SRINAGAR // Divisions broke out among Indian politicians sent on a peace mission to Kashmir over attempts by some of the party to reach out to separatist leaders.
The main political parties agreed last week in New Delhi to send the group in a rare display of cross-party unity. It was hoped the delegation could find a way to halt the three months of violent protests that have left 108 people dead.
But yesterday, on the final day of their two-day tour, the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP), complained about the efforts of some politicians in the group to meet the separatists, who had earlier rejected the delegation's invitation to meet.
Meeting the separatists was not the "mandate" of the entire delegation, said Sushma Swaraj, a senior leader of the BJP, which has long baulked at the idea of engaging with separatists.
The decision to meet them "was not discussed in the delegation", Ms Swaraj said.
The handful of politicians from opposition parties attempted to reach out to Kashmir's three main separatist leaders on Monday. Even though the separatists had vocally boycotted the delegation, the politicians visited their homes, and coaxed them to help restore peace in the Kashmir valley.
The delegation, a diverse 39-member group of politicians and officials, arrived in the provincial capital of Srinagar on Monday to collectively reach out to various sections of Kashmir's often alienated society.
A crowd of protesters yesterday distrupted the delegates' plan to visit a government-run hospital to meet some of the injured in the violence. The delegates were whisked away by security personnel after shouts for "freedom" from the crowd. The police used batons to try to disperse the group, which responded with chants of "Go India, go back".
Palaniappan Chidambaram, India's home minister, visited Tangmarg, a town 45km from Srinagar where security forces shot dead six people in protests last week. While some residents blocked the highway outside the town to protest his visit, many braved a stringent curfew to meet him.
"Imagine my body is India, and my arm is Kashmir. You're forcing the arm into a cauldron of boiling oil," an angry resident told Mr Chidambaram. "If you say that Kashmir is an inseparable part of India, why then do you not feel my pain?
"You call us Indians, why then do you spray bullets on us?"
Despite the hostile reception in some areas, Omar Abdullah, the chief minister of the state, said he was "satisfied" with the delegation's visit. It will return to New Delhi to submit its assessment of the situation to the prime minister, Manmohan Singh.
The polarised views of India's mainstream political parties on engaging separatist leaders highlight one of the many complications in resolving Kashmir's decades-old territorial dispute that erupted into a full-blown separatist struggle more than two decades ago.
While the separatists' long-standing demand has been independence or a merger with Muslim-majority Pakistan, Hindu nationalists demand integration of the entire disputed region into the Indian state.
The BJP's "rigid politics" is disconcerting, said Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, a moderate separatist leader, who wore a black band on his left arm to protest against the recent civilian deaths, when the Indian delegation visited his home.
This is the same party, Mr Farooq said in an interview, whose veteran leader and former prime minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee, once said: "It is my dream and wish to resolve the Kashmir issue."
"This is the same party that once initiated peace talks with hardline separatist Syed Ali Shah Geelani. It engaged Hizbul Mujaheddin in a ceasefire and talks process in the summer of 2000," he said, referring to the militant Kashmiri group. "And now when it's out of power, it has hardened its stance to win its Hindu vote bank."
In August, the prime minister, Mr Singh, suggested granting Kashmir greater autonomy, which many observers have long claimed is the only viable solution to the territorial dispute.
But the BJP was staunchly opposed. The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), a Hindu nationalist political organisation and its close ally, says autonomy is an "intolerable" idea that could lead to the "Balkanisation" of the Indian state.
In a stinging editorial in its mouthpiece publication, Organiser in August, the RSS called the people of Indian-controlled Kashmir a "pampered lot".
"Kashmiris are asking for more despite having better roads, electricity, education, railways, and one of the highest per-capita income in the country. The state gets the highest financial aid [from New Delhi] ? so what is the problem of these gentlemen?" the editorial said of Kashmir's protesters.
Yasin Malik, another separatist leader who heads the Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front, said that in recent years he had attempted to reach out to different "political shades" in India to resolve Kashmir's dispute.
Last year, he said, he had met with two senior members of the RSS in New Delhi in a meeting "arranged by a common friend".
"'Kashmir's dispute is bleeding India, it is bleeding Pakistan, it is bleeding Kashmiris,' I told them," Mr Malik said. "'If you don't show flexibility, we'll be fighting with each other all our lives'."
Mr Malik said the RSS members were receptive to his remarks, but made no assurances. He did not want to reveal their names "without their permission".
Sheikh Shaukat Hussain, a professor of law at Kashmir University in Srinagar, said the Singh-led government did not need the Hindu nationalists to resolve the Kashmir dispute.
