The team was received by Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, as curfew remained clamped in the summer capital of Jammu and Kashmir. Shortly after his arrival, Chidambaram said each major political party in Jammu and Kashmir has been allotted 15 minutes. "It is very important that you use your 15 minutes to your best advantage," he said.
Flanked by leaders of different political parties and Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, Chidambaram said the delegation would like to hear the grievances of the people. "We hope and believe that the honour, dignity and future (of Kashmiris) are secure as part of India," he said.
Chidambaram said the delegation has a tight schedule and asked the parties appearing before them to make their presentation effectively. Several members of the 42-member delegation are likely to call on hardline Hurriyat leader Sye Ali Shah Geelani at his Hyderpora residence here.
Though Geelani has officially refused to meet them, he said the delegation members would not be turned away if they decide to call on him at his house as they were guests. Moderate Hurriyat Conference led by Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and the JKLF have decided not to meet the all-party delegation.
"We will submit a memorandum to the all-party team," said JKLF chief Yasin Malik. The delegation hopes that the leaders of various separatist groups will finally come for the talks to help break the impasse in Kashmir which has witnessed unabated violence over the last few months claiming over 100 lives.
PDP's Mehbooba Mufti has now decided she will not meet the all-party delegation. The general secretary of the party, Mohd Dilawar Meer, accompanied by 14 party members will meet the delegation instead.
On Sunday, the Opposition PDP had accused the Jammu and Kashmir government of "sabotaging" the visit by clamping curfew in the Valley.
"If the repressive measures continue, we will have to reconsider our decision (of being part of the all-party initiative)," PDP president Mehbooba Mufti had said.
She had said there was no purpose in the visit of the all-party delegation if the members of the civil society, those raising the voice of dissent and the common people are not allowed to meet it.
Dismissing the PDP charge as misleading and baseless, Jammu and Kashmir Law Minister Ali Mohammad had said it was surprising that the party had been all praise for the all-party initiative two days ago but has suddenly changed its stand.
"I do not know what has changed in two days. I will leave it to the people of Jammu and Kashmir to decide who is trying to scuttle the visit of the delegation."
Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, rejecting the demand for his resignation, said without naming any party that those behind the demand were "some frustrated political elements who failed to make it to the government in the 2008 elections".
Why meeting of minds may be dialogue of deaf
Srinagar: Wholesales mutton dealers will be there and apple growers, while most travel agents are keeping out. An association of journalists is not coming, while others who applied to meet the team have been denied time.
Voices not new have been told to spell out their agendas, while leaders well known to New Delhi's dialogue circuit have got a shoo-in. As the all-party delegation arrives here on Monday to "find a way to resolve the current public unrest in Kashmir", it will be a classic dialogue of the deaf.
Apart from the mainstream political parties, the list of invitees includes a standard group of people and organisations who will hardly help the country's top politicians demystify Kashmir's azadi demand or to find a remedy to its slogan-and-stones crisis.
It is the first such delegation comprising top national leaders from across the political landscape since March 1990, when then leader of opposition Rajiv Gandhi had led a team to Srinagar. This was soon after the emergence of armed insurgency in Kashmir. Hardly anybody other than a small group of mainstream politicians had risked their lives to meet the delegation.
While the situation may not be as dire now, there is no doubt that Kashmir stands at the crossroads once again. However, here is why the all-party delegation is set to be doomed even before it arrives:
The PDP has put a condition, saying it would meet the delegation only if the government lifts curfew and restrictions. While the moderates among the separatists are yet to take a call, Syed Ali Shah Geelani has already turned down the invite.
The list of invitees includes the Kothdar association, a group of wholesale mutton dealers, two associations of local editors (the Press Guild of Kashmir has declined to meet the delegation while the Kashmir Press Association is yet to decide), House Boat Owners Association, Shikara Association, JK Apple Growers' Association, Numberdar Association (they are all on government rolls), two Srinagar-based hotel and restaurant associations (of which the Travel Association of India Kashmir chapter led by Nazir Bakshi, a member of the PDP, has decided not to attend).
