NEW DELHI: Jammu and Kashmir’s new ruling coalition sworn in on Sunday has nudged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to resume talks with Pakistan and Kashmiri stakeholders, including the Hurriyat Conference.

Mr Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Kashmir’s People’s Democratic Party nominated 11 and 12 ministers respectively who took the oath of office under the watch of Chief Minister Mufti Muhammad Sayeed, founder and head of PDP.  Mr Modi and his senior party members were present at the ceremony.

Know more: PDP-BJP alliance could be a ‘paradigm shift’ in Kashmir’s history: Mufti

“The (Modi) government has recently initiated several steps to normalise the relationship with Pakistan,” the coalition’s common minimum programme noted apparently referring to the coming visit of Indian Foreign Secretary S. Jaishankar to Islamabad on Tuesday.

“The coalition government will seek to support and strengthen the approach and initiatives taken by the government to create a reconciliatory environment and build stakes for all in the peace and development within the sub-continent.”

Mr Sayeed was previously quoted as saying that peace dialogue with Pakistan was a non-negotiable precondition for his agreeing to join a coalition with the BJP, which has got its first chance to sit in the treasury benches.

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Ties with Pakistan would be pursued “by taking confidence building measures such as enhancing people to people contact on both sides of the LoC, encouraging civil society exchanges, taking travel, commerce, trade and business across the LoC to the next level and opening new routes across all three regions to enhancing connectivity”.

It took weeks of hard bargaining on both sides to agree on a common minimum programme, which probably explains nuanced and indirect messages. For example, a proposal to hold talks with Hurriyat was couched in verbiage.

“The earlier NDA government led by Shri Atal Behari Vajpayee had initiated a dialogue process with all political groups, including the Hurriyat Conference, in the spirit of “Insaaniyat, Kashmiriyat aur Jamhooriyat”, the BJP-PDP document noted.

“Following the same principles, the coalition government will facilitate and help initiate a sustained and meaningful dialogue with all internal stakeholders, which will include all political groups irrespective of their ideological views and predilections. This dialogue will seek to build a broad-based consensus on resolution of all outstanding issues of J&K.”

The reference to outstanding issues is understood to be in keeping with Mr Sayeed’s preferred solutions. He had previously praised former Pakistan ruler Pervez Musharraf, Indian leaders Manmohan Singh and Atal Behari Vajpayee. They had all raised prospects of resolving the Kashmir dispute and had even come close to an agreement.

Indian military occupation of Kashmir and its excesses have been a major theme with Mr Sayeed’s constituents. It found expression in a roadmap to dilute if not repeal the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) which gives troops immunities from civilian prosecution.

“The situation in the state has improved vastly and to build greater public confidence in its sustainability, people of the state must be able to get the peace and normalcy dividend,” the agreement said.

“In this context, the coalition government will thoroughly review the security situation in the state with a view to examine the need and desirability of all the special laws being applied to the state in view of the situation which is improving.

“While both parties have historically held a different view on the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) and the need for it in the state at present, as part of the agenda for governance of this alliance, the coalition government will examine the need for de-notifying ‘disturbed areas’. This, as a consequence, would enable the Union Government to take a final view on the continuation of AFSPA in these areas.”

And finally the most stubborn sticking point for the coalition seemed to be the BJP’s existential commitment to the repeal of Article 370 of the Indian constitution that gives Kashmir a special status with its own constitution. Here too Mr Sayeed appears to have extracted a concession from his ideological rivals turned allies.

“While recognising the different positions and appreciating the perceptions BJP and PDP have on the constitutional status of J&K considering the political and legislative realities, the present position will be maintained on all the constitutional provisions pertaining to J&K including the special status in the Constitution of India,” the parties agreed.

Both sides agreed to help the return of Kashmiri Pandits back to their homes but it seemed to need patient work. “Protecting and fostering ethnic and religious diversity by ensuring the return of Kashmiri Pandits with dignity based on their rights as state subjects and reintegrating as well as absorbing them in the Kashmiri milieu. Reintegration will be a process that will start within the state as well as the civil society, by taking the community into confidence,” the agreement said.

Published in Dawn, March 2nd, 2015

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