JONATHAN COHEN MIRZA WAHEED

The Story of The Collaborator

"Sustainable peacebuilding seems to
An interview by
come from incentives rather than threats" NAWAZ GUL QANUNGO

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Is there any suitable,

OPTIONS FOR PEACE

applicable and acceptable

model for J & K
Brief summary and analysis of all
proposals that came up for discussions or imaginations
since 1947 for resolution of Kashmir issue

INTERVIEW: RADHA KUMAR

"Everyone wants peace and most
want a political solution to be found
as soon as possible"
1

Epilogue
because there is more to know

CONTENT
Editor
PROLOGUE 3
Zafar Iqbal Choudhary
Kashmir, back in focus
Publisher
Yogesh Pandoh BOOKS 4
The Story of The Collaborator
Consulting Editor
D. Suba Chandran
STRATEGIC THINKING 9
Manu Srivastsa
Before Next Summer
Associate Editors
Irm Amin Baig COLUMN 40
Tsewang Rigzin History
Zorawar Singh Jamwal
LADAKH AFFAIRS 43
General Manager
Education
Kartavya Pandoh Epilogue
VOL 5, ISSUE 02
Research Officer PEPORTAGE 46
Raman Sharma FEBRUARY 2011
Kashmir's Timber Mafia

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3 PROLOGUE

Kashmir, back in focus

ZAFAR CHOUDHARY

T
he political conflict in Kashmir, an inspiration for hundreds of
writers, novelists and filmmakers, is once again under creative,
academic and scholastic focus. At present, 29 leading Universi-
ties in different parts of world are running fulltime programmes on
Kashmir. Think-tanks, research houses and strategic institutions of
global repute have again activated their south Asia cells with par-
ticular focus on Kashmir and India-Pakistan relations. In last one month
there have been three international conferences and roundtables on
Kashmir, an intra-Kashmir conference is taking place in Delhi in the
middle of February. Kashmir was never entirely out of such gaze but
in past few years focus was in terms of stability and the dominant
stories were about peace, reconciliation and reconstruction. Writ-
ings, research, film making and other creative engagements with
Kashmir have been a long story indeed. One of the oldest books on
conflict in Kashmir dates back to 1853, around 100 years before the
making of present conflict; that book had talked about the strategic OUR OCTOBER 2007 ISSUE
importance of Kashmir and potential of being a reason of or being a
solution to conflicts between regional powers. Recently when few
novels sets in Kashmir hit the shelves there was a lot of discussion in
media about Valley becoming a new destination for novelists. How-
ever, few did know that some of the best books on Kashmir were set
in the scene of 1947 turmoil. The decade of 1990s saw huge world-
wide strategic research engagements on Kashmir. Leading think-tanks
and research institutes like United States Institute of Peace, the
Stimson Centre, the Carnegie Foundation and many more had set up
specialised cells of interest on Kashmir. During this period there were
hundreds of books coming up on Kashmir, written by Indian and west-
ern authors and researchers. However, the pace of such work de-
clined after 2002 and for next few years when think-tanks and re-
search centres shifted their focus to other conflict areas of the world.
There was a general feeling that things were coming to terms in
Kashmir and the worst was over. After the massive eruption of 2008
in Kashmir Valley and events of next two years, Kashmir is once again
under international focus. As long as Kashmir offers creative oppor-
tunities to professionals it is good but the subject being humanitar-
ian tragedies underlines the fact that Kashmir continues to be a dan-
gerous hotspot. While debate on the conflict and its contours gives
an insight into what went wrong, but there is need of a futuristic
approach to suggest measures for peace and reconciliation. In this
issue we look at some of the ideas that could not make any change in
Kashmir and some arguments which have strong potential for OUR DECEMBER 2009 ISSUE
brokering peace.

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BOOKS 4
INTERVIEW

The Story of The Collaborator

NAWAZ GUL QANUNGO

From British Council Library to Jaipur Literary Festival to a Muffasil College of Kashmir, The Collabo-
rator is on everyone's lips. A story a teenage boy who happens to be in a situation and is doing things
which he does not want to do, The Collaborator is a tragic fiction, first novel written by acclaimed
Kashmiri journalist Mirza Waheed who was recently in Srinagar for a launch in hometown.
Mirza Waheed was born and brought up in Srinagar, Kashmir. He studied English Literature at the
University of Delhi, and worked as a journalist and editor in the city for four years. In 2001 he went
onto join the BBC's Urdu Service in London, where he now works as an editor.Waheed briefly attended
the Arvon Foundation in 2007. He has written for the Kashmir Observer and the BBC's Urdu and En-
glish websites and appeared on BBC radio and TV as a commentator. He has been writing since he was
ten. The Collaborator is his first novel and he has started work on a second novel, a young girl's love
story spanning Kashmir, Delhi and Pakistan. NAWAZ GUL QANUNGO catches with MIRZA WAHEED in
Srinagar for an exclusive interview: Here are excerpts:

NAWAZ GUL QANUNGO: You spoke about the
novel being the best form of writing for what you
wanted to do. Could you go through that time of
inception of The Collaborator...
culture, the Arabian Nights and all those things.
Then you need stories, we always want stories and
it has gone through such a huge transformation.
From the time when people would sit in a village
and then recite and narrate stories even in this

M IRZA WAHEED: Well, sometimes, it's a

matter of what you know best. People
don't really go through a
complicated process of deci-
sion-making in the sense that
this is this form, and that is
called real, and this is fiction
and that is non-fiction and
then you will decide what form
you have got. It's a continuous
process. I've grown up with the
novel as a form and I said this
elsewhere that in my teenage
years I actually used to believe
that the novel, the novelistic
form is one of the best inven-
tions of mankind. I'm talking
about my teenage years. You
know this form is something
which has survived for so long
because essentially it goes
back to a very, very long time,
the oral traditions, the clas-
sics, the Greek epics, even the
epics from our culture or even the world
era but essentially it is story telling. And we need
that all the time. There's something very interest-
ing that somebody said on Twitter
that even the cave men used to write
very short... scribbles... for each
other and for recording their things
and here's Twitter doing very much
the same thing, after thousands of
years. So I've always been comfort-
able in it and I thought of the novel
and what helped and what must have
been a catalyst was that I studied
literature. And then you begin to
know more about the technicalities.
And the sense of delight that you get
from a story and the art, the
characterisation, and what the
novelist is saying beneath the text
which is so important, so important,
you know you say that this is what
happens and then this happens and
then this happens... and there's a
beginning and then there's an end.
But, there's also a lot happening
underneath the text. That's why some novels take

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5 BOOKS
INTERVIEW

time because the writer needs a processing

time, there is a period of gestation... What
does he or she want to explore? What are
the themes? Some novels have a philosophi-
cal theme because the writer is of a philo-
sophical kind of mind or thinks a lot. He or
she may not even have read the philosophi-
cal texts, but there is sometimes an innate
understanding of the kind of the world and
the universe that we live in.
And then there's the context, the thematic
context or a political context or a historical
context and so on. So, it's a part of it. So,
what I found myself is that the novel is the
best form for all these things to, you know,
to really come together and enter this mix.
How a theme emerges from say a dramatic
scene. Yes, you are making the reader read,
there's plot, there's movement, there's
expectation of something, there's suspense,
and all those things. But some of those
things may have already worked into the
text and what you want in the text. So, yes, about Kashmir are not good. I have read a
I've always been with the novel. I've read few, I haven't read too many I should be
many novels... not too many, though... and honest, since you refer to a 'body of work,' so I
I've always been absolutely delighted by it. haven't read too many of them, but the ones I
have read I found them inadequate. And I
There is already this huge body of work about found them... sometimes, you know, when you
Kashmir that people from outside Kashmir have don't know the world but you get a feeling that
written. There are writers from India and the you are being exoticised, you know, to be
world. How do you see that body of work? And otherised, in many ways. You know, there are
how do you see, now, Kashmiri writers entering these native Kashmiris and they are like this
that space and writing about Kashmir and talking and they are like that and they are not to be
about themselves... trusted (laughs) and, you know, they lie, they

T he Kashmiris talking about themselves is

very important. And it's very crucial. In
the sense that, you know, we have always
are deceptive, and all those things. And they
have been published! (Laughs again).

been written about, we have been "ex-

plained" as well. Sometimes, we have been ...and this affects?

explained to ourselves, you know, that this
is what you are like. (Laughs.) And then,
when you are growing up, even that plays on
your mind, you know. Writing about Kash-
mir, writing books about Kashmir, writing
histories of Kashmir, writing accounts of the
Y
es. At a young age, they do affect you. You
begin to question you begin to ask
that it's not like that, so why are you saying
that?
And it affects the process of your writing...

conflict and coming up with solutions to the
dispute, you know, Formula 1, Formula 2
and Formula 3 and all those things, you
know, at one level they are slightly upset-
ting when you are growing up in Kashmir.
Upsetting in the sense that sometimes you
read a book and you say, "OK, that's not how
it is, I don't see that." Yes, you have done
your research and you have spent time here
but we know a different Kashmir. So, that
plays on your mind. And many of the books
Y
es, absolutely. It affects. But it's not a
conscious effort in terms of that you
decide like that you set aside a few months
and you say that I'm now going you read these
books with a critical eye and then I will write
something which is better. It doesn't work like
that. It's part of your growing up, part of your
being as a writer, part of your novelistic
process as well. So, those things can impinge
on you and they inform you as a writer. At the
same time all books about Kashmir are not

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BOOKS
INTERVIEW
Mirza reading a passage from The Collaborator during a Lunch event in Srinagar in Jammu 2011
bad, obviously. Obviously some great writing has
been done on Kashmir by people who are not
Kashmiris. So one should sort of you know respect
that as well. But there have been some horrible
books about Kashmir (laughs)... yes, seriously...
You want to name any...
O h no, no... (Laughs again.) I'm sure you
know!
So, yes, now there is this stage where Kashmiris are
talking about themselves, writing about themselves...
What difference does it make to the whole discourse
and, in a sense, does it have a potential to change the
situation on the ground?
I t may not change the situation on the ground
but it does open up a new narrative space, a
very important narrative space. This is my story.
I may get it wrong but this is my story. I am
writing it. And I have the ownership of that story.
And it's not about territorial ownership or about
racial ownership or ethnic ownership. It is the
ownership of... it's a cultural ownership...
(pauses.) And, you know, that, I can do this. So,
it's about that restoration of faith in who you are
and that you can talk about yourself and this is, I
think, quite important. And it's not about ability.
You know, some people say that you can't write,
so that's why you have people writing about you,
from you, on you. It's not so simple. It's not about
ability. It's about the impulse. It's about the need
to write. It's not about that somebody can do a
good sentence in English or not. The ability to
write a good sentence in English does not neces-
sarily mean that you have something important to
say. So, that, too, is a mistake. Some people may
write excellent prose but they may not have many
things to say. So it's not about that narrow thing
called ability to tell a story. It's about a need. It is
important for me to write. And it's also about that
moment when you think you cannot not write.
One writes, but one doesn't write because one
www.epilogue.in Vol. 5 Issus 02
6
wants to tell people that one can write a fine
sentence in English. You write because you
think, "Oh! I think differently. And this is what
I think." So, something drives you. You don't
write because you want to prove to somebody
that you are a writer or you can write or that
you know how blogs are written or how col-
umns are written, correct me if I'm wrong.
There is something inside you that drives you
to write the impulse to write is much more
than just being a chronicler of your commu-
nity, area, region, population - there's some-
thing more important - it's about you as well.
You don't just say that I will now be the
spokesperson of Kashmir, or India, or Pakistan
and so on. But yes, it's about the context as
well, it's about nuance and sometimes you
think, OK, my story, the story of Kashmir or
any place, wherever you may be writing from,
you sometimes think that its way more
complex and nuanced and detailed than what
you've read and you think that you want to do
that and that you want to add to that body of
work, so the novel can be about that. But it's
not just Kashmir. It's also about that I wanted
to write (laughs) and at some point of my life
I thought I could write and then you test it.
And then there comes a moment when you are
brave enough and you set up on it and you
embark on it and you start a chronicle or a
short story or an essay and you embark on it.
And that is a crucial act when you tell your-
self, "OK, I think I can do this. I want to put
myself out and I want to test it." And that's
how the book [comes about]. So, that was a
very long answer (smiles).
And coming back to that... Your book goes almost
right across the world, there's Curfewed Night
[Basharat Peer, 2009] already. And so these are
going almost across the world. How much does this
have the potential to change how the outside world
looks at Kashmir?
Epilogue, February 2011
7 BOOKS
P eople begin to take notice that there
are stories coming out of this conflict
that the world has chosen to forget. It's
exactly what I believe. The world is not
really very keen on the Kashmir conflict
and you very well know. And then, I'm not
saying that Curfewed Night or The
Collaborater will change that overnight. But
it does enter consciousness, it enters
public consciousness, to a small measure.
However, two books cannot be called a
work of major proportions or emergence of
writing... it's a beginning. So, Curfewed
Night was important, very important in
that context because it did force open the
gates. And it told a lot of people that this
can be done. And I also think it should be
done.
You have been in Delhi, you have been in London,
you've been away. And it's a fast changing world
outside. And when you look back at Kashmir,
especially talking about the last two decades,
nothing has actually changed here. It's like a
situation where yesterday repeats itself today
and today repeats itself tomorrow... how does
one write a story different from another? How
does one move from one work of writing to
another?
B ut they do change even when they don't
change. Things do change as well in the
way you look at them. You know the way
you look at the Kashmir situation between
now and twenty years ago, it may not be
exactly the same. Not because, you are a
different person now but [because] you
have grown up (laughs) and you have read
a little more and you know you have gone
out and you have seen other things and
your context is widened. So there is that
change. Now, coming to the second part of
the question, what will another book look
like... you know, fiction does more than we
give it credit for. And I am speaking from
personal experience, it does a lot more,
that's why people still write fiction. That's
why it's still there. That's why it is pub-
lished.
And then there is someone like [V.S.] Naipaul
who moved from fiction to non-fiction...
I liked his fiction. I've read his novels,
there was Miguel Street [V S Nipaul,
1959] and In a Free State [V S Naipaul,
1971]. I quite liked that and I read him
early, in my late teenage. But in the later
years, you know... He is a fine writer you
know he is one of the finest living writers.
But then he turned to non-fiction, chroni-
cling nations, countries, communities. And
he does a brilliant job of it. However, I
www.epilogue.in Vol. 5 Issus 02
INTERVIEW
may not agree with some of his politics. So that
detracts my relationship with the book. Although the
writing on the page is absolutely brilliant. You know,
very few people can write such fine prose but then
when you get uncomfortable with the politics, with
the way he looks at the world, even his views. But I
still admire him for the writer he is. He is one of the
greatest writers.
And, so, you know, fiction is - I end up repeating
myself endlessly - it is about going beyond what is
politically available. You want to explore... Themes
and nuances, that may not appear in the immediate
cultural output or in immediate output of knowledge
in terms of news and current affairs and analyses
and backgrounds, seminars, panel discussions,
(laughs)... an experience I already hate.
You had some panel discussions in the recent Jaipur
Literature Festival. So, how were the panel discussions
there?
I
t was OK, I mean it's a format. So you go there and
they have this format. And formats have their
limitations. And you can't do things in sound-bites,
especially things like Kashmir though some people
may be very good at it, who can do Kashmir in two
sentences. I can't.
You also said there that India and Pakistan both were not
doing enough. And it is an issue stuck mainly between the
two countries...
Y
es, they are not [doing enough]. I mean the thing
is you know one could easily see there is an issue
between these two countries, very simple and
nothing new about it. And there is the central party
which is Kashmir and unless and until India and
Pakistan engage sincerely - and that's the word - and
meaningly - and that's exactly what's missing, so
unless they make it the top-most priority, and they
could have different reasons for doing that, so this
has to change. And then they have to understand
that they have the Kashmiris, by the way (laughs),
which is the most important thing, which they
haven't done (laughs). So, they have to listen to
Kashmiris. They have to listen to the younger gen-
eration of Kashmiris. They have to listen to all
Kashmiris. They have to listen to all kinds of
Kashmiris. And unless that happens, I don't see a lot
of hope.
Talking about journalism, you have worked as a journalist
in Delhi and you have been working in London. How do you
see Kashmir being covered in India and the world?
I
t's becoming better, but only slightly. I wish I could
say that there has been a watershed change in the
way Kashmir has been covered. But there has been a
churning. And in Delhi as well. A small churning in
the sense that people have begun to look at Kashmir
in a slightly different manner as opposed to the
1990s. In the 90s, you know you were here and you
would see Kashmir covered in the so called national
press and TV as if it were a crime story, or a thriller
at best. But that's what my feeling used to be. I was
Epilogue, February 2011
BOOKS
INTERVIEW
here and there was a tragedy happening here and
you are reporting as a law and order issue, or a
thriller or something sensational. It was a very
bad decade, which also meant that the word
didn't get out in the manner that it should have
gotten. So you have this impression of you know
you are a young person and I've just seen a
tragedy happening during the day and it affects
you. You know, conflicts are very personal. And
then you see newspapers or broadcasters or
whoever and you are shown a completely different
narrative which unfold on the screen or in the
newspaper that you see in the morning. And then
you say that there is something wrong in this -
bhai hum to kucch aur dekh rahe hain, you know,
ya hum pe to kuchh aur guzar rahi hai, dekhne ki
to duur ki baat hai, aur aap is ko, you know, is
tarah is ko pesh kar rahe hain. So, that, I think,
is beginning to change, but not massively. But
there has been something, some sections who are
coming and saying OK, let's look at it in a slightly
more broader perspective and with some context.
And thats also happened, I mean, I wish I could
say that it has happened internationally in a big
way. But internationally, there's Iraq, Afghanistan,
Af-Pak as they call it and other things are still the
big stories and there are other reasons for that.
There is the entire debate about democracy and
it is a huge growing market for western powers
and capitals. But, yes there has been a small
churning, and that to me is a small ray of hope.
Then there is also a sudden outburst in the Kashmir
media. How do you see this media doing its job?
I wish I could answer that. I'm not really entirely
qualified to comment on the local media because
I don't really get the time to consume all of it from
London. But I see, and this is reassuring, that this
younger generation of journalists and writers and
people you find on the social media and such
spaces. They represent hope for me. ... Yes, I do
see a difference between this lot, to use a bad
word, and the earlier lot, though there are of
course fine journalists already here, known inter-
nationally. So, this represents hope for me. And
the other important thing that's happened is this
new generation is that they do seem to have a
sense of their place in history, where they see
themselves in a context. And they read. You know
its not just about writing. And they - though as I
said I'm not entirely qualified because I've not
spent enough time - but, you know, what I've seen
and what I've read it does feel like that they read.
You read out a very moving, painful chapter called
"Milk Beggars" at the reading. And some listeners in
the room were crying while listening. [A person got
up, weeping, asking the novelist to stop reading.] And
you said it was your favourite chapter in the book.
Why is this one passage the favourite?
www.epilogue.in Vol. 5 Issus 02
8
W ell, it's not my favourite in that sense.
There are other sections in the novel that
are my favourites. But this is closest to my
heart. Because in the entire 22-year-old narra-
tive on Kashmir, the big constituency of the
population are the women of Kashmir and it's
been more or less a silent area while they have
suffered in all kinds of ways. They have suffered
in involuntary ways and even voluntary ways.
They have been left with the legacy of suffering
and mostly they have been silent. You have seen
pictures of protesting women and that is noth-
ing, they have gone through a lot. So that
section is close to me in that sense. I wouldn't
say it's the favourite section but it is close to me
in that it is important. And I actually believe this
is true, you know, that the women of Kashmir
are among the bravest in the world. It's not
about coming up with a sentence. I actually
sincerely think so.
And then you also said that it was a very long chap-
ter and it took years to write it and then you
brought it down to just a few pages. So is there a
conflict? You know that you are writing fiction but
you also know that you are talking about reality. And
then there may perhaps be a temptation to exagger-
ate reality while, on the other hand, you do not even
want to tell the truth and you kind of suppress the
story.
S
ee, fiction is a very complex business. Even
the concept of realism is a very complex
concept. There is realism... there is literary
realism and there is realistic fiction. They are
two different things. And a novel can be real, in
that context of the novel, in the pages of that
novel, it's very real. It may not be realistic in
relation to what has happened for real... It's a
very, very complex. And there's a huge discus-
sion about fiction and non-fiction. See, fiction is
like, it's sometimes more effective than reality.
It brings reality alive. At least it hopes to do
that. It's not about just picking up an incident
and narrating it. I would have then written a
non-fiction book... It's not about that at all. It's
about what you do with that material and what is
the effect, what is the engagement with the
reader, what is the contract with the reader.
And, have you agitated the reader enough. I do
think that fiction should, you know, it should
provoke. And it should agitate in all kinds of
ways. It doesn't always have to be disturbing.
But it should do something to the reader and
that is the whole point about the novel as well.
That you want to write about a thing that may
be real but that's not the main motive of writing
that I want to represent reality. It's about
taking the reader along on a more, if I may use
the word, illuminating curve. You know, after
he has read it, does it come alive for him or,
more importantly, has it made him think.
Epilogue, February 2011
 9 STRATEGIC THINKING
SECURING PEACE IN KASHMIR

Before Next Summer

Alternative Strategies for J&K

D SUBA CHANDRAN

One ought to applaud the State and Union governments for standing up to the BJP's
march to Lal Chowk in Srinagar to hoist the Indian flag. It was expected that the State
government (with support from New Delhi) would allow the BJP yatra to enter the
Valley, and leave it to the security forces to physically prevent them from entering
Srinagar. Thankfully, there was no political paralysis on the issue and matters were
handed over to the security forces in Kashmir. In perhaps one of the clearest policy
moves yet, the government prevented the BJP yatra from crossing Jammu. What next?

T
he BJP, from its initiation,
was never serious about
protecting any long-term
national interests. It emphasized
cheap publicity for narrow political
gains; perhaps, even during the
current crisis, the BJP may have
scored some points amongst the
Hindu community in the Jammu
region. One will not of course
disagree with the BJP in terms of
hoisting the national flag in Lal
Chowk because legally and politi-
cally, J&K is a part of India and
hence every citizen has a right to
hoist the national flag. The issue,
rather, is of the mind; of the
hoisting of perspectives and
values in the mind of every
Kashmiri. This needs a long-term
vision, and strategies to achieve
it. Why does a majority perceive
the Indian flag as an imposition?
Why do Kashmiri intellectuals
repeatedly emphasize that Indian
political values relating to good
governance, human rights and
democracy have never crossed the
Banihal/Jawahar tunnel?
While the governments have
avoided a show-down, this is only a
temporary relief. What must then be
done? Discussions of a hot summer
in the Valley are already underway;
and there are three specific reasons
for this. First and foremost, the
youth unrest in the Kashmir valley,
which is being expressed (or/and
manipulated by mainstream and

