Recently, after the discovery of thousands of unmarked graves in the Valley, Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah talked about setting up a 'truth and reconciliation commission (TRC), on the lines of South Africa'
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Recently, after the discovery of thousands of unmarked graves in the Valley, Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah talked about setting up a 'truth and reconciliation commission (TRC), on the lines of South Africa'. Many political analysts welcomed the suggestion quite enthusiastically and slammed separatist leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani for criticising the idea. Not Geelani-esque, but I too have reservations regarding the whole concept.
Firstly, the South African TRC came into being after the policy of apartheid had been abolished in the country.
The draconian laws that governed the Black community till then had been repealed, giving people a reason to believeu00a0 that positive steps are being taken. In Kashmir, however, the Armed Forces Special Powers Act is still very much in force. Wouldn't it be a little self-defeating to tell the truth about oppression and violence in front of a government that people think is the main culprit?
Also, one of the main pillars of a TRC is amnesty to those who committed political crimes and later confessed to them. It doesn't take too much intellectual discourse to imagine how reconciliatory it would be for a victim to exactly know who committed the crime, see him confess to it and then walk away free. It's like rubbing salt to the wounds. The TRC relied heavily on the Christian concept of forgiveness, a religion that bound almost the whole nation. In India,u00a0 even religion can't provide that solace in justice. In any long-drawn violent conflict, justice is a pre-requisite to reconciliation, not an alternative to it.
Also, the conflict in Kashmir is highly asymmetrical. While one party is governing the area, the other party is the 'terrorist' . In case a TRC is set-up, and representatives from both sides come up to tell their story, which side would end up with the amnesty?
Finally, from a merely political point of view, such an exercise might do more harm than good. While the chances of success of a TRC are at best slim, the chances of failure are huge. And if that happens, for Kashmiri populace, it would be one more stunt that the government pulled to divert attention from the immediate problems.
The past 'mistakes', such as not letting the UN hold a referendum, not letting any third party, including the non-governmental and inter-governmental institutions, play a significant part in the conflict resolution, and working hard to let it remain a bi-lateral issue, are still festering wounds. The government needs to address these issues first before taking up new opportunities to blunder.
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