Three weeks into New Delhi announcing appointing interlocutors on Kashmir, the government is yet to find a person for the job. Sources say nobody is willing to. Iftikhar Gilani reports.
Politicians, throughout the world, notoriously fight for positions. Perhaps an exception is in trouble torn Jammu and Kashmir, where no Indian politician is ready to adorn the hat of an interlocutor, though coming up with allurements – a Cabinet rank, perhaps ministerial bungalows at Srinagar, Jammu as well as in the national capital Delhi, white ambassador fitted with beacon lights and sirens. A consensus within political class is that interacting with Kashmiri leaders and general public on behalf of India would be a “tough job”. With no solution in sight and Indian public opinion still far away to accept Kashmir as a dispute, there is even no fascination for a Magsaysay or a Nobel peace prize, which any tangible movement on the issue may beget the interlocutor.
While announcing an eight point package, the Cabinet Committee Security (CCS) last month decided to set up a team of interlocutors to carry forward the dialogue on resolving the tangle. It was also decided that a politician would head the group. But even after a fortnight, government is still to zero in on any politician. Some of the politicians approached flatly refused, while others deflected the offer by suggesting names of their colleagues for the job.
Almost every day, Union Home Ministry is attempting to float names apparently to test waters. But after undergoing such an exercise for over a fortnight, they seem appearing to be at the back-foot. Latest take from the Ministry was they were now looking outside the political arena. “We are still trying for someone from the political ranks as politicians have the communication skill to establish rapport, but we have drawn a blank so far,” a top Ministry official conceded while indicating that the government may have to fall back on a retired Supreme Court judge or a former vice-chancellor for the job.
Congress general secretary Digvijay Singh and Minister of State in PMO Prithviraj Chavan, who is also in-charge of the J&K affairs, were seen as the front runners but the party sources said both have backed out. Further, Home Ministry feared that a cabinet rank political interlocutor may attempt to bypass Home Minister P. Chidambaram, creating a conflict of authority. Sources further said Congress President Sonia Gandhi has told the Prime Minister that she cannot spare Digvijay Singh from the party responsibilities more so because he will have to handle the proposed plenary session of the AICC to be held in Lucknow in December.
If the head of the interlocutors is to be from the judiciary, sources said the government may opt for former Chief Justices of India A S Anand and J S Verma as both have been also the chairmen of the National Human Rights Commission and as such have ears to the human right nuances. The only minus point about Justice Anand, who has also penned a book on “Constitutional Developments in J&K,” is that he hails from Jammu while the PM is keen to appoint someone from outside Jammu and Kashmir.
Among the former vice-chancellors being considered include former Jamia Vice-Chancellor Murshirul Hasan who is currently the Director General Archives, and former Jammu University Vice-Chancellor Amitabh Mattoo, who is now a Jawaharlal Nehru University professor. Also being considered is Jamia Vice-Chancellor Najib Jung, who hails from Hyderabad.
The Central Government, however, is of the view that there should be no ad hoc-ism in changing the interlocutors time and again as the Prime Minister has stressed that the dialogue should be sustained to involve all walks of life in Jammu and Kashmir, sources added.
Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh’s separate meetings with Home Minister P. Chidambaram and Chief Minister Omar Abdullah earlier this week also failed to finalise the names of either the head of the team or any of the interlocutors. “Since the government recognises the need for sustained engagement in the state, several factors need to be considered,” said a senior official. “Engagement has to be for two, five (to)10 years,” said a source. Top sources, however, said the government expects to finalise the names of the interlocutors soon. The names will be referred to the core committee of the Congress. That would be followed by a meeting of the CCS to put a seal on the appointment.
Home Minister during his meeting with the PM also discussed request of Governor N N Vohra, a former defence and home secretary, to shift him to any other state or relieve him in view of his wife Usha’s ailment. Usha Vohra, also a retired bureaucrat, is believed to be suffering from cancer.
The Home Ministry sources said the government is also getting demand from various quarters for appointment of a political leader as the state’s governor as it has been always either a former bureaucrat or a former army officer or an intelligence chief appointed as the governor after Dr Karan Singh ceased to be the Sadr-e-Riyasat of Jammu and Kashmir.
The government thinks the demand is genuine as it may send a political personality as the governor, though there is also a proposal to shift Arunachal Pradesh Governor General J J Singh, a retired Army chief, to Srinagar, the sources said. “There are no inputs from the state government or national conference,” he said while wriggling out from discussing advantage of a political person as the governor. The Prime Minister assured the chief minister of all Central help in resolving the issues confronting the state as also promised an early action on job initiatives under the Rangarajan Committee that was asked to give its report within three months.