www.epilogue.in Vol. 5 Issus 02 Epilogue, February 2011

STRATEGIC THINKING
SECURING PEACE IN KASHMIR
separatist elements) periodi-
cally. Violence in the Kashmir valley
in the last few years has become
seasonal; all it takes is a trigger to
unleash the situation and bring the
youths to the streets with stones in
their hands.
Second, Pakistan will try to
reposition itself in J&K after having
lost its edge in the last few years.
The security forces fear that a
process is already set in motion and
could blow up during this summer.
While the Valley is not inclined
towards terrorism, one cannot
totally discount the fear that
Kashmiri youths may be tempted to
explore alternative strategies.
Third, there seems to be a wave
gripping Muslim societies of the
Middle East and North Africa,
starting with Tunisia, now reaching
Egypt. While the situation and
reasons are not comparable, one
should not completely overrule the
impact of global developments in
the minds of Kashmiri youth.
How can a disastrous develop-
ment be averted? The interlocutors
A Hot Summer Ahead?
ALI AHMED
E
vents in Tunisia, Egypt and
Lebanon have drawn wide
spread surprise since for the
first time Arabs have turned out on
the streets. After decades of
domination by authoritarian re-
gimes, supported by the West in
most cases, democratic stirrings
have been received with welcome
and apprehension, depending on
the political slant of the commenta-
tor. Why does this article, whose
title suggests it is one on Kashmir,
need to begin with events else-
where? To recall, the outbreak of
peoples' participation in the mili-
tancy in Kashmir was at the turn of
the nineties. The Berlin Wall had
www.epilogue.in
appointed by the Indian government
have done their homework. New
Delhi should work with the govern-
ment of J&K and take small but
sincere steps. At least three steps
are essential. First, an element of
demilitarization, at least in select
areas. The government in J&K and
thelocal police have repeatedly
emphasized that they should be
able to secure the urban areas - at
least certain select towns in the
Valley, starting with Srinagar. If not
the entire valley, New Delhi should
make an announcement immedi-
ately or at least propose a time-
table for the relocation of troops
from urban areas.
Second, the Union government
also should seriously reconsider its
decision to continue with the
AFSPA. This has become a political
issue in the Valley and hence could
become a very significant confi-
dence-building measure. Especially,
if the local government and police
force is confident of securing the
urban areas, there is no reason for
the Union government to be
just come down. The upsurge in
Eastern European nations had
overthrown communist regimes.
The Palestinian intifada dating to
1987 had captured minds. Images
from these events, far away as they
were, unfolded and influenced those
viewing them on newly acquired TV
screens in Kashmir. All accounts
from the heady days of the mili-
tancy mention the impact of the
communication revolution and
globalization, then in infancy, on
peoples' participation in the 'rebel-
lion', to borrow from a perceptive
title, 'Lost Rebellion'. Therefore, in
case the unrest in Arab lands is to
spread, the ripple effects will be
Vol. 5 Issus 02
10
apprehensive about removing the
AFSPA from urban areas. Both the
above issues are interlinked and
need to be undertaken by the
Union government. What is more
important is also an announcement
of panchayat elections; this in fact
will do wonders in the Kashmir
valley. Governance, especially
through panchayats, is the biggest
weapon and protection (and not
the police or Army) that the gov-
ernments at the Union and State
levels have in the area. However,
they are reluctant to use it for
narrow political reasons. The
national flag has an emotional
meaning for everyone. One can
neither be forced to hoist it, nor
should one attempt to hoist the
flag in a place where such gestures
are not universally supported. The
real challenge is not hoisting the
Indian flag in Lal Chowk. The
action itself is the easiest thing to
do. The real challenge is instilling
sensitized values and hoisting the
mind to educated thought and
action.(IPCS)
felt right up to Kashmir.
The disturbances in the Valley of
last summer witnessed considerable
participation by the youth. The
mobile network and the internet
played a part in the mobilization,
despite some constraints such as
preventing of the SMS feature by
the state. The youth, being media
and internet savvy, are doubtless
receiving updates even as events
unfold elsewhere. This means that
it could be yet another hot summer
in Kashmir.
A reasonable attitude could be
that there is no reason to panic.
The state, though under an un-
stable coalition in New Delhi and
Epilogue, February 2011
11
Governor's rule in Srinagar, had
managed the mass participation of
early 1990 adequately. There has
been considerable learning done in
the disruptions of the last three
summers which should find the
state better prepared this time
round. This would be in terms of
better policing methods to take on
stone throwing agitators. There-
fore, while a heightened opposition
can be expected, the state is better
prepared too. A fear-mongering
approach would be that the youth,
energized by events in the Muslim
world, may be more provocative,
even if non-violent. This may lead
to the use of force. Such force had
led up to 114 deaths and over a
1000 injured cops and paramilitary
in 2010. Deaths on the street
usually occur, witnessed earlier at
Gowkadal and during the funeral of
Mirwaiz in 1990 and later in
Bijbehara during the Hazratbal
crisis. The situation gets further
enflamed. The death of young Tufail
Mattoo when hit by a tear gas shell
sparked off the 2010 protests in the
Valley. After the winter's recupera-
tion, youth power could well be
back. Both approaches have utility.
The first would help ensure that the
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necessary changes in policing
methods are done well in time.
Police and paramilitary can use the
interim to get familiar with fresh
tactics, techniques and non-lethal
equipment. However, a positive
aspect of the second is in the
apprehensions imparting greater
urgency to the current political
initiative in Kashmir. This is not to
imply that the threat of agitations
need to or can impel Indian initia-
tives, but that the agitations can
be avoided and defused by the
initiative bearing fruition timely.
The current state of the initia-
tive is that the interlocutors have
covered much ground in Kashmir.
They have submitted three reports
to the government, mostly dealing
with confidence-building. A more
significant report is due in March.
Task forces have ascertained views
in the other two regions. The
interlocutors await a discussion
with the separatists, who are still
holding out. The Home Secretary's
announcement of a proposed
reduction of security forces pres-
ence by 25 per cent was to build
trust and a conducive atmosphere
for the progression of the political
initiative. Alongside, the foreign
Vol. 5 Issus 02
STRATEGIC THINKING
SECURING PEACE IN KASHMIR
secretaries of India and Pakistan
are to meet in Thimpu, to be
followed by the foreign ministers.
Mr. Kasuri, in a lecture at Sapru
House, indicated the extent to
which India was prepared to go to
resolve the issue during 'back
channel' talks. The position at
which the two sides left off appar-
ently had the backing of the Paki-
stani Army, with Kayani, then ISI
chief, privy to the meetings. He
implied that this can serve as a
potential starting point for resump-
tion of the peace process. Pakistan,
considerably on the backfoot due to
internal problems, has fewer cards
at the moment. Therefore, India is
poised to gainfully proceed on the
Kashmir issue at this juncture, both
in its external and internal dimen-
sions. In case it is unable to, then
it can handle the backlash. The
Army remains deployed since
according to the Army Chief and his
minister, troop reductions would be
only of the paramilitary. Even the
25 per cent cut was to be effected
over 12 months. This should help
reassure India that since it is not
negotiating from a position of
weakness, it can afford to go in for
a political solution. (IPCS)
Epilogue, February 2011
STRATEGIC THINKING
US & SOUTH ASIA
Obama's Annual Af-Pak Review:
Need for a Reappraisal
MAJ.GEN. (RETD.) DIPANKAR BANERJEE
President Barrack Obama released
another review of the Af-Pak situa-
tion on 16 Dec 2010. Weeks in for-
mulation and after careful delibera-
tions by top officials, the summary
still leaves too many questions unan-
swered. Unlike the Bruce Riedel re-
port of March 2009, which bore the
imprint of the author's intimate
knowledge of the region and condi-
tions, this is a paper prepared by a
high level committee of principals and
represents the Administration's poli-
cies formed over two years. It at-
tempts to reconcile the differences
between the US military's call for
more troops and time, the Republi-
can Party's desire for a military vic-
tory and the political and economic
costs of the war.
Ultimately, it is domestic compulsions
that trumped other issues. The Af-
Pak war is already America's longest
conflict in history. Along with another
major war that is not quite over,
other geostrategic issues calling for
urgent attention around the globe,
and an economy in tailspin, there is
in practice only one option. It is to
disengage as early as possible under
whatever terms and with least loss
of face. Everything else is extrane-
ous.
The strategy should have attempted
to find a realistically achievable plan
that would have balanced these com-
pulsions while countering the al
Qaeda-Taliban nexus to harm the free
world. The Presidential Review falls
short of these objectives.
It is in fact an exit strategy without
a plan. One that is based on assump-
tions that are highly questionable, a
goal that is increasingly unattainable,
and a timeline, that though more
flexible, is still unrealistically short.
The US and International Security
www.epilogue.in
Assistance Force (ISAF) today has
over 1,50,000 soldiers in Afghani-
stan and a certain presence in Pa-
kistan. This is the largest ever de-
ployed there and much larger than
the Soviet 8th Army at its peak.
Yet, the Afghan Taliban remains
capable of disruption and destruc-
tion in much of the eastern and
southern parts of the country. The
al Qaeda and its senior leadership
are safe in Pakistan and probably
not unduly troubled. The Taliban
leadership too remains intact and
has probably moved to bases in cit-
ies. No counterinsurgency opera-
tion has ever succeeded when a
sanctuary is available and there
can be none better than the bor-
derlands of Pakistan and ISI sup-
port. US drone strikes have proved
utterly counterproductive even
when successful. With guaranteed
collateral destruction, it is instead
a potent recruiting tool for terror-
ists.
Cooperation with the Pakistan Army
and the ISI is far from satisfactory
as the Wikileaks disclosures have
so clearly identified. They have an
independent objective and strategy
different from the Pakistan Gov-
ernment and counter to US inter-
ests. No amount of dollars can
change this mindset of the Paki-
stani military, as Ambassador Anne
Patterson reported. Pakistan's Army
or its radicalized citizens have yet
to accept that the Taliban threat-
ens Pakistan's very existence. Till
then the US will remain the greater
'enemy'.
Obama's West Point speech on De-
cember 1 2009 signalling July 2011
as the 'beginning of draw down' of
US forces from Afghanistan was the
biggest policy mistake of recent
Vol. 5 Issus 02
12
times. While the speech addressed
growing domestic public concerns over
an open-ended commitment, it had an
entirely separate message for the ter-
rorists. It told them that they could win
by just sitting out the war. The Novem-
ber 2010 NATO declaration at Lisbon,
that its forces will remain till 2014 and
beyond does not impress. NATO mili-
tary capability except for the US is de-
clining and popular support for prolong-
ing the commitment just does not ex-
ist.
In a situation where the terrorists are
not weakening, where Pakistan is un-
willing to engage in a manner that mat-
ters and the al Qaeda is morphing into
a global franchise, international terror-
ism has not lost support. Recent at-
tempts to strike in Europe reflect the
reality.
What then are the alternatives to
Obama's strategy? There are two dis-
tinct variants on offer and neither is
satisfactory. One is the "cut and run"
school propagated by Robert Blackwill,
a renowned realist with a clear though
narrow perspective of securing US in-
terests. Called Plan B in a Foreign Af-
fairs article, it would split Afghanistan
into a Pashtun-controlled territory in
southern Afghanistan. By obliterating
the Durand Line it may lead even to an
early break up of Pakistan. This may
not be a major concern to the US but
its regional implications are likely to be
serious. Would it also mean a sharing
of nuclear assets among its compo-
nents?
The other is a 'regional solution'. Seek-
ing the help and support of all
neighbouring and regional players to
contribute to and support stabilization
operations, under international or UN
control. This would include all countries
from Turkey to Bangladesh and others
in between or outside who are ready
and able. There are far too many geo-
political difficulties that will prevent
adopting this approach and without
Iran, there will be little chance of suc-
cess. Pakistan too opposes this and
particularly a possible role for India in
it. The 2010 Af-Pak Review provides
little hope or comfort. There is instead
a deepening sense of an impending
unravelling.
Epilogue, February 2011
13 OPTIONS FOR PEACE
OPINION

Options in Kashmir

ZAFAR CHOUDHARY

Relative winter calm after three consecutive violent summers notwithstanding,

Kashmir continues to engage the world attention and concerns for peace and stabil-
ity in the South Asian region. There is a set of public opinion which says that Kash-
mir region is one of the most dangerous conflicts on the earth and then there are
people who opine that the problem is about few urban centers of the Valley where
minor triggers lead to cyclic unrest. Looking at the trends of past few years, the
first set of opinion seems more compelling and needs serious debate.

I
n August 2003 when US Vice Presi
dent Dick Cheney called Kashmir as
one of the two most dangerous
flashpoints on earth, his opinion was
taken with contempt not only in India
but also among the South Asia experts
and think-tanks in different parts of
world. Dick Cheney had said nothing
different than what US President Bill
Clinton said four years before that.
While Clinton's statement was taken
as an honest appreciation of the situ-
ation, Cheney's observation earned
criticism. The difference is that
Clinton had made this observation
when Kashmir was caught in a dan-
gerous web of insurgency and counter-
insurgency while Indian and Pakistani
forces stood eyeball to eyeball on the
borders. Dick Cheney earned criticism
because he foresaw danger at a time
when peace was making strong waves
in Kashmir, a free and fair election had
instilled public faith in democracy, in-
cidents of violence were at the low-
est, presence of troops in civilian ar-
eas were at bare minimum, India and
Pakistan were close to an agreement
on border ceasefire and preparations
for softening the Line of Control were
underway. However, if one looks at
what happened in the following years,
been at least three such major events
Dick Cheney's observation is found not
in last 25 years which made Kashmir
entirely out of place.
altogether a different place and raised
Kashmir is a multi-layered problem
serious concerns of peace and secu-
which has passed through many crests
rity. To say that the separatist move-
and troughs of its political history. For
ment erupted in Kashmir only in late
an honest understanding of Kashmir
1980s would be an ignorance of the
issue we need to be sure of the people
post-1947 political history of the Val-
and the geographical ambit under ref-
ley. And again, to say that it was only
erence. In context of what is called
in 1987 elections when people in
Kashmir conflict, there are few things
Kashmir were denied their genuine
which can't be understood unless we
democratic rights would be an attempt
talk about the entire princely state of
to erase very well documented events
Jammu and Kashmir that existed be-
of 1953, 1975 and 1984 -sacking and
fore 1947, then there are many other
arrest of Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah,
things, far more serious, which can
installation of Sheikh as CM without
be understood only by limiting our dis-
going to elections and dismissal of
cussions only to the Valley of Kashmir
elected government of Farooq
on the Indian side of Line of Control.
Abdullah, respectively.
Various aspects of the Kashmir con-
flict are deeply embedded in history;
many are manufactured while few oth-
The Trigger
ers are grossly misunderstood. In this
essay we try to cast an eye on recent
happening in valley of Kashmir to un-
A s the first pivotal event of the re
cent conflict history of Kashmir,
1987 elections were a deadly blow to
derstand challenges of internal peace
peace and order. Having gone through
and regional security. A look at the
four major sad experiences of their
recent history of political and armed
tryst with democracy, the too well
conflict that erupted in 1988 would
known rigging of 1987 elections made
reveal many interesting aspects which
Kashmiris to lose trust democratic
offer clues for resolution as well. Some
system. Dissidence is mostly seen as
events are pivotal in the making or
a minority thinking against a major
understanding of history. There have

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OPTIONS FOR PEACE 14
INTERVIEW

"Everyone wants peace and most want a

political solution to be found as soon as possible"
The latest process of interlocution in Kashmir initiated by Government of India in Octo-
ber 2010 is seen one of the most credible and outreaching. However, scepticism is an
inherent factor which can't be wished away. Given the record of past dialogue processes
it is natural for many to see the present interlocution as a time buying exercise. The
major different present interlocution brings to fractured political theatre of Jammu and
Kashmir is that this process has offered a fairly good amount of respect of recognition to
the voices outside the ambit of Kashmiri separatist thinking. There is no denying the fact
that the voice of dissent has to be heard and that is the principle aim of interlocution but
voices outside that spectrum have a lot to say too. The meetings of interlocutors with
civil society groups in Jammu, Rajouri, Poonch, Kargil and Leh have instilled confidence
among the people in these regions and given them a feeling that their opinions matter.
For an assessment of what is going on and where the dialogue is headed to, ZAFAR
CHOUDHARY spoke to RADHA KUMAR, one of the three interlocutors. Here are excerpts of
an interview:

ZAFAR CHOUDHARY: You have spent more than three

months talking to the people representing various
shades of opinions in different parts of Jammu and
Kashmir. What is your assessment, so far, of the domi-
nant public opinion on Kashmir issue?

RADHA KUMAR: Everyone wants peace and most want a

political solution to be found as soon as possible. But
there are also many fears regarding possible solutions
and so there is also intense opposition to finding a con-
sensus.

The current interlocution process was initiated, par-

ticularly, in backdrop of unrest in Kashmir in the sum-
mer of 2010. We have seen unrest flaring up in sum-
mers twice earlier also -in 2008 and 2009. There are
measures which the state government could have taken
to prevent violent disturbances. In meetings with your
group, what is that people are mostly asking for from
the state government?
Most of the memoranda given to us are related to is-
sues of governance, human rights and sectoral griev-
ances. Some deal with the overall issue of political reso-
lution. The governance issues range from unemployment
to poor service infrastructure to reservations; there
are also specific grievances regarding education, es-
pecially in Ladakh and in some of the districts. We
noticed that there are only few instances in which
MLAs, local administration and police work together
as a team (it should be added that that is probably a
common problem in the whole country).
We have had series of interlocution processes in the
past decade. People like KC Pant and NN Vohra led
the missions. Then there were Working Groups con

www.epilogue.in Vol. 5 Issus 02 Epilogue, February 2011

15
stituted by the Prime Minister after roundtable con-
ferences. There is a feeling on the ground that ei-
ther recommendations are not known in public do-
main, as in first two cases, or the implementation
is not taken up, as in the case of Working Groups.
What is your self assessment of the difference your
group is making, particularly in term of short term
dividends for the stakeholders?
We have had some small gains in the ground situa-
tion, such as release of youth and a few political pris-
oners, removal of around 20 bunkers in Srinagar, re-
straint on the part of protesters and police, setting up
of a fast track passport facility, exploration of build-
ing a hostel for Kashmiris in Delhi, but of course these
are small gains, and the process remains slow.
Your team has not been able to catch up with the
separatist leadership in a major way. Are you hope-
ful of getting them on table sometimes in near fu-
ture. And what if they don't talk, as they are indi-
cating, do you think the current interlocution makes
a significant sense without talking to separatists?
In my study of recent history and especially of peace
initiatives from 2000 on, the Hurriyat, JKLF and allied
groups have generally come on board talks only when
the process has advanced - generally within 6 months
to a year of its initiation. Their participation has been
more substantive when there has been active and public
civil society engagement. We need therefore to con-
centrate on these tracks before expecting them to start
formal talks.
Very recently the Home Secretary Mr GK Pillai indi-
cated Government of India's intentions of cutting
the troop strength in Jammu and Kashmir by 25 per-
cent. He also said that decision on AFSPA is left with
state government. Within no time there was a flurry
of statements, from separatist and mainstream
circles, hailing the announcement by Home Secre-
tary. Dramatically, hours later on the same day,
the Army Chief ruled out the need of troop cut. Next
day the Commander of Northern Command also sec-
onded the thoughts of Army Chief. Don't you think
such things damage the confidence your group has
been trying to build up.
It is clear that we all have a lot to learn about consul-
www.epilogue.in Vol. 5 Issus 02
OPTIONS FOR PEACE
INTERVIEW
tation and coordination before making public state-
ments. In this particular example, the situation has been
clarified and it appears that the bulk of the cuts that
the Home Secretary mentioned refer to the CRPF. But
there are many instances in the past months in which
media driven utterances have caused setbacks to peace-
making initiatives - one example being the incessant
querying of both dissident leaders and ourselves on
whether and when we will talk. Political processes need
time and a certain degree of confidentiality to brew,
and a responsible media would respect that need.
In a very short time your group has been able to reach
out to people in all three regions and further their
sub-regions. Do you see possibility of a consensus be-
tween Kashmir, Jammu and Ladakh around any po-
litical initiative altering the status quo?
Yes very much so. The popular will for a solution that
will be acceptable to all and will be peacefully negoti-
ated is very strong, but then so are the fears that each
will be left out when it comes to a solution. Our going to
districts was an attempt to reassure that the process of
reaching a consensus for a solution will be an inclusive
one. We also believe that a solution based on democ-
racy and empowerment should be able to accommodate
the aspirations of all in a framework of give and take.
You have had good meetings with people in north of
Kashmir Valley and also in Rajouri and Poonch. What
is your assessment of the local impact of Cross-LoC
confidence building measures like travel and trade?
The potential for impact of "making the LOC irrelevant"
is immense, in terms of human relations, economic ben-
efits and political symbolism.
During your very first visit to Srinagar, your colleague
Dilip Padgaonkar mentioned about importance of Pa-
kistan as party to the issue. How do you look at the
external dimension in terms of taking all parties on
board and the role your group can play?
If Pakistan were to come on board a peace process, tack-
ling cross-border militancy and picking up from where the
back channel left off in 2006-7, it would be ideal. But it is
difficult to see how Pakistan, with its current instabilities,
can be persuaded to do that. In any case, our mandate is
for Jammu and Kashmir and not for Pakistan.
Epilogue, February 2011
OPTIONS FOR PEACE 16
OPINION

ity order but large scale electoral malpractices of that

Abdullah lost election in his family's well traditional con-
year made dissidence largest political constituency in
stituency to a little known contestant.
Kashmir. Next year saw arrival of guns and explosives
If the malpractices of 1987 election forced the youths
and thus followed the horrible saga of bloodshed. Many
to take to arms, the fairness of the 2002 elections
of those who had made bid to represent people in the
helped them come back to the democratic system in
legislature by contesting elections later became top mili-
significant numbers. Proving as watershed in the re-
tant leaders recruiting and inspiring hundreds of frus-
cent conflict history, the 2002 assembly elections also
trated youths. The flare-up in Kashmir was perhaps god-
marked the beginning of the fast decline of armed in-
send for Pakistan to re-strategise its ambitious two-na-
surgency. Restoration of democratic space to the people
tion theory. Over the period of next 10 to 12 years Kash-
through 2002 elections considerably shrunk the con-
mir came to be known as a south Asian hotspot posing
stituency of dissidence and resultantly began to deny
dangers to world peace. Instability and uncertainty in
space to the armed insurgency. Post-2002, every year
Kashmir is one of the main reasons for arms race in
has registered a 25 to 35 percent decline in militant
south Asia which is home to almost half of the world's
violence over every previous year. Elections, of course,
poor.
are not an answer to all the historic questions in Kash-
As goes the simple logic of impossibility of a fish's
mir but people getting a role in the democratic space,
survival without water, the separatism and armed insur-
a participation in the decision making process and say
gency could not have survived in Kashmir without local
in their local issues of immediate concern is something
support. Many people continued to support the armed
worth looking at. It was perhaps inspiration of this idea
movement as they didn't come across opportunities of
that leading separatist leaders like Sajjad Gani Lone
having their trust restored in the democratic system.
of Peoples Conference later contested elections to seek
One mistake, a Himalayan one, went on become reason
a seat in the Indian Parliament.
for hundreds of mistakes. There was apparently unat-
A government that returned to the office after 2002
tended anger in Kashmir and denial of just and genuine
elections was though not stable enough but its leader
democratic space to people in 1987 served as a trigger.
Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, the Chief Minister, had vi-
Six years of Central rule between 1990 and 1996 further
sion and political acumen to consolidate the gains thrown
widened the gulf between peoples and the State. The
by elections. This opportunity was also too well by the
assembly elections of 1996 were entirely free and fair
central government through slew public outreach poli-
and the popular government which came in place also
cies and confidence building measures. Next four to
failed to consolidate whatever little gains the elections
five years were relatively peaceful in Kashmir. It was
had offered. There is a general consensus in the Indian
during this time that India and Pakistan took same key
political thinking that malpractices of 1987 elections spoilt
confidence building measures like the historic bus ser-
the Kashmir story.
vice opening up opportunities Cross-LoC interactions.
There is no point in understanding that fair elections
The Silver Lining or confidence building measures ended the conflict or
had potential of doing that. Conflict is an essential part
S econd major event in the recent history of conflict
can be seen in the assembly elections of 2002 through
which the visionary and statesmanship leadership of
of any political culture but the idea and the need is to
take violence out of conflict. To that extent, 2002 elec-
tions and several measures taken after that, either by
Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee tried to restore the
Vajpayee regime or his successor Manmohan Singh, sig-
confidence of people in the institutions of democracy.
nificantly helped in taking violence out of conflict.
Kashmir had undergone an incalculable damage between
1987 and 2002, but these elections reassured public faith
What went wrong?
in democracy and offered people a chance to look at the
peaceful means for addressing their grievances. It was
Vajpayee's promise of fairness and honesty in elections
that many former militants and separatists took part in
U nfortunately, what went entirely missing through
out the peaceful years of optimism was the lack of
dialogue between New Delhi and Kashmiri leadership.
the exercise and walked into the legislative assembly
It was the absence of this dialogue which led to break
with a democratic agenda. After 15 years of condemna-
down of confidence in Kashmir that a very small admin-
tion of events of 1987, even the separatists, who don't
istrative error like allotment of a piece of land to a
see elections as answer to any Kashmir questions, en-
temple trust put the valley back to throws. There
dorsed the fairness of 2002 elections. Mirwaiz Omar
Farooq of Hurriyat Conference was the first to comment fore, the amaranth land row was perhaps the third piv-
on fairness of elections on October 10, 2002 when ruling otal point in recent conflict history of Kashmir which has
National Conference's Chief Ministerial candidate Omar once again brought the Valley under international focus.

www.epilogue.in Vol. 5 Issus 02 Epilogue, February 2011

17
The cyclic emotional eruption coupled with massive street
violence which is countered by force leading to large num-
ber of civilian killings in non-militant protests has one posi-
tive and one negative. The positive can be seen in the
context of keeping the gun away from scene of confronta-
tion with the State but the losses of life that negative as-
pect is bringing is not a bargain worth indulging in. In 2010
alone 112 persons were killed in the street violence. If this
is the pace with which human life is to be lost then the kind
of tomorrow people are looking for might be bright enough.
This third phase of conflict which Jammu and Kashmir is
passing through has led to the hardening of stands where
people are looking at the processes like fair and honest
elections or other confidence building measures as irrel-
evant options. Perhaps this is the time for a pause and
rethinking.
It has been 63 years, three full scale wars, one limited
war and two decades of enormous sufferings in a low in-
tensity but high loss conflict. Official estimates put the
loss of life in 20 years to 40,000 while separatists and civil
rights activists say it is double that. Loss of life or a life
being part of continuous theater of conflict can't be anyone's
passion. Instead of being a contributor to uncertainty and
vulnerability to greater dangers it is imperative upon all
stakeholders in Jammu and Kashmir to support all those
measures and processes which help in taking violence out
of the conflict. There are options before the political class
and the civil society to creatively stay engaged in conflict
and the same time work together towards taking violence
out of it.
What Next
A s Kashmir passes through a relatively peaceful winter
and no one seems so sure about the scenario next sum-
mers, here are few contemplations for many better sea-
sons ahead:
„ First and of foremost importance is the need for a
sustainable, credible and creative engagement between New
Delhi and Kashmiri leadership. A process of interlocution is
already going on and before too long it is important for the
government and also the separatists to take an extra mile
in interest of peace and start talking. There is also an ur-
gent need for revival of dialogue between New Delhi and
Islamabad and at a stage when enough confidence has been
built, the process can take Kashmiri opinion on board. It
needs to be understood here that trust is the key ingredi-
ent and that comes with patience.
„ There is a most compelling need for the downsizing
of troops in Kashmir Valley and other parts of Jammu and
Kashmir. In view of the uncertain developments in
www.epilogue.in Vol. 5 Issus 02
OPTIONS FOR PEACE
OPINION
neighbourhood, the need for maintaining a level of se-
curity presence is well appreciated but their relocation
from the civilian areas will help ease tensions. In this
connection a recent statement of the Home Secretary
indicating 25 percent cut in troop strength sounds in-
spiring.
„ Third, it need to be understood that any inter-
vention of third parties at any stage or in any manner
will bring more harm than any benefit. The global ex-
perience of third party intervention in conflict situa-
tions is already disappointing. Examples of Afghani-
stan and Iraq are live before us. There is an obsession
among sections of Kashmiri leaders in inviting US role
in Kashmir. It may be marked here that between 2002
and 2008 US was apparently distanced from the Kash-
mir and engaged more into building strategic partner-
ship with India and, therefore, it was during this pe-
riod that New Delhi and Islamabad were able to take
historic confidence building measures like border
ceasefire and Cross-LoC bus service and trade.
„ Fourth, there is an urgent need of initiating a
sustainable civil society dialogue between three regions
of Jammu and Kashmir, on the Indian side. There are
clearly different patterns of thinking, behaviors and
attitudes in three regions and there is no homogeneity
in their aspirations. In such a scenario, any solution or
option which imposes a majority will on the minority
or vice versa would be more dangerous than what has
been seen so far.
„ Fifth and the most important in context of hu-
manitarian angle of Kashmir issue, is the need of en-
hanced contacts across the Line of Control. A limited
exchange of human beings and goods through Cross-
LoC bus service since 2005 and Cross-LoC trade since
2008 has brought huge emotional relief to the mem-
bers of divided families. There are hundreds and thou-
sands of divided families on both sides of Line of Con-
trol which never had opportunities of meeting. Despite
a very tough travel and trade regime this process of
Cross-LoC interactions is sustained by the emotions of
people and this need to be appreciated. Easing of travel
and trade restrictions, opening more crossing points
and entering into other areas of Cross-LoC collabora-
tions like tourism, education and healthcare would be
of great help.
This article is based on author's presentation at
Royal United Services Institute of UK's seminar
'Asian Powers in Kashmir' held in London on
January 25
Epilogue, February 2011
OPTIONS FOR PEACE 18
INTERVIEW

