Mirwaiz proposes Vajpayee as special envoy on Kashmir

The Government of India should entrust former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee with the task of resolving the Kashmir issue, Hurriyat founder chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq suggested yesterday.

Speaking to Gulf News, Umar said Vajpayee is trusted by the Pakistan establishment and, in Kashmir, "he was seen as a peace maker." Umar and others who had last winter engaged in talks with Vajpayee's deputy, L.K. Advani, are unhappy about what they call a policy drift in the new government.

There is a precedent for a Congress-led government using Vajpayee's diplomatic skills on the Kashmir issue. The government led by P. V. Narasimha Rao had appointed Vajpayee to lead India's delegation to the United Nations Human Rights Commission during the mid-90s. His chief task there was to counter Pakistan's complaints of human rights abuses by Indian forces in Kashmir.

Interestingly, another secessionist leader, Shabir Shah, also made a similar suggestion on Monday. After meeting Pakistan Foreign Minister Khurshid Ahmed Kasuri, Shah said the Government of India should form a Kashmir Committee under Vajpayee to act as a bridge between India and Pakistan.

Ali Shah Geelani, the leader of the All Parties Hurriyat Conference faction that rivals Umar's, is said to have told Kasuri that the only other leaders of Kashmir's secessionist movement that he takes seriously are Shah and Yasin Malik of the Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front.

It is unlikely, however, that Geelani would take kindly to Shah's suggestion, especially since Umar has expressed much the same sentiment.

Kasuri met Geelani on Saturday, the day before he met Umar. During his meeting, Geelani is said to have made it clear that he was not willing to re-unite with the other faction, the leaders of which he says have "sold out" the Kashmiris' cause.

The Pakistan establishment is eager to see the two groups re-united, so that the Kashmiri secessionist movement can present a united face to the world. However, Pakistan gives primacy to Geelani, who also has the support of the militant groups.

Umar, who too has come to Delhi to meet Kasuri, alluded to this during his meeting with Kasuri. According to friends of Umar, the Mirwaiz told Kasuri that Pakistan appeared to be playing "a partisan role."

The divergence between Geelani and Umar was also apparent over the Indian proposal to reopen the Uri-Muzaffarabad road across the Line of Control between the two countries.

During his meeting with Kasuri, Umar emphasised the desire of Kashmiris to see this happen but Geelani stated in an interview to the Pakistani daily, Nawa-i-Waqt, that opening communication across the Line of Control would effectively bury the Kashmir issue.

Many in Pakistan too fear that such a step would amount to accepting the sovereignty of India and Pakistan respectively on either side of the Line of Control. This would tie in with India's suggestion, expressed during negotiations between the two countries, that the Line of Control be converted into the recognised border.