While Manmohan was in Srinagar, Farooq, during a conference in London, termed the gun as a “legitimate element in the political struggle of Kashmir” Sweetie Bracelet. The prime minister’s response to this, however, highlighted the value Delhi is attaching to the expected dialogue with those who “abjure” violence.
Manmohan’s accommodative attitude towards Farooq has lent more credence to the head of ‘hardline’ faction of the APHC Syed Ali Shah Geelani’s continuing posture links of london sweetie bracelet. He has rejected outright Manmohan’s platitudes in the absence of any mechanism facilitating tripartite talks that include Pakistan.
Informed sources say that well before Chidambaram announced the offer, Delhi apparently ensured certain “commitments” from some separatist leaders. Senior leader Shabir Ahmed Shah said that chief of the Intelligence Bureau had visited him during his detention in a Jammu jail, but he rejected the offer of dialogue and reiterated his stand of sticking to tripartite talks or implementing the UN resolution for resolving the issue.
Despite these hiccups, Delhi has started deploying its old horses in Kashmir to smoothen the ground. Wajahat Habibullah gave up his job as the country’s chief information commissioner to take up a similar job at the state level links of london. Political pundits in the Valley bet it’s a political move given his vast experience of dealing with separatists during the tumultuous early 1990s as the divisional commissioner.
Officialdom in Srinagar is equally unhopeful. “Manmohan’s visit should have been around policy approaches. Instead, he talked about procedures. Attempts at political co-option will not work anymore as a way ahead,” a senior security official said.