"Sustainable peacebuilding seems to

come from incentives rather than threats"
INTERVIEW WITH JONATHAN COHEN,
DIRECTOR PROGRAMMES, CONCILIATION RESOURCES

Much water has flowed down the Chenab and Jhelum in 63 years but we are not any closer to reaching
a mutually acceptable formula for Jammu and Kashmir conflict. Past negotiations and dialogues have
often contributed to hardening of stands. However, one agreement between India and Pakistan - on
Cross-LoC interactions -has been widely hailed as a historic "Confidence Building Measure". The lim-
ited travel and trade across the Line of Control has not only withstood bitter tests of time but also
looks promising in terms of involvement of the key stakeholders, the members of the divided families.
As people in Jammu and Kashmir keenly look towards resumption of New Delhi-Islamabad dialogue
and also the process of internal interlocution that is currently going on, there is a huge pressure from the
traders and the members of the divided families for easing the Cross-LoC travel restrictions. Social
scientists, think-tanks and conflict resolution organisations strongly believe in Cross-LoC interactions
as an important means of building peace below the state and their potential to help alter key positions.
Conciliation Resources, a UK-based peace support service with global experience, is one such organisation
which is helping the Cross-LoC stakeholders in Jammu and Kashmir to build constituencies of peace. In
this exclusive interview to Epilogue, JONATHAN COHEN the Director of Programmes tells us about
the CONCILIATION RESOURCES and its peace-building engagements in Jammu and Kashmir. Here
are excerpts:

Please tell us about the Concilia-
tion Resources, its main objectives
and work experiences in different
parts of world?
driven by analysis undertaken jointly
with our local partners. For example,
we work with local community and
religious groups in Central Africa to
help them respond to the Lord's Re-
young people to better understand
the needs and fears of communities
across divides. In all of our work we
believe very strongly in giving a voice
to the people most directly affected

C onciliation Resources (CR) is an

independent non-profit
organisation, which was set up in
London fifteen years ago. We work
with partners - local civil society
organisations and governments - in
Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America
and the Pacific to build sustainable
and peaceful responses to violent
conflict. We very much believe that
conflicts can be transformed peace-
fully, but this is a painstaking and
often, sadly, a very long-term pro-
cess. In each situation our work is
sistance Army conflict that has spread
from Uganda into neighbouring
Sudan, Democratic Republic of Congo
and Central African Republic. In the
South Caucasus we have a long track
record of bringing people together
from across the Georgian-Abkhaz and
Armenian-Azerbaijani divides so that
they can engage in dialogue and joint
analysis. Sometimes this has led to
changes in peace policies, helped lo-
cal mediators and local peacebuilders
transform their conflicts and chal-
lenge stereotypes, or simply enabled
by the conflict. We believe that pro-
moting public participation in
peacebuilding in the long run gener-
ates more sustainable and more just
outcomes. Likewise it is our experi-
ence that peace processes are more
effective when they are inclusive of
different voices and are not the ex-
clusive terrain of elites. One way that
we try to contribute to thinking about
peacemaking is to provide compara-
tive insights about different interna-
tional experience by publishing our
journal Accord, which documents

www.epilogue.in Vol. 5 Issus 02 Epilogue, February 2011

19
peace initiatives from around the
world.
You have been working in Jammu
and Kashmir recently. What is the
nature of your peace support work
here in the region? Please broadly
outline the contours of your work in
Jammu and Kashmir?
O ur work in Jammu and Kashmir
began a couple of years ago in
response to a series of conversations
that we had with people from New
Delhi, Islamabad, Muzafarabad and
Srinagar. Despite the deeply en-
trenched nature of the problem we
were encouraged by our interlocutors
to understand that there was a great
deal of work to be done to support
people across the LoC searching for
a vision of peace and a longer term
solution to the troubles.
To initiate our involvement we under-
took a process of analysis and con-
sultation, talking to people from as
many different perspectives as pos-
sible as well as with other outside
organisations working on the conflict.
Then in March 2009 we organised
what we called a joint analysis work-
shop (JAW) in Bangkok. We invited
24 people from across the LoC - a
mixture of academics, journalists,
teachers, lawyers, business people,
represenatives of displaced and mi-
grant communities and people work-
ing with non-governmental
organisations. We tried to include
people who had not had similar
opportunties in the past. This was a
great learning opportunity for us. It
provided the participants with a
chance to discuss approaches to
peacebuilding and conflict transfor-
mation from other parts of the world
and to look at how they could apply
these approaches to their situation,
as well as sharing their own experi-
ences and hopes.
A number of ideas were proposed
during the workshop and a couple pro-
vided a real basis for engagement.
One was in relation to the then newly
initiated process of trade across the
LoC. Participants felt that many chal-
lenges lay across the path of the trade
fulfilling its economic and
www.epilogue.in
OPTIONS FOR PEACE
INTERVIEW
In contexts from North-
ern Ireland to Aceh to
Sudan to Cyprus innova-
tive steps have been
made to enable traders
to work across borders,
to share resources (even
when ownership has
remained disputed) or
to be creative in how to
deal with issues of tar-
iffs and licenses. In
these contexts a num-
peacebuilding potential. The idea
bers of objectives have arose to support a group of research-
consistently supported ers - again academics, journalists,
economists and traders - to write
the dividends: informa- about the trade and explore both the
tion exchange and man- constraints and opportunities. We
were able to bring a group of twenty
agement mechanisms, such people together in Sri Lanka in
establishing a common spring 2010 to discuss their research
and then used the papers to feed into
understanding of the the study that is now being published.
economy, fostering trust And I hope that this publication will
provide a further opportunity for
and managing expecta- more people to discuss how the trade
tions, highlighting the can contribute to both economic de-
velopment and peacebuilding.
opportunity costs, cre- (Next three questions are based on
ating frameworks for the presumption that you have al-
ready talked about JAW and Cross-
effective governance of LoC trade and the trade publication,
trade and increasing above)
predictability. Ulti- Your Joint Analysis Workshop idea
mately the dividends sounds interesting. As far as the
participation in these JAWs is con-
become more tangible cerned, do you think this exercise
when people can see has helped in building some sort of
Cross-LoC linkages among the par-
jobs being created. A ticipants who attended workshops?
thread that runs though How often do you get feedback from
them?
this is that sustainable
peacebuilding seems to I do think that the JAWs have con
tributed to linkages. At the most ba-
sic level we have been able to bring
come from incentives together some fifty people from
rather than threats across the LoC to engage in rigorous
reflection and analysis of the chal-
Vol. 5 Issus 02 Epilogue, February 2011
OPTIONS FOR PEACE
INTERVIEW
lenges that face their communities.
It was important for us that in invit-
ing people we reached well across di-
vides in regional and professional
terms with a diverse group of inter-
locutors. This brought much richness
to the discussions. We are not the
first to do this sort of work - the
Pugwash Conferences, and the Cen-
tre for Dialogue and Reconciliation,
and WISCOMP (both in India) and oth-
ers have been ploughing this furrow
for some time. We have been able to
benefit from their wisdom and hope-
fully contribute new dynamics and new
opportunities. Perhaps one important
dynamic has been that we have given
colleagues opportunities not just to
meet but to grapple with specific is-
sues such as trade and education in
collaborative ways so that they have
exchanged ideas and practial sugges-
tions. Clearly what is important is
that these conversations don't just
happen across the LoC but within the
respective communities as well - they
do obviously happen but not always
in structured or consistent ways, and
not always detached from emotion.
In building on previous efforts I hope
we have also been able to reach
some new and young people who have
previously not had opportunities to
be involved.
What attracted you to promoting
the idea of Cross-LoC trade?
W e became interested in this work
because of the energy and com-
mitment of the people who were
themselves making the trade hap-
pen. The conversations we and our
partners had helped us see that there
is real potential to promote change
through trade. I think this can work
on different levels. For us it was en-
lightening to hear the constructive
and yet critical tone in which people
from across the LoC examined the
issues and aspired to a trade regime
that could benefit the economy of the
wider region. Improving the way in
which trade happens can have signifi-
cant benefits for the economy of
Kashmir, on both sides of the LoC,
and the question of people's liveli-
hoods is critical. Then there is the
www.epilogue.in
issue of the personal connections
between families that have been di-
vided. While the personal contacts
must be hugely important for all fami-
lies affected, perhaps most impor-
tant is the question of whether trade
can indeed be a confidence building
measure that gives people an incen-
tive to believe that a non-violent fu-
ture can be built.
One of the most
striking things for
me was when one
trader involved in
our research said
about the trade "I
suddenly realised
it's not just a trade
venture but can be-
come a tool for
people-to-people
diplomacy"
Can you bring us some examples of
peace-building dividends of cross-
border cooperation, like trade,
tourism etc, from other areas of
the world?
M
uch work is being done in differ
ent regions to examine the way
in which economic or resource coop-
eration across boundaries and bor-
ders in pursuit of a shared goal - be
it access to markets, or regional eco-
nomic intergration to promote devel-
opment, or mutually advantageus
management of shared but limited re-
sources - can act as an entry point
for peacebuilding. This can be in re-
lation to opening trade channels to
build trust or establishing interdepen-
dencies across divides, that provide
incentives for cooperation and collec-
tive action and, in many ways, high-
light the way in which conflict and war
has very significant costs in terms of
lost development.
It is important to be realistic about
the role of economics - years of re-
search have shown how cross-border
Vol. 5 Issus 02
20
economic cooperation can also fuel
violent conflict if profits are used for
war, as was the case with blood dia-
monds smuggled out of Sierra Leone
or mineral extraction in the Demo-
cratic Republic of Congo. But there is
no doubt that economic cooperation
has tremendous potential to create
change. One can't take peacebuilding
outcomes for granted - increased
cross-border trade needs to extend
beyond economic activity if it is in-
deed going to address the needs of
peacebuilding. But there are good
examples of cases in which cross-bor-
der cooperation has had a positive
impact. With the current tide of
change in Eqypt I am reminded of the
impact of joint Israeli-Egyptian Quali-
fied Industrial Zones that were estab-
lished in 2005. They provoked pro-
tests - not by Egyptians angry at col-
lusion with the enemy, rather by job-
less Egyptians who felt excluded from
the scheme. If people see tangible
benefits they will often find ways to
work together. For eighteen years
Georgians and Abkhaz have managed
to sustain the operation of a hydro-
electric power station that straddles
their divide - the dam is on the
Georigan side and the turbines on the
Abkahz side - but both need the elec-
tricity. However, the fact that the
power station has kept operating
through thick and thin has sadly not
helped the wider communities over-
come the very deep political divide
between them. This makes one
realise that it is necessary to move
beyond profit or tangible results if
there is to be a peacebuilding as well
as an economic dividend - econom-
ics is critical but on its own it won't
necessarily move in the direction of
peace.
In contexts from Northern Ireland to
Aceh to Sudan to Cyprus innovative
steps have been made to enable trad-
ers to work across borders, to share
resources (even when ownership has
remained disputed) or to be creative
in how to deal with issues of tariffs
and licenses. In these contexts a num-
bers of objectives have consistently
supported the dividends: information
exchange and management mecha-
Epilogue, February 2011
21
nisms, establishing a common under-
standing of the economy, fostering
trust and managing expectations,
highlighting the opportunity costs,
creating frameworks for effective
governance of trade and increasing
predictability. Ultimately the divi-
dends become more tangible when
people can see jobs being created. A
thread that runs though this is that
sustainable peacebuilding seems to
come from incentives rather than
threats.
You have talked about a publica-
tion on Cross-LoC trade, based on
discussion papers? Could you please
tell us something about economic
and peace potential of Cross-LoC
trade and also how do you look at
its future?
I n doing the research what we heard
from traders and analysts is that
traders face considerable obstacles,
primarily from the heavy constraints
that govern their activities, so if we
look to the future I think it is impor-
tant to examine ways to make the
trade operate more effectively. This
could be done by easing limitations
on communication and travel, by ex-
tending trading - in terms of how of-
ten the Trade Facilitation Points are
open and the list of goods that can
be traded, and perhaps later looking
at whether or not more routes could
be opened. If trade is to continue to
grow and have both economic and
peacebuilding impacts it needs to be
placed on a modern economic basis
with proper banking services and
communications facilities.
I think the Jammu and Kashmir Joint
Chamber of Commerce and Industry
demonstrates the potential of trad-
ers from both sides of the LoC to work
together. It is the only cross LoC non-
government organisation and is the
first indication of the possibility of
region wide formal civil society ini-
tiatives. Such an organisation can
act as a pressure group to galvanise
other stakeholders in the economy
and by example show how it is pos-
sible to cooperate across the LoC for
mutual benefit. But for it to work ef-
www.epilogue.in
fectively the separate Chambers also
need to operate more effectively.
One of the most striking things for
me was when one trader involved in
our research said about the trade "I
suddenly realised it's not just a trade
venture but can become a tool for
people-to-people diplomacy". I think
there is a constituency that has a
stake working together and this could
be an example to others. On its own
the trade will not transform the situ-
ation - there is no hiding from the
fact that the overall situation has
become increasingly complex in the
past couple of years - but it does cre-
ate a positive dynamic that should be
nurtured.
CR is an independent
non-profit
organisation, which
was set up in London
fifteen years ago. We
work with partners -
local civil society
organisations and gov-
ernments - in Africa,
Asia, Europe, Latin
America and the Pa-
cific to build sustain-
able and peaceful re-
sponses to violent con-
flict. We very much
believe that conflicts
can be transformed
peacefully, but this is
a painstaking and of-
ten, sadly, a very long-
term process
To an extent, we are convinced that
Cross-LoC trade between two parts
of Jammu and Kashmir is providing
opportunities of building peace con-
stituencies as well as some eco-
nomic benefits for the stakeholders.
What, do you think, may be the
other areas of Cross-LoC coopera-
tion in Jammu and Kashmir which
Vol. 5 Issus 02
OPTIONS FOR PEACE
INTERVIEW
people and the governments must
look at?
A t the JAW in Bangkok we explored
whether or not scope exists to
promote cooperation across the LoC
in other fields and in particular that
of higher education. Participants felt
that finding connections in this
sphere, that is of widening intellec-
tual horizons, could reach across di-
vides - both the physical and geo-
graphical divides that impact on the
region but also the intellectual and
psychological divides and legacies
that have become so much a part of
the recent history of the region. We
have been pleased to be able to fa-
cilitate contact between people
closely involved in the higher educa-
tion system and generation of ideas
across the LoC. Their work together
sets out some ideas of how coopera-
tion could occur. On the basis of their
initial research we brought together
some educators in Istanbul late last
year to discuss the suggestions. Now
it is a question of extending the dis-
cussion and seeing whether their
ideas can be applied in reality. I know
that others are also doing research
into whether or not there is scope for
cooperation in the sphere of tourism
and I am sure there are other issues
that can be examined.
In looking at these different oppor-
tunities it is important to be con-
scious that there are very real secu-
rity concerns involved. The political
reality of relations across the LoC and
on each side is also complex so find-
ing the right balance is always going
to be a challenge. But ideas in them-
selves can provide an important cre-
ative stimulus to ensure that peoples'
concerns are addressed in ways that
can be mutually beneficial. It has been
a privilege for CR to work with so
many people committed to finding
ways forward in what has been such
a long running and painful context.
We see many opportunities ahead and
hope that we can continue to support
these sharing some our thinking and
experience in the field of peace-build-
ing to help provide space to think
anew about today's challenges.
Epilogue, February 2011
OPTIONS FOR PEACE 22
PLANS THAT NEVER WORKED

Prescriptions without Diagnosis

A prescription can work only if the disease is diagnosed. For Kashmir, there have been around 70 proposals
for resolution of the conflict that has been lingering on since 1947. This means, on an average more than
one new conflict resolution model every year. A majority of these models, more than 50, came up during the
decades of 1950s, 1960s and 1990s. While some of the plans were results of state led negotiations, back
channel diplomacies and cravings of stakeholders but majority of ideas have come from researchers and
think-tanks. Why none of 70 models could bring desired results in Kashmir? Our understanding of all
models suggests that there were all overwhelming and ambitious prescriptions without taking the pain of
diagnosis. To say that all models overlooked the ground realities sound ludicrous but an analysis of every
individual plan would reveal that formulator kept only one or two constituencies in mind and ignored the
rest. Sixty-three years after eruption of conflict, an appreciation of diversities in Jammu and Kashmir has
yet to come. The princely state of Jammu and Kashmir that became of theatre of conflict with rival claims
in 1947 is comprised of five key regions -Kashmir valley, Jammu, Ladakh on Indian side and 'Azad' Kashmir
and Gilgit-Baltistan on Pakistani side. Most of the conflict resolution models from earlier years to date have
their focus mostly on the valley of Kashmir, very less attention on Jammu and hardly any mention of Ladakh
and Gilgit-Baltistan. That's seems a fundamental flaw with all prescriptions. While political aspirations in
different regions of Jammu and Kashmir were never homogenous at any given point in history the pro-
longed conflict over past six decades has further hardened the stands. Therefore, in present times it
becomes all the more important to get deeper into the problem and find out areas of consensus. In following
pages we have listed 44 most important and much talked about conflict resolution models. Others from the
list of 70 were not picked up in this issue because most of them were more or less repetitive. The Autonomy
formula of National Conference is not discussed here for that needs a larger deal. By listing these proposals
here were are just trying to take readers to the creative options that came up from time to time and at the
same time there is an opportunity of locating the reasons for their failure. These proposals reveal sets of
strategic and political thinking of different times and different powers and give some ideas about the points
of convergence and commonalities. While compendium of conflict resolution proposals for Kashmir have
been taking rounds for a long time, but in our present issue we have drawn benefit from a comprehensive
study done by Aadil Najam of Frederick Pardee Centre at Boston University and Moeed Yusuf of USIP.

www.epilogue.in Vol. 5 Issus 02 Epilogue, February 2011

 23
1
PROPOSAL 1
Plebiscite under UN
BRAINCHILD
AGL McNaughton
PERIOD: 1949-50
CONTOURS
P lebiscite in entire Jammu
and Kashmir after substan-
tial force reduction Gilgit
Baltistan administered by lo-
cal authorities under United
Nations supervision
General Andrew George Latta
McNaughton, (February 1887-July
1966) was a Canadian army officer,
politician and diplomat. McNaughton
enlisted in the Canadian militia in
1909. He took the 4th Battery of the
Canadian Expeditionary Force over-
seas with the outbreak of World War
I in 1914. While there he helped make
advances in the science of artillery,
and was wounded twice. The need to
accurately pinpoint artillery targets,
both stationary and moving, led to
his invention called Sound Ranging
which was the forerunner of radar. He
sold the rights to that invention to
the Government of Canada for only
$10. This scientific innovation en-
abled the Canadian artillery to knock
out 70 percent of the German guns
just before the battle of Vimy Ridge.
By the end of the war as a Lieuten-
ant-Colonel he was in command of all
of the Canadian Corps artillery
www.epilogue.in
OPTIONS FOR PEACE
PLANS THAT NEVER WORKED
UN resolution is on the lips of every
'freedom leader' but is there
an option for freedom ?
D
oes UN resolution offer 'independence option' as Kashmiri freedom leaders
demand? This question is hypothetical in terms of ifs and buts. The
leaders of Kashmiri separatist movement, who are essentially opposed
to the idea of Kashmir being part of India, demand UN supervised plebiscite
to determine the political future of the troubled state. However, there are not
enough explanations from them whether UN resolution offers the Azadi op-
tion. After almost a decade after UN Secretary General himself said that UN
resolution is no more relevant in case of Kashmir, there is a growing under-
standing among the Kashmir separat-
ists who have not started talking more The U.N involvement in the
Kashmir Conflict largely
about an Indo-Pak dialogue. In No-
lasted for 17 years (1948-
vember 2010 it was learnt that United
Nations has removed Kashmir from 65).After the Indo-Pak war of
its list of unresolved disputes. That 1965, the U.N engagement
was a big setback to Pakistan's posi- with Kashmir continued at a
tion. However, a day later the UN said very nominal level till the 3rd
that Kashmir has been retained on the Pakistan-India war of 1971
agenda for another year. and completely ended with
Background
the signing of the Simla
On January 1, 1948, India formally re-
ferred the case of Pakistani aggres-
Agreement in 1972, an Indo-
sion in Kashmir to the United Nations Pak peace agreement, which
Security Council under Article 35 of the laid emphasis on adopting a
UN Charter. This move was directed bilateral framework to solve
towards protecting India's territorial the Kashmir imbroglio and
integrity. Initially, Pakistan denied that kept the U.N out of the pic-
its troops were present on the soil of ture afterwards.
Kashmir but when a three-member UN
delegation (subsequent to the UN Security Council resolution dated 20 Janu-
ary 1948) visited the actual scene of fighting, the Pakistan government ad-
mitted the presence of its troops. Consequently, the UN included the Kashmir
issue on its agenda. On February 5, 1948, the UN resolution interalia called
for an immediate ceasefire and a plebiscite to decide the future of the state.
By April 21, 1948, the UN among other issues, increased the number of mem-
bers of the United Nations Commission for India and Pakistan (UNCIP) from 3
to 5 and recommended to the governments of India and Pakistan interalia for
(1) the withdrawal of all tribesmen and Pakistanis, (2) the reduction of force
levels by India on restoration of normalcy, (3) the appointment of a plebiscite
administration by India and (4) the appointment of a plebiscite administrator
by the UN Secretary General. On August 13, 1948, the UN adopted another
resolution interalia calling for (1) a ceasefire, (2) Pakistan to withdraw the
tribals and to put its troops under the command of local civilian authorities,
(3) India to withdraw bulk of its troops, (4) the UN observers to supervise the
ceasefire and (5) the holding of the plebiscite. The resolution was followed up
on December 11, 1948 with the appointment of a plebiscite administrator. On
January 5, 1949, the two earlier resolutions were amalgamated into a single
resolution that reiterated the earlier proposals. (a) On March 22, 1949,
Admiral Chester Nimitz of the US Navy was appointed by the UN to ensure the
implementation of the 13 August 1948 resolution through arbitration. The
Vol. 5 Issus 02 Epilogue, February 2011
OPTIONS FOR PEACE 24
PLANS THAT NEVER WORKED

mission failed.
(b) Following this, General
Macnanghton of Canada, the then UN
President, was authorised by the Se-
curity Council to informally seek a
mutually satisfactory solution. His
proposals for the demilitarisation
were unacceptable to India and Paki-
stan. Hence, on 14 March 1950, the
UNCIP was dissolved and Sir Owen, a
judge from Australia was appointed
as the UN representative to seek the
UN objective of demilitarisation. He
suggested two plans including the di-
vision of the state. The government
of India rejected both the proposals
as these provided for the establish-
ment of an UN authority in the state.
(c) Thereafter, Dr. Frank Graham
was appointed as the UN representa-
tive by a UN resolution (30 March
1951) to bring about demilitarisation.
Five rounds of discussions followed
(Sept. 1951 - Feb. 1953). Dr. Graham
2
PROPOSAL 2
Plebiscite along regional lines
BRAINCHILD
Owen Dixon
PERIOD: 1950
CONTOURS
Plebiscite in entire Jammu and
Kashmir to determine region by
region allocation to Pakistan or
India. Sir Owen Dixon proposed
to trifurcate the State in 1950.
He suggested that the state be
divided into three zones and
DIXON PLAN
One of over 60 different plans that
came up for resolution of Kash-
mir at different points of time,
Dixon Plan is the most popular and
is still being discussed. Research-
ers say this was the only plan
which had brought India and Paki-
stan closer to a resolution. The
Dixon Plan had assigned Ladakh
to India, the Northern Areas and
Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir (POK)
to Pakistan, split Jammu between
the two, and envisaged a plebi-
scite in the Kashmir Valley. Paki-
stan demurred at first, but
agreed. It fell through because
Nehru did not accept the condi-
tions in which the plebiscite could
be held; precisely the issue on
which the United Nations Commis-
sion for India and Pakistan (UNCIP)
and Graham failed. They, because
of their ineptness; Dixon because
he lost patience

had suggested the reduction of Paki-
stani troops in Pakistan Occupied
Kashimr (PoK) to 6000 and that of the
Indian troops to 21000 in J&K. The
proposal fell through because of op-
position from Pakistan.
(d) The UN later authorised
Gunnar Jarring, the then UN Presi-
dent, to visit India and Pakistan to
seek demilitarisation. He visited In-
dia and Pakistan (14 March - 11 April
1957). He later reported the failure
of the visit to the UN. The U.N in-
volvement in the Kashmir Conflict
largely lasted for 17 years (1948-
65).After the Indo-Pak war of 1965,
the U.N engagement with Kashmir
continued at a very nominal level till
the 3rd Pakistan-India war of 1971
and completely ended with the sign-
ing of the Simla Agreement in 1972,
an Indo-Pak peace agreement, which
laid emphasis on adopting a bilateral
framework to solve the Kashmir im-
broglio and kept the U.N out of the
picture afterwards. During the
course of its engagement with the
Kashmir Conflict, spanning 23 years
(1948-1971), the U.N passed a num-
ber of resolutions, which were aimed
at mediation and resolution of the
conflict. Between 1948 and 1971, the
U.N Security Council passed 23 reso-
lutions on Kashmir Conflict
3
plebiscites be conducted sepa-
rately for the three zones. The
three zones were to be 1) Kash-
mir valley plus the Muslim areas
of Jammu - Poonch, Rajouri and
Doda. Moreover, Kargil would
form part of the Valley. 2)
Jammu with the remaining dis-
trict of Ladakh. 3) Pakistan con- PROPOSAL 3
trolled Kashmir plus the North- Partition-plebiscite
ern Areas.
BRAINCHILD
Owen Dixon
PERIOD: 1950
CONTOURS
P artition between Indian and Pakistan, Except for Kashmir
Valley;valley decision through United Nations administered
Plebiscite.
Sir Owen Dixon (1886 - 1972) Australian judge and
diplomat, was the sixth Chief Justice of Australia. A
justice of the High Court for thirty-five years, Dixon
was one of the leading jurists in the English-speaking
world[1] and is widely regarded as Australia's greatest
ever jurist. On May 27, 1950, Dixon was invited by
the United Nations to act as their official mediator
between the governments of India and Pakistan over
the disputed territory of Kashmir. His role was to con-
tinue conciliation talks between the two nations in the
lead up to a proposed plebiscite to be put to the resi-
dents of Kashmir. His role as mediator ended in Octo-
ber 1950, although he had left India in September frustrated with what he
saw as an inability of the respective governments to negotiate.

