The All Party Hurriyat Conference's rather studied acceptance of the Centre's offer of talks while welcome should also add to the seriousness of the peace process in Jammu and Kashmir. While distancing Pakistan from a process that had been trilateral in the past formulations of the Hurriyat, the current round would expect the Centre to go beyond traditional pulse-feeling, and gestures.
In a way, the acceptance of the peace process is an expression of the domesticated segments of the Hurriyat to democratize the organisation. Given the faction-feud that preceded the peace offer by the Centre, the Hurriyat has now taken a brave, new step, defying 'Kashmiri politics' of the past years. It cannot afford to fail, nor could the Centre and the nation, allow it to fail. For such a failure, real or imaginary, could put the clock back, and 'justify' the earlier nay's of the pro-Pakistani elements in the Hurriyat.
There is no denying the Hurriyat's socio-political compulsions after the successful conduct of the Assembly polls last year. Earlier acceptance of the peace process could have provided an opportunity for the Hurriyat leadership to stake legitimate claims for electoral acclaim from the constituency that they claimed to have represented for long. Serving out extraneous and extra-territorial interests at the time has since threatened to render the Hurriyat itself irrelevant in the post-poll politics of Jammu and Kashmir. Or, so it seems.
The fact also remains the Hurriyat may be caught in the web of regional politics in the troubled border State, the like of which the combine's leadership could be unused to, and also uncomfortable with. Time was when the Hurriyat was perceived as posing a real threat to the existing political system and parties, yet it could have been no match for the 'electoral ingenuity' of the latter class. Yet, the successful conduct of the Assembly polls, combined with the continued presence of a popular government with a stable track-record, as in the past, may have induced a sense of realism into the Hurriyat's thought process.
The Centre has done well by keeping the 'peace process' open in one form or the other, until the majority segment of the Hurriyat leadership felt encouraged by the evolving ground situation, to take decision-making into its hands. This has also helped in the Hurriyat keeping Pakistan away from what is essentially a domestic exercise within the four walls of the national Constitution. A clearer picture will emerge when the Hurriyat, as announced now, comes out with its proposals.
Yet, the question remains. What could the Centre, now represented at the high political level by Deputy Prime Minister Advani, offer the Hurriyat, and thus Jammu and Kashmir, that Article 370 has not already given? While assymetrical devolution' of power is what is being attempted in neighboring Sri Lanka, it has already been achieved to a substantial degree in the case of Jammu and Kashmir, otherwise unavailable to other States in the Indian Union.
It makes political sense for the BJP, which was opposed to Article 370, to be entrusted with the job of seeking to expand the scope of the same, just as it has to handle the 'Ayodhya issue' from the pivot of power on the national scene. But positive results could demand a fresh look at Centre-State relations on the whole, and grater devolution of powers, going beyond Article 370, and Jammu and Kashmir, as well.
The nation, not just the Centre and the Hurriyat Conference, needs to be prepared, and prepare itself.
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