Amid curfew, killings and the anger, the visit of the all partydelegation of the parliamentarians were the biggest show that TV crews ensured every bedroom in India was hooked to. From Hyderpora to Maisuma and Nigeen to Tangmarg, almost everything was aired to generate a feeling of hope. As the policy makers and the handlers of Kashmir started following it up, the element of seriousness and sincerity started evaporating.
Locally, a couple of measures were announced and projected as major decisions. These included removal of some bunkers, setting free some youth and setting up committee to review disturbed areas. These all are so small initiatives that usually should not merit listing given the overwhelming situation in which Kashmir is living since 1990 in general and last four months in particular.
But everybody was keenly awaiting the appointment of interlocutors.
Delays created suspense and a bit of interest too. But when the names were finally announced, it added to the perception that New Delhi is unwilling to move, even not to the days when a rigged poll triggered militancy in nineties.
Journalist Dilip Padgoanker, academician Ms Radha Kumar and information commission Ansari could be big names in their respective fields but neither of them can represent a state. The response to the appointment was not very different in Kashmir’s political landscape divided on ideological lines. From Moderare Hurriyat chairman Mirwaiz Umer Farooq to CPI leader M Yusuf Tarigami, everybody was shocked.
The desperation is clear even in the state government. It wants the home ministry to nominate the fourth interlocutor and hopes, apparently against hopes, that it would be a politician of some standing.
Not much is known about how things could derail to such an extent. But if media reports are an indication, it was turf war in the high places in New Delhi. No politician is willing to be part of the team that has Home Minister in the driving seat. Many think the absence of credible political faces in the team of interlocutors would have meant creation of a parallel power centre in Delhi that would have neutralized the Home Minister who is calling the shots and running the show in Kashmir. Even one report suggested the “interlocutors will be reduced to being couriers for the Centre.”
Regardless of the factors that led power players to the decision which triggered laughter in Srinagar, the larger issue is of the costs involved. Killings, siege and managing a place with sticks and crude power gradually pushes a society to the wall. Alienation is too small a word that can describe the feeling of being in such an overwhelming situation that has highly insensitive minds managing it.
