Vajpayee s unfulfilled peace legacy echoes in his death 

 

In his death, on August 16 last, Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee passed away as a profound peacemaker and a genuine statesman for a long time. While some hailed him as the modern era 'Vivekananda', others, including Prime Minister Modi, brought out the change he made to the political culture of India. A multifaceted personality, which includes his being a great Hindi revolutionary poet, Shri Vajpayee would easily go down as one of the greatest leaders that India has produced in recent history.

And, his Kashmir dealing and relationship with Pakistan will remain a subject of great interest and attention for a long time to come. From early years of his political career until his active political life, that abruptly came to end with a stroke in 2009, he remained associated with the Kashmir issue in one way or another. He was a young lieutenant to Bharatiya Jan Sangh founder, Dr Syama Prasad Mookerjee, when the latter went on a fast-unto death in Kashmir in 1953, protesting against the system of carrying a permit for entering the state. Then on, he became a voice for the ideology to which Dr Mookerjee belonged. As a powerful orator, he became a national sensation and ruled as a thinking politician and model parliamentarian all along his long political and public life.

As Foreign Minister in the Janata Party government (1977-79), he was instrumental in improving Indo-Pak trade relationship and earned his Prime Minister Morarji Desai Nishan-e-Pakistan, the highest civilian award of Pakistan Thereafter, when the Janata Party experiment fell apart, he founded Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) along with Shri Lal Krishna Advani and Shri Bhairon Singh Shekhawat. As the President of the newly formed BJP 1980's decade, he rose to the position of the principal opposition leader in Parliament

The famous 1994 diplomatic victory at the UN Human Rights Commission (now Council) in Geneva with him as the leader of the Indian delegation, underlined his pivoted role in winning India's diplomacy wars. Indian delegation at Geneva returned home to the kind of euphoric welcome, usually accorded to victorious cricket teams. The then Prime Minister PV Narasimha Rao and Shri Vajpayee (then leader of opposition) combined did show to the world that India meant business on the Kashmir issue. A classical diplomatic case study, wherein india saved a certain situation that would have otherwise resulted in UN sanctions being imposed on India in lieu of a Pakistan-sponso human right violation in Kashmir) resolution shri Vajpayee, with the help of his delegation team which included Shri Salman Khurshid then MOS MEA), Dr Farooq Abdullah and a host of  diplomats, includingShri Hamid Ansari (who later became Vice-President) besides Foreign Minister Dinesh Singh, neutralized Iran and China, which were in favour of Pakistan Shri Vajpay also be credited with changing the narrative around Kas in the world. He made the world to see the turbulen killings in the Kashmir valley as acts of terrorism

And when he himself became Prime Minister in 1998 there was a tectonic shift towards Kashmir by the Central Government. He took the Sada-e-Sarhad bus to Lahore

age of friendship with Pakistan, which changed the whole narrative, albeit briefly. Hadn't it been for the misadventure by the Pakistan army and the Kargil war (July 1999), that followed, the outcome of that historic initiative would have been dramatically different. Shri Vajpayee handled the Kargil war through dexterous acumen of a wily diplomat and an able leader and while handing over a defeat to Pakistan army, prevented a full-blown war with Pakistan This won him admirers - both in India as well as Pakistan He made the famous line that one can change his friends but not neighbours.

Shri Vajpayee was quick to court General Pervez  Musharraf, who in a military coup seized power in Pakistan in 1999 and declared himself as the President of Pakistan In 2001, between him and Gen Musharraf, the Agra summit happened in which it is widely believed that a solution of the Kashmir imbroglio was almost hammered out but due to some last-minute issues that 'solution', which remains a mystery even today, couldn't be agreed upon. In 2010, none less than RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat admitted publicly that Vajpayee was close to a settlement of Kashmir, had he got some more time in the government.

Following the terror attack on Indian Parliament in December 2001, India mobilized its military along Punjab and Jammu & Kashmir borders with Pakistan. And this hot-and-cool engagement with Pakistan resulted in Pervez Musharraf promising a ceasefire along the LoC in November 2003. This was certainly a big achievement for the Vajpayee government as it endured for a long time and gave a peaceful life to millions of people inhabiting the two sides of the LoC.

Shri Vajpayee also touched the hearts of people in Kashmir. As per Mehbooba Mufti, former Chief Minister of J&K, he assured her father of free and fair assembly elections in the state. The legitimacy of the 2002 elections, in the eyes of masses, reversed the suspicions that New Delhi manages elections in the state to its liking. The three famous words - Insaniyat, Kashmiriyat, Jamhooriyathe coined in respect of Kashmir, have in fact become a doctrine by now. He was believed by people.

Who would have imagined the National Conference becoming a constituent of a BJP government and a young Omar Abdullah given an important assignment? It was Vajpayee's enigma and his core belief in democracy and building bridges that this kind of 'miracle' was possible.

Shri Vajpayee's relationship with Kashmiri Pandits and their cause has not been extensively reported. But according to community leaders of the exodus time, it was he who put Kedar Nath Sahni in the Delhi state BJP unit on a job to help displaced KPs. He, along with Shri L K Advani, worked hard to highlight the plight of KPs all over the country and pressurized the government to provide them succour and other entitlements. Shri Vajpayee was not new to the issue of KPs and he knew about the sufferings of the community. He visited Kashmir several times before migration and stayed in touch with several RSS workers of the valley.

A best tribute to his legacy would be the Kashmir issue settlement. His famous statement in 1994 read: "For a great nation like us, there was a certain humiliation involved in having to go around begging for votes on a human rights issue. Let us now use this reprieve to clean up our act in Kashmir or there will be a Geneva every few months." The kind of respect he provided to different political shades and opinions in Kashmir, including engaging with separatists and his vehement effort for a settlement of the Kashmir issue must be studied and applied to build a fresh case of brokering peace in Kashmir

DISCLAIMER: 

The views expressed in the Article above are Avtar Nehru  personal views and kashmiribhatta.in is not in any way responsible for the opinions expressed in the above article. The article belongs to its respective owner or owners and this site does not claim any right over it. Copyright Disclaimer under section 107 of the Copyright Act of 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, education, and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing."

Courtesy:- Avtar Nehru  " and Koshur Samachar September ,2018