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 25
4
PROPOSAL 4
Plebiscite
BRAINCHILD
Jeseph Korbel
PERIOD: 1954
CONTOURS
P lebiscite in entire Jammu
and Kashmir. Prof. Joseph
Korbel, author of Danger in Kash-
mir, was the first person to be
appointed by the United Nations
Security Council to be chairman
of the UN commission for India
and Pakistan.
Josef Korbel (1909 - 1977) was a Czechoslova-
kian diplomat and U.S. educator, who is now
best known as the father of Bill Clinton's Secre-
tary of State, Madeleine Albright, and the men-
tor of George W. Bush's Secretary of State,
Condoleezza Rice. Though he served as a dip-
lomat in the government of Czechoslovakia,
Korbel's Jewish heritage forced him to flee af-
ter the Nazi invasion in 1939. Prior to their
flight, Körbel and his wife had converted from
Judaism to Roman Catholicism. He served as
an advisor to Edvard Beneš, the exiled Czech
president in London, until the Nazis were de-
feated. He then returned to Czechoslovakia,
receiving a luxurious Prague apartment previ-
ously owned by Karl Nebrich, a Bohemian Ger-
man industrialist expropriated and expelled un-
der the Beneš decrees. Korbel was asked by
Beneš to serve as the country's ambassador to
Yugoslavia, but was forced to flee again during
the Communist coup in 1948. After learning that
he had been tried and sentenced to death in
absentia, Korbel was granted political asylum
in the United States in 1949. He was hired to
teach international politics at the University of
Denver, and became the founding Dean of the
Graduate School of International Studies.
www.epilogue.in
OPTIONS FOR PEACE
PLANS THAT NEVER WORKED
5
PROPOSAL 5
CONTOURS
Territorial status-quo-
demilitarisation
BRAINCHILD
John Galbraith
PERIOD: 1961
T erritorial status -quo with out formal partition,
freedom of movement across the cease fire line:
soft border, applicable only to residents of specially
designated areas, demilitarized ceasefire line. The
latest Indo-Pak Confidence Building Measures on Kash-
mir, like travel and trade across Line of Control, seem
to revolving around John Galbraith's formula.
John Kenneth "Ken" Galbraith (1908-2006)
was a Canadian-American economist. He
was a Keynesian and an institutionalist, a
leading proponent of 20th-century politi-
cal liberalism. His books on economic top-
ics were bestsellers from the 1950s
through the 2000s and he filled the role
of public intellectual from the 50's to the
1970s on matters of economics. Galbraith
was a prolific author who produced four
dozen books and over a thousand articles
on various subjects. Among his most fa-
mous works was a popular trilogy on economics, American Capital-
ism (1952), The Affluent Society (1958), and The New Industrial
State (1967). He taught at Harvard University for many years.
Galbraith was active in Democratic Party politics, serving in the
administrations of Franklin D. Roosevelt, Harry S. Truman, John F.
Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson; he served as United States Am-
bassador to India under Kennedy. Due to his prodigious literary out-
put he was arguably the best known economist in the world during
his lifetime[1] and was one of a select few people to be awarded
the Presidential Medal of Freedom twice, in 1946 and 2000, for
services to economics. During his time as an adviser to President
John F. Kennedy, Galbraith was appointed United States Ambassa-
dor to India from 1961 to 1963. His rapport with President Kennedy
was such that he regularly bypassed the State Department and sent
his diplomatic cables directly to the President.[9] In India, he be-
came an intimate of Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, and exten-
sively advised the Indian government on economic matters; he
harshly criticised Louis Mountbatten, the last Viceroy of British rule,
for Mountbatten's passive role in the Partition of India in 1947 and
the bloody partition of Punjab and Bengal. While in India, he helped
establish one of the first computer science departments, at the
Indian Institute of Technology in Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh. Even after
leaving office, Galbraith remained a friend and supporter of India
and hosted a lunch for Indian students at Harvard every year on
graduation day. It was at his recommendation, First Lady of the
United States Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy undertook her diplomatic
missions in India and Pakistan.
Vol. 5 Issus 02 Epilogue, February 2011
OPTIONS FOR PEACE 26

7
PLANS THAT NEVER WORKED

6
PROPOSAL 6
Adjustment of LoC as international border
PROPOSAL 7

CONTOURS
Chenab formula
BRAINCHILD
Pakistan
PERIOD: 1962-63

BRAINCHILD
India
PERIOD: 1962-63
T his formula could have been a repeat of the reli
gion based partition and fulfillment of the ulti-
mate goal of the two-nation theory. The Chenab
CONTOURS formula envisaged partition of Jammu and Kashmir
A djustment of Line of Control as per
manent international border between
along the Chenab River, Pakistan willing to give up
the remote region of Ladakh in India's favour and
India and Pakistan allowing both countries some Hindu majority areas of Jammu staying with
to hold control of the parts of Kashmir, India.
de facto and de jure, as per possession
of the territory on the day.

8
PROPOSAL 8
CONTOURS
Partition along communal
lines in Jammu
BRAINCHILD
Pakistan
PERIOD: 1963
9
PROPOSAL 9
CONTOURS
Partition through
Valley
BRAINCHILD
United States
PERRIOD: 1963

T his was again another formula proposed by

Pakistanthat sought division purely on commu-
P artition with the international
borderrunning through Kashmir val-
ley; northwestern part of the valley and
nal lines. Interesting feature was that this formula
western part of Jammu becomes Paki-
was proposed only for Jammu division and it was
stan; a silver of territory above Kargil
suggested to defer decision for Kashmir Valley. The
; becomes India; new soft border for
formula sought partition along the peaks of Pir
residents of the valley ; residents guar-
Panchal range in northern Jammu; Kashmir valley
anteed some self rule ; active US role
internationalized for 5-10 years, valley's residents
envisioned in implementation .
to ascertain their wishes subsequently.

OPTIONS:(L) Kashmir Going to India (R) Status quo

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 27 OPTIONS FOR PEACE
PLANS THAT NEVER WORKED

10
PROPOSAL 10
CONTOURS
Trieste-like arrangement
BRAINCHILD
A product of Pakistan-India
Negotiations
PERIOD: 1964

T here is no evidence of India having agreed to

suchproposal but contemporaries say that the idea was
discussed between the countries. It is also understood that
the Kashmir leader Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah was kept
in loop on these discussions. Trieste-like arrangement would
give Jammu and Ladakh to India, Kashmir valley to Paki-
stan; soft border for Kashmiris on both sides of border.
BACKGROUND
The first conflict between Yugoslavia and the US and the UK was over Trieste. This was one of the first incidents of the
nascent and emerging Cold War. In Veneto and Trieste there were population displacements following World War II
when a shooting war between Yugoslavia and the US was narrowly averted. Trieste was the first salvo in the Cold War
Despite its Austrian status, Trieste preserved linguistic and cultural ties with Italy. It was a center of irredentism, and
after World War I Trieste and its province were annexed (1919) by Italy. However, its prosperity declined under Italian
rule. After World War II the area was claimed by Yugoslavia, mainly because the population outside the city of Trieste
is predominantly Slovenian. The Western powers opposed Yugoslavia's claim. As a compromise, a new state, the Free
Territory of Trieste, was created (1947) under the protection of the UN Security Council. The Free Territory included
the city of Trieste and a coastal zone of Istria, running from Duino along the Gulf of Trieste to Cittanova. When the
Security Council was unable to agree on a governor for the territory, Anglo-American forces occupied Zone A, consist-
ing of Italian-speaking Trieste and its environs, while the Yugoslavs occupied Zone B, the remainder of the Free
Territory. Tension between Italy and Yugoslavia continued until 1954, when, in a compromise agreement reached under
Western auspices, Zone A was placed under Italian administration and Zone B under Yugoslav civil administration
(divided between the republics of Slovenia and Croatia). The solution amounted to a partition of the Free Territory,
which then ceased to exist; this arrangement was finalized by the Treaty Of Osimo (1975).

11
Dr. Pervaiz Iqbal Cheema was born at Sialkot and was initially edu-
cated at Sialkot, later on he moved to Government College, Lahore
where he completed his Master's in History. Till July 1995 Dr. Cheema
was working as a Professor of International Relations, Quaid-i-Azam
University, Islamabad, Pakistan and in July 1995 he started working
for the Ministry of Education, Government of Pakistan in the capacity
of a Director General, Academy of Educational Planning and Manage-
PROPOSAL 11 ment. From November 1996 to September 2000 Dr.Cheema worked as
Partition-Trusteeship-plebiscite a Professorial Iqbal Fellow at South Asia Institute, Heidelberg Univer-
sity, Germany. During his 19 years stay at Quaid-i-Azam University;
BRAINCHILD Dr. Cheema served as the Chairman of International Relation's Depart-
Parvez Iqbal Cheema ment as well as Defence and Strategic Studies Department for more
PERIOD: 1986 than 14 years. From Oct.2000, Dr. Cheema worked for Islamabad
Policy Research Institute as its President. Since Feb. 2009 Dr. Cheema
CONTOURS
has been working in the National Defense University as a Dean,
Pand
akistan Kashmir and Gilgit
Baltistan incorporated into
Faculty of Contemporary Studies, Islamabad. Dr. Cheema is also a
scholar of international repute. His articles have regularly appeared
Pakistan and Jammu and Ladakh both in National as well as International Academic Journals, Popular
in to India; Kashmir valley placed Magazines and daily Newspapers. He has published more than 120
under UN Trusteeship for at least research articles and over 600 other general articles/columns etc. In
a decade; subsequently, Plebiscite addition, Dr. Cheema has authored many books and monographs
in valley. including the following;

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OPTIONS FOR PEACE 28
PLANS THAT NEVER WORKED

12 BRAINCHILD
Demographic maneuvers

BJP and its supported

organizations
PROPOSAL 12 PERIOD: 1990 Onward

CONTOURS
13
PROPOSAL 13
Sovereignty Association
BRAINCHILD
Ayesha Jalal
PERIOD: 1990

E ntire Jammu and Kashmir part of India;
massive Hindu and Sikh immigration to
Indian Kashmir to convert the state into a
Muslim minority area.
CONTOURS
T wo state referendum ; in Indian Kashmir
with two options: status quo or indepen-
dence in Pakistan Kashmir with two options;
unite with the rest of Jammu Kashmir on the

14
basis of sovereignty association or remain with
Pakistan; Jammu and Ladakh can opt to join
India; Pakistan and India to minimize military
Autonomy-Trieste-like presence.
arrangement Ayesha Jalal is a Pa-
BRAINCHILD kistani-American so-
Selig Harrison ciologist and histo-
rian. She is a profes-
PROPOSAL 14 PERIOD: 1992 sor of history at Tufts
University and a 1998
CONTOURS MacArthur Fellow.
J ammu and Ladakh go to India ; Gilgit
andBaltistan to Pakistan; Kashmir valley
The bulk of her work
deals with the cre-
along with Sizable Muslim pockets' in ation of Muslim iden-
Jammu and Ladakh get autonomy as does tities in modern South
Pakistani Kashmir; LOC becomes interna- Asia. She is the
tional border ; Pakistan Kashmir and the daughter of Hamid
'new state' to have soft borders; demilita- Jalal, a niece of the
rization of Jammu Kashmir under UN su- famous Urdu fiction
pervision. writer Saadat Hasan
Manto and a civil ser-
Selig Seidenman Harrison (born March 19, 1927 in vant. Jalal is among
Wilkinsburg, Pennsylvania) is is a scholar, journalist, the most prominent
and author who specializes in South Asia and East Asia. American academics who writes on the history of India and
He is the Director of the Asia Program and a senior Pakistan. Her innovative scholarship has led to frequent
fellow at the Center for International Policy, and a se- criticisms by both Pakistani and Indian establishment schol-
nior scholar of the Woodrow Wilson International Cen- ars. Her most prominent works are on the role of Muhammad
ter for Scholars. He has written five books on Asian Ali Jinnah and the partition of India. She argues that the
affairs and U.S. relations with Asia. His latest book, 1947 partition of India-the event that opened the door for
Korean Endgame: A Strategy for Reunification and U.S. the creation of Pakistan-was an accident, a colossal mis-
Disengagement (Princeton University Press), won the calculation. What's more, she says that Jinnah never wanted
2002 award of the Association of American Publishers a separate Muslim state; he was only using the threat of
for the best Professional/Scholarly Book in Government independence as a political bargaining chip to strengthen
and Political Science. the voice of the Muslim minority in the soon-to-be sover-
His outspoken, constructive criticisms of Adminis- eign India.
tration policies often appear on Op-Ed pages of many Conversely, she lays a greater share of the blame for parti-
major newspapers, including The Washington Post, The tion on the Indian National Congress and leaders like
New York Times, The International Herald Tribune, The Jawaharlal Nehru and Sardar Patel, who saw partition as a
Los Angeles Times and The Financial Times. He is cur- way of eliminating its main competition and leaving it the
rently a member of the Afghanistan Study Group.
dominant player in a centralised state

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29 OPTIONS FOR PEACE
PLANS THAT NEVER WORKED

15 Confederation of
autonomous states
BRIANCHILD
Raju Thomas
PROPOSAL 15 PERIOD: 1992
CONTOURS
17 Maximum autonomy
to Jammu-Kashmir
BRAINCHILD
AG Noorani
PROPOSAL 17 PERIOD 1992
CONTOURS

J oint India-Pakistan control over a demilitarized `

Jammu- Kashmir.Eventually, Jammu-Kashmir be-
comes part of an overall confederal arrangement in
south Asia; the autonomous 'republics' to havr a single
decentralized, democratic confederation managing de-
fense, foreign affairs, communications and currency.
DETAILS
Raju G.C. Thomas provides an interesting starting point for study-
ing possible solutions in his edited volume Perspectives on Kash-
mir. Thomas outlines nine possible strategies for India to deal
with the Kashmir conflict:
(1) maintain the territorial status quo,
(2) secure Kashmir's accession to Pakistan,
(3) create an independent Kashmir,
(4) partition and transfer the Vale of Kashmir to Pakistan,
(5) transform the demography of Kashmir by settling non-
Muslims,
(6) generate an exodus of Kashmiri Muslims to Pakistan,
M aximum autonomy for
entire Jammu-Kashmir; power
sharing finalized through a sus-
tained dialogue with equal voice to
India, Pakistan and Kashmiris; soft
border between Indian and Pakistan
Kashmir.
A. G. Noorani, a secular Indian Muslim, is a
lawyer and political analyst. He is is an Ad-
vocate in the Supreme Court of India and a
leading Constitutional expert. His columns
appear in The Hindustan Times, Frontline,
Economic and Political Weekly and Dainik
Bhaskar. He is the author of a number of books
including: 'The Kashmir Question', 'Badruddin
Tyabji Ministers' Misconduct', 'Brezhnev's Plan
for Asian Security', 'The Presidential System',
'The Trial of Bhagat Singh' and 'Constitutional
Questions in India'

18
(7) share control with Pakistan,
(8) foster a subcontinent of several states, and
(9) promote a decentralized confederation of subcontinen-
tal states.

16
CONTOURS
Autonomy-de facto parti-
tion
BRAINCHILD
Jagat S. Mehta
PROPOSAL 16 PERIOD: 1992
PROPOSAL 18
South Asia House
(Joint Pakistan-India control)
BRAINCHILD
Asia Society
PERIOD: 1992
D emilitarized of Line of Control up to 5-10
miles on both sides; in creased autonomy
CONTOURS
for Indian Kashmir; elections held simulta-
neously in Pakistan and Indian Kashmir, the two state gov-
ernment allowed to maintain regular contact.
L ine of Control converted
intointernational border,
Jagat Singh Mehta is a former foreign secretary of India. A career diplomat
India to give up special status
(1947-1980) he was foreign secretary from 1976 to 1979. He was Chargé to its part of Jammu-Kashmir
d'affaires China (1963-1966) and High Commissioner to Tanzania (1970-1974). ,; both parts jointly managed
He was Associate at Harvard (1969 and 1980) and Fellow at Woodrow Wilson by Pakistan and India; inter-
Center, Washington, D.C., 1981. His publications include: Militarization in
the Third World (1985); The March of Folly in Afghanistan (2002); and Nego-
national actors help bring the
tiating for India (2006). He received the Padma Bhushan award in 2002. two countries to agreement
.

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OPTIONS FOR PEACE 30
PLANS THAT NEVER WORKED

19 20
PROPOSAL 19
Fourth Alternative
PROPOSAL 20

CONTOURS
Autonomy, co-federalism
BRAINCHILD
BG Verghese
PERIOD: 1993

BRAINCHILD
Bhawani Sen Gupta
PERIOD: 1993
CONTOURS
I n Hindustan Times February
5,1993, Bhawani Sen Gupta
floated the idea of fourth al-
ternative. According to him,
this is the concept of the
State of undivided Jammu
and Kashmir which will not
be sovereign and free. But it
will be independent in its in-
ternal affairs and it is pos-
sible that it will be free to
establish financial connec-
tions with outside world. It
will have no independent for-
eign policy. Its security can
be guaranteed by India and
Pakistan jointly or separately
or through an agreement
reached between India and
Pakistan.
L ine of Control becomes international border; India to grant
maximuma utonomy to Indian Kashmir; new demilitarized
soft border. Verghese is also in favour of the restoration of
pre-1952 constitutional position in Kashmir. According to
him, Kashmir should be free to manage all affairs except
foreign affairs, defence and communications. The Line of
Actual Control is to be treated as international border. This
border should be made soft so that Kashmiris carry out trade
and other cultural activities freely.
B G Verghese is a veteran
columnist and journalist.
He was former Editor of
Hindustan Times and Indian
Express. He is also an au-
thor and visiting professor,
Centre for Policy Research,
New Delhi. Verghese started
his journalistic career in
The Times of India. He was
information adviser to
former Prime Minister
Indira Ghandhi during the period 1966-69. His autobiography "First Draft:
Witness to Making of Modern India" published in October 2010. He received
Ramon Magsaysay award for his outstanding contribution to journalism, in
1975.

21
CONTOURS
International mediation on Kashmir by the united states with the
objective of demilitarization, pacification and peacekeeping along
the Line of Control, Joint India-Pakistan patrolling of the boundary.

Dr. Robert G. Wirsing is a member of the faculty of the Asia-Pacific

Center for Security Studies, Honolulu, Hawaii. A specialist on South
PROPOSAL 20 Asian politics and international relations, he has made over 40 re-
International me- search trips to the South Asian region since 1965. His recent research
diation-pacification focuses primarily on the politics and diplomacy of natural resources
(water and energy) in South Asia. Dr. Wirsing's publications include
BRAINCHILD Pakistan's Security under Zia, 1977-1988 (St. Martin's Press, 1991); In-
Robert Wirsing dia, Pakistan, and the Kashmir Dispute (St. Martin's Press, 1994); Kash-
PERIOD: 1994 mir in the Shadow of War (M. E. Sharpe, 2002); Religious Radicalism &
Security in South Asia, co-editor (Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies, 2004); and Ethnic
Diasporas & Great Power Strategies in Asia, co-editor (India Research Press, 2007).

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31 OPTIONS FOR PEACE
PLANS THAT NEVER WORKED

22
CONTOURS
Partition, formation of
Kashmir Autonomous
R eferendum in Jammu-Kashmir followed by
autonomy for all or part of the state ; bor-
der rationalized by crafting it along the moun-
Region tain crests in Jammu-Kashmir ; subsequently ,
BRAINCHILD referendum with choices of incorporation into
Joseph Schwartzberg India or joining a 'Kashmiri Autonomous Region'
PROPOSAL 22 PERIOD: 1995 (KAR) for India Kashmir, and incorporation into
Pakistan or joining KAR for Pakistan Kashmir,
soft border for KAR with Pakistan and India;

Joseph E. Schwartzberg is a University of Minnesota professor emeritus of geography and

prominent world federalist scholar. Schwartzberg was born in Brooklyn, New York in 1928. He
has done significant work in seeking solutions to the Kashmir conflict. He also developed the
idea of "weighted voting" for representation in a United Nations Parliamentary Assembly. He
is best known as the editor and principal author of the Historical Atlas of South Asia, which
won the Watumull Prize of the American Historical Association and a distinguished achieve-
ment award from the Association of American Geographers. He served on the board of direc-
tors of the World Federalist Association, has chaired its Policy and Issues Commission, and is
presently President of the Minnesota Chapter of Citizens for Global Solutions.

23
CONTOURS
P artition along a renegotiated boundary; Pakistan gets all Muslim
majorityareas; Jammu and Ladakh go to India; involve China in
negotiations.
A leading Pakistani academician, Saeed Shafqat holds an MA in South
Asian Studies and Ph.D. (Political Science) from University of Pennsyl-
vania, Philadelphia. He is a founder member and former Chairman of
PROPOSAL 23 the Department of Pakistan Studies established in 1973 at the Quaid-
Partition along i-Azam University, Islamabad. He has served as Chief Instructor and
communal lines Warden (1988-2001), Pakistan Civil Services Academy, Lahore. Over
this period, he imparted instruction and training to over 1,500 under
BRAINCHILD training officers (federal civil servants) who are now serving in different branches of
Saeed Shafqat government all over Pakistan. He has been President (1990), Institute of Regional Studies
Islamabad (and retains the distinction of being the only academic/professional to head
PERIOD: 1995
that research organization). His research articles on culture, politics, security and various
aspects of public policy, governance and civil service reform on Pakistan have been pub-
lished in journals of international repute. His books include: Political System of Pakistan
and Public Policy (1989) Civil- Military Relations in Pakistan (1997), Contemporary Issues
in Pakistan Studies (2000, 3rd edition). New Perspectives on Pakistan: Visions for the
Future (Karachi: Oxford University Press, 2007)

24
PROPOSAL 24
CONTOURS
Indus Water Treaty model
(division along river basins)
BRAINCHILD
Mushtaq-Ur-Rahman
PERIOD: 1996

P artition along river basins; Kashmir Valley and 'same eastern areas' become part of Pakistan; parts of Jammu
and Ladakh become India' bilateral negotiations to settle the issue of Muslim majority areas on Chenab basin;
involve international community in finalizing partition

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OPTIONS FOR PEACE 32
PLANS THAT NEVER WORKED

25 26
CONTOURS
S tep-wise approach leading to par
tition along a modified Line of
Control; bilateral negotiations on
other contentions issues; Pakistan to
withdraw support for the insurgency
in Jammu and Kashmir; New Delhi
PROPOSAL 25 to provide autonomy for Jammu and PROPOSAL 26
Partition-autonomy Kashmir and amnesty to insurgents. Livingston Proposal
for Kashmir
BRAINCHILD BRAINCHILD
Summit Ganguly Kashmir Study Group
PERIOD: 1997 PERIOD: 1998

Sumit Ganguly is a Professor of Political Science, the CONTOURS

Director of the India Studies Program and holds the
Rabindranath Tagore Chair in Indian Cultures and Civi- J ammu-Kashmir, excluding
Jammu and Ladakh, to become
a sovereign entity with its own citi-
lizations at Indiana University, Bloomington. He has pre-
zenship, flag and legislature but
viously taught at James Madison College of Michigan without internationally recognized
State University, Hunter College and the Graduate School independence; Kashmir represen-
of the City University of New York and the University of Texas at Austin. A tation in negotiations, soft-borders
specialist on the international politics of South Asia, he is the author, co-au- for Kashmiris; Pakistan and India
thor, editor, co-editor of twenty books on the region. Professor Ganguly has only manage defence and foreign
been a Guest Scholar and Fellow at the Woodrow Wilson International Center affairs. The 1998 Livingston Pro-
posal was developed by some mem-
for Scholars in Washington, DC, a Visiting fellow at the Center for International
bers of the KSG in consultation with
Security and Cooperation, and a Visiting Fellow at the Center of Democracy, well-informed Indians and Paki-
Development and the Rule of Law at Stanford University. He currently serves on stanis. In brief summary, the
the editorial boards of Asian Affairs, Asian Security, Asian Survey, Current His- Livingston Proposal envisages a fu-
tory, the Journal of Democracy and Security Studies. His most recent book is ture dispensation for Jammu &
India, Pakistan and the Bomb: Debating Nuclear Stability in South Asia (with S. Kashmir that departs from the
Paul Kapur). He is currently at work on a book, Deadly Impasse: India-Paki- paradigm of "indivisibility" and sug-
gests reconstituting an entity (or
stan Relations at the Dawn of a New Century for Cambridge University Press.
entities) from portions of the

27
CONTOURS
The JKLF has proposed the for-
mation of an eleven member
International Kashmir Commit-
tee (IKC) consisting of one rep-
resentative each from the
U.N., United States, Russia,
France, Britain, China, Ger-
many, Japan, and the Organi-
zation of Islamic Conference,
and two representatives from
the Nonaligned Movement.
This committee will oversee a
Kashmir settlement in five
phases, beginning with
(1) the formulation of an
agreement,
(2) the withdrawal of Indian,
Pakistani and foreign militant
forces from the entire state,
(3) the demilitarization of all
Kashmiri militants,
(4) the opening of all roads be-
tween the two halves of Kash-
Plebsicite-
independence
BRAINCHILD
JKLF
PROPOSAL 27 PERIOD: 1998
mir followed by a secular,
democratic constitution with
representation from Kashmir,
Jammu, Ladakh, Pakistani
Kashmir and the Northern Ter-
ritories, and
(5) a U.N.-supervised referen-
dum 15 years later where the
residents of the state will de-
cide on whether to join India,
Pakistan or remain indepen-
dent.
The proposal is clearly loaded
in favor of the independence
option.
former princely State of Jammu and
Kashmir that would have their own
secular, democratic constitution(s),
as well as their own citizenship,
flag(s), and legislature(s). The
legislature(s) would act on all mat-
ters other than defense and foreign
affairs. India and Pakistan would be
jointly responsible for the defense
of Kashmir, which would itself
maintain police forces for internal
law and order. India and Pakistan
would be expected to work out fi-
nancial arrangements for the new
Kashmiri entity or entities. One of
the main elements of the proposed
dispensation involves the ability of
the Kashmir region to have liberal
access to and from both India and
Pakistan for the transit of people,
goods, and services.
This proposal is called so be-
cause this was drafted and dis-
cussed at Livingston, New
York, estate of Kashmiri busi-
nessman Farooq Kathwari

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33 OPTIONS FOR PEACE
PLANS THAT NEVER WORKED

28
CONTOURS
S emi-sovereign status for Jammu-Kashmir, managed jointly by India and
Pakistan but their rule is limited to defence, foreign affairs and communi-
cations; Kashmiris residents get dual citizenship.

