Condemned in his own country, Pakistan’s former president General Pervez Musharraf's death has drawn different responses in Jammu and Kashmir with two former Chief Ministers remembering him for engaging “mainstream Kashmiri leaders from India, much to the horror of Hurriyat leaders,” and for his efforts to, what they say, “address the Kashmir issue.”
After his death on Feb 5, Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari changed his Twitter profile picture to a photograph of his mother Benazir Bhutto and the late Nawab Akbar Bugti. While top Pakistani journalist Hamid Mir tweeted that Akbar Bugti and Benazir Bhutto’s death will always be associated with Musharraf.
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While in Kashmir, National Conference vice-president and former Chief Minister Omar Abdullah said, “Parvez Musharraf died, largely unlamented even in his own country.”
“For all his faults & his troubling legacy, I will always remember him as the only Pakistani leader willing to meet & engage with mainstream Kashmiri leaders from India, much to the horror of Hurriyat leaders,” Omar tweeted posting his picture handshaking with Musharraf along.
Over the years mainstream leaders within Jammu and Kashmir and moderates separatists led by Mirwaiz Umar Farooq would hail Musharraf, and separatist hardliners would hate him for his approach.
According to reports, in April 2005 Syed Ali Geelani led the Hurriyat Conference delegation met Musharraf on the latter’s visit to New Delhi. During the meeting, Musharraf presented his four-point formula but Geelani rejected it describing it “compromise on the principled stand of Pakistan over Kashmir.”
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Later when General Musharraf was removed as Pakistani president, Geelani addressed people at the Pologround Srinagar describing it as “good news.”
According to several accounts, former Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf’s four-point formula included the free movement of people across the LoC, self-governance, and no change in the borders of Kashmir.
In October 2004, a 16-member delegation from Pakistan visited Kashmir. The delegation comprising journalists and activists came through the South Asian Free Media Association (SAFMA). In the Valley, it was widely presumed the SAFMA visit under the government’s guided trip to Jammu and Kashmir was aimed at developing understanding around the confidence-building measures. The then Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed and NC leader Omar Abdullah and separatists in Kashmir hosted the delegation. After the delegation’s visit, mainstream political leaders including Omar Abdullah, Mehbooba Mufti, BJP leader Nirmal Singh and others visited Pakistan.
18 years down the line, in July 2019 Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said that the resolution of the Kashmir issue is on the cards and that “no power on the earth can stop it”. The Defence Minister, after visiting Kargil War Memorial in the Drass sector, had said, “Kashmir samasya ka hal jaldi hi honey wala hai” (resolution of Kashmir issue will take place soon), he had said.
On August 5, 2019, the BJP government abrogated Article 370 and bifurcated Jammu and Kashmir into Union Territories, UT of Jammu and Kashmir and UT of Ladakh and now the BJP is saying it has “resolved the mess” created by the country’s first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru in Jammu and Kashmir.
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Pointing towards it former Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti says Musharraf was perhaps the only Pakistani General “who genuinely tried to address the Kashmir issue.”
“He wanted a solution according to wishes of people of J&K & acceptable to India & Pak. Though GOI has reversed all CBMs initiated by him & Vajpayee ji, the ceasefire remains,” Mehbooba tweeted.
Omar says Musharraf's solution for the “Kashmir issue put the interests of the people of J&K at the forefront while being realistic that the framework must ensure that neither India nor Pakistan “lost face”.
“It didn’t happen & we are where we are today,” Omar tweeted.
