A three member Huriyat Conference (APHC) team led by Mir Waiz Umar Farooq was on a visit to Pakistan last week. The Huriyat leaders met with all the big guns in the new establishment, the prime minister, the foreign minister as well as the president, and also travelled to Muzaffarabad to exchange views with the AJK leadership. What brought them to Islamabad at this point in time was easy to guess. There has been a change of government in Islamabad and it was necessary for them to familiarise them with the new leadership, in particular those who would henceforth run the Kashmir policy. The Huriyat leaders had had the opportunity to establish an equation with President Musharraf whose willingness to explore all possible avenues for a solution, in particular a deviation from the officially stated stance on Kashmir, appealed to them as a possible way out of the stalemated Kashmir dialogue. And understandably they were eager to know would Islamabad still pursue the same stance on Kashmir. An additional reason for the Huriyat leaders to arrive in Islamabad at this moment was the timing of the fifth round of India-Pakistan composite dialogue scheduled for early this month. Since the Kashmiris have voice on the Pakistan-India bilateral talks it was the best way for Mir Waiz and company to register them current thinking at least in Islamabad on the eve of the fifth round of talks.
Prior to Huriyat leaders’ arrival in Pakistan their two factions --- Mir Waiz and Syed Ali Gilani were reported to have conferred with each other in a bid to secure an accord on a common minimum programme for a public stance. This was an extraordinary development since the split the two factions in the APHC have been moving in opposite directions. Mir Waiz and Ali Gilani factions held conclusive talks as they agreed and announced at a joint press conference to reiterate; i) demand for tripartite Pakistan-India peace talks, that is association of Kashmir with the dialogue on Kashmir; ii) opposition to Kashmiris holding any bilateral talks with New Delhi. Mir Waiz mission to Islamabad was to carry-forward the consensus accord.  It is known to all and sundry that New Delhi is averse to the idea of giving Kashmiris representation in Pak-India talks on Kashmir, or in other words the Indians are opposed to changing bilateral talks to a tripartite dialogue. Nevertheless, Mir Waiz has found a way out of the predicament by terming tripartite talks. ‘Triangular’ talks and let the Kashmiris talk to Pakistan and India separately rather than being a part of formal dialogue. On Kashmiris holding bilateral talks with New Delhi, the Huriyat leaders have had a bitter experience of India malafides. Mir Waiz who was until recently keen to talk to New Delhi was taken for a ride in the name of ‘Kashmir solution’ Syed Ali Gilani who was opposed to a dialogue with New Delhi has scored a major tactical victory.
What is going to happen at the fifth round of composite dialogue is anybody’s guess. The Mir Waiz mission may have no bearing on how India and Pakistan proceed to address in Kashmir question, since it is rather premature to talk a moving forward as long as Pakistan and India do not agree on a basis for talks on Kashmir. However, according to Indian press reports Asif Ali Zardari has come out with a compromise interim arrangement. Zardari was reported to have expressed his openness to the idea of the state being given ‘autonomy’ pending a final settlement. He proposed setting up of a commission between the two countries and leaders of Kashmir to work out what should be done in foreign and defence affairs. Zardari’s proposal is somewhat akin to Musharraf’s idea of ‘self governing state’, and the Indians have had ample time to respond to any such proposal. Needless to say Islamabad has gone out of its way, notwithstanding harsh criticism of a ‘Kashmir sell out’ to opt for a policy of ‘retreat and compromise’. Now it is New Delhi’s turn to reciprocate an attitude of give and take. Cynicism apart, critics say the joke has been taken too far. We cannot be indefinably stuck with a ‘one-way traffic of concession and compromise’. Let up hope for a miracle to happen at the fifth round of composite dialogue, because any move forward on Kashmir would be no less than a miracle.