Satya Pal Malik the governor of occupied Jammu and Kashmir on Thursday said that no talks will be held with Hurriyat conference until they keep “Pakistan out” of the discussion. Malik a former BJP National vice president assumed the charge as governor of Jammu and Kashmir after the fall of PDP led coalition government. While talking to reporters in Srinagar, Malik said, “I recently met representatives from various parties. I met Omar Sahab, Mehboobaji, Tarigami Sahab. As far as Hurriyat is concerned, they don’t even go to the toilet without asking Pakistan, so till the time they don’t keep Pakistan separate, no talks will be held with them”. Whatever the IoK governor has said is nothing but a continuity of Indian premier Narendar Modi’s no talk policy with Pakistan. The BJP government over the past couple of years has adopted an antagonistic stance against Pakistan just to keep its vote bank in tact that has a lot to do with anti-Pakistan rhetoric. Unlike its predecessors Modi regime in New Delhi with hawks in key national security and foreign policy positions have behaved in different manner. Rather than learning a lesson from history, the rulers repeated the history by adopting cohesive measures to deal the situation in Kashmir in particular. Under a three-pronged strategy, New Delhi applied its all out military power to suppress Kashmiris’ legitimate political struggle and to choke every dissenting voice in the Held territory; secondly, it kept the LoC boiling by resorting to unprovoked cross border shelling with a view to deflect world attention away from the worsening situation in the held territory; and thirdly, engaging in a proxy war by carrying out acts of terrorism in various territories of Pakistan and raising the levels of war hysteria by using the “so-called surgical strikes against Pakistani positions on the Line of Control”. Virtually, India has failed on all fronts, they thought that whipping up an anti-Pakistan frenzy and use of military power will help them force Kashmiris into submission and to return what they call peace and normalcy in the region. But once again time has proved that genuine freedom movements cannot be suppressed by use of force. These BJP regime’s aggressive policy towards Kashmir have in fact further fueled the anti-India sentiment in the region, there is complete alienation and 95% poll boycott in the recent Municipal polls is a clear message to New Delhi. This is the lesson Indian rulers should learn from the history. Rather than putting blame on Pakistan, or teasing Hurriyat leaders the IOK governor must update its knowledge about Kashmir issue. Hurriyat stands for a just and peaceful settlement of Kashmir dispute through dialogue but it is only possible if all stake holders to the dispute are included in the dialogue process. And as per the international covenants Pakistan is an important party to Kashmir dispute and no solution to the dispute will be sustainable unless it is accepted by all the key stakeholders.
