A separate peace

It was just the grand gesture required to revive the peace process or at least the spectre of peace in Jammu and Kashmir. And it is a gest...

It was just the grand gesture required to revive the peace process or at least the spectre of peace in Jammu and Kashmir. And it is a gesture that must be welcomed most unequivocally. By ordering the suspension of combat operations against militants in the state during the month of Ramzan, the Vajpayee government has in one fell swoop achieved three goals. One, it has proffered perhaps the most tangible proof in more than a decade of New Delhiâ€™s sincerity in pursuing the path to peace. Two, by taking a calculated risk in reining in its armed personnel in the Valley, the government has put the cat among the pigeons. The various segments of the separatist establishment the umbrella All-Party Hurriyat Conference, Kashmiri dominant militant groups like the Hizbul Mujahideen, more hardline and Islamist groups like the Harkat-ul Mujahideen will find themselves pressed into issuing their reactions to this suddenly offered olive branch. Three, the government has deftly seized the initiative from Pakistan, whosechief executive has been trying to extract brownie points with his offer of resuming dialogue with India â€œany time, any placeâ€.

To be sure, events in the coming week leading up to the start of the Muslim holy month will determine the wisdom of the Indian gambit. If the long-term objective is a peaceful resolution of the Kashmir problem, one of the short-term strategies must be the isolation of pro-Pakistani groups. Thus, while organisations like the Al Badr and the Harkat-ul Mujahideen, with their profusion of foreign mercenaries, have predictably spurned the Indian offer, the response of Kashmiri groups is critical. It may be recalled that the tentative moves towards dialogue this summer came to naught in part due to jostling for prominence among the Hurriyat, the Hizbul Mujahideen and the ruling National Conference. With the marital alliance between the progeny of Amanullah Khan and Abdul Ghani Lone this weekend, and the reunion of a virtual whoâ€™s who of the Kashmiri leadership either side of the border, it is to be hoped that there will be better coordination and responses will be more considered and nuanced. That Farooq Abdullahtoo has endorsed the cessation of combat operations is encouraging. Besides, by reinvoking the spirit of insaniyat, the prime minister has given ample proof of the governmentâ€™s flexibility in determining the terms of engagement.

If all this provides ample reason for optimism, experience demands more than a bit of caution. The renewed threat of being isolated from any emerging dialogue between New Delhi and Kashmiri groups is bound to rattle jehadi groups. The Al Badr, for instance, has threatened to step up violence. Given the number of gun-wielding foreigners in the Valley (it is estimated that 40 per cent of the 4,000 militants on the loose are Pakistani or Afghan), the security forces must be on their guard to prevent any repeat of the synchronised massacres of August 1. As for Islamabad, this is the hour for it to give evidence of its offers to repair relations with New Delhi. If the Pakistan government sabotages peace moves yet again, not only would it force itself into a corner, it could also force a split in the Hizbul Mujahideen.