Investor Presentaiton
Raising the Stakes in Jammu and Kashmir
Crisis Group Asia Report N°310, 5 August 2020
Page 6
Between 2003 and 2007, efforts by two successive Indian prime ministers from
both ends of the political spectrum - the Indian Congress Party and the BJP - to
address Kashmiri grievances through political means were even more significant.
For the first time, these efforts opened space for dialogue between New Delhi and
major Kashmiri stakeholders, including the separatist All Parties Hurriyat Confer-
ence (also known as Hurriyat), considered the most representative political force in
Indian-controlled Kashmir, though it refused to participate in elections under the
Indian constitution.23
24.
In 2003,
the BJP Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee promised to address Kash-
miri alienation within the paradigm of "humanity, democracy and Kashmiri-ness".2
Under his successor Manmohan Singh, New Delhi convened a series of roundtable
conferences that culminated in the formation of five Working Groups on Jammu and
Kashmir. 25 The Working Groups recommended several confidence-building measures
including investigating cases of human rights violations, demilitarisation, the review
of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (Jammu and Kashmir) of 1990 (discussed
later), the settlement of displaced persons in Jammu and Kashmir, and strengthen-
ing existing provisions for trade and bus service for Kashmiris across the Line of
Control. These recommendations were never implemented, however. 26 During their
respective tenures, Vajpayee and Singh also held consultations with the Hurriyat's
moderate leaders, but neither government sustained that dialogue.27
Hopes of a peaceful settlement between New Delhi and Islamabad also faded. The
"composite dialogue" between the Indian and Pakistani governments that had begun
in 2004 ended abruptly following the 2008 Mumbai attacks, in which ten Lashkar-e-
Tayyaba militants attacked various landmarks over four days in India's economic
capital, killing 165 people and injuring some 300.28 India refused any further dia-
23 Formed in 1993, the All Parties Hurriyat Conference, a coalition of political parties opposed to
Indian rule, split into two factions ten years later. Though both factions support self-determination
for Kashmiris, the hardline faction headed by Jamaat-e-Islami supports a plebiscite in Jammu and
Kashmir under UN auspices; the moderate faction is open to a negotiated settlement with India and
Pakistan. Its leader Mirwaiz Umar Farooq is the hereditary mirwaiz or caretaker of Srinagar's larg-
est mosque, the Jamia Masjid, and hence an important spiritual leader of Kashmiri Sunni Muslims.
See Crisis Group Reports, Learning from History; The View from New Delhi; and The View from
Srinagar, all op. cit. See also Praveen Swami, "Danger signals for the Valley", Frontline, 27 Septem-
ber-1 October 2003.
24 Vajpayee told India's parliament in April 2003: "Issues can be resolved if we move forward guid-
ed by three principles of insaniyat (humanism), jamhooriyat (democracy) and Kashmiriyat (Kash-
mir's age-old legacy of Hindu-Muslim amity)". "Statement of Prime Minister Shri Atal Bihari Vajpa-
yee in Lok Sabha on His Two-Day Visit to Jammu and Kashmir", Ministry of External Affairs, 22 April
2003. See also Radha Kumar, Paradise at War: A Political History of Kashmir (New Delhi, 2018).
25 The Working Groups covered centre-state relations, cross-Line of Control relations, Jammu and
Kashmir's economic development, rehabilitation for victims of violence and promotion of good
governance. Four of the five submitted reports to the government in 2007 and the fifth in 2009.
Suba Chandran, "Jammu and Kashmir: India's Objectives and Strategies" in Zafar Iqbal (ed.), The
Future of Jammu and Kashmir (New Delhi, 2007).
26 Satish Misra, "Need to Grab Initiative on J&K: Working Group Reports' Recommendations Re-
quire a Push", Observer Research Foundation, 29 December 2009.
27 Crisis Group Report, Stabilising a Cold Peace, op. cit. Also Naseer Ganai, "Treading on a shaky
bridge", Outlook, 17 April 2019.
28 Nine of the attackers were also killed.View entire presentation