
\nOn Sunday, 10 November 2o13, Kashmir leaders Syed Ali Geelani, Molvi Muhammad Umar Farooq, Mohammad Yasin Malik, Asiya Andrabi along with their party men and aids had separate meetings with Sartaj Aziz, Advisor to Prime Minister of Pakistan Nawaz Sharif on Foreign Affairs and National Security.\u00a0 Pakistan High Commissioner to India Salman Bashir aided him during these meetings. He is by training an economist and academician.\u00a0\u00a0 For having his been Foreign Minister of Pakistan in Nawaz Sharif\u2019s last term as Prime Minister at the critical juncture of India and Pakistan joining nuclear club, Sartaj Aziz\u00a0\u00a0 is conversant with the intricate details of the Kashmir dispute- with all its ramifications at the ground level. He also understands its dynamics.
\nThe visiting Pakistan leader meeting Kashmir leaders is not a new phenomenon. Or, the Kashmir leaders visiting Pakistan High Commission, in New Delhi\u00a0 is no news.\u00a0 The post 1953 scenario is replete with instances of the Jammu and Kashmir Plebiscite Front leaders including its towering leaders Sheikh Muhammad Abdullah and Mirza Muhammad Afzal Beg meeting Pakistan\u00a0\u00a0 officials in New Delhi. Of these meeting January 1971 meetings of Sheikh Abdullah and his lieutenant, Beg with Pakistan High Commissioner in India have been significant for the developments that followed. Since, the birth of the Hurriyat Conference (united), there has been hardly an occasion when leaders of this multiparty combine have not met\u00a0\u00a0 visiting Pakistan leaders in the Embassy, at New Delhi, The opposition parties and leaders criticizing or raising voice against meetings of Kashmir leaders with Pakistan officials has also been a regular ritualistic feature in the capital.
\nI do not know if these meetings portend a big change in organizational structure of the fragmented constituents of the 1993 Hurriyat Conference- and bringing some semblance of unity amongst the diverse groups.\u00a0 Or, the objective of the meet was to update these leaders on Islamabad\u2019s new Kashmir policy and strategy.\u00a0 Couple of New Delhi based newspapers published some inside stories about the deliberations between Kashmir leaders and Sartaj Aziz \u2013 apparently planted.
\nIt is not\u00a0 the deliberations inside the Pakistan High Commission that has generated a debate amongst political commentators in Srinagar\u00a0 but it is\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 the statements of the\u00a0 APHC (M) leader and observations on this meeting by\u00a0\u00a0 superannuated spymaster, known for being conversant with \u2018nuts and bolts\u2019 of the Hurriyat Conference that has aroused the curiosity and germinated speculations.\u00a0 On the face of it, tone and tenor of the the statements made after the meeting is indicative of eagerness of the\u00a0\u00a0 APHC faction for entering into dialogue with the Congress led UPA government- whether New Delhi formally invites them or not.\u00a0 To be noticed, by the new BJP leadership, in a cleverly crafted statement, by resurrecting a trite and dead phrase, \u201cwithin the ambit of humanity\u201d used by Mr. Vajpayee,\u00a0\u00a0 it also held out a hand of cooperation to Modi led BJP if it makes to the Raisina Hill.
\nThe statement is apparently an innocuous reiteration of the much-orchestrated stand of this faction of the APHC but at the same time, it carries subtle message of not insisting\u00a0\u00a0 the demands it has made in 2005, during meeting with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh- \u201ca mellow down\u201d.\u00a0\u00a0 The \u2018loaded\u2019 word \u2018step-by-step\u2019 in the statement seen in historical perspective artfully suggests a \u2018climb-down\u2019 that has many a parallels in our\u00a0\u00a0 sixty six year old\u00a0\u00a0 political struggle.\u00a0 Every individual or party has a right to choose his politics- after all politics in Jammu and Kashmir that leads to the corridors of power has been a great \u2018game of turns\u2019 -right, left and U.
\nHere I am not going to comment on this faction\u2019s politics, whether it goes by the \u2018advice of the former RAW chief, and decides to partake in the polls\u201d. It is syndrome of \u2018climbing-down to zero level\u2019 afflicting our leadership for past over six decades that is the moot point.
