No one can seal the circle of wisdom and representation in their interest in Kashmir

Dr. Syed Nazir Gilani

Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, chairman of the moderate faction of Hurriyat Conference on Friday announced readiness for "sincere and meaningful talks'' with New Delhi.  It is interesting to quote that The Hindu newspaper, on Friday, reported that Farooq had met Union Home Minister P Chidambaram ahead of his visit to New York to attend the Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC) meeting on the side lines of 64th Session of UN General Assembly. Rights Movement of all the people of Jammu and Kashmir is the question of a people as ‘equal people’ in the determination of their future. 

The Cleric may feel unrestrained at the pulpit but he is restrained as a politician in the same manner in which the British and Irish governments and Northern Ireland political parties were restrained during Belfast Agreement.  The Good Friday Agreement in the Northern Ireland Peace Process signed on 10 April 1998 was put to the voters of Northern Ireland in a referendum on 23 May 1998. The Agreement entered into force on 2 December 1999. The political process was conducted in the open and validated by the people through the exercise of their free vote in a referendum.

Northern Ireland political parties in particular the Sinn Fein and the largest paramilitary group, the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) and the Unionists or any other politician or militant never looked over and above the shoulders of their people. There is no evidence that any variable, political or militant, involved in the Good Friday Agreement ever created any personal interest outside Ireland, in particular in Britain or USA. On the contrary in Kashmir politics the political components on either side of LoC have a serious moral case to answer.

Excluding a few noble exceptions, the leaders own costly properties, have invested in commercial interests, have a regular monthly stipend, have secured a broad spread of interests for their children and family members in various professions and in power politics. They continue to live a life that no other Kashmiri from the previous four generations in Pakistan/AJK has ever been able to live or achieve in a span of 19 years. Leadership, on either side, of LoC has grown rich during the last 19 years, amidst the ever growing poverty and misery of the common man and woman who offered one or more family members in the cause of self determination.

Hurriyat (M) chairman has said "We have to proceed in a phased manner and we strongly believe that no dialogue would be consequential until the six-point proposal by the Hurriyat Conference was adhered to''. The plural ‘We’ does not add up to any substantive merits.
The case of Kashmir was brought to the UN by India and defended by her at the UN. There is a further contributory jurisprudence which is of vital importance in supporting the constituency of Kashmiri interest in any dialogue with India or Pakistan.

No one can seal the circle of wisdom and representation in their interest in Kashmir. They can’t turn a trust obligation assumed for the last 19 years into a disappointing personal leisurely hobby to propose and dispose stage managed events on Kashmir.
No faction can nudge pass the need of a popular evaluation of their agenda. Although the instrument of dialogue is the civilised mode of settling a people’s dispute, yet no faction have the mandate or to propose any sincere or secret dialogue without a proper debate. People have a right to examine the antecedents of these leaders that continue to confuse the common man and woman day in and day out.
Our pro-freedom have to look at the principles of Good Friday Agreement in Northern Ireland. One of the main principles was the Establishment of a British-Irish Council, comprising representatives from the Governments of the United Kingdom, Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland, Guernsey, Jersey and the Isle of Man. A similar Council comprising of the Governments of India, Pakistan,
J & K, AJK, Gilgit and Baltistan, Kashmiri refugees and Kashmiri Diaspora could be set up to involve all the important variables to structure the agenda and supervise the dialogue. United Nations could be invited as a support variable and all developments could be referred to it on a regular basis. No faction has any monopoly of trust from the people of Kashmir. Leaders have to reach a consensus within and work out an opinions which for the welfare of the people of Kashmir.
Kashmiri leaders have to avoid acting like Caesar and stake the unacceptable claim, that is, aut Caesar aut nullus (Either Caesar or nobody) in the discharge of a public trust. The Irish model ensures the commitment by all parties to use "exclusively peaceful and democratic means". Kashmiri approach too has to be democratic and in the best interests of people. They need to hire non party experts from outside Kashmir, including India and Pakistan and involve non party experts from various disciplines of life in the State of Jammu and Kashmir. Wise counsel and advice from non Kashmiris should not be grudged.
Hurriyat (M) or Hurriyat (G) or any political opinion in Kashmir should update the constituency of their wisdom and know that the first principle in British-Irish Agreement is the Principle that any change to the constitutional status of Northern Ireland could only follow a majority vote of its citizens. The principle of respecting the majority vote of citizens remains supreme in Kashmir as well.
Therefore the indivisibility of the territorial habitat of the State as endorsed by UNCIP resolutions, in particular UN Security Council Resolution of 30 March 1951, J & K Constitution, Azad Kashmir Constitution, the Hurriyat Constitution adopted on 31 July 1993, Kashmir report adopted by the European Parliament, the Indian case at the UN and her submissions before the UN Security Council, article 257 of the Constitution of Pakistan, is an exclusive subject of the majority vote of the citizens of Jammu and Kashmir. All the people of the State distributed in J & K, Azad Kashmir and Gilgit and Baltistan are bound by a common legal bond as State Subjects under the State Subject Law of 20 April 1927.
One would hope that while Kashmiri leaders urge sincerity from Indian Government, they need to remain sincere and transparent to their people. It is the duty of every Kashmiri citizen that he is alert and vigilant. They are the final authority for withdrawing their trust from any leader.
Author is London based Secretary General of JKCHR – NGO in Special Consultative Status with the United Nations.  He can be mailed at  This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it