The Group of Interlocutors appointed by the UPA government to identify the political contours of a solution to the problems of the State of Jammu & Kashmir while asserting that “a pure and simple return to the pre-1953 situation” would “create a dangerous constitutional vacuum” in the relationship between the Centre and Jammu and Kashmir has recommended instead a “case-by-case review of all Central laws and Articles of the Constitution of India extended to the State” since 1952. The group's final report, ‘A New Compact with the People of Jammu and Kashmir' among others, proposes the setting up of a Constitutional Committee that would review the applicability of Central statutes extended to Jammu and Kashmir after the July 1952 Delhi Agreement. The review process — once ratified by Parliament and the State legislature — would eventually end the extension by presidential order of further Central laws to the State. One of the key recommendations of the report is that Parliament will make no new laws applicable to Jammu and Kashmir unless these relate to the country's internal and external security and its vital economic interest. Another important point that the report states is the Constitutional Committee should be future-oriented in that it should conduct its review solely on the basis of the powers the State needs to address the political, economic, social and cultural interests, concerns, grievances and aspirations of the people in all the three regions, Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh, and all the sub-regions and communities.
It is interesting that while the report would seem to suggest some kind of continuity (case by case review) as far as Centre’s relationship with J&K, nevertheless the legitimacy of the pre-1953 position has also been acknowledged. Hopefully the report of the interlocutors will not be put in cold storage but will be used to help find a pragmatic resolution—one that honors the rights of the Kashmiri people while also ensuring the larger vision of peace and security in the region and beyond. And it is not only J&K but the Naga issue which demands an appropriate political response from the Government of India. This is an opportunity for New Delhi to take certain steps which may or may not resolve the issues completely but will restore trust and give confidence to the people. The political establishment in New Delhi must realize that pouring in money and promise of development is not the sole answer to the resolution of the Kashmir or Naga conflict. The Congress led UPA government has the wonderful opportunity to actually do something on this front. It should start taking the political initiative for a ‘step-by-step’ approach towards resolving the issues. It has to be understood by everyone—political parties, governments, security agencies, separatists, civil society—that things have become much more complicated and even difficult to resolve than say twenty to thirty years ago. To deal with the Kashmir and Naga issues, New Delhi will have to change its outlook from a status-power to an ‘enabling’ one. The political establishment in India should also be prepared for a ‘give and take’ approach. If at all lasting solution has to be found, Delhi should not be under the impression that this can be done without some reciprocity.
