Kashmir imbroglio-an identity problem

The dispute could be resolved by addressing the roots of the problem,
says S G H Naqshbandi

(from greaterkashmir.com)

As a result of new world realities the Kashmir question has once again come to limelight and both India and Pakistan are trying for a viable solution to this vexed problem and restoration of peace in this trouble-torn region. In this regard some some confidence building measures like that of ceasefire on the line of control, exchange of POWs and civilian prisoners, exchange of parliamentarians, journalists, writers, social activists, followed by fresh round of talks between the external affairs secretary of Pakistan and Indian foreign secretary has started.

The UPA government favours talking to APHC and will not be rigid in talks with separatist groups and would talk with an open mind.

The world’s newly changed nature in which the socialists and western liberal models have been changing into a supra national model and each nation is undergoing internal democratic changes as also the struggle of ethnic minorities, for recongition of their distinct identities have erupted. West is saying good bye to nationalism and third world to non-alignment and engaged in the formations of international superstructures like European Union, SAARC, Asean, OIC, OAU, IMF and World Bank etc. Uniparty system yielding place to multiparty system, coupled with emergence of ethnic struggles in Russia, China, Africa, Sri Lanka, India and Pakistan including Kashmir are continuing unabated. In the process of globalization and interdependence national interest has turned into global one.

In today’s world no country can progress by adopting a confrontationist policy. Sooner the disputes are settled, the better it is. In this way the heavy expenditure on military and security will be reduced enabling the recovery from economic crises.

The method of dialogue and discussion, not force, is the only way to solve long standing problems. Kashmir is no exception to it. It continues to be a bleeding wound and malignancy. The practice of past 15 years shows that the practice of bullet for bullet has failed in Kashmir and elsewhere.

We cannot cope with Kashmir problem unless we identify its causes. It is an identity problem. The urge for an identity is one of the basic human urges, as strong a motivating force in the political behaviour of the people of the state as it is for those living anywhere else. The most important fact in this context is it has more kinds of identities than any other state of India in respect of religious and racial compositions, also linguistic.

The Kashmir problem is the outcome of alienation of the Kashmiri Muslims with armed insurrection as its offshoot. It has specific historical, ethnic, demographic, geographical, constitutional and international ramifications. Kashmiri community has a distinct identity with overwhelming Muslim population and its proximity to Pakistan and central Asia, communal partition of India together with tribal invasion during 1947, constitutional factor of erosion of article 370 of Indian constitution and international factor of Kashmir problem still pending before the UNO. The problem can be solved when we understand all these factors.

Elections in Jammu and Kashmir were stage-managed by the Delhi Darbar. Elementary human democratic rights were denied, Article 370 eroded, civil liberties crushed, and opposition political parties suppressed. When dissent is crushed, it gravitates to religious institutions. In communist Poland it revolved round the Church and in Muslim countries and regions like Kashmir round the mosque. This is the key reason for Islamic hardline movements.

Mass rigging in elections done. Rampant corruption, both in politics and administration reached heights. In economic field basic infrastructure was not developed. Amenities like, employement were neglected. The state still remains industrially the most backward one.

The biggest blunder of eroding the Kashmiri identity was playing of Ladakh and Jammu cards by the rulers of Delhi in order to arouse communal passions against Kashmiri leadership so as to pressure them to toe the Delhi line, paving the way for forcible integration of the state in place of accession as provided in Article 370.

All this culminated in the dismissal and arrest of Sheikh Abdullah as the then Prime Minister of the State. This was done under the pressure of communalists in the ruling Congress and opposition. This paved the way for erosion of the Article 370, that granted greater autonomy to the state.

Sheikh Abdullah was tried for treason and finally released when the left parties built a bridge between him and the Govt of India. Sheikh harped on plebiscite for about two decades which further increased the alienation of Kashmiries.

Kashmiris have acquired identity consciousness much earlier than many other identities in the country during historical phases of foreign rule on Kashmir i,e Buddhist, Mughal, Pathan, Sikh and Dogra. During all this period, Kashmir saw no good government, but misrule and tyranny. During 1339 it was the assertion of the Kashmiri identity that resulted into Shiekh Abdullah’s conflict with Jinnah’s Muslim League and upheld Kashmiri Muslim nationalism in pre 1947 India.

During 1975, with Sheikh Abdullah’s induction as Chief Minister with Congress Assembly party’s support did not improve the conditions when he finally left the scene in 1983. Mass rigging of 1987 Kashmir Assembly elections brought the matter to a flash point and militancy erupted. In the words of late Inderjeet Gupta CPI General Secretary and Home Minister of India ” Democracy was raped in Kashmir and this mistake is being repeated again and again. It is wrong to say that outside hand is responsible for insurrection in Kashmir”

No doubt the militancy is backed by Pakistan, Art 370 eroded, unemployement, political and economic mismanagement and bungling of Farooq Government are the factors having their own importance, but with a secondary role.

Pakistan succeeded in internationalising the Kashmir issue and has been able to get this question discussed in the Organisation of Islamic Countries, a number of times.

Three Indo-Pak wars and Kargil war though limited, has resulted into collossal damage, human as well as material to both the countries with no movement towards solution to Kashmir tangle. Now both the countries are nuclear powers and in case of any war it will be disastrous and fatal to both.

With the new world enviornment favourable towards finding a solution to Kashmir problem, both the countries have begun to enter into a dialouge not only with one another but on Indian side with separatist groups as well. Unless both the countries and people of Kashmir look for a viable solution acceptable to all , the bloodbath is going to continue and the state of Jammu and Kashmir would have to bear heavy human and economic costs. All this depends on the negotiations between the two countries. The International Centre for Peace Initiatives has calculated that during the next five years. Kashmir would witness another 18000 deaths, including 6000 civilians and 8000 disappearances and 45000 people with psychological problems.

Kashmir has already lost 27 million on economic front, decline in tourist arrivals from 1989-2002 amounts to a revenue loss of $ 3.6 billion. Siachen conflict alone will cost $ 14.2 billion to India and to Pakistan $ 3.3 billion annually, besides a loss of 1500 soldiers due to high altitude sickness and frost bite during next five years.

Besides blood letting it is draining the resources of Army and security leaving teeming millions to hunger, poverty and want, besides political chaos, religious extremism and fundamentalism.

A peaceful settlement can be achieved if India, Pakistan and people of Kashmir get rid of 1947 mindset, start from a new world reality and new situations in their countries and Kashmir in an era of globlisation.

In fact, Jammu and Kashmir needs to be granted an autonomous status and Pakistan should also do so in respect of PoK, which they name as Azad Kashmir with free movement of people on the either sides of the borders till a final settlement of this tangle. The people of Kashmir inherently have a decisive say in this dispute.

With the final resolution of this problem, both the countries will get rid of arms race, save huge budgetory provisions being spent on Army and Security and huge amounts thus saved will be utilised on human welfare. Both will get rid of militancy, religious extremism and fundamentalism and an era of peace, tranquility and progress will usher in not only in the subcontinent but in the whole of South Asia.

Copyright and courtesy of Greater Kashmir. com (December 2004)
Copyright concern? email: media.kashmir [at] gmail.com