BACKGROUND
Andorra is a princely state located on the border between France and Spain and it
was claimed by both Spain and France. In 1993, the two countries reached an
agreement and gave Andhora an independent constitution and gave them au-
PROPOSAL 28 tonomy bordering on complete freedom - Andorra adopted Parliamentary democ-
racy, but retains the titular heads of state nominated by France and Spain.
Andorra-Like Solution Under the Andorra Proposal, Kashmir Valley would become a principality with for-
eign policy, defence and financial support shared by India and Pakistan. The An-
BRAINCHILD dorra proposal would result in the Kashmir Valley - including Pakistan-occupied
Kashmir - dominated by Muslims, being carved out into a principality with its own
Fazal Haq Qureshi Parliament. However, India and Pakistan would have nominated representatives. It
PERIOD: 2000 would have open borders. It would also involve the tripartite partition of Jammu &
Kashmir According to some experts, such an agreement was almost finalized in
1964 negotiations between President Ayub Khan and Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru.

A patriarch of jihadist movement in Jammu and Kashmir, Fazal Haq Qureshi became a key
peace aficionado in 2009 when he got the moderate Hurriyat conference into secret talks
with New Delhi following Home Minister P Chidambaram's offer of quiet diplomacy. How-
ever, later same year he was shot at in the skull by unidentified assailants and left seri-
ously injured.
Born in 1944 to a Srinagar cleric, Qureshi grew up in old-city Srinagar - the central site of
the fierce contestation between Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah's Left-influenced, pro-peas-
ant National Conference and the Islamist-leaning urban petty-bourgeoisie which shaped
post-independence Jammu and Kashmir politics.
Qureshi was one among the three members of the Students and Youth League who laid the
foundations of the jihadist movement in Jammu and Kashmir in 1964. In 1987, inflamed
by electoral malpractices which denied the opposition Muslim United Front a share in
power, Qureshi decided to form a new armed organisation. He was arrested in 1989, but
his old friend Abdul Majid Dar went on to secure Pakistani support for the idea. Dar later
co-founded the Tehrik-e-Jihad Islami, which in 1991 merged into the Hizb ul-Mujahideen.

29 30
PROPOSAL 29
Referendum sum election
PROPOSAL 30
Referendum-separate autonomy
BRAINCHILD BRAINCHILD
Kashmir Records and John Dorschner
Research Council PERIOD: 2002
PERIOD: 2001

CONTOURS
U ndertake variety of 'soft' mea CONTOURS
sures to being normalcy to re-
gion; this will be followed by pro-
cess for formulating an all-Kashmir
A two-year period of ceasefire, demilitarization, soft-borders and au
tonomy on both sides followed by internationally administered ref-
erendum; all negotiations to involve Kashmiri representation
parliament which will determine
region's future.

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OPTIONS FOR PEACE 34
PLANS THAT NEVER WORKED

31
CONTOURS
M aximum autonomy for Indian and Pakistani Kashmir without a formal parti
tions; soft borders between the two Kashmirs; negotiation to include
Kashmiris and post-agreement, ratification by Indian and Pakistani parliaments
and a referendum on both sides of the LOC.

BACKGROUND
The Good Friday Agreement - also known as the Belfast Agree-
PROPOSAL 31 ment and occasionally as the Stormont Agreement - was a
major political development in the Northern Ireland peace pro-
Good Friday agreement cess. It established the Northern Ireland Assembly with de-
volved legislative powers and marked a de-escalation of vio-
lence in The Troubles. It was signed in Belfast on 10 April 1998
BRAINCHILD (Good Friday) by the British and Irish governments and en-
Sumantra Bose dorsed by most Northern Ireland political parties. On 23 May
PERIOD: 2003 1998 the Agreement was endorsed by the voters of Northern
Ireland in a referendum. On the same day, voters in the Re-
public of Ireland voted separately to change their constitution in line with the Agree-
ment. The Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) was the only large party that opposed the
Agreement. The Agreement came into force on 2 December 1999.
Sumantra Bose is Professor of International and Comparative Politics at the London School of Economics. He specialises
in the study of ethnic and national conflicts and their management, with a particular focus on the Indian subcontinent
(especially Kashmir) and the former Yugoslavia (in particular Bosnia and Herzegovina). His publications include States,
Nations, Sovereignty: Sri Lanka, India and the Tamil Eelam Movement (Sage, 1994), Bosnia after Dayton: Nationalist
Partition and International Intervention (Oxford University Press, 2002), Kashmir: The Roots of Conflict, Paths to
Peace (Harvard University Press, 2003) and Contested Lands: War and Peace in Israel-Palestine, Kashmir, Bosnia,
Cyprus and Sri Landa (Harvard University Press, 2007).

32
CONTOURS
P akistani Kashmir and Northern Areas to Pakistan and Jammu and Ladakh
to India; Kashmir Valley given maximum autonomy on all matters ex-
cept defence, foreign affairs and currency.

Minocher P Bhandara (died June 15, 2008, popularly

PROPOSAL 32 known as Minoo, was a Pakistani businessman and
former minority representative and member of the
Partition-autonomy for Valley National Assembly of Pakistan (MNA). He belonged
BRAINCHILD to the small Zoroastrian community.
MP Bhandara
PERIOD: 2004

33PROPOSAL 33
Sovereign, autonomous
Jammu-Kashmir CONTOURS
BRAINCHILD
Ved Bhasin A utonomy sovereign, democratic, federal and demilitarized. Jammu-Kash
mir; state's security guaranteed jointly by India and Pakistan via a joint
council of representatives from Pakistan, India and Kashmir.
PERIOD: 2004

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 35
OPTIONS FOR PEACE OPTIONS FOR PEACE
PLANS THAT NEVER WORKED PLANS THAT NEVER WORKED

34PROPOSAL 34
CONTOURS
Autonomy-soft border

BRAINCHILD
Prem Shankar Jha
PERIOD: 2004

M aximum functional autonomy for Indian and Pakistani Kashmir with soft borders between them; elected
representatives from both Kashmirs decide if they want to set up a common consultative council to co-
ordinate policy on specific subjects.
Prem Shankar Jha (born 1938) is the Managing Editor of Financial World, the soon to be
launched business daily from Tehelka. He is also a columnist with Tehelka magazine. In 1961,
he joined the United Nations where he spent five years in the United Nations Development
Programme UNDP. He spent two years in New York as a special assistant to the managing
director of the Special Fund Mr. Paul G. Hoffman who was the first administrator of the UNDP.
The remaining three were spent in Damascus, Syria. In 1966 Jha joined the Hindustan Times
as an assistant editor, in 1969 he moved to the Times of India, where he was the deputy
editor of The Economic Times. He then joined the Financial Express as its editor before
moving back to the Times of India in 1981 as its economic editor. In 1986 he re-joined the
Hindustan Times as its editor. The World Bank appointed him as a consultant in 1978 to
prepare a report on the public sector in India. In 1977 the Asia and Pacific Development
Administration Centre of the UN in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia gave him the project of preparing a manual for use by public
sector managers for operation and evaluation of projects. Jha was a member of the Indian National Commission for
UNESCO in 1975-1977 and in 1976 he was a delegate to the 63rd Session of the Indian Science Congress Association,
Waltaire. In 1990 he has served as the information advisor to the Prime Minister of India. He has written nine books and
two of them are Kashmir 1947: Rival versions of History and Kashmir 1947: the Origins of a dispute

35
PROPOSAL 35
Self-Rule
CONTOURS
P akistan and India concede and de
militarize areas of Jammu-Kash-
mir no longer truly disputed; remain-
ing regions put under joint supervi-
BRAINCHILD sion of both countries with maxi-
Parvez Musharraf mum autonomy or self-rule; ensure
PERIOD: 2004 soft borders.

36
CONTOURS
C omplete autonomy to Indian and Pakistan under their respective controls;
India and Pakistan to retain control of the currency, defence, election pro-
cess and judicial systems, LOC while still demarcating territorial control to be-
come open border.

BACKGROUND
(A report in Indiadaily.com by S Chadda appearing on November 20, 2004 out-
PROPOSAL 36 lines Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's proposal for Kashmir)
No-borders-autonomy
Manmohan Singh finally came out with India's proposed and acceptable Kash-
BRAINCHILD mir solution. India will provide autonomy to Jammu and Kashmir. It will also
Manmohan Singh require that Pakistan provide the same on Pakistan occupied Kashmir. There
PERIOD: 2004 will be no "border" between the east (Pakistan) Kashmir and west (India)
Kashmir. India will hold authority over currency, defense, election process and

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OPTIONS FOR PEACE 36
PLANS THAT NEVER WORKED

judicial system. The Kashmir Government will manage the rest. Same
reciprocation will be required from Pakistan on eastern Kashmir.
While rejecting Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf's recent formula on
Kashmir, India has proposed a "self rule" and "open borders" to both parts
of Jammu and Kashmir. The proposal put forward here unofficially by the
Prime Ministers Office (PMO) has set a flurry of activity within the gov-
ernment. Officials here on Friday were busy dusting off the ''Kashmir
Autonomy Report'', passed by the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly in June
2000, but later out rightly rejected by the previous Atal Bihari Vajpayee
government.
"Dr Manmohan Singh is in a fast mode of firming up his own Kashmir
solution to counter the Musharraf formula with maximum autonomy to the
people of Jammu and Kashmir and an eventual "borderless" Kashmir by
pressurizing Pakistan to give similar autonomy in their part of Kashmir,"
sources in the PMO here said. Also China will be made to come around to Quoting the PM, the sources said:
revive silk routes between Kashmir, Tibet and Xinjiang that could gener- "India believes that there should
ate prosperity in the region. Soruces in the PMO further said, Dr be a free flow of ideas, people and
Manmohan Singh wants to bank on the same report for giving greater trade between the two parts of
autonomy to the state that was adopted by the Jammu and Kashmir Kashmir. In this increasingly
Assembly during the chief ministership of Dr. Farooq Abdullah but rejected borderless world, a day may also
by the NDA government as not in national interest despite his National come in Kashmir when borders
Conference being its partner. would not matter. It would be then
During his visit to Delhi on November 23, Pakistan Prime Minister Shaukat immaterial where the Kashmiris
Aziz is supposed to officially convey the proposals floated by President
live."
Pervez Musharraf through the media. Dr Manmohan Singh has, however,
foreclosed any consideration of such proposals by asserting that there The Congress on Friday hailed
would be no redrawing of the international boundaries or realignment of Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh
regions that smacks of communal dimensions. Sources said, Dr Manmohan for asserting India's unwavering
Singh may give his counter proposals to Aziz for both sides moving fast to stand on its territorial integrity
give maximum autonomy to the people living on two sides of the Line of during his two-day visit to Jammu
Control (LoC) and India will then proceed to start the process of autonomy and Kashmir by rejecting the so-
in Jammu and Kashmir to build pressure on Pakistan to follow suit. called Musharraf formula to resolve
India has the benefit of the autonomy report prepared by the Kashmiri the Kashmir issue. Party spokes-
experts and adopted by the state assembly to move fast in this direction, man Abhishek Singhavi told report-
the sources pointed out. They said it is not necessary for New Delhi to ers at the AICC Press briefing that
agree on everything in the report but it will be the basis for starting a Dr Manmohan Singh has made
process of political discussion. India is keen that the Supreme Court, the
sincere efforts to impart fresh
Election Commission and the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG)
continue to have jurisdiction over Jammu and Kashmir. Once the PM gets impetus to Kashmir with an open
an analysis of the autonomy report he has ordered to be prepared expedi- invite to all for a dialogue to rerail
tiously, he will start discussions with those within the political system- the state on the path of growth
both in the government and in the opposition in Jammu and Kashmir- and prosperity. While the PM was
while keeping doors open also for others who want to contribute in bring- engaged in constructive and
ing a new "aman" (peace) to the people of the state, the sources said. sincere exercise, the Uma Bharti
They said the PM may even go to the extent of ushering in the pre-1953 episode overshadowing the BJP
autonomy, where New Delhi had powers limited to foreign affairs, defense whole of the week provided the
and currency. "If it dilutes and ends the anti-India attitude of the contrast of comic and hypocritical
Kashmiris, New Delhi is ready to re-limit its role to these three areas stance, Singhavi said. "In place of
besides jurisdiction of the Supreme Court, Election Commission and the flip-flop-flip by the previous
Comptroller and Auditor-General in the state," the source said. regime on India-Pakistan relations,
The PM's disgust at the Hurriyat Conference leaders showing no courtesy
the unequivocal stand of the PM
to come forward to meet even when he traveled all the way to their land
was conveyed to the media accompanying him in no uncertain terms, shows where India stands,"
dubbing the Hurriyat leaders as "small men thrown into big chairs." Singhavi said. The economic
Pointing out that these leaders have no more sway except in own local package of Rs 24,000 crores
areas, the sources asserted that they cannot be allowed any longer to be announced by the PM for J&K is
even seen as dictating to the Prime Minister of India. The same Hurriyat moulded by schemes with lasting
leaders who refused to meet Manmohan Singh are to line up in Delhi on infrastructure that guarantees
November 23 on an invite from the Pakistan High Commissioner in Delhi growth of the state instead of the
for a luncheon with the Pakistan Prime Minister and that itself shows ad hoc handouts bordering on
these leaders should be better treated with the contempt they deserve, charity by the previous government
the sources said. at the Centre, Singhavi added.

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37 OPTIONS FOR PEACE
PLANS THAT NEVER WORKED

37
PROPOSAL 37
Autonomy-partition
CONTOURS
F ull autonomy to a partitioned Jammu-Kash
mir, a soft LOC , with minimum changes be-
comes the international border; state represen-
BRAINCHILD
tatives of Pakistani and Indian Kashmir manage
Kuldip Nayyar all affairs except defence, foreign affairs and
PERIOD: 2004 communications.

38
PROPOSAL 38
Autonomy-partition

BRAINCHILD
Verghese Koithara
PERIOD: 2004

CONTOURS
L OC declared international border with minimal alternations; border remains soft; maximum autonomy with
devolution of government on both sides; greatly reduced military presence; low-level mediations role for the
United States.

39
PROPOSAL 39
Separate autonomy-joint body
BRAINCHILD
CONTOURS

M aximum autonomy through devolved powers for both sides of Kash

mir; Pakistan integrates Gilgit and Baltistan with Pakistani Kashmir; a
permanent body formed jointly by India, Pakistan and representatives
from Indian and Pakistani Kashmir responsible for day-to-day functions;
soft borders with totally free movement in the long run.

Strategic Foresight Group

PERIOD: 2005

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OPTIONS FOR PEACE 38
PLANS THAT NEVER WORKED

40
CONTOURS
R eunified Jammu-Kashmir with maximum autonomy for both sides; a state-
wide referendum to ratify level of autonomy; demilitarization except for
strategically important external borders; joint India-Pakistan control over
issues of vital national interest.

Dr Mubashir Hasan is a well-known figure in both aca-

demic and political circles in Pakistan. A Ph.D. in civil
PROPOSAL 40 engineering, he served as an irrigation engineer and
Autonomy-referendum taught at the engineering university at Lahore. His
formal entry into politics took place in 1967 when the
founding convention of the Pakistan Peoples' Party was
BRAINCHILD held at his residence. He was elected a member of the
National Assembly of Pakistan in 1970 and served as
Mubashir Hassan Finance Minister in the late Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali
PERIOD: 2005 Bhutto's Cabinet from 1971-1974. In 1975, he was
elected Secretary General of the PPP. Dr Hasan has writ-
ten three books, numerous articles, and has spoken

41
extensively on social, economic and political subjects

CONTOURS
A utonomy for the entire state; Pakistan's Northern Areas and territory under
Chinese control remains with the respective countries; demilitarization of
troubled areas; self -government to Kashmir's; a tripartite supra body having
representatives from Pakistan, India and Kashmir to oversee the functioning of a
self-governed Jammu-Kashmir.

PROPOSAL 41
Four-Point Formula
BRAINCHILD
PERVEZ MUSHARRAF
PERIOD: 2006
The four point proposal:
• phased withdrawal of troops
• local self-governance
• no changes in the borders of Kash
mir
• a joint supervision mechanism in
Jammu and Kashmir involving In
dia, Pakistan and Kashmir.
BACKGROUND
Pakistan's ruler Pervez Musharraf all along his tenure talked about creative
proposals on Kashmir. It was during his regime that Pakistan indicated irrel-
evance of UN resolution and offered to broad-base dialogue with India. 2004
onwards Musharraf started talking about a 'self governance' or 'four-point
formula'. However, it was only in December 2006 that he spelled out his for-
mula which was widely welcomed in India, some sections of Pakistan and in
Kashmir for the purpose of discussions. It was also first time that Pakistani
publicly said to give up its claim to Kashmir. In an interview to Indian news
channel NDTV ON December 4, 2006 Pervez Musharraf spelled out a four-point
plan for Kashmir that rejected demands for independence. Giving a cold
response to Musharraf's suggestions to resolve the Kashmir issue the Indian
government, however, said that it was committed to peace and removal of
distrust but not in favour of redrawing of boundaries. Musharraf's four-point
solution included phased withdrawal of troops; local self-governance; no
changes in the borders of Kashmir; and a joint supervision mechanism in
Jammu and Kashmir involving India, Pakistan and Kashmir. Musharraf also
said he was opposed to independence for Kashmir, but both India and Pakistan
will have to compromise.

42
CONTOURS
S overeignty for Jammu-Kashmir; New Delhi and Islamabad demilitarize their re
spective parts; formal relationship between Pakistan and Indian Kashmir; and
India and Pakistani Kashmir, the tow Kasshmirs have an economic union, joint im-
migration control, joint control over natural resources and additional sector-spe-
cific co-operation.

Sajjad Gani Lone is a Kashmiri politician, the youngest son

PROPOSAL 42 of Abdul Ghani Lone, who was killed in a rally in Srinagar.
Achievable nationhood After the death of his father, Sajjad Lone became the chair-
man of People's Conference. In the 2009 Indian general elec-
tion he stood as an independent candidate in Baramulla, be-
BRAINCHILD coming the first separatist leader to stand in a general elec-
Sajjad Lone, tion in Jammu and Kashmir in 20 years. He was defeated by
PERIOD: 2006 the National Conference candidate Sharifuddin Shariq.

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39
OPTIONS FOR PEACE OPTIONS FOR PEACE
PLANS THAT NEVER WORKED PLANS THAT NEVER WORKED
CONTOURS

42
S elf-rule for all of Jammu-Kashmir;
soft border but no partition or al
tering of the Line of Control;
Jammu, Ladakh and Kashmir Valley
form their own local assemblies;
power-sharing arrangement be-
tween Indian and Pakistani Kashmir
through a regional council includ-
ing legislators from both sides. Po-
litical restructuring, economic inte-
PROPOSAL 43 gration between the two parts of
Self-Rule Framework Kashmir, demilitarisation and con-
stitutional restructuring within the
Indian Constitution are the high-
lights of the self rule formula which
BRAINCHILD was floated by the Peoples Demo-
Peoples Democratic Party cratic Party in 2006 and the vision
document was formally unveiled on
PERIOD: 2006 onwards October 26, 2008. The self-rule
document was firm on making Ar-
ticle 356 (imposition of President's Rule) non-applicable to Jammu and
Kashmir, for which a separate constitution and its special status under
Article 370 formed the basis. The Governor should be elected and ro-
tated between Jammu and Srinagar. The PDP termed the economic aspect
the critical element of self-rule. Economic integration across the LoC was
paramount. For the process of integration, establishing a common eco-
nomic space, instituting a dual currency system, harmonisation of eco-
nomic legislation and synergistic regulations were important ingredients

44
CONTOURS
Constituency for peace developed through economic integration between
India and Pakistani Kashmir; 10-year economic development plan leading
to free movement of people and tariff-free trade of Kashmiri goods across
Pakistan, India and Jammu-Kashmir. The new opportunities explored in
his reported written with support from United States Institute of Peace
involve moving along three fronts simultaneously. First, India should grant
autonomy to the state well beyond that promised in Article 370 of its
Constitution. Second, India and Pakistan should allow the free movement
PROPOSAL 44 of people, goods, and commodities between Pakistan and the part of Kash-
mir India occupies. The most appropriate way of achieving this would be
Economics replacing politics in the context of the South Asia Free Trade Area, which, having become
operational on January 1, 2006, is likely to evolve in terms of its scope
BRAINCHILD and geographic coverage. Third, India and
Shahid Javed Burki, USIP Pakistan should become partners, so that
they-along with a community of interna-
PERIOD: 2007 tional and bilateral donors-might consider
launching a massive program of economic
development and reconstruction on both
sides of the border. Although the program
suggested in this study would cost $20
billion over a ten-year period, it would
roughly double the state's gross domestic
product growth rate to 9.5 percent a year,
significantly reduce the pool of poverty,
and better integrate the economies of the
two parts of the state with Pakistan and
northern India, respectively. This, in turn,
would set the stage for the ultimate reso-
lution of this long-standing conflict
A Pakistani economist, Shahid Javed Burki is a former vice president of the World
Bank, where he worked from to 1999. He also served as finance minister of Paki-
stan in 1996-97. In 2004 he was at Woodrow Wilson Center for International Schol-
ars, where he began work on his latest Historical Dictionary of Pakistan, which was
published by Scarecrow Press in 2006

