Ghulam Nabi Azad’s tryst with two peace processes in J&K
Read more at: https://www.deccanherald.com/opinion/ghulam-nabi-azad-s-tryst-with-two-peace-processes-in-jk-1208223.html
At the release of his autobiography, Azaad, Ghulam Nabi Azad is basking in media
attention. Media focus has been guaranteed by expectation of complimentary references to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and
criticism of the opposition party, the Congress, both amounting to music to the
mainstream media ears these days.
In being part of the rebel group, G23, in the Congress against the tight control of the Gandhis, Sonia Gandhi and son, Rahul
Gandhi, Azad had opened himself to inducement by the ruling Bhartiya Janata
Party (BJP), that is known for deftly leveraging dissent in other
parties.
To clinch the move, Narendra Modi was effusive in his praise for Azad, when Azad demitted his
Rajya Sabha membership, along the way also conferring on him the Padma Bhushan.
This mutual admiration paved the way for Azad to help provide
options to the ruling party in addressing the imbroglio in Jammu and Kashmir
(J&K). Azad set up a new regional party, the Democratic Progressive Azad Party (DPAP),
in expectation of Union Territory elections.
The move held out the promise of cutting into
the Congress votes in the Jammu region and that of the regional
mainstream parties in the Valley. It enabled Azad to position himself for
another shy at chief ministership with Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP)
backing.
In the event, the anticipated election has not
materialized and the DPAP is in a limbo. That Azad has put out his autobiography
suggests an end-of-political-road throwing in of the towel.
Azad served another useful purpose for the
ruling party in his advocacy for return to statehood and realistically, to him,
conceding that the earlier autonomous status
was no longer possible. His endorsement helped the Center’s efforts to legitimize
the 5 August 2019 move of the Center by way of which J&K’s special status
was rescinded.
Thus, Azad has remained marginal to the BJP-style
peace process underway in J&K.
Incidentally, similar was the case in the peace
process pursued under Dr. Manmohan Singh. Azad was then chief minister in the Congress’
stint during the Congress-People’s Democratic Party (PDP) coalition that won the 2002 elections.
The backdrop of the elections was the massive
deployment of the Army on in Operation Parakram since the parliament attack the
previous December. Though an exercise of coercive diplomacy, it was extended to enable troops mobilized
to stay on to secure conduct of a ‘free and fair’ election. Recall at the time the
spike in terrorism on since the Kargil War.
The PDP, that took the chief ministership
first, promised a ‘healing touch.’ In a visit to the state that spring, Prime
Minister Vajpayee set the stage for a peace process based on insaniyat. Vajpayee’s peace initiative included an outreach to Pakistan, resulting in an unwritten
agreement on ceasefire that – though chequered – has last
till today.
As chief minister, Azad had the benefit of
‘double engine’ governance since the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance
(UPA) was at the Center.
The UPA kept up the momentum from the Vajpayee
years on the peace process with Pakistan, with several rounds of talk in the composite dialogue format.
Internally, during Azad’s tenure, it held three
rounds of round table talks and constituted five working
groups, four of which presented their reports timely.
While military operations continued, the
cumulative impact was in a salutary improvement in violence indices.
Peace was at hand. Yet, Azad spilt the milk.
He was pressed on by the Governor, a former
military general at the fag-end of his tenure, into having his cabinet allocate
forest land in Sonamarg for the Shri Amarnathji Shrine Board (SASB) to
facilitate yatris. The governor, with known right wing credentials, had been appointed by
the previous BJP government and was then Chairman of the SASB.
This led to the mid-year agitation in 2008 in
Kashmir against the transfer of land. A mirroring agitation in favour of the
transfer began in Jammu. With the PDP leaving the coalition in protest, Azad resigned.
Eventually, a new governor as chairman of SASB surrendered the land.
Thus, Azad was instrumental in undermining a
promising peace process at the behest of hardline forces not interested in
return of peace. The 2008 agitations proved a forerunner to the agitations in later years, including those in
the late 2010s.
A Jammuite, Azad was less than sensitive, if
not callous, to the sentiment the Kashmiris attach to land and its alienation,
indicative of their worry over demographic change. This lack of empathy
resurfaced in his seemingly readier-than-necessary acceptance of the dilution
in status of J&K.
While Azad’s autobiography may present his side
of the story – now that he is at the end of his political tether having little
utility left for the BJP - he would be remembered in history for his less than
stellar role in the two contrasting peace processes in J&K.
