Several developments are taking place on the Kashmir screen. The names of heads of various Working Groups which have been constituted pursuant to the announcement of Indian Prime Minister on the conclusion of the second round table conference in Srinagar on May 24-25 this year, were announced on July 2. The Prime Minister had said that "the five groups would further the dialogue process in the strife torn State". It may be mentioned that this conference was attended only by the pro-Indian leaders of the State; Both factions of All Parties Hurriyat Conference, Shabbir Shah and Yasin Malik were absent. Mir Waiz Umar Farooq had said that this conference would not only be an exercise in futility but it had been designed to create confusion and division among Kashmiris: as non political elements from goojar and bakarwal tribes had also been called to participate. The tasks given to these groups merit not only to be mentioned but to be considered in depth Group one: "To deliberate on measures to improve condition of the people of Jammu and Kashmir affected by militancy, and on schemes to rehabilitate all orphans and widows affected by insurgency." This group is to be headed by Mohammad Hamid Ansari - Chairman National Commission for Minorities.

Group Two: "To recommend measures to simplify procedures to facilitate travel across the Line of control, increase goods traffic and expand people-to-people contact, including promotion of pilgrimage and group tourism. To be headed by Mr. Resgotra a former diplomat.

Group Three: "To deliberate on balanced economic development, employment generation, balanced regional and sub regional development within the state." Chairman, Dr. C. Rangarajan - former governor Reserve Bank of India.

Group Four: "To deliberate on matters .... Relating to the special status to Jammu and Kashmir within the Indian Union and methods of strengthening democracy secularism and rule of law

in the state". To be headed by former Chief Justice of India justice A.M. Ahmadi.

Group Five: Good governance - to be headed by N.C. Saxena former Planning Commission Secretary.

A look on the charter given to the groups would reveal that none of them would deliberate on the core issue of the future political status of the state - Implying that the future of the state had been finally sealed and it was an "atoot ang" of India. The purpose of this exercise was to "further the dialogue process in the strife torn state" as Mr. Manmohan Singh had remarked in his address to the concluding session of the conference.

For the last two or three years - there has been a stead fast campaign from the Indian side - both on the governmental and non-governmental level to create new issues and then hold exercises in the form of composite dialogue between the officials of the India and Pakistan or conferences/seminars arranged by Indian or foreign based NGO's to address these issues. Some of these are off-shoots of the core issue, having been there for several years and some are not related to Jammu and Kashmir dispute at all - e.g. Sir Creek, easing of travel restrictions and promoting trade between India and Pakistan. During the last one year several conferences were held on Jammu and Kashmir. The Centre for Dialogue and Reconciliation (CDR) an Indian based NGO held Intra Kashmir Dialogue on "In Search of Solution for Divided Jammu and Kashmir" in July 2005 in Srinagar. The Centre reporting on this dialogue stated "This dialogue sharply brought out the divergent aspirations of different regions and communities, as well as the two parts of Jammu and Kashmir". Never heard of during the last fifty-eight years.

Developing on this a round table dialogue was arranged by the Centre in Delhi in January 2006. The questions framed by the organizers for the participants of this conference and their implications have already been discussed by this scribe in The Nation of 19 January 2006. Suffice it to say here, that these questions had no bearing on the basic issue of Jammu and Kashmir, which involves India Pakistan and the people of Kashmir. No attempt was made even to clearly define the basic issue.

In March 2006 a conference was arranged by Pugwash in Islamabad which was attended by delegates from India Pakistan, Azad Kashmir and Indian occupied Kashmir. This conference was an exchange of niceties, expression of vague proposals, and good wishes for peace between India and Pakistan, and facilitating of contacts between the two parts of Jammu and Kashmir. Here also the basic problem remained unaddressed and undefined.

Yet another conference was arranged by the CDR on 12-13 April this year - termed "Intra Jammu and Kashmir Dialogue". It was attended by forty participants from all regions of the divided Jammu and KashmirState. The stated objective was "to take forward the discussion from the previous CDR Conference of January 2006." This time also there was much talk about the on going peace process between India and Pakistan, the hardships caused to people of Kashmir during the last fifty eight years etc. etc.

These NGO sponsored conferences and dialogues have by design or unwittingly got the Kashmir problem shrouded in so many unrelated or at best peripheral issues that the original problem has become distorted and unrecognizable.

A large number of artificial problems have been floated, and blown out of proportion, which are discussed in these gatherings. Verbose documents are published at the end, which do not touch the basic issue at all. Suggestions are offered to India and Pakistan that they should continue the dialogue for peace, show flexibility in their stand and approach and must take into account the interests and the wishes of people of Jammu and Kashmir. Now, this is what everybody is saying so far as Kashmir dispute is concerned. The basic flaw in all these NGO level dialogues as well as the composite dialogue which has now been going on for more than two years is that no attempt has ever been made to make India and Pakistan agree on the Nature and Genesis of the dispute. For Pakistan and the people of Kashmir the dispute is about the future political status or affiliation of the State. For India the problem is the violence in Jammu and Kashmir and relief to the population by economic assistance and good governance. India considers that the political status has been settled once and forever and the state is an "atoot ang" of India. How can a dispute be resolved if the parties to the dispute not agree on the exact nature of the dispute. India means what it says when it claims Jammu and Kashmir as its "atoot ang", asserts there would be no surrendering of territory, no changes in the borders and that what is happening in the state is an internal matter for India. This is proved by the steps that it has been taking in the state all along. India is going ahead with strategically significant measures, which a state would only take in a territory, which it considers its integral part.

Now, it is constructing a big airbase at Awantipura (about 20-km south of Srinagar). Large tracts of land are being acquired in the area for this purpose, so much so that the inhabitants of the area are lodging protests that their agriculture is going to suffer a set-back because of depletion of the cultivable land. The work on laying of the railway track is going on at full speed and train service between Jammu and Baramullah is expected to start in February 2007.

As for the composite dialogue process at the official level no break through has been achieved on any of the contentious issues - Baglihar Dam, Wular Barrage, Kishen Ganga Hydel Power Project Siachen and the non-Kashmiri related Sir Creek Issue. Of course, travel, trade and exchange of cultural troupes between the two countries have been facilitated. Various intra Kashmir routes have been opened for travel across the LOC in Kashmir. And most important the ceasefire on the Loc is holding. All this gives an impression that relations between the two countries are improving and there is a desire for peace on both sides. This goes to the advantage of India which uses these developments to assert that all can be well even without the Kashmir issue being settled; all this talk of self-determination to the people of Kashmir, of plebiscite, of UN resolutions, has become a "tale told by an idiot full of sound and fury signifying nothing". Why not let the status quo continue and enjoy the fruits of peace and friendly relations between the neighbours. Sadly, Pakistan and the people of Kashmir themselves are unwittingly helping India in this. Pakistan has now no stand on the issue. The Kashmiri leaders instead of voicing concrete demands are only clamouring "for being included in the negotiation". Meanwhile, Kashmiris get killed by the dozen every day.