Sajjad Gani Lone’s entry into the poll fray has given an interesting twist to the Lok Sabha elections in the Kashmir valley. Lone, who heads the Peoples Conference, is first leader of repute from the separatist camp to have decided to contest the polls. He is pitched against two senior leaders, Shareef-ud-Din Shariq of the National Conference (NC) and Dilawar Mir of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), in north Kashmir’s Kupwara-Baramulla constituency. Lone’s party and other separatist groups have stayed away from both Assembly as well as Lok Sabha polls since 1987 and in fact had called for a poll boycott in last year’s elections to the Jammu and Kashmir assembly. This time too both factions of the Hurriyat Conference - one headed by Syed Ali Geelani and the other by Mirwaiz Umer Farooq have launched a poll boycott campaign but Sajjad Lone has decided otherwise. In an exclusive interview with CURRENT, Lone tells Bashir Manzar that he has not changed his stance vis-à-vis the resolution to the Kashmir imbroglio but has changed his strategy keeping in tune with ground realities as well as the changing global scenario.
Current: Just a few months back, you were one of the strong opponents of holding elections in J&K and had aggressively campaigned against the Assembly elections and now you are contesting yourself. Why and how this change of heart?
Lone: During last year’s Assembly elections, I along with other separatist groups asked people to stay away from the polls. People didn’t. They voted and voted in very good numbers. They conveyed a message to us that the poll boycott has become too irrelevant to be accepted and there was a need for some productive and result oriented strategy. I, in my political wisdom, received the message and accepted it. There is no question of change of heart.
From boycotting polls to contesting – isn’t it a complete U-turn?
What do you mean by U-turn? I haven’t changed my ideology. I have given my own suggestions for the resolution of the Kashmir issue in my ‘Vision Document – Achievable Nationhood’. I stand by every word I have written in that document. Yes, earlier, like other separatist leaders, I tried poll boycott as an option to force India to the negotiating table. This option didn’t work and therefore repeating it would have been stupidity. One has to look towards other options available and contesting polls, winning and taking Kashmir’s voice to Indian problem is one of the options.
Your critics say that finally you have been lured by power politics and your entry into polls is just for power.
(Laughs) Had I been after power, I would have contested Assembly elections and you know, had I done so, I would have been a big player in the State Assembly.
When our boycott call in last year’s assembly elections was rejected, I had admitted bluntly that peoples’ verdict is an indicator that the separatist leadership was out of sync with the needs of the present moment. That after 20 years it is time for us all to unglue ourselves from the political prescriptions and methods that were doled out in 1989, that these failed to address the unique requirements of a longer-term resistance struggle, and that the people of Kashmir now expect us to frame a dynamic reformulation of our strategy rooted in today’s realities, challenges and opportunities in 2009. That we must admit that we have so far, failed to translate the sustained defiance of the Kashmiri people into deliverance. That old, tired and failed approaches can not continue to be put forward like a broken record and that we must reverse any setbacks by carefully examining all available options for putting forward the voice and aspirations of the Kashmiri people. That, in a political struggle, no option is off the table and that the monopoly of stigmatizing and creating taboos will have to end. I, said then, and I will repeat today that ultimate legitimacy vests with the will of the people and if we follow this principle we strengthen our links with the people – and that means understanding and weaving together their realistic needs with their sacred aspirations.
Some of the separatist leaders see your decision of contesting polls as treason.
I care little for the opinions of our detractors and to the cynics who will cast aspersions on our intentions in opting for what may seem as an unlikely method from a resistance party, founded by my beloved father, Late Abdul Ghani Lone that has been part and parcel of the Kashmiri independence struggle and has given sacrifices throughout. Ours is a political struggle and we have opted for this risky option after analyzing all available avenues and the situation today.
I am contesting elections with a commitment to use this mechanism as a method to represent the voice of the Kashmiri people and to take the strength and merits of our cherished aspirations to the central stage of India – where it can not be ignored or censored out. I am in my humble capacity trying to reorient our struggle and bring it in tune with the existing realities as I perceive them.
I know the risks involved in fighting parties enjoying decades of patronage by the Indian state, coupled with the might of the present political and administrative set up. But I have firm belief in my people. They will understand the sincerity of my intentions and help me achieve my goal.
What actually you want to prove by contesting polls?
Before my document “Achievable Nationhood”, it was claimed that Kashmiris have no vision or clear ideas of their own about their future and this was repeated over and over as an excuse to ignore the fact of the existence of a distinct Kashmiri consciousness and position that exists and deserved to be represented and satisfied at the negotiating table. I believe that we gave a befitting reply to the claims that Kashmiris are dumb-driven and devoid of ideas for a peaceful future. Now in 2009, we are still hearing the claim that those who espouse the Kashmiri cause are without support of the people. For 20 years this has been the excuse to ignore the voice and aspirations of Kashmiris. We have continued to protest, march and rally in the hundreds of thousands to prove that this cause is the voice of the people, we have filled Kashmir’s graveyards with the remains of our loved ones. But still the same cynical excuse is used and claimed by the officialdom of India to avoid a serious and real negotiation and an honest engagement with the reality of Kashmiri aspirations, ideas, and dreams. I want to give a befitting reply to India – contest, win and then say – look I have the peoples’ mandate as per the requirements of your democratic set up, now come and listen to me, listen to my people.
OK. If you win, what are you going to do?
I am not claiming a solution or miracle to reverse this attitude of denial by the Indian establishment, but I would like to take a risk and create a rare opportunity to open a space for proving the detractors of the Kashmiri cause wrong and create a circumstance in which somebody might actually listen to our voice and hear our views.
At least, I would like to make an attempt to engage and push for a real process of negotiation – rather than just sitting back and waiting to be called for another round of mere photo opportunities or a chance symbolic gesture that Kashmiris and their advocates matter in the scheme of things.
Almost all separatist groups have called for poll boycott, which means they don’t want people to vote for you. On the other hand pro-Indian political parties are contesting against you. So where do you stand?
I am fed up of the continued humiliation of Kashmiri political actors at the hands of the Indian and Pakistani states. Political existence at the pleasure of India or Pakistan is not acceptable to me and post 2008 elections, seeking the pleasure of the Kashmiri people became imperative for me. I want to speak on my terms and conditions – Kashmiri terms and conditions. I seek no power and had I been interested in power I would have contested the Assembly elections. I want a bigger platform in order to be able to plead the cause of my nation. That is it.
What in your opinion is the best solution of the Kashmir imbroglio?
I have spelt it out in ‘Achievable Nationhood’. The documents talks of realism. I have drawn a line between desirability and achievability. Kashmir as nation wants to be an independent state – free from Indian and Pakistani influence. But that independence may not be possible given the present global scenario so we need to explore other options too and that is what I have tried to deliberate upon in that document.