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COLUMN
HISTORY
India's Relations with the Central Asia:
An Assessment of the Poicies 0f
the Mughal Emperors of India during the 16th and 17th Century.
PROF JIGAR MOHAMMED
I
ndia and Central Asian countries
maintained diplomatic and com
mercial contacts with each other
from ancient period. Both the Cen-
tral Asian and Indian cultures influ-
enced each other from time to time.
The Central Asians came to India as
rulers or conquerors, soldiers, mer-
chants, sufis, artisans craftsmen and
musicians etc. India always remained
a favourable country to them in terms
of territorial aggrandisement and cul-
tural exchange. The Kushans who
ruled many parts of India for a sub-
stantial period, contributed greatly
for the cultural development of In-
dia, Kanishka, the Kushan ruler of Ist
and IInd century A.D. introduced the
Shaka calendar in India. Satish
Chandra, one of the most sincere
modern historians, rightly observes,
"Throughout Indian History events
and developments in Central Asia had
a deep and abiding impact on
India…during the 10th and 12th cen-
turies developments in Central Asia
led to the advent of the Ghazanavids,
then of Ghurids into India. Similarly,
developments in Cental Asia during
the 15th and 16th centuries, led to a
new Turkish incursion into India, this
time in the shape of Zahiruddin
Muhammad Babur." (Satish Chandra,
Medieval India, Part Two,Mughal Em-
pire (1526-1748), Delhi, 2004, (p.1)
Although the process of the
cultural contacts between Central
Asian states and India started to be
strong with foundation of the Kushan
rule in India, with the establishment
of the Turkish Sultanate in north In-
dia, both the diplomatic and commer-
cial relations between these two re-
gions were very much widened. Dur-
ing the Sultanate period (1206-1526),
the Central Asian, Persian and Indian
cultures came closer to each other. It
is well established that the sufis,
merchants, scholars and skilled work-
ers travelled from Central Asia and
www.epilogue.in
(PART-I)
Persia to India in search of better op-
portunities. It is known that the
Sufism emerged as one of the most
popular social trends of India during
the medieval period. Most of the Sufi
Silsilas, established in India, be-
longed to Central Asia and Persia. The
occurrence of the socio-political cri-
sis in Central Asia and Persia during
the 12th and 13th centuries, caused
by the Guzz and Mangol invasions,
made devastating impact on the
socio-economic life of the people of
these regions; a large number of
people of people migrated from their
homelands to other areas. Since In-
dia was better place in terms of peace
and resource, some of the Central
Asians and Persians came to India.
Even the family of famous sufi Shaikh
Nizamuddin Aulia became the victims
of these invasions and decided to mi-
grate to India. Both Khwaja Ali, the
paternal grand father of Shaikh
Nizamuddin Aulia, and Khwaja Arab,
the maternal grand father of Shaikh
Nizamuddin
Aulia, belonged to Bokhara.
They could not sustain the onslaught
of the Mangol leader Changiz Khan
and migrated from Bokhara to Lahore
and later on they settled at Badaun
(in modern Uttar Pradesh). Similarly,
merchants of Central Asia also en-
larged their trading contacts with In-
dia during the Sultanate period. It is
known that Iltutmish came to India
as a slave. He was brought to India
by two slave merchants of Bokhara,
known as Bukhara Haji Ali and
Jamaluddin Quba. They sold Iltutmish
to the Turkish ruler Qutub-ud-din
Aibak of the Sultanate of Delhi Later
on Iltutmish became the Sutlan
(1210-36) of the Sultanate of Delhi.
Changiz Khan's attack on Persia com-
pelled Jalal-ud-din Mangbarani, son
of Khwarazm Shah of Persia, to flee
to India. When Changiz Khan came
to know that Jalal-ud-din Mangbarani
Vol. 5 Issus 02
40
had taken shelter at Multan, he at-
tacked Multan and Lahore and cap-
tured them. But because of the hot
climate of Punjab the Mangols had to
go back to their mountainous region.
During the 13th and 14th cen-
turies the Mangol leaders of Central
Asia, from Changiz Khan to Timur,
invaded north west frontier of India
frequently. Virtually Punjab region be-
came a source of the income of the
Mangols in terms of plundering. Be-
cause of the Mangol menace people
of many villages of Punjab migrated
from their native places to other
safer areas. The sovereignty of the
Sultans of Delhi was always endan-
gered by the Mangol invasions.
Timur's invasions of India in 1398
devastated the area from Multan to
Delhi. His invasion brought deluge for
both the common people and ruling
class of north India, Many rulers of
north west frontier of India accepted
his sovereignty. His invasion also
changed the political set up of the
Sultanate of Delhi. It caused the de-
cline of the Tughluq dynasty. Sayyid
Khizr Khan, one of the associates of
Timur, laid the foundation of the rule
of the Sayyid dynasty in India. The
Sayyid dynasty acted as one of the
tributaries of Timur in the Sultanate
of Delhi. As a mark of the recogni-
tion of Timur's sovereignty, Khizr
Khan included the name of Timur and
after him Shah Rukh in the Khutba.
However, it was Sultanate
period when the Mangols of Central
Asia realised the influence of Indian
culture on themselves. During the
reign of the Sultan Jalal-ud-din Khilji
(1290-96), the Mangols under their
leader Abdullah attacked the north
west frontier of India. Jalal-ud-din
Khilji defeated the Mangols and com-
pelled Abdullah to retire from the
frontier of India. At the same time a
process of the friendship between the
Mangols and Sultan of Delhi started.
Epilogue, February 2011
41
Ulugh Khan, a grand son of
Halaku, along with his army men ac-
cepted Islam and sought permission
from the Sultan Jalal-ud-din Khilji to
stay in the Sultanate of Delhi. The
Sultan not only permitted them to
settle in Delhi, but he also provided
them accommodation and other sup-
ports The Mangol settlement used
to be called Mughalpura. The Mangol
leader Timur was also very much im-
pressed by the skills of the Indian ar-
tisans. After his invasion when he
departed from India to Samarqand,
he carried on a large number of the
Indian artisans as captives to
Samarqand. It is said that Timur was
very much impressed from the archi-
tectural beauty of the Jama
mosque of Delhi, constructed
by the Sultan Firoz Shah Tughluq
(1351-87). When Timur reached
Samarqand, he ordered the construc-
tion of a grand mosque there. He
also ordered that the Indian masons
and craftsmen, brought by him to
Samarqand, were to be employed for
the beautification of the mosque.
Thus India's interactions with the
Mangols of the Central Asia started
with destructive activities of the lat-
ter, but later on a process of cultural
synthesis also started.
During the 16th century the
Mughals entered India as conqueror
and ruling class under the leadership
of Zahir-ud-din Muhammad Babur.
They were very much proud of being
the descendants of Changiz Khan and
Timur. Before the foundation of
Mughal rule in India Babur and his
ancestors had played a leading role
in the political life of Central Asia.
His father Mirza Umar Shaikh was the
ruler of Farghana. After the latter's
death in 1494, Babur became the ruler
of Farghana. In the beginning of his
reign in Farghana Babur not only
maintained an effective control on it,
but he also initiated a process of ter-
ritorial expansion and conquered
Samarqand in 1497. But the political
strife and mutual rivalries among the
ruling families of Central Asia did not
allow Babur to keep his political power
intact for long time. Both his rela-
tions and Uzbeks attacked him. The
attack of Shaibani Khan Uzbek com-
pelled him to leave his native state.
In 1502 he went to Tashkant, ruled
by his maternal uncle Mahmud Khan.
n 1504 Babur came to Kabul and es-
tablished his rule. He maintained his
rule in Kabul up to 1525. But he found
that Kabul was a very small and eco-
nomically weak area, there was hardly
www.epilogue.in
any opportunity for Babur to express
his talent in terms of military strength
and territorial aggrandisement. How-
ever, in 1526 he was provided an op-
portunity by the Afghans of India to
extend his rule beyond Kabul. In the
same year he attacked the Afghan
Sultan Ibrahim Lodi (1517-26) of the
Sultanate of Delhi and defeated him.
Babur's success against Ibrahim Lodi
led to the establishment of the
Mughal rule in India
With the foundation of
Mughal rule in India, Babur initiated
a policy to strengthen ties between
India and Central Asia. Though Babur
came to India with a definite objec-
tive of making it as a place of his
permanent settlement, he and his
associates worked on the political
pattern of Central Asia. It is impor-
tant to mention that after the estab-
lishment of his sovereignty in north
India, Babur dreamt to bring
Farghana and Samarqand under his
control. Keeping in view the political
trends of Central Asia he decided
keep a watch on its political devel-
opments. He was fully aware that the
foundation of his rule in India could
be shaken by his Central Asian rivals.
It is well established that Babur's con-
temporary Cental Asian states were
full of internal conflicts, conspiracy
and tribal rivalries. Commenting on
the internal conditions of Central Asia
in the first of the 16th century, E.
Dennison Ross, the translator of the
Tarikh-i-Rashidi, writes, " In Central
Asia it was a period of full of acci-
dent: were on foot on every side:
states were over run and cities be-
sieged, while rulers arose and went
down, almost from day today, accord-
ing to their fortune in war or intrigue.
The princes and the descendents of
exiled ruling families, together with
most of the Khans and Begs of the
various tribes,
found themselves forced to
take a side, either in support of their
house or their relations, or in their
self defence, and in many cases they
seem to have changed sides with as
little consideration for the rights and
wrongs of the cause, as when they
first took a part in the quarrel. When
they were strong they attacked a
neighbour with or without reason…"
(Mirza Haidar Dughlat, Tarikh-i-
Rashidi (Persian), Eng, Translation by
Dennison Ross, Delhi, 1986, p.2)
His political experience and
early difficulties realised Babur to
have a strong frontier to deal with
his Central Asian rivals. He also in-
Vol. 5 Issus 02
COLUMN
HISTORY
structed his son Nasir-ud-din
Muhammad Humayun to take advan-
tage of the Uzbeks defeat at the
hands of Shah Tahmasp of Persia.
Babur wanted that Humayun should
conquer Samarqand. Though
Humayun failed to fulfil the desire of
his father, Babur till the last days of
his life was hopeful of conquering
Samarqand and ruling it from Agra
Babur's attachment with his
ancestral lands in Central Asia is viv-
idly depicted in his Memoirs, Tuzuk-
i-Baburi or Baburnama. In his Mem-
oirs he gives a detailed description
of the different places of Central
Asia. His description of Farghana and
Samarqand incorporates their physi-
cal features, existing political sys-
tems, nature of the population, army,
agriculture, horticulture and routes
to the different neighbouring states.
To keep the memory of Central Asia
alive in the minds of his successors
and to inspire them to strengthen
their ties with Farghana and
Samarqand Babur narrates the
achievements of his ancestors, from
Timur to his own father Mirza Umar
Shaikh, in very interesting manner.
To draw the attention of the Mughals
of India towards the significance of
Samarqand Babru writes, "Few towns
in the whole hospitable world are so
pleasant as Samarkand…its country
people used to call (it) Mawara' un-
nahr(Transoxiana). They used to call
it Baldat-i-mahfuza because no foe
laid hands on it with storm and sack.
It must have become Musalman in
the time of the Commander of the
Faithful, his Highness 'Usman'.
Qusam ibn Abbas, one of the com-
panions, must have gone there; his
burial place, known as the tomb of
the Shah-i-Zinda( the Living Shah,
i.e. Faqir) is outside the Iron Gate.
Iskandar must have founded
Samarkand. The Turks and Mughals
hordes call it Simiz-kint (fat village)
Timur Beg made his capital; no ruler
of so great will ever have made it a
capital before (qilghan aimas dur). I
ordered people to pace round the
ramparts of the walled-town; it came
out at 10,000 steps (qadam).
Samrkandis are all orthodox (sunni),
pure-in-the Faith, lqw abiding and
religious. The number of Leaders of
Islam said to hae arisen in Ma wara'
u'n-nahr, since the days of his High-
ness the Prophet, are not known to
have arisen in any other country…In
the town and suburbs of Samarkand
are many fine buildings and gardens
of Timur Beg and Aulugh Beg Mirza.
Epilogue, February 2011
COLUMN
HISTORY
In the citadel, Timur Beg
erected a very fine building, the great
four-storeyed kiosque, known as the
Gul Sarai. In the walled town, again,
near the Iron Gate, he built a Friday
Mosque of stone (sangin); on this
worked many stone-cutters, brought
from Hindustan…Samarkand is a won-
derfully beautified town. One of its
specialities, perhaps found in few
other places, is that the different
traders are not mixed up together in
it but each has its own bazar, a good
sort of plan. Its bakers and cooks are
good. The best paper in the world is
made there…Another article of
Samarkand trade, carried to all sides
and quarters, is cramoisy velvet."
(Zahiruddin Muhammad Babur,
Baburnama, Eng. Tr. by A.S.
Beveridge, Delhi, 1997, pp. 74-81).
Babur's methods and approach of nar-
rating te historical events of Central
Asia indicate that he presented his
memoirs as a gazetteer to his suc-
cessors in India.
However, to keep a close
watch on the political situation of
Central Asia Babur worked in two
ways. First, he kept a strong control
over the routes from India to Cen-
tral;
throughout his reign he re-
tained Kabul, Ghazni, Qandhar and
Badakhshan as the integral parts of
Mughal India and developed friendly
diplomatic relations with Central
Asia's neighbouring countries such as
Persia, Ottoman Turkey and others.
Secondly, he exchanged envoys with
Central Asia frequently.12 Thus, first
time in the history of India, Babur
made India an active participants in
the Central Asian politics and widened
the scope for a long lasting diplomatic
relations between India and Central
Asia. Babur initiated a definite pat-
tern of Central Asian policy, which
intended to have regular political con-
tacts with Central Asia so that his em-
pire could be safe and no Central Asian
power could get an opportunity to
share political power with him in In-
dia. Even Babur did not associate with
the Uzbegs to form an alliance against
Persia. From his days in Central Asia
to the foundation of his rule in India
Babur felt more comfortable to be
nearer to Persia than to Uzbeks.
Babur's Central Asian policy,
in terms of diplomatic relation, was
broadened by his successors. Though
Nasiruddin Muhammad Humayun
(1530-40 and 1555-56) was very
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much involved in the internal affairs
of his empire and had hardly any
time to play a role in the Central
Asian politics or to initiate a new
policy to safeguard the frontier of
his empire against the Uzbeks, he
made an alliance with Safavide ruler
Shah Tahmasp of Persia to regain his
lost empire of India instead of seek-
ing any assistance from the Uzbeks
of Central Asia. Humayun also
treated Balkh as a buffer between
him and the Uzbeks. When Humayun
returned from Persia, he decided to
strengthen his position in Afghani-
stan and Transoxiana. First he con-
quered Qandhar, Kabul and
Badakhshan. Humayun also attacked
Balkh and defeated its Uzbek gover-
nor Pir Muhammed . But because of
the rebellion of his brother Kamran
Huamyun failed to maintain his sov-
ereignty in the Balkh and it was re-
occupied by the Uzbeks.
The Mughal emperor
Akbar(1556-1605) not only continued
the Central Asian policy of his an-
cestors, but he also added some new
points to it intending to keep peace
in Central Asia. Akbar believed that
peace in Central Asia could
strengthen the internal security of
India. It is important to mention that
When Akbar became the Mughal
emperor, the political chaos was the
dominant trend of Central Asia.
Abdul Aziz, the ruler of Transoxiana
died in 1551. Afterwards his succes-
sors such as Muhammad Yar Sultan,
Burban Khan and Borak Khan contrib-
uted to the spread of political insta-
bility and factionalism in Central
Asia. It was 1570s when Abdulla Khan
Uzbek fought for the establishment
of political stability in large part of
Central Asia. He became successful
in his mission and became the mas-
ter of the large parts of Central Asia.
Abdulla made considerable gains in
term of territorial expansion. He
also showed his inclination to form
an alliance with the Mughals of In-
dia to strengthen his position in Cen-
tral Asia and reduce the power of the
Shah of Persia. In 1572-73 Abdulla
Khan initiated the process of
strenthening his ties with the Mughal
emperor Akbar. According to Abul
Fazl, "One of the occurrences of this
time (1572-73)…was that Abdullah
Khan Uzbeg, the ruler of Turan, was
induced by the fame and majesty of
this sovereignty (Akbar's) to send
Vol. 5 Issus 02
42
Haji Altamash as an ambassodor. He
brought with him letters of respects
and affection, and the curiosities of
his country. The purport of his let-
ters was to recall ancient relations
and to renew friendship, in order
that by the help of such Divine glory
he might act vigorously against the
other princes of Turan. Another ob-
ject was that he might repose in
peace and be without apprehension
of the strokes of this world conquer-
ing armies. For greater security and
success he sent presents to Munim
Khan Khan-i-Khanan and the Khan
Aazim Mirza Mirza Koka in order that
they might exert themselves to lay
the foundations of friendship. The
prudent sovereign received the am-
bassador graciously, and gave him
his dismissal after he had discharged
his duty. Present consisting of the
rarities of India were sent along with
him." (Abul Fazl, Akbarnama, Vol. II,
Eng.
Tr. by H. Beveridge, Delhi,
1972, p. 534) The mention of Abul
Fazl regarding the letters of Abdulla
Khan to the Mughal emperor Akbar
through his said envoy show that the
Uzbek leader wished to have an alli-
ance with the Mughals of India.
Though the purpose of the forma-
tion of this alliance is not clearly
shown by the letter, it seems that
Abdulla Khan intended to use his al-
liance with the Mughals against Per-
sia. But as far as Akbar's response
was concerned, Abul Fazl's mention
clear shows that the Mughal emperor
did not show any interest in forming
an alliance with the Uzbek against
any other neighbouring power. Even
Akbar did not send his envoy to
Abdulla Khan to encourage diplo-
matic exchanges. Two reasons have
been given by the modern histori-
ans for Akbar's cold response to the
Abdulla Khan's initiatives. First,
Akbar was planning to conquer Turan.
Secondly, Akabr was not interested
to embitter his relations with Persia
for the sake of Uzbek's interests.
However, Akbar intensified the pro-
cess of the commercial contacts with
the Central Asia. The Ain-i-Akbari
records of the presence of Central
Asian products and Central Asians in
the Indian markets, army and liter-
ary field etc. Abul Fazl, author of the
Ain-i-Akbari, mentions the fruits of
the Central Asia, available in India,
the Mewa-i-Turan.
Epilogue, February 2011
43
Ladakh's Education Reforms:
Scaling up and down
TSEWANG RIGZIN
R ight after the independence until
recent years, there have been nu-
merous incredible movements initi-
ated by Ladakhi leaders and social
reformers to bring awareness among
Ladakhi public about the very mean-
ing and importance of education and
strengthening of government schools,
to make education accessible and af-
fordable to all reach and poor. Many
of Ladakh's renowned and admired
doctors, engineers and officers, both
retired and serving, are the products
of government schools of a time when
private school culture almost didn't
exist in the region. But those days
education through schooling system
was new to Ladakhi society, and con-
sequently people were reluctant to
enroll their children into school for
modern education. Fortunately, Leh
Ladakh had prominent leaders like
Kushok Bakula Rinpochey who, during
1950s and 1960s, launched door to
door campaigns in every nook and
corner of the region to convince
Ladakhi people for enrolling their chil-
dren into schools.
However, with the passage of time,
between 1980s and early 1990's, the
quality of education through govern-
ment schools had deteriorated and the
education system had become quite
irrelevant to Ladakhi children, and as
result of which the pass percentage
in class 10th was not more than five.
Every year hundreds of youth were
coming out of schools as metric failed
students. The participation of par-
ents in the betterment of schools or
the community ownership of their vil-
lage schools almost didn't exist. "The
language used in books and exams
was one non-Ladakhi language, Urdu,
up to class 8, and then another, En-
glish, for classes 9 and 10. All the text-
books, even in early primary classes,
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came from Delhi. The examples were
of unfamiliar cultures and environ-
ments like ships, oceans, coconut
trees and monsoon rains. These alien
examples in alien languages only con-
fused Ladakhi children".
Students' Educational & Cultural
Movement of Ladakh (SECMOL) was
found in response to the gloomy state
of education and in 1994 it launched
a movement called the Operation
New Hope (ONH) to make education
relevant and meaningful to Ladakhi
society. With the formation of the
Ladakh Autonomous Hill Develop-
ment Council Leh in 1995, the ONH
was adopted by the Hill Council as
its policy on education. Through this
movement efforts have been made
to bring the education system closer
to Ladakh's life and culture. Hun-
dreds of teachers, Village Educations
Committee (VEC) members and other
community leaders were given appro-
priate trainings. Medium of instruc-
tion was changed from Urdu to En-
glish and locally relevant textbooks
were introduced.
"The ONH movement had three
arms working together: the Govern-
ment, the Non-Governmental Orga-
nizations (NGOs), and the village
communities.
ONH's aims and objectives have
been:
„ To organize the village com-
munities for active constructive par-
ticipation in the running of schools
through the formation of Village Edu-
cation Committees (VECs).
„ To train teachers in creative,
child-centered, and activity-based
teaching methods in order to make
schooling less painful and more joy-
ful for children.
„ To produce Ladakh-relevant
versions of primary textbooks and
Vol. 5 Issus 02
LADAKH AFFAIRS
EDUCATION
teaching materials.
„ To use the above factors to
revive the interest, strengthen the
confidence, and enhance the dedica-
tion of Government school teachers."
Due to the initiatives taken
through ONH many things started
changing in the otherwise given-up
government schools of Ladakh. One
simple indicator of our success has
been the matriculation results, which
rose up to 56% pass by 2004, after
being a mere 5% pass continuously
until 1998. It was indeed a signifi-
cant achievement in a span of one
decade, yet there were still lots of
things to do to achieve the goals en-
visaged through the Operation New
Hope. When the Government of In-
dia launched the Sarva Shiksha
Abiyan program in the year 2000, it
had already been almost five years
in Leh district to have launched the
much acclaimed Operation New Hope,
similar to the national program SSA.
Launch of Ladakh Model of
Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan
The launch of the Model of Sarva
Shiksha Abhiyan (LMSSA) or the sec-
ond phase of Operation New Hope by
the then President of India, Dr. APJ
Abdul Kalam in Leh in 2006 at Leh
was another historical event in the
process of education reform move-
ment. This program was formulated
to further address the remaining ills
in the government school system if
they are to survive as a source of
quality education for all. This pro-
gram aimed to present the major
challenges facing Ladakhi schools due
to which the government schools
show very poor results making them
unable to attract children, despite the
fact that in Ladakh the government
spends more than a staggering over
Epilogue, February 2011
LADAKH AFFAIRS
EDUCATION
Rs 2,000 per child per month,
which is comparable to any best pri-
vate school. Thus the program aimed
to overhaul the government school-
ing system in Ladakh and make our
otherwise neglected rural government
schools comparable in quality to any
other private or public schools. The
vision statement of the program
states: "The ultimate vision of the
programme would be to jump-start
the government educational machin-
ery to a level of quality where the
educated and the influential of the
society can also entrust their children
to state schools. It may sound far-
fetched for the rest of the country but
in Ladakh, after ten years of reforms,
this process has already started and
there are instances of people includ-
ing some leaders bringing their chil-
dren from private schools into an im-
proved local government school."
The State directorate of Sarva
Shiksha Abhiyan hoped that this pro-
gram would become a paradigm shift
in the educational system at elemen-
tary level. Responding to LMSSA con-
cept document the then State Project
Director SSA Mr Farooq Ahmed Peer
noted that the practical and beautiful
ideas put forward in the paper touch
the core problems affecting elemen-
tary education. "I must inform you that
SSA does not only support such ideas
but prompts the various stakehold-
ers to think innovatively and imple-
ment the program in the local socio-
cultural context, Mr. Peer appreci-
ated.
Dr. Kalam was so optimistic about
the education reform movement in
Ladakh that he even appreciated the
launch of the Ladakh Model of Sarva
Shiksha Abhiyan in his speech on the
eve of the Independence Day 2006.
In his address to the nation on eve of
the independence day, referring to the
improvement of Ladakh's education
system and the launch Ladakh Model
of Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, the Dr
Kalam said, "I am very confident that
such initiatives, when applied across
the country in the total education sys-
tem will enable us to realize near 100
percent literacy and employable skills
among youth, leading to a Knowledge
Society by the year 2020."
www.epilogue.in
44
Stagnancy and collapse of country how it can create a national
historic reforms educational system that truly reflects
the principles of Bhutan's unique de-
Soon after its historic launch
velopment philosophy of Gross Na-
by the President of Indian in presence
tional Happiness (GNH). The Prime
of the Governor and the Chief Minis-
Minister of Royal Government of
ter of Jammu & Kashmir among dig-
Bhutan Mr. Jigmi Y. Thinley sought the
nitaries, LMSSA had to be suspended
expertise of Mr. Wangchuk to help
on account of some differences arose
Bhutan "clearly delineate our vision
between Mr. M K Dwevidi, the then
and educational objectives and how
deputy commissioner and chief ex-
we can achieve and implement them".
ecutive councilor of the Hill Council
Hence, the sudden collapse in the
and SECMOL, the organization which
process of education reform move-
partnered the Hill Council for LMSSA
ment, among other factors, can be
and ONH movements. The Chairman
well attributed to the uncalled for
of the Hill Council had requested
actions of Mr. M K Dwevidi, who,
SECMOL to continue its support to the
before his transfer from Leh, kept no
Hill Council by "providing expertise
stone unturned to create a deep rift
in teachers' trainings and mobilizing
between the government depart-
and training the Village Education
ments and reputed local NGOs (a clas-
Committees" to realize the goals en-
sical example of "divide and rule" for-
visaged through such movements.
mula).
But on the other hand, Mr. M K Dwevidi
This is of course very discourag-
ordered a complete ban on SECMOL's
ing to see that after years of struggle
collaboration with any government
to reform the education system things
department. Showing some brutal use
are once again moving back to square
of power, the DC leveled the founder
one. A number of primary schools had
of SECMOL and architect of the Op-
to be closed in the district in the re-
eration New Hope (ONH), Mr. Sonam
cent years on account of several rea-
Wangchuk with charges including
sons including parents pulling their
antinational among many other alle-
children from government schools and
gations. Since then the NGO sus-
enrolling them into private schools.
pended its activities with govern-
Parents in certain areas have once
ment schools in Leh. Consequently
again stated losing faith in the gov-
this ambitious program had to be put
ernment run village schools. The
into hibernation.
most affected ones from such a poor
The suspension of such move-
system are mainly the voiceless and
ments has affected the rural schools
powerless children hailing from rural
a lot. Class 10th results in Leh in the
villages of Ladakh, because govern-
last few years have once again shown
ment schools are a ray of hope for
the signs of stagnation and degrada-
quality education for all - rich and
tion. The dismal result brings to fore
poor, rural and urban.
the negligence caused to the educa-
tion sector by the concerned authori-
Formation of VECs and fund
ties. Authorities have failed to main-
raising drives..
tain and carry forward such presti-
Dr. Kalam donated an amount of
gious education movement of Ladakh
rupees 3 lakh (three hundred thou-
like the ONH which is being replicated
sand rupees) to the VECs of the dis-
in other parts of the country and the
trict. The Hill Council distributed this
world today. After the success of ONH,
amount among all VECs (about 300
Nepal and Bhutan sought the exper-
VECs) of the district during the an-
tise of the architect of ONH, Mr.
nual Bakula Rinpochey campaign in
Sonam Wangchuk, who is also a mem-
2006 as seed contribution from the
ber of the Governing Council of Na-
President of India with an appeal to
tional Mission for Sarva Shiksha
multiply the amount through gener-
Abhiyan, to advise the neighboring
ous donation from villagers and other
countries on their education pro-
sources. In most villages every fam-
grams. About a year ago Bhutan in-
ily had agreed to donate an amount
vited Mr. Wangchuk to advise the
Vol. 5 Issus 02 Epilogue, February 2011
45 LADAKH AFFAIRS
EDUCATION

minimum of Rs 100 per year to the
VEC funds and accordingly the Presi-
dent of India need money multiplied
into several times in a short period.
One day one individual from Sabu vil-
lage appeared before the CEC LAHDC
Leh in 2006 with a cash of 1 lakh and
five rupees (Rs 100005). He said he
was inspired by the appeals made by
the Hill Council and the NGOs on the
local radio and television requesting
for assistance and support for the
education movements being carried
out to strengthen the government
schools. This way of raising such
funds was discovered and found suc-
cessful when SECMOL received a do-
nation of 1.50 lakh rupees from His
Holiness the Dalai Lama in 1998. The
NGO distributed the amount among
all VECs as a sacred seed contribu-
tion and in less than a year the amount
had grown about ten times.
A Ray of Hope:
Unlike the other districts of the
State of Jammu & Kashmir, Leh dis-
trict has a Vision Document called
Ladakh -2025 which envisages that
"by 2025, Ladakh will emerge as the
country's best model of hill area de-
velopment in a challenging environ-
ment, with its sustainability embed-
ded in ecological protection, cultural
heritage and human development".
The document states that Govern-
ment schools should be completely
overhauled to restore faith in them.
It lays emphasis to make education
more locally relevant for children.
Among many other important strate-
gies for overhauling the education
system, the Vision 2025 has declared
that "there should be convergence and
synergy among schemes like Sarva
Shiksha Abhiyan from the central gov-
ernment and the Hill Council's own
Operation New Hope…. locally relevant
Textbooks and teaching learning
methods (TLMs) should be used, with
perhaps a separate curriculum for
nomadic children. In future, Ladakh
could even have its own curriculum
in the form of a Ladakh Board of
School Education."
The newly elected LAHDC under
the chairmanship of Sh Rigzin Spalbar
is keen to revisit the Ladakh Docu-
ment and implement it in letter and
spirit. Sh Rigzin Spalbar was instru-
mental in the formation and the
launch of the Vision Document in
2005. However, soon after the launch
of this ambitious project by the Prime
Minister in Leh followed the 3rd
LAHDC Elections, and Mr. Spalbar
couldn't make a comeback in power.
Unfortunately, the Vision Document-
Ladakh 2025 was not implemented by
the LAHDC that succeeded Mr.
Spalbar. However, the recent return
of Sh Rigzin Spalbar as the chairman
of the 4th LAHDC has raised hopes
and expectations among many that
he would implement the Vision Docu-
ment to avoid the present trend of
development, the unplanned and hap-
hazard development. Mr. Spalbar has
repeated vowed to carry out all de-
velopmental plans in accordance with
the roadmap laid down for Ladakh in
the Vision Document. Let's hope Mr.
Spalbar overcomes all odds that
might come his way in implementing
'his' Vision and also to undo what have
gone wrong in the last few years,
eventually, to make Ladakh a model
for the rest of the country. Let's also
hope that Ladakhis rise above pity
selfish interests and personal differ-
ence to support revolutionary pro-
grams like the Vision Document -
Ladakh 2025.
-Under NFI fellowship program
Note: All quotations, unless otherwise
attributed, have been taken from
ONH brochures.

