Stating that compromise and political accommodation were necessary for the resolution of Kashmir issue, noted academician Dr. Nyla Ali Khan said that rigid positions (probably referring to separatists stand on Kashmir) only led to playing into the hands of governments of India and Pakistan.
“When you say it is either my way or the highway – either it is referendum or nothing – then the Government of India says it is nothing, and you end up legitimizing the status-quo by holding on to a rigid position. So compromise and political accommodation are necessary for resolving Kashmir issue,” she said in an exclusive interview with Kashmir Magazine, sister publication of KNS.
Dr. Nyla who is a visiting professor at the University of Oklahoma and former professor at the University of Nebraska-Kearney said that Musharraf’s four-point formula would have made a big difference if these were followed seriously and sincerely by the governments of both India and Pakistan.
“I don’t see Musharraf’s four-point formula as an end in itself, but it would have helped in slowly building confidence in J&K and in PaK. Then we could have gone forward to discuss the Right of Self Determination,” she said.
Musharraf’s 4-point formula was about the restoration of autonomy by phases, demilitarization, and phased withdrawal of Indian and Pakistan armies, enabling travel across LoC, enabling economic exchanges and business transactions across LoC, and making people to people contacts easier.
Dr. Nyla, granddaughter of National Conference (NC) founder late Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah, strongly feels that prosperity and strength of both India and Pakistan was required for restoration of political stability and peace in J&K.Click Here To Follow Our WhatsApp Channel
Believing that UN resolutions on Kashmir were still relevant, she, however, said the Shimla Accord has made the Kashmir issue a bilateral one between Indian and Pakistan and “kind of marginalized the role of the United Nations”.
“But I don’t think we should begin with those (UN Resolutions). I don’t think we should say it is either UN resolutions or nothing at all. Kashmir is conflict zone and there is no doubt about that. Generation of ours has been wiped out for all intended purposes. So, now we should adopt a constructive and positive approach. That enables us to develop as a society,” she said.
Terming National Conference as the only indigenous political organisation in the state, Dr Nyla said the party has historically played an active role in the political and economic emancipation of the people of Jammu and Kashmir. “But after 1982, the NC as a political organisation (and its ideology) became diluted. And after 1989 in particular, its image as a symbol of Kashmiri nationalism and as a legitimate voice of the political aspirations of the people of J&K, diminished. I think the lack of accessibility within the organisation and the lack of connect with the people and the inability to feel the pulse of the masses besides the politics of appeasement vis-à-vis national political organisations has been damaging,” she said.
She added for better future of NC, the party has to strengthen its cadre, “because they’re the ones who built the organization”.
Dr Nyla also claimed that PDP was a creation of Indian agencies. “It is an open secret that the PDP, which was founded in 1998, is a creation of the Govt. of India.”