Delhi has options of rejection, silence & dialogue on Gupkar

Arun Joshi

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Delhi has three options to deal with the reiteration of the Gupkar Declaration of August 4, 2019, by six parties of Kashmir on Saturday that they would not rest until the special status, as it existed at the time of their original declaration, was restored.

The first instinct of Delhi of today would be to reject it. That gels with the current mood of the nation that stands in full support of the abrogation of Article 370. In fact, it already stands rejected. For what the Kashmiri leaders had vowed to defend on August 4 last year was demolished in less than next 24 hours. They were handed over a fait accompli and that through TV screens to which they could not react as a prolonged communication clampdown had just begun then.

The next option is to remain silent. It would demonstrate that Delhi has not taken any cognisance of the statement issued by the big names of the Kashmir politics, Farooq Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti, among others.

A closer reading of this carefully drafted statement shows not even a single anti-India word. Instead, it used the phrase of relationship with Delhi having “changed unrecognisably”. That explains their new mantra “nothing about us without us”.

Third, the dialogue option exists to find out a middle path. At the moment, it may also look unlikely. But dumping it completely has political and strategic costs in the long run. A wound cannot be left to fester for long.

The joint statement carries a tale of wounds with which Kashmir is living now. The narration can become fierce if the wounds are not healed in time.

Delhi should set up a dialogue table to understand Kashmir better instead of looking it through the prism of the neo-nationalists or read more than necessary between the lines from the expressions of leaders whose natural interests lie elsewhere.

PM Narendra Modi has a clear idea on what to do. He has fulfilled the political mandate by doing away with Article 370, but his invocation of his illustrious predecessor Atal Behari Vajpayee’s three mantras of “Insaniyat” (humanity), “Kashmiriyat” (cultural ethos of coexistence) and “Jamhooriyat” (democracy) would improve things.

The moments of the past need to be relived to see bright future ahead.