Leh Councilors get expert training

A two-week long exposure tour for the newly elected Coun-
cilors of LAHDC Leh was started from January 1, 2011. The
touring team led by the CEC, LAHDC, Leh Mr. Rigzin Spalbar
visited Delhi, Mumbai, and Gujarat, and interacted differ-
ent experts.
In Delhi workshops were held about effective implemen-
tation of MG-NREGA and watershed programs with experts
from the concerned ministries. Member parliament and
former Union Minister, Mani Shankar Aiyar, also spoke to
the Councilors about the importance of devolution of power
and having Panchayati Raj in place to ensure smooth devel-
opment at the grassroots. He urged that Government of
Jammu & Kashmir should lose no time anymore to hold the
much delayed Panchayat elections in the State of Jammu
and Kashmir.
In Mumbai councilors were given trainings on "MG-
NREGA, Governance, Development, Disaster Management
and Leadership". Providing of effective leadership to the public was a core issue. At Ahmadabad in Gujarat the
Councilors attended a workshop organized by the National Institute for Disaster Mitigation Institute.
The tour was organized by the TATA- LAHDC Development Support Program (Gyurja) as an endeavor to broaden the
vision of the newly elected Councilors at the start of the tenure and also to learn from successful stories/programs
elsewhere in the country. The team included the Chief Executive Councilor, Executive Councilors, Councilors and
Representatives of some NGOs from Leh. -Tsewang Rigzin

www.epilogue.in Vol. 5 Issus 02 Epilogue, February 2011

PEPORTAGE 46
KASHMIR'S TIMBER MAFIA

For timber smugglers,

the summer of unrest is a boon
ZEENAT ZEESHAN FAZIL

While the summer of unrest in Kashmir was devastating human lives and disrupting nor-
mal life of citizens, there has been another kind of plunder going on deep within the
forests. The nexus between illegal cutting of trees and the smuggling these through a
maze of check-posts has existed for a long time. It is at times like these that it is
emboldened to strike even deeper into the green-gold of the region.

S
omehow the measure of
any disaster or destruc
tive activity or violence
is always taken in terms of
loss of human lives, of prop-
erty and disruption in daily
life of ordinary citizens. Yes
these are of paramount im-
portance but does anyone
care to also examine the ill-
effect on the larger environ-
ment? Conflict the world
over has robbed nations and
societies of their heritage,
archeological, literary, cul-
tural. It has caused havoc
to natural resources, for-
ests, to agricultural lands,
which get attention typically
after the violence and anger
have subsided and some- Shopian-Pulwama, Doodganaga range, Rithan range, Beerwah range, Googaldhara area
times it is by then too late. in Tangmarg, Rafiabad, Doabgah range and Kandi range of Baramulla are affected
In Kashmir too, behind zones. The forests are no doubt spread over a wide expanse across the valley.
the smoke-screen of the con- Vigilance naturally cannot be water-tight even though there are laws in place and an
tinuing unrest beginning in entire department is dedicated to it. But whatever the systems and mechanisms had
summer last and continuing been prior to the summer of unrest in Kashmir, it simply fell apart. Timber smuggling
for a few months, timber actually means the process, the entire chain of events to reach the timber to the
smugglers have been work- market. Illegal felling is what starts this process. At every step, there need to be
ing overtime to loot as much checks and technically they are there. It is just that the entire region was engulfed by
of green gold as they could. the cycle of violence, that the system quite literally froze. Thus giving a free hand to
This is not the first time. the criminals.
Sources say that when mili- "I believe the extent of damage done to the forests in these areas during these
tancy broke out and gath- three months has taken forest damage back to the levels of 1990s when militancy was
ered momentum in the nine- at its peak and the timber smugglers were having a free run," confessed a senior
ties, it was pretty much the officer of Forest department on conditions of anonymity. Forests are an open and not a
same scenario. The spread locked treasure; so one can expect illegal felling anywhere and at any time, but in the
of their operations is vast current unrest even the official monitoring mechanism has fallen apart which has only
according to reports. Lush contributed to the increased illegal activity," he added.
forests in the Kothar range, It would however be naïve to assume that it was due to the power-vaccum alone

www.epilogue.in Vol. 5 Issus 02 Epilogue, February 2011

47 PEPORTAGE
KASHMIR'S TIMBER MAFIA

that the rampant felling no such plan on the anvil, nor any funds available to action it. This actually would be an
of trees and smuggling effective counter-move to combat the network of timber smugglers and illegal fellers.
of wood took place or at In such a scenario, the connivance of the local authorities or some elements within it
any rate heightened its is a given. Locals of Tangmarg area of North Kashmir's Baramulla district allege "not
pace. No activity con- only are the timber smugglers involved in the game but the Special Operations Group
cerning the 'commons' (SOG) people are also involved." "The SOG people ferry illegal timber in their official
can be conducted with- vehicles during night time," said Abdul Hamid Wagay of Chandilora, Tangmarg.
out the knowledge if not The losses meanwhile are mounting. The Chief Conservator of Forests, Molvi Shafat
the tacit approval of the Ahmad admitted that illegal felling of trees and timber smuggling had increased over the
local community. It is months of unrest but claims that the situation has normalised . He says the damage to
now an accepted fact the trees at the moment is more localised and not part of a larger design by the illegal
across forums for envi- traders. " Now situation is under control as most of our forest staff is back to their job"
ronmental degradation That the Forest Department needs to tighten its belt is a foregone conclusion. But
that impoverished com- the issue needs to be seen in the wider perspective. Yes environmental degradation is a
munities contribute to live issue across the country where the Ministry of Environment is taking stringent steps
the destruction of the
forests, often by turn- Vigilance naturally cannot be water-tight even though there are
ing a blind eye to their
exploitation by outside
laws in place and an entire department is dedicated to it. But
parties. So has been the whatever the systems and mechanisms had been prior to the sum-
case in this beautiful mer of unrest in Kashmir, it simply fell apart. Timber smuggling
vale.
actually means the process, the entire chain of events to reach the
The plunder of for-
est then gets into an- timber to the market. Illegal felling is what starts this process. At
other gear, that of ac- every step, there need to be checks and technically they are there.
tual transporting the It is just that the entire region was engulfed by the cycle of vio-
loot through a maze of
check-posts estab- lence, that the system quite literally froze. Thus giving a free hand
lished by the Forest De- to the criminals. "I believe the extent of damage done to the
partment. According to forests in these areas during these three months has taken forest
the forest officer ,
these are lax which
damage back to the levels of 1990s when militancy was at its peak
leads to safe passage to and the timber smugglers were having a free run," confessed a
these jungle smugglers. senior officer of Forest department on conditions of anonymity.
He attributed this lax- Forests are an open and not a locked treasure; so one can expect
ity to the excessive red-
tape plaguing the For- illegal felling anywhere and at any time, but in the current unrest
est Department. . "We even the official monitoring mechanism has fallen apart which
are still relying on and has only contributed to the increased illegal activity," he added.
using techniques which
are already outdated
to bring defaulters to book whether they be connected with the mining industry, resi-
and obsolete while the
dential townships or SEZ's. Needless to say, these measures put an abrupt halt to the
demand of the hour is
designs of land profiteers or industry barons who have their eyes set on plundering the
that these need to be
area .
changed."
In Kashmir, there are different dynamics at work. The eruption of conflict throws
For instance, the
a spanner in the process of environmental protection by the state. This has been
Forest Protection Fund
demonstrated during the recent months as well as the previous phase of militancy. The
meant for the protec-
systems of checks and monitoring established by the government stands compromised
tion of the forests is
for the period of unrest. This needs to be addressed. Even if we go by the claims of
same as it was in 1989,
the Forest Department that once the unrest subsides, it is back to normal, there still is
which obviously needs
a need to be vigilant, to have a system in place which would not allow the green-gold of
to be increased. The
Kashmir to be compromised again and again.
hands of the Forest Of-
Somehow the measure of any disaster or destructive activity or violence is always
ficers are also tied.
taken in terms of loss of human lives, of property and disruption in daily life of ordinary
They actually need to be
citizens. Yes these are of paramount importance but does anyone care to also examine
co-opted into a network
the ill-effect on the larger environment? Conflict the world over has robbed nations
which would work to
and societies of their heritage, archeological, literary, cultural. It has caused havoc to
bust the smuggling rack-
natural resources, forests, to agricultural lands, which get attention typically after the
ets. But sadly there is

www.epilogue.in Vol. 5 Issus 02 Epilogue, February 2011

PEPORTAGE 48
KASHMIR'S TIMBER MAFIA

violence and anger and technically they are there. It is just that the entire region was engulfed by the cycle
have subsided and of violence, that the system quite literally froze. Thus giving a free hand to the crimi-
sometimes it is by then nals.
too late. "I believe the extent of damage done to the forests in these areas during these three
In Kashmir too, be- months has taken forest damage back to the levels of 1990s when militancy was at its
hind the smoke-screen peak and the timber smugglers were having a free run," confessed a senior officer of
of the continuing unrest Forest department on conditions of anonymity. Forests are an open and not a locked
beginning in summer treasure; so one can expect illegal felling anywhere and at any time, but in the current
last and continuing for unrest even the official monitoring mechanism has fallen apart which has only contrib-
a few months, timber uted to the increased illegal activity," he added.
smugglers have been It would however be naïve to assume that it was due to the power-vaccum alone that
working overtime to the rampant felling of trees and smuggling of wood took place or at any rate heightened
loot as much of green its pace. No activity concerning the 'commons' can be conducted without the knowledge
gold as they could. This if not the tacit approval of the local community. It is now an accepted fact across forums
is not the first time. for environmental degradation that impoverished communities contribute to the de-
Sources say that when struction of the forests, often by turning a blind eye to their exploitation by outside
militancy broke out and parties. So has been the case in this beautiful vale.
gathered momentum in The plunder of forest then gets into another gear, that of actual transporting the loot
the nineties, it was through a maze of check-posts established by the Forest Department. According to the
pretty much the same forest officer , these are lax which leads to safe passage to these jungle smugglers. He
scenario. The spread of attributed this laxity to the excessive red-tape plaguing the Forest Department. . "We
their operations is vast are still relying on and using techniques which are already outdated and obsolete while
according to reports. the demand of the hour is that these need to be changed."
Lush forests in the For instance, the Forest Protection Fund meant for the protection of the forests is
Kothar range, Shopian- same as it was in 1989, which obviously needs to be increased. The hands of the Forest
Pulwama, Doodganaga Officers are also tied. They actually need to be co-opted into a network which would
range, Rithan range, work to bust the smuggling rackets. But sadly there is no such plan on the anvil, nor any
Beerwah range, funds available to action it. This actually would be an effective counter-move to combat
Googaldhara area in the network of timber smugglers and illegal fellers.
Tangmarg, Rafiabad, In such a scenario, the connivance of the local authorities or some elements within it
Doabgah range and is a given. Locals of Tangmarg area of North Kashmir's Baramulla district allege "not
Kandi range of only are the timber smugglers involved in the game but the Special Operations Group
Baramulla are affected (SOG) people are also involved." "The SOG people ferry illegal timber in their official
zones. The forests are vehicles during night time," said Abdul Hamid Wagay of Chandilora, Tangmarg.
no doubt spread over a The losses meanwhile are mounting. The Chief Conservator of Forests, Molvi Shafat
wide expanse across Ahmad admitted that illegal felling of trees and timber smuggling had increased over the
the valley. months of unrest but claims that the situation has normalised . He says the damage to
Vigilance naturally the trees at the moment is more localised and not part of a larger design by the illegal
cannot be water-tight traders. " Now situation is under control as most of our forest staff is back to their job"
even though there are That the Forest Department needs to tighten its belt is a foregone conclusion. But
laws in place and an en- the issue needs to be seen in the wider perspective. Yes environmental degradation is a
tire department is dedi- live issue across the country where the Ministry of Environment is taking stringent steps
cated to it. But what- to bring defaulters to book whether they be connected with the mining industry, residen-
ever the systems and tial townships or SEZ's. Needless to say, these measures put an abrupt halt to the de-
mechanisms had been signs of land profiteers or industry barons who have their eyes set on plundering the area
prior to the summer of .
unrest in Kashmir, it In Kashmir, there are different dynamics at work. The eruption of conflict throws a
simply fell apart. Tim- spanner in the process of environmental protection by the state. This has been demon-
ber smuggling actually strated during the recent months as well as the previous phase of militancy. The systems
means the process, the of checks and monitoring established by the government stands compromised for the
entire chain of events period of unrest. This needs to be addressed. Even if we go by the claims of the Forest
to reach the timber to Department that once the unrest subsides, it is back to normal, there still is a need to be
the market. Illegal fell- vigilant, to have a system in place which would not allow the green-gold of Kashmir to be
ing is what starts this compromised again and again.
process. At every step, This piece has been generated with support of charkha communication and devel-
there need to be checks opment Network