\nIt is often said that for \u2018tenacious unwillingness\u2019 and \u2018procrastination\u2019 of the GoI Kashmir dispute has not been so far resolved.\u00a0 Moreover, India\u2019s \u201cobstinate\u201d stand on Kashmir has been the cause for estrangement between India and Pakistan –\u00a0\u00a0 two neighbors, who could be of symbiotic value to each other. But I see, the syndrome \u2018of climb-down to zero level\u2019 afflicting\u00a0 our leadership as one of the most important contributing factor for New Delhi\u2019s policy of procrastination and\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 consistently remaining in denial mode for ending political uncertainty in the state.\u00a0 So the no resolution of the dispute.\u00a0 Had not the Kashmir leadership repeatedly suffered this syndrome- often out of exhaustion and on occasion out of \u201cjail-dejection\u201d and sometime out of persuasion old-time political friends like J.P.
\nThe story\u00a0 of top Kashmir leaders is that of\u00a0 taking the movement to the highest pitch, filling the jails with have-nots, splashing streets with blood, multiplying number of\u00a0 orphans and adding to long list of widows and then\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u2018climbing-down to zero level\u2019\u00a0 \u2013 and calling this inglorious surrender as realpolitik.\u00a0 Let us not talk about 1947 that is full of note of interrogations.\u00a0 Nevertheless, the post 1953 period is a galore with instances where the leaders after leading the political movements\u00a0\u00a0 ignominiously retraced their steps and surrendered to the terms and conditions of New Delhi.\u00a0 Some of the examples of insulting surrenders are the 1964- Holy Relic Movement and dialogue thereafter with New Delhi. \u201cSheikh Abdullah more or less ruled out a plebiscite.\u201d Commenting on Abdullah Alistair Lamb writes, \u201cPrisons apparently had taught Sheikh Abdullah nothing.\u201d The 1968 State Peoples Convention- the disarray and decision thereafter.\u00a0 Some important politico-religious parties advocating cause of right to self-determination, contesting of the 1972 Assembly elections.\u00a0 Six point, Indira-Sheikh Agreement of 1975 and dissolution of the Plebiscite Front.\u00a0 Moreover, all pro-plebiscite parties jumping over the Janata bandwagon and burying right to self-determination movement. Besides these\u00a0\u00a0 glaring examples of political leaders \u2018climbing down\u2019 there are many other such instances were Kashmir leaders have failed the people of the state who had reposed faith and trust in them.
\nIn this column, it may not be possible to analyze all the all quoted instances of \u201cclimb-down to zero\u201d syndrome, as each one of them is a subject in itself and have lesson for present \u201cleadership.\u201d<\/p>\n

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<\/h3>\n<\/fb:like><\/span>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The present leadership has some lessons to learn
\nPunchline
\nZ.G. MUHAMMAD<\/p>\n

Our \u201cleaders\u201d are in a habit of sparking debates- mostly hackneyed ones parsed and analyzed in these columns umpteen times – rather overdriven. Even adding spice to these stale debates does not make them palatable but still they fuel doubts in the public minds. A similar debate has engaged attention of our political commentators but I have a different take on it.
\nOn Sunday, 10 November 2o13, Kashmir leaders Syed Ali Geelani, Molvi Muhammad Umar Farooq, Mohammad Yasin Malik, Asiya Andrabi along with their party men and aids had separate meetings with Sartaj Aziz, Advisor to Prime Minister of Pakistan Nawaz Sharif on Foreign Affairs and National Security.\u00a0 Pakistan High Commissioner to India Salman Bashir aided him during these meetings. He is by training an economist and academician.\u00a0\u00a0 For having his been Foreign Minister of Pakistan in Nawaz Sharif\u2019s last term as …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1631","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-kashmir-talk"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/peacewatchkashmir.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1631"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/peacewatchkashmir.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/peacewatchkashmir.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peacewatchkashmir.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peacewatchkashmir.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1631"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/peacewatchkashmir.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1631\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1633,"href":"https:\/\/peacewatchkashmir.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1631\/revisions\/1633"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/peacewatchkashmir.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1631"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peacewatchkashmir.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1631"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peacewatchkashmir.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1631"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}