"They are not serious," he said of the government. "They impose a curfew, keep the Kashmiri population hostage in their homes, and send second-rung parliamentarians to separatists to show the world they're reaching out. With this approach, Kashmir will never be resolved."
foreign.desk@thenational.ae
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Ms Yang's top tips for parents new to the UAE
- Join parent networks
- Look beyond school fees
- Keep an open mind
Anxiety and work stress major factors
Anxiety, work stress and social isolation are all factors in the recogised rise in mental health problems.
A study UAE Ministry of Health researchers published in the summer also cited struggles with weight and illnesses as major contributors.
Its authors analysed a dozen separate UAE studies between 2007 and 2017. Prevalence was often higher in university students, women and in people on low incomes.
One showed 28 per cent of female students at a Dubai university reported symptoms linked to depression. Another in Al Ain found 22.2 per cent of students had depressive symptoms - five times the global average.
It said the country has made strides to address mental health problems but said: “Our review highlights the overall prevalence of depressive symptoms and depression, which may long have been overlooked."
Prof Samir Al Adawi, of the department of behavioural medicine at Sultan Qaboos University in Oman, who was not involved in the study but is a recognised expert in the Gulf, said how mental health is discussed varies significantly between cultures and nationalities.
“The problem we have in the Gulf is the cross-cultural differences and how people articulate emotional distress," said Prof Al Adawi.
“Someone will say that I have physical complaints rather than emotional complaints. This is the major problem with any discussion around depression."
Daniel Bardsley
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
The specs
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THE SPECS
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Real estate tokenisation project
Dubai launched the pilot phase of its real estate tokenisation project last month.
The initiative focuses on converting real estate assets into digital tokens recorded on blockchain technology and helps in streamlining the process of buying, selling and investing, the Dubai Land Department said.
Dubai’s real estate tokenisation market is projected to reach Dh60 billion ($16.33 billion) by 2033, representing 7 per cent of the emirate’s total property transactions, according to the DLD.
2025 Fifa Club World Cup groups
Group A: Palmeiras, Porto, Al Ahly, Inter Miami.
Group B: Paris Saint-Germain, Atletico Madrid, Botafogo, Seattle.
Group C: Bayern Munich, Auckland City, Boca Juniors, Benfica.
Group D: Flamengo, ES Tunis, Chelsea, (Leon banned).
Group E: River Plate, Urawa, Monterrey, Inter Milan.
Group F: Fluminense, Borussia Dortmund, Ulsan, Mamelodi Sundowns.
Group G: Manchester City, Wydad, Al Ain, Juventus.
Group H: Real Madrid, Al Hilal, Pachuca, Salzburg.
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Shubh Mangal Saavdhan
Directed by: RS Prasanna
Starring: Ayushmann Khurrana, Bhumi Pednekar
Series information
Pakistan v Dubai
First Test, Dubai International Stadium
Sun Oct 6 to Thu Oct 11
Second Test, Zayed Stadium, Abu Dhabi
Tue Oct 16 to Sat Oct 20
Play starts at 10am each day
Teams
Pakistan
1 Mohammed Hafeez, 2 Imam-ul-Haq, 3 Azhar Ali, 4 Asad Shafiq, 5 Haris Sohail, 6 Babar Azam, 7 Sarfraz Ahmed, 8 Bilal Asif, 9 Yasir Shah, 10, Mohammed Abbas, 11 Wahab Riaz or Mir Hamza
Australia
1 Usman Khawaja, 2 Aaron Finch, 3 Shaun Marsh, 4 Mitchell Marsh, 5 Travis Head, 6 Marnus Labuschagne, 7 Tim Paine, 8 Mitchell Starc, 9 Peter Siddle, 10 Nathan Lyon, 11 Jon Holland
A MINECRAFT MOVIE
Director: Jared Hess
Starring: Jack Black, Jennifer Coolidge, Jason Momoa
Rating: 3/5
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Your Guide to the Home
- Level 1 has a valet service if you choose not to park in the basement level. This level houses all the kitchenware, including covetable brand French Bull, along with a wide array of outdoor furnishings, lamps and lighting solutions, textiles like curtains, towels, cushions and bedding, and plenty of other home accessories.
- Level 2 features curated inspiration zones and solutions for bedrooms, living rooms and dining spaces. This is also where you’d go to customise your sofas and beds, and pick and choose from more than a dozen mattress options.
- Level 3 features The Home’s “man cave” set-up and a display of industrial and rustic furnishings. This level also has a mother’s room, a play area for children with staff to watch over the kids, furniture for nurseries and children’s rooms, and the store’s design studio.
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25 visual effects (VFX) studios
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1,000 VFX artists
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10 Concept artists, 25 3D designers
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