www.epilogue.in Vol. 5 Issus 02 Epilogue, February 2011

 49
UDHAMPUR, JAN 1: Lieutenant General, K T Parnaik
takes over command of the prestigious Northern Command
headquartered at Udhampur in Jammu province. Immedi-
ately after his arrival Bikram Park Helipad, the new Army
Commander laid a wreath at the Dhruva Shaheed Samark
and proceeded to meet all officers posted in Headquarters
Northern Command. General Parnaik is an alumnus of the
National Defence Academy, Khadakvasla and was commis-
sioned into Rajputana Rifles on March 31, 1972
JAMMU, JAN 1: The Border Security Forces lodge pro-
test with Pakistani Rangers over ceasefire violation on De-
cember 26 at Ballard post in Ramgarh sector of Samba
district on Indo-Pak Internal Border in Jammu province.
The protest was lodged in a Commandant level flag meet-
ing held at Ramgarh Border Out Post (BOP). Commanding
Officer 59 BSF O P Upadhyaya and Wing Commander,
Chenab Rangers Raja Syed attended the meeting, sources
reported.
JAMMU, JAN 2: Peoples Democratic Party patron and
former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mufti
Mohammed Sayeed says that resolution of Kashmir issue
cannot be put into the cold storage any more, risking the
future of the people of the region. He was addressing a
meeting of party workers in the winter capital. Mufti said
that opinion of majority of the people from South Asia was
in favour of peaceful resolution of the Kashmir issue in
order to realize the full development potential of the re-
gion
NEW DELHI, JAN 2: Replying to an RTI query of an ac-
tivist, the Home Ministry says that a total of 7,031 civil-
ians and security force personnel were killed due to vio-
lence in Jammu and Kashmir in the last 10 years. 4,812
civilians and 2,219 security force personnel have lost their
lives since 2001 to August 2010 in Jammu and Kashmir,
the Home Ministry said. "Law and order is a state subject
and measures are taken by the Jammu and Kashmir Gov-
ernment to maintain peace and public order", the Home
Ministry said in its response to a query by an activist named
Ashwini Shrivastava.
JAMMU, JAN 3: Director General of Jammu and Kash-
mir Police Kuldeep Khoda claims that five out of 10 dis-
tricts of Jammu region are completely free of militancy
while in other districts the militancy has sharply declined.
Khoda told reporters: ''Jammu, Kathua, Samba, Reasi and
Udhampur districts are totally free of militancy in Jammu
region. There has been a sharp decline in militancy re-
lated incidents in five other districts".
JAMMU, JAN 3: The Central Electricity Authority gives
clearance to the construction of Stage-II of the Baglihar
www.epilogue.in Vol. 5 Issus 02
CALENDAR JANUARY 2011
J&K AFFAIRS
Hydroelectric Project on River Chenab at Chanderkote
in Ramban district of Jammu province in Jammu and
Kashmir.
SRINAGAR: The Chairman of moderate faction of
Hurriyat Conference Mirwaiz Umer Farooq gets a fresh
passport. This information was given by Regional Pass-
port Officer GM Dar after inaugurating a new passport
collection centre in central Srinagar. It is learnt that the
Hurriyat chairman is issued a passport with one-year
validity and he has to get it renewed every year.
Giving another information, Dar said his office was
issuing 200 passports every day to residents of Kashmir
Valley. A group 'Campaign for Right to Travel' has claimed
that scores of people have been blacklisted from re-
ceiving travel document on the basis of intelligence re-
ports that they could pose a security risk if they to travel
outside the country. Among those who have been denied
passports include many separatists and relatives of mili-
tants. "If there is a criminal case against anyone, he
has to pay a fine and passport can be issued. Only ad-
verse cases which involve terrorism are not issued pass-
ports," he said.
NEW DELHI, JAN 4: Describing the spate of violence
that rocked Kashmir Valley in summer of 2010 as ''unfor-
tunate and deeply regrettable'', Union Home Minister P
Chidambaram claims that situation was fast improving.
''The three-month period of agitation was an unfortu-
nate and deeply regrettable chapter. However, after the
visit of the all-party Parliamentary delegation and the
appointment of interlocutors, there has been a signifi-
cant improvement in the law and order situation. In
particular, the interlocutors have been able to change
the discourse and have been able to persuade a number
of stakeholders to offer suggestions for a political solu-
tion", Chidambaram said in the union capital while pre-
senting last year's overview to press.
SRINAGAR, JAN 4: In a significant shift in its stand
on implementation of United Nations resolutions on
Kashmir, moderate faction of Hurriyat Conference headed
by Mirwaiz Umar Farooq calls for time-bound dialogue
between India, Pakistan and people of Jammu and Kash-
mir under international monitoring for resolving the long
pending issue. "We cannot expect much from a body
which has failed to implement its own resolutions (on
Kashmir). India and Pakistan have to talk to Kashmiris
under international monitoring for resolving the Kash-
mir issue," Mirwaiz said addressing a seminar at the
Hurriyat Conference headquarters in Srinagar. The semi-
nar was organized to discuss the role of the United Na-
tions with regard to Kashmir issue. Mirwaiz said the
United Nations was a failed body as it had not been able
Epilogue, February 2011
CALENDAR JANUARY 2011
J&K AFFAIRS
to do justice with the people of the State with regard to
implementation of its own resolution. "If the UN cannot
ensure the implementation of its own decisions, it should
be disbanded," he said. The UN Security Council had passed
a resolution on January 5, 1949 calling for a plebiscite in
Jammu and Kashmir to decide its future.
NEW DELHI 5: Adding to various ongoing situation study
exercise, the BJP President Nitin Gadkari constitutes a study
team led by his predecessor Rajnath Singh to visit Jammu
and Kashmir and submit a report on the ground situation in
the State. At a BJP national officer-bearers meeting at
Jammu in December, Gadkari had announced that a study
team would be sent to the border State soon. Other than
Singh, the team comprises spokespersons Ravi Shankar
Prasad, Shahnawaz Hussain, BJP Chief Whip in Rajya Sabha
Maya Singh and J K Jain, Convenor of the Minority Cell of
the party. "This team will visit Jammu, Kashmir Valley,
Ladakh and Kargil among other areas of the State and dis-
cuss the issues with various sections of people before sub-
mitting a report to the party," spokesman Shahnawaz
Hussain told reporters.
JAMMU JAN 5: Setting a new record, the winter capital
city Jammu experiences lowest temperature of 30 years.
"Jammu is experiencing cold conditions with thick blanket
of fog floating very low. January 5 temperature has been
lowest in the last 30 years", a weather scientist MK Khushu
told a local newspaper. The town recorded a maximum tem-
perature of 6.5 deg C, which is 10-11 degrees below nor-
mal, he said, adding that the night temperature was 2.4
deg C, three degree below normal.
JAMMU, JAN 5: National Conference patron and Union
Minister Dr Farooq Abdullah endorses the views of moder-
ate Hurriyat Conference chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq that
United Nations has become a failed body and said India,
Pakistan, people of Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh and those
living across the fence had to find a solution to Kashmir
problem.
JAMMU, JAN 5: Addressing a joint press conference at
the Civil Secretariat, Dr Abdullah and his son and Chief
Minister Omar Abdullah, categorically rule out the demand
for rotational Chief Ministership in the State after three
years saying the two party high commands (National Con-
ference and Congress) had settled the issue at the forma-
tion of Government that the NC headed Government will
last full six years and all subsequent issues including for-
mation of Council of Ministry and portfolios were decided
accordingly. The statement from the two came exactly on
the day when Omar Abdullah completed two years as Chief
Minister heading a coalition government of his party Na-
tional Conference with the Congress.
www.epilogue.in Vol. 5 Issus 02
50
SRINAGAR, JAN 5: Hardliner Hurriyat leader Syed
Ali Shah Geelani rules out any move for unity with the
moderate faction of the amalgam. The Hurriyat hawk
said those who think that the unity of the two Hurriyat
Conference factions will put pressure on India to solve
the Kashmir issue, are mistaken. "For 10 years, we
were together and India was not impressed," he said
addressing a seminar organised by his Hurriyat fac-
tion in Srinagar.
ANANTNAG, JAN 6: Chief Minister Omar Abdullah
says that despite fighting 2008 Assembly elections on
development subject he has left no stone unturned to
focus on settlement of State's political matters. Ad-
dressing a public meeting at Amard, Ashmuqam in
Anantnag after laying foundation of two bridges on
Nallah Lidder, the Chief Minister stressed for dialogue
to discuss view points and work out solutions to the
problems. He sought to remind the people of his sin-
cere efforts in paving way for addressing political is-
sues of Jammu and Kashmir.
JAMMU, JAN 6: The main Opposition, People's
Democratic Party accuses the Omar Abdullah Govern-
ment of failing to keep its promises and claimed that
people were looking at the PDP as an alternative to
have their aspirations addressed. "Omar Government
has miserably failed to translate its promises into
reality, so the people of this State have been looking
towards PDP to get their aspirations addressed",
former Chief Minister and PDP patron Mufti
Mohammad Sayeed told reporters.
NEW DELHI, JAN 7: Describing the migration of
Kashmiri Pandits from the Valley as "one of the dark-
est chapters" in the history of Jammu and Kashmir,
National Conference patron and Union Minister Dr
Farooq Abdullah asked the displaced people for "for-
giveness." "One of the major tragedies that we had
to go through was the ethnic cleansing that took place
in the State of Jammu and Kashmir", he said.
JAMMU, JAN 7: Chief Minister Omar Abdullah
chairs first meeting of Jammu and Kashmir Oversees
Employment Corporation. He asked the corporation
to fix realistic targets for the year ahead regarding
placement of skilled and educated youth in the job
market outside the country. "You have to tackle three-
pronged challenges of global economic scenario, in-
ternational job market requirements and prevailing
perception of Jammu and Kashmir outside", he told
the Corporation advising them to address these as-
pects effectively.
Epilogue, February 2011
51
SRINAGAR, JAN 7: Hurriyat Conference chairman,
Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, who is also the chief cleric of Kash-
mir, surprises all by not touching upon political issues
during his Friday sermons at the Jamia Masjid. Earlier
the Mirwaiz would always devote around ten minutes to
the political situation in Kashmir. On Friday January 7,
the Mirwaiz restricted his sermon to religious thought, a
rarity if not the exception given his routine lecture at the
grand mosque.
JAMMU, JAN 9: Kashmir Bar Association president Mian
Abdul Qayoom is booked by a police station for anti-na-
tional activities in Jammu. A fresh FIR is registered
against him at Janipura police station in Jammu. He was
accused of talking in, what authorities described, an anti-
national language Official sources said Janipura police
station has booked Qayoom for allegedly speaking anti-
national language outside the High Court premises yes-
terday afternoon when he was produced before the court
by Gharota police station and taken on three days police
remand.....
JAMMU, JAN 9: Media reports suggest that Chinese
troops intruded deep into Ladakh in October 2010. "Chi-
nese troops entered Indian territory in the fag end of 2010
along the Line of Actual Control in South-eastern Ladakh
region and threatened a contractor and his team to halt
work on constructing a passenger shed", said a PTI re-
port. However, the Indian Ministries of External Affairs
and Defence denied any such incursions. Chinese Foreign
Office also said reports in Indian media were baseless.
SRINAGAR, JAN 10: Accusing the Centre of pushing
the youth in Jammu and Kashmir to wall, hard line sepa-
ratist leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani advises the youth
against taking up arms and called for peaceful means to
take the ongoing "freedom struggle" to its logical conclu-
sion. "New Delhi has unleashed State terror to force the
youth to take up arms…It is a conspiracy against our peace-
ful struggle and therefore the youth should restraint from
taking any such step which will provide a handle to India
to malign our movement," chairman of hard line faction
of Hurriyat Conference Syed Ali Shah Geelani told report-
ers at his Hyderpora residence in Srinagar.
NEW DELHI 12: The three-member group of interlocu-
tors on Jammu and Kashmir, appointed by the Centre in
October last year, said that there has been a positive
change in the atmosphere in the state. "There is posi-
tive change in the atmosphere in Jammu and Kashmir.
Many encouraging things are happenings. Lots of changes
have taken place and lots of good things have taken place,"
one of the interlocutors M M Ansari said after a meeting
with Home Minister P Chidambaram. He said that during
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CALENDAR JANUARY 2011
J&K AFFAIRS
the meeting, the group discussed about the action taken
by central and state governments on the three reports it
submitted earlier. The interlocutors in their reports sub-
mitted the "broad contours" for a lasting solution to the
Kashmir issue for consideration by the government.
NEW DELHI JAN 14: On a day Home Secretary G K
Pillai hinted at a 25 per cent reduction in security forces'
strength in Jammu and Kashmir, Army Chief General V K
Singh said they do not feel the need to "cut down" their
forces in the State. He also said it will be ensured that
"extra pressure" is not put on his "already-stretched"
deployments. "We have not yet felt that we have to cut
down our forces. If they want to cut down para-military
and police forces, I won't say anything... "So when that
is done, it will be ensured that extra pressure is not
brought on our already-stretched deployments there,"
Singh told a press conference on the eve of Army Day.
AKHNOOR JAN 15: In the wake of Union Home Sec-
retary G K Pillai's statement on cutting down troops in
Jammu and Kashmir by 25 per cent following improve-
ment ground in situation, Lt Gen K T Parnaik, GOC-in-C
Northern Command says that time is not ripe for with-
drawal of troops from Jammu and Kashmir
JAMMU, Jan 14: Madhav Lal, Additional Secretary to
Government of India in Ministry of Micro, Small and Me-
dium Enterprises is cleared for appointment as next Chief
Secretary of Jammu and Kashmir. He replaces the incum-
bent SS Kapur on February 1 after latter's retirement on
January 31.
JAMMU, JAN 15: State High Court restrains the Com-
mission of Inquiry headed by Justice (retd) Syed Bashir-
ud-Din from submitting final report into 17 deaths in the
Kashmir valley without the permission of the Court. The
directions were passed in a petition filed by Special Di-
rector General CRPF J&K and Inspector General (Opera-
tions) CRPF Kashmir seeking quashment of notification
dated July 29, 2010 whereby Justice Syed Bashir-ud-Din
(retd) was made the Chairman of Commission of Inquiry
and Justice J P Nargotra (retd) member of the Commis-
sion for holding enquiry into the alleged 17 killings in
Kashmir division with effect from June 11, 2010.
SRINAGAR 18 : Padmashree Sonam Skalzan, a noted
sculptor and exponent of Buddhist Art, passes away in
Leh in Ladakh region of Jammu and Kashmir. Sonam,
who contributed significantly to the promotion of Art in
the Ladakh region, died last evening, reports reaching
here said. In recognition of his work, he was bestowed
with the prestigious Padmashree award.
JAMMU, JAN 17: Inspector General of Central Reserve
Police Force (CRPF), Jammu Sector, Dinesh Kumar, says
Epilogue, February 2011
CALENDAR JANUARY 2011
J&K AFFAIRS
that about 40 % of the total CRPF force (nearly 80
Battalions) are deployed in J&K state out of the total 216
in the country. The highest number of CRPF battalions
are only in J&K.
JAMMU, JAN 17: Centre's interlocutors on Jammu and
Kashmir meet several delegations and academicians in
Jammu. Some local groups took up the issue of alleged
political discrimination with Jammu region, to which the
chief interlocutor Dileep Padgaonkar said that his panel
would write to the Chief Election Commissioner to seek
details about the criteria adopted for delimitation of as-
sembly constituencies.
NEW DELHI, JAN 17: Asking the J&K Government not
to just harp on "dream proposals", the Supreme Court
wanted an explanation whether even one out of the thou-
sands of Kashmiri Pandits who fled the Valley following
the outbreak of militancy have been provided with house
or employment. The court's remarks came on a petition
filed by the All India Kashmiri Samaj which alleged that
neither the State nor the Centre was addressing the
grievances of the Kashmiri Pandits who have been suf-
fering for over two decades.
NEW DELHI, JAN 19: Chief Minister Omar Abdullah
asks BJP not to "precipitate" the situation in the Valley
by going ahead with its 'Ekta Yatra' to hoist tri-colour at
Srinagar's Lal Chowk on Republic Day. Omar, who met Con-
gress chief Sonia Gandhi and Home Minister P
Chidambaram to apprise them of the situation in the
State, said he would be in close touch with the Home
Ministry on how to deal with any situation arising out of
the BJP programme. Disregarding Omar's appeal, the BJP
vows to go ahead with its Ekta Yatra from Kolkata that
will culminate in Srinagar on January 26 with hoisting of
the tricolour in Lal Chowk.
JAMMU, JAN 19: Two small Pakistani aircrafts report-
edly flew close to the International Border in Niki Tawi
area of Makwal sector of Jammu frontiers for about two
minutes triggering an air defence alert of the Indian Air
Force (IAF). The two low-flying Pakistani light aircrafts
were detected close to Indian territory between Simbal
and Kharkola posts of Niki Tawi in Makwal sector of RS
Pura and were sighted by BSF troops deployed in the for-
ward pickets, Defence sources said.
SRINAGAR, JAN 19: United Nation's Special Rappor-
teur on human rights, Margaret Sekaggya says she has
come to Kashmir to compile a report on the problems
faced by the human rights defenders. Sekaggya arrived
in Srinagar to meet various victim families, Civil Society
members, Association of Parents of Disappeared Persons,
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52
lawyers and journalists to gauge the mood in Kashmir on
human rights front. Talking to reporters, Sekaggya said
she was in Kashmir to meet the human rights defenders.
"I will meet human rights defenders and other people to
know the challenges they are facing," she said.
SRINAGAR, JAN 20 : Breaking the ice, the Centre's In-
terlocutors on Kashmir phones up Hurriyat Conference
chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq discussing the situation in
the State and seeking time for a meeting. The conversa-
tion, which lasted for over 10 minutes, dealt with the is-
sues including the present situation in the State and the
economic loss to common Kashmiris because of the fre-
quent strikes in the State. However, Mirwaiz reportedly
declined to meet the interlocutors.
SRINAGAR, JAN 21: The team of Interlocutors says that
most of the people they met were not concerned about
implementation of the United Nations resolutions and di-
vision of the State along ethnic or religious lines but felt
people's empowerment can address the vexed issue. "As
regards a permanent, political settlement in Jammu and
Kashmir, a small but vocal section of opinion harped on UN
resolutions, plebiscite and self-determination resulting in
independence for the state as it existed before August
1947. By and large, however, most people we spoke to did
not refer to that option," chief Interlocutor Dileep
Padgaonkar said.
SRINAGAR, JAN 22: Opposition People's Democratic
Party says said the exclusion of Jammu and Kashmir Bank
as the banker to the State Government is the most lethal
nail by the ruling National Conference into the State's au-
tonomy. The bank will not be permitted to provide over-
draft to the State Government now on.
SRINAGAR, JAN 23: A close associate of hardline
Hurriyat Conference chairman Syed Ali Shah Geelani is ar-
rested in connection with an alleged Hawala racket and Rs
21 lakh seized from him, police claimed. "Ghulam
Mohammad Bhat, who has been a financier of disruptive
activities, has been arrested," Inspector General of Po-
lice, Kashmir, S M Sahai said.
JAMMU 24: Reliance Communication becomes the first
telecom service provider in Jammu and Kashmir to launch
3G services in the state.
JAMMU, JAN 24: Finance Minister Abdul Rahim Rather
says that the State Government has decided to liquidate
entire Over Draft amounting to Rs 2300 crore with Jammu
and Kashmir Bank most probably by the end of March this
year and then switch over to Ways and Means Advance
(WMA) with Reserve Bank of India, which will be available
at lower interest rates. He sought to clarify that the new
Epilogue, February 2011
53
system would no way dilute the State's relationship
with J&K Bank. The JKBL will be rather benefited as it
would have Rs 2300 crore to invest in economic and
developmental activities. The State has been provided
with Rs 1000 crore one time grant by the Finance Com-
mission to liquidate the ODs while rest of Rs 1300
crores will be raised by it through market borrowings.
LAKHANPUR, JAN 25: Top BJP leaders including
Sushma Swaraj, Arun Jaitley are among 160 BJP and
BJYM leaders and workers arrested by police after they
violated prohibitory orders soon after crossing into the
territory of Jammu and Kashmir at Ravi bridge in
Lakhanpur, the gateway of the State. The BJP leaders
were leading a flag march from Kolkatta to Kashmir
which was opposed by both centre and the state gov-
ernments.
JAMMU, JAN 25: Chief Minister Omar Abdullah calls
for utilizing present conducive atmosphere of dialogue
in a positive manner to address political issues of
Jammu and Kashmir politically. "The institution of In-
terlocutors created by the Union Government to ini-
tiate interaction with all shades of opinion should be
utilized earnestly to find out solution to the issues",
he said in his Republic Day message and appealed the
separatists to rise to the occasion and play their role
NATIONAL AFFAIRS
NEW DELHI JAN 1 : India and Pakistan exchange the
lists of their nuclear installations for the 20th consecu-
tive year under an agreement which prohibits any kind of
attack on such facilities. The lists were exchanged through
diplomatic channels simultaneously at New Delhi and
Islamabad under the Agreement on the Prohibition of At-
tack against Nuclear Installations and Facilities, a state-
ment by the External Affairs Ministry said here. Under
the agreement signed on December 31, 1988, which came
into force on January 27, 1991, the two countries share
details of their nuclear installations with each other on
the first day of every year. The first such list was ex-
changed on January one, 1992.
NEW YORK, JAN 2: India joins the UN Security Coun-
cil as its non-permanent member for a two-year term af-
ter a gap of 19 years, hoping that the seat at the high
table will not only cement its place as a key global player,
but also pave the way for becoming a permanent member
of the powerful wing of the world body.
BANGALORE, JAN 8: Gautam Gambhir becomes the
costliest cricketer in the IPL by fetching a whopping USD
2.4 million on the first day of the auctions where Indian
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CALENDAR JANUARY 2011
J&K AFFAIRS
in bringing about peace and tranquility in the State.
JAMMU, JAN 26: In his Republic Day address, Governor
N N Vohra says strict vigil should be maintained along all the
frontiers to neutralize the attempts of infiltration from across
and all measures be taken to contain and eliminate menace
of corruption in the State.
JAMMU, JAN 27: Chief Commissioner, Income Tax,
Amritsar region, G R Sofi's name is cleared for appointment
as the first Chief Information Commissioner of Jammu and
Kashmir. This development comes six years after the State
enacted the landmark RTI Act. The name of Sofi was decided
after a meeting of Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, Leader of
Opposition Mehbooba Mufti and Deputy Chief Minister Tara
Chand.
JAMMU, JAN 28: State Cabinet approves the Draft For-
est Policy, which has been prepared for the first time in Jammu
and Kashmir for scientific management and conservation of
the forests, and approved enhancement of the water usage
charges. The forest policy lays emphasis on reconciliation of
land records of Revenue Department with Demarcation Record
of Forest Department, complete modernization of forest
demarcation system by using Global Positioning System and
other modern technologies".
players proved to be the biggest draw with three others
going for more than USD two million.
ISLAMABAD, JAN 8: Pakistan says that Foreign Min-
ister Shah Mahmood Qureshi will visit India if the For-
eign Secretaries of the two countries evolve a "compre-
hensive agenda" for resuming the stalled composite dia-
logue during their meeting in Bhutan next month.
MUMBAI, JAN 9: Mumbai Police has issues an advi-
sory to various police stations asking them to keep a
watch on people from Jammu and Kashmir, especially driv-
ers, as some of them are suspected to have been carry-
ing out recce for terror groups.
BANGALORE, JAN 10: India joins a select group of
nations manufacturing warplanes with the home-grown
Light Combat Aircraft 'Tejas' moving a step closer to its
induction into the Indian Air Force after getting its Ini-
tial Operational Clearance (IOC) here. 27 years after the
project was initiated, Defence Minister A K Antony handed
over the IOC certificate to Air Chief Marshal P V Naik at
the HAL airport. "This is only the semi-finals", Antony
said, adding the LCA would enhance national security and
build the country's own fighter aircraft capabilities
Epilogue, February 2011
CALENDAR JANUARY 2011
NATIONAL AFFAIRS
KERALA JAN 15: In the worst pilgrim tragedy that
struck south India, 104 Lord Ayyappa devotees are killed
and 50 injured, seven of them seriously, in a stampede
that occurred at Uppupara last night.
NEW DELHI, JAN 14: Pakistan's bid to stall construc
tion work at the Kishenganga power project in Jammu
and Kashmir is thwarted as it was forced to withdraw a
petition in this regard at the International Court of Arbi-
tration. During the first hearing of the Kishenganga Ar-
bitration Court in The Hague in The Netherlands, the In-
dian side put up a spirited argument for construction of
the 330-MW project on Kishenganga, a tributary of the
Jhelum river, officials said.
Pakistan had moved a petition for stopping work as
an "interim measure" till the case over the disputed
project was decided by the court. After the Indian argu-
ment, Pakistan was forced to withdraw its petition, the
sources said. Had the court, headed by Justice Stephen
M Schwebel, agreed for the interim measure, work at
the site would have to be stopped.
NEW DELHI, JAN 15: State-owned oil companies hike
petrol prices by Rs 2.50-Rs 2.54 per litre, the second
hike in a month, on back of rising crude oil prices.
WASHINGTON, JAN 18: Indian-American Vijay
Sazawal, a well-known atomic industry expert, is ap-
pointed by US Commerce Secretary Gary Locke to the
prestigious Civil Nuclear Trade Advisory Committee
(CINTAC) to advise him on trade issues facing the key
sector.
BADAUN, UP, JAN 18: A local court directed the po-
lice to register an FIR against SP leader Mohammad Azam
Khan on the charge of sedition for his controversial com-
ments on Kashmir. Khan had earlier cast doubts on Kash-
mir being part of India.
NEW DELHI, JAN 19: In a reshuffle of Union Cabinet,
Jaipal Reddy is made the Petroleum and Natural Gas Min-
ister. The reshuffle and expansion of the Cabinet saw
elevation of three Ministers to the Cabinet rank and in-
duction of three new faces. Praful Patel, Shriprakash
Jaiswal and Salman Khursheed were promoted as Cabi-
net Ministers while Congress leaders Beni Prasad Verma
(Uttar Pradesh), Ashwani Kumar (Punjab) and K C
Venugopal (Kerala) were the new inductions into the Coun-
cil of Ministers in the rank of Minister of State. Verma,
who was Cabinet Minister in the United Front Govern-
ment of 1996, got the rank of MoS Independent Charge
in today's exercise which left untouched incumbents of
the 'big four' - Finance, Home, Defence and External Af-
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54
fairs - and key Ministries of Commerce and Railways.
MUMBAI, JAN 21: Defence Minister A K Antony cat-
egorically rules out any further troop cut in Jammu and
Kashmir on the ground that his Ministry had already re-
duced nearly 30,000 troops in the sensitive State. Talk-
ing to reporters after commissioning Italian built fleet-
tanker INS Deepak into the Indian Navy at the Naval dock-
yard, Antony said: "already a number of Army personnel
were reduced in Jammu and Kashmir. The current issue
is now reduction of para-military forces. Do not mix up
both the issues''.
NEW DELHI, JAN 22: Prime Minister Dr Manmohan
Singh steps into the controversy over BJP's plan to hoist
national flag in Srinagar on Republic Day, saying the 'sol-
emn occasion' should not be used to score 'political points'
and appealed for maximum restraint in 'sensitive' Jammu
and Kashmir.
NEW DELHI, JAN 24: Ahead of its talks with Pakistan
at Foreign Secretary level, India insists terror cannot be
brushed aside and it was necessary for both the coun-
tries to find a "common wavelength" in terms of fight-
ing terrorism. ".....Terror is something that cannot be
brushed aside because terror is a matter of fact. And I
think all of us, including Pakistan, live under the fear of
terror," External Affairs Minister S M Krishna said
NEW DELHI, JAN 26: Dubbing the move of the Jammu
and Kashmir Government and the Centre to prevent BJP
leaders from hoisting the national flag in Srinagar as
"criminal", BJP says that the party could move the court
against the "unconstitutional and illegal" stand taken by
the State administration. "What has happened in J-K to
deal with BJP's campaign to hoist the national flag at Lal
Chowk is something which is totally indefensible. It is
illegal and criminal. I think we should knock at the doors
of the courts in respect of some of (these issues)," party
veteran L K Advani said.
DHARAMSALA (HP), JAN 28: Police claim to have
seized foreign currency valued at over Rs six crore dur-
ing raids in the offices of a trust backed by 17th Karmapa
Ugyen Trinley Dorje, who investigators believe could be
having links with Chinese authorities. Himachal Pradesh
ADGP (Law and Order) S R Mardi said huge sums of money
in currencies of 25 countries including China, Taiwan,
Japan, South Korea, the UK, the US, Australia, Thailand,
Vietnam and Germany were seized during the raids. The
recovered amount includes 11 lakh in Chinese Yuan, 6
lakh USD and Rs 30 lakh. Officials said law will take its
own course in the case.
Epilogue, February 2011
55
JAMMU JAN 3: Twenty-four persons crossover to the
state and Pakistan-administered Kashmir via Chakan-Da-
Bagh on the weekly cross-border bus service. Nine people
crossed over to PaK from Jammu and Kashmir, while 15
came from there to the state. Visitors were both sides
were returning homes and there was no fresh visitor this
week.
SRINAGAR JAN 3: Line of Control traders stage a
demonstration here, demanding compensation for the
losses suffered allegedly due to lack of storage facility at
Salamabad trade facilitation centre in Uri town on
Srinagar-Muzaffarabad road. "Rains have caused dam-
age worth Rs 7 crore to our goods due to non-availabity
of covered storage facility. The Government should com-
pensate for the losses and complete the work on infra-
structure at Salamabad urgently," Salamabad-Chakoti
Traders Association President, a body of cross-LOC Trad-
ers, Asif Lone said.
Lone said the state government has promised and as-
sured time and again for improving the infrastructure for
the trade and commerce across LOC but no concrete step
was taken in this direction till date. "Our Association is
involved in the trade since last two years. The inconvience
and hardships faced by us was brought to the notice of
the concerned but no attention was paid to our just and
genuine requests," Lone said.
JAMMU, 5: Goods worth over Rs 4.32 crore are traded
between Jammu & Kashmir and PaK along the Line of Con-
trol at Chakan-Da-Bagh crossing point in Poonch district.
As many as 23 trucks rolled out from Trade Facilitation
Centre (TFC) at Ranger in Poonch district of J&K to PaK
today, they said adding these trucks carried bags of coco-
nut, red chilli, embroidery and herbs worth Rs1.67 crore
(Rs 1,67,08,820). From PaK, as many as 25 trucks carry-
ing bags of almond, walnuts, dry grapes, dates and herbs
crossed to this side and these were worth Rs 2.65 crore
(Rs 2,65,40,699).
SRINAGAR JAN 6: Five guests from PaK arrive here
while five Kashmiris crossed over to other side of the
Line of Control in the Karvan-e-Aman bus, operating be-
tween Srinagar and Muzaffarabad. However, trade be-
tween the two parts remained suspended as traders on
this side are protesting against the alleged inadequate
facilities at Salamabad trade centre.
JAMMU JAN 12: Goods worth over Rs 4.66 crore are
traded through 50 trucks between Jammu and Kashmir
and PaK along the Line of Control at Chakan-Da-Bagh
Crossing point in Poonch district. As many as 25 trucks
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CALENDAR JANUARY 2011
CROSS - LoC
rolled out from Trade Facilitation Centre (TFC) at Ranger
in Poonch district of J&K to PaK today; these trucks
carried bags of coconuts, red chillies and walnuts
worth Rs 2,01,21,569. From PaK, as many as 25 trucks
carrying bags of almonds, walnuts, pista, dry grapes,
dates and herbs came to this side worth Rs 2,65,48,138.
JAMMU, JAN 12: Stressing for creating requisite in-
frastructure facilities for the cross-LoC trade, PDP pa-
tron Mufti Mohammad Sayeed reiterates his demand of
allowing free movement of people and commodities
across the dividing line of Jammu and Kashmir. He said
that opening of cross LoC trade was the most signifi-
cant and historic Confidence Building Measure (CBM)
which needed to be further facilitated in the larger in-
terest of the region's peace and prosperity. The PDP
patron regretted that the present dispensation headed
by National Conference has not only failed to further
facilitate this trade but it has rather reversed the whole
process. "What to say of exploring fresh trade avenues
between two divided sides of Jammu and Kashmir, the
present Government has even hampered the cross LoC
trade through unnecessary restrictions", he observed and
reminded that the trade and travel across the LoC had
become possible only due to the assiduous efforts of
the previous PDP-Congress regime in the State.
JAMMU JAN 13: Refuting observations of former
Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, the Minister
for Industries and Commerce, SS Salathia says that the
facts and figures reveal that there has been sharp in-
crease on LoC trade during last two years. Substantiat-
ing hid claim, he said upto 31st March, 2009 since in-
ception of the trade, the State has exported goods worth
Rs 2.76 crore while the exports reached Rs 131.96 crore
during last fiscal and this fiscal the State exported goods
worth Rs 178. 68 crore upto ending December only, which
shows the turnover of the trade is rising sharply. He
clarified that the State has imported goods worth Rs 64
lakhs only from October 10, 2008 to March 31, 2009,
while the State registered Rs 219.48 crore (in Pak cur-
rency) imports during last fiscal. And this fiscal the im-
ports upto ending December have reached Rs 297.01
crore, he added.
SRINAGAR JAN 13 : Five fresh PaK guests and equal
number of people from Kashmir crossed sides at the
Kaman Post, the last Indian military post in Uri sector.
Eighteen residents from both the sides also crossed over
after completing their stay with their respective rela-
tives in PaK and Kashmir. They said five guests from
PaK arrived at Kaman post after crossing the Aman Setu
Epilogue, February 2011
CALENDAR JANUARY 2011 56
CROSS - LoC

bridge on foot this afternoon. Five residents of this side,
after spending time with their relatives in POK, also
returned their homes in the Karvan-e-Aman bus, oper-
ating between Srinagar and Muzaffarabad, capital of PaK.
Five Kashmiri residents also crossed over to POK to meet
their relatives for the first time. However, 13 PaK resi-
dents, who were here also returned to their homes after
completing their stay here. They included five women
and two children.
SRINAGAR JAN 18: The cross-border trade between
PaK and Jammu and Kashmir resumes after the State
Government promised construction of additional stor-
age facility within a month to store goods awaiting se-
curity clearance. More than 130 vehicles, loaded with
spices, dry fruit and handicraft, crossed the Aman Setu
(Peace Bridge) on the Srinagar-Muzaffarabad route at
Kaman post. The cross-LoC trade has already crossed
Rs 400 crore mark and is expanding at a rapid pace
despite lack of direct communication and banking fa-
cilities.
SRINAGAR, JAN 20 : The cross-Line of Control travel
and trade between Kashmir and PaK was a mixed bag
this week as no fresh visitor travelled on the Srinagar-
Muzaffarabad bus service but goods worth record Rs 25
crore were exchanged at Salamabad Trade Facilitation
Centre. A senior official said nine persons crossed the
Aman Setu (Peace Bridge) aboard the Karavan-e-Aman
Srinagar-Muzaffarabad Bus Service but there were no
fresh visitors either from the Valley or from PaK today.
While four Kashmiris returned home from PaK after stay-
ing with their relatives, five PoK residents crossed back
after spending time with their relatives as per the per-
mission.
Meanwhile, the weekly trade on Srinagar-
Muzaffarabad route, which resumed this week after re-
maining suspended for two weeks, smashed all previous
records as goods worth an estimated Rs 25 crore were
exchanged between the traders from PaK and Kashmir
valley. Official sources said more than 320 trucks loaded
with items approved for exchange crossed the LoC on
Tuesday and Wednesday - the designated days for the
trade.

JAMMU, JAN 18: Cross-LoC trade from Chakan-Da-
Bagh on Poonch-Rawlakote route touches Rs 4.39 crore
on day one of two days weekly business between traders
of two parts of the divided State. Traders from this side
exported coconut, bananas, red chilli, herbs and em-
broidery items worth Rs 1.49 crore to their counterparts
in Rawlakote in PaK. From PaK, almonds, oranges, pista,
dates, malathi and dry grapes reached Poonch. They had
a value of Rs 2.9 crore.
SRINAGAR, 27: There was no fresh guest from PaK
while one Kashmiri crossed over to the other side of the
Line of Control in the Karvan-e-Aman bus operating be-
tween Srinagar and Muzaffarabd. For the second consecu-
tive week, there was no fresh guest from PaK. However, a
resident of Kashmir valley, who had crossed over to other
side of the LoC returned back to home after completing
sntay in PaK with his relatives. So far only ten POK resi-
dents and eleven from here have crossed sides in 2011.

Conciliation Resources, a London based international peacebuilding organisation, is soon launching a re-
search work on Cross-LoC trade.
"Jammu and Kashmir: trade across the Line of Control", is a publication is based on a series of twelve discussion
papers in which traders, economists, journalists and researchers from either side of the Line of Control (LoC)
offer their individual perspectives on: the political economy of the cross-border trade; the potential of the trade
to nurture peacebuilding across the LoC; the challenges and restrictions faced by the trade; and advocacy for
expanding the trade.
The publication is accompanied by a Policy Brief which sets out recommendations. The Policy Brief is published
together with the Institute for Peace and Conflict Studies (IPCS) in New Delhi and the Pakistan Institute of Legis-
lative Development and Transparency, (PILDAT) based in Islamabad.
The publication and policy brief highlight the growth of the trade and its success in drawing in many families
divided by the conflict. Nonetheless, the trade remains limited in terms of the number of trading routes and the
range of goods that can be traded as well as in terms of the means of communication and exchange between
traders.
The publications argue that for the economic potential of the trade to be realised it is necessary to put the trade
on a more modern footing. This will spread the benefits beyond the small circle of those involved and could have
a significant developmental impact for the wider region. Furthermore, if the peacebuilding potential of the trade
is to be met, innovative institutions such as the Jammu and Kashmir Joint Chamber of Commerce and Industry
(JKJCC), the first cross-LoC non-governmental organisation of its kind, need to have the space to evolve. As one
trader quoted in the publication notes: "it's not just a trade venture but can become a tool for people-to-people
diplomacy".
Two years of trade have created constituencies on both sides of the LoC with a strong stake in normalcy and,
crucially, an increasing opposition to the resumption of hostilities, which would hamper their growing business.
The trade has been resilient to the vicissitudes of state-level tension caused by the 2008 Mumbai bombing and
unrest in the Kashmir Valley over the last three years.
As a matter of symbolic importance the publication is being simultaneously launched in New Delhi, Islamabad,
Muzaffarabad, Jammu and Srinagar.

www.epilogue.in Vol. 5 Issus 02 Epilogue, February 2011