The Indian High Commissioner in Islamabad Gautam Bambewale delivered the message of Delhi’s willingness to talk in response to the invitation by the foreign secretary of Pakistan, Aizaz Chaudhry to his Indian counterpart S Jaishankar. However, India has stuck to its old position of only having cross border terrorism as the subject of the dialogue, while on the other hand, Pakistan’s aim was to start a dedicated dialogue on Kashmir. There is of course a great deal of diplomatic manoeuvring at play here as by accepting to engage in dialogue but refusing to talk about Kashmir, India has through one stroke made itself appear to be in favour of talks without changing its position of not putting Kashmir on the table. Unfortunately, amidst these diplomatic games, the real losers are the people of Kashmir who have been deprived of their rights and subjected to heavy-handed treatment by the Indian state.
No dialogue on Kashmir can ever be successful unless all three parties to the conflict i.e. Pakistan, India, and Kashmir meaningfully engage with each other to sort it out. However, India’s uncompromising refusal to entertain Pakistan’s repeated demands to include Kashmir in any dialogue process has even undermined the possibility of talks on cross border terrorism. As far as Kashmiris are concerned, their voice has for the most part been drowned out by the jingoistic chest thumping in both Pakistan and India. India cannot continually keep on ignoring the sentiment of azadi (freedom) that exists in Indian-occupied Kashmir by labelling the uprising as the work of a few miscreants backed by Pakistan. The Kashmiri struggle is a historic struggle for freedom that started with the rule of the Dogra regime, and adopted a new form with the Indian occupation. The resistance movements and uprisings that the valley witnesses from time to time are the result of this struggle, and this cannot be permanently addressed without engaging with the Kashmiri people themselves.
All of this would require both Pakistan and India to step away from their intransigent positions on the Kashmir issue, and look towards brining in the Kashmiri people in the dialogue process. However, for that to happen the current tensions between Pakistan and India would have to be reduced. It is true that India is being bluntly unaccommodating, and the Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi’s tit-for-tat mentioning of Balochistan has exponentially increased acrimony between the two states, but maybe here Pakistan can play the role of a responsible country and push India for dialogue. And while the terms of dialogue that India has currently presented are wholly keeping in line with Indian interests, nevertheless they do provide an opening into the initiation of dialogue into the Kashmir issue. This is the opportunity for Pakistan to occupy the moral high ground and appear as a country willing for dialogue. Not only would this improve Pakistan’s standing in the international community but it would also act as a confidence building measure for future negotiations. Unfortunately, the hostile posturing of the two countries militates against such a proposal coming to fruition. http://dailytimes.com.pk/editorial/19-Aug-16/what-is-needed-a-pakistan-india-dialogue
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