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'Let India offer dialogue, the Lashkar will stop'

The bearded man facing us appears confident.

"I am telling you, the Laskhar will listen to us," he tells us quietly. "Let India offer us dialogue and stop custodial killings. I will be the first to ask them to stop. And once they feel India is sincere, they will agree."

This is Nayeem Khan. He was once a close aide to Shabir Shah, the Kashmiri leader. He was arrested with Shah in 1989, at the start of the Kashmir insurgency, and has spent, like his betterknown counterpart, quite some time in jail.

Khan now heads the National Front, one of the parties jockeying for position in Kashmir politics.

It is less than a fortnight since his younger brother was shot dead by "unidentified assailants." Khan meets us at his ancestral home outside Srinagar.

In a small tent, receiving party-workers and people come to pay their condolence, Khan is seated on the floor, sandwiched by close aides, sharing a blanket with them. There is hot kahwa and Kashmiri bread being served.

"Who are these militants?" he asks. "They are our people. They will listen to us if we ask them, if they feel that India is serious about peace."

Even the groups advocating jihad in Kashmir? Yes, answers Khan.

"There is a mania created about the Lashkar and Jaish-e-Mohammadi," he says. "But they are fighting for a cause. They have come to help us. They enjoy our support; it is the Kashmiris who guide them. When the time comes I am confident they will stop."

The NF, a splinter group of the People's League, entered Kashmir politics in 1998. Like Shabir Shah's Democratic Freedom Party, Mufti Mohammad Sayeed's People's Democratic Party and G M Shah's Awami National Conference, Khan's outfit is trying to carve an identity for itself, keeping away from the separatist All-Parties Hurriyat Conference.

"India wants peace first and then resolution," he continues, "But I say, give us resolution first, peace will follow automatically."

One of Khan's associates places the strength of his party "at around 15,000" workers. His critics, however, put it at "less than 3,000". They also say Khan enjoys favourable relations with some quarters in Pakistan.

"I won't say that Pakistan has no interest in Kashmir," the politician says. "They do. They are supporting the movement at all levels.

"Sometimes even the Indian forces support it... like it happened in Haigam. I must thank them for bringing the people out on to the streets like in the 1990s."

We ask him about the extended cease-fire. Khan looks on it as 'positive' signals.

"It is difficult to predict a time-frame, but Kashmiris will attain the right to self-determination. This has to end. History is full of such examples. Compared to Cuba, Bosnia and Palestine, the Kashmir problem is simple. It has to end, this war has to..."

He pauses and throws us at a Kashmiri saying. Its translation: The Barbarians will be defeated, but only after the massacre.

We return to Pakistan's role. Does he think Islamabad would let Kashmir be independent as most Kashmiris, including Khan himself, want?

"I am optimistic," he replies. "If India lets go of the territory under it, Pakistan too will agree. They have already said that.

"Yeh zulm khatam honai hai," he concludes. "Once we feel India is serious and sincere in its efforts, we can talk to Lashkar and other militants."

And they, Khan is confident, will listen.

The Kashmir ceasefire: The Complete Coverage

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