The chairman of the House Boat Owners Association Manzoor Ahmad Wangnoo told The Indian Express they held a joint meeting with Kashmir Hotel and Restaurant Association, Kashmir Hotel and Restaurant Owners Federation, Travel Agents Society of Kashmir and Travel Agents Association of India and others.
"We unanimously decided not to meet the delegation," Wangnoo said. J-K Tourism Alliance President Rouf Tramboo said "we have decided to wait till tomorrow to take a decision".
The president of Press Guild of Kashmir, Bashir Ahmad Bashir, says they don't think working journalists have any role in such meetings. "The government is not allowing us to work. Our staff members, hawkers and distributors were beaten," Bashir says.
The chief of one of the largest business associations in the state, Kashmir Chamber of Commerce and Industry's Nazir Ahmad Dar, says they too are unsure. "We have not been able to meet because of curfew. I am trying to reach our members through telephone," he says.
The invitees also include select NGOs involved in social work, including Yateem Trust, Yateem Foundation, Save the Children, Help Foundation, Rahat Ghar, Voluntary Health Association and Hussaini Relief Committee.
"We are not going for the meeting," Yateem Trust chief Tak Zaingiri told The Indian Express. "The agenda of the delegation is political and we have nothing to do with it."
The J-K Apple Growers Association that has been chosen to represent apple farmers of Kashmir is in fact a small apple growers group of Baramulla town and is headed by Mohammad Yousuf Dar -- a PDP councillor from Ushkara who later joined the National Conference.
There are five lawyers too who have been invited but they either belong to the NC or are related to NC leaders.
The government has asked Vice-Chancellors of Kashmir University and Islamic University of Science and Technology to handpick a small group of students to form the students' delegation, especially as the formation of student unions on campuses is banned in Kashmir. Besides, the two V-Cs, the government has chosen prominent citizens and representatives of the Valley's two missionary schools and Delhi Public School.
A prominent Kashmir doctor, Dr Altaf Hussain -- whose name is on the list -- told The Indian Express that he has not received any invitation.
There is a rumour going around that the Union Home Ministry and Parliamentary Affairs Ministry -- both of whose ministers, P Chidambaram and P K Bansal, are coming -- have sent two officers to set up a control room to facilitate interested people to meet the delegation. But actually, it is the J&K government's Law Minister and NC leader Ali Mohammad Sagar who is calling all the shots.
Youth Congress president Shoaib Lone said that till 6 pm today, he was supposed to lead a youth delegation of his party to the meeting. "Ali Mohammad Sagar called me and asked me to come with the Congress delegation instead. I tried to explain that I want to put forth the issues of youth and want exclusive time," he said. "He told me there is no time."
Similarly, Syed Sajjad Hussain of the local teachers' forum in Sumbal said they wanted to meet the delegation and had approached the divisional commissioner. "He asked us to give him in writing what we would tell the delegation. We refused and he declined to permit us," he said. Divisional Commissioner Asghar Samoon was not available for comment.
Sonwari Welfare Forum and two prominent cultural organisations, Urdu Academy and Adbi Markaz Kamraz, too have declined to meet the delegation.
If that weren't enough, the government has made foolproof arrangements so that the delegation members only see a calm and serene Kashmir. The delegation members are staying at Grand Palace overlooking the Dal Lake, where the J&K Government has booked 50 suites and rooms. A kilometre away, inside the high-security zone, the meetings will take place at the Sher-i-Kashmir International Convention Centre.
Hundreds of policemen and security force personnel are deployed to ensure no civilians can make their way in. Sources say the government is also considering its options and may fly the delegates to Nehru helipad and thus avoid the 10 km road journey from the airport. Even the slogans written on roads and walls have been washed ahead of the visit.
Source: The Indian Express
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