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Talks the only way forward

FORMER Union Home Minister PC Chidambaram, who has repeatedly warned of Kashmir slipping away and sliding into disaster, again recently said: ‘Kashmir has had good times and bad but the present seems to be the worst of times. And sadly no one seems to care.’

Talks the only way forward

BEYOND PROTESTS: Today’s generation, both boys and girls, is no longer afraid to die



AS Dulat

FORMER Union Home Minister PC Chidambaram, who has repeatedly warned of Kashmir slipping away and sliding into disaster, again recently said: ‘Kashmir has had good times and bad but the present seems to be the worst of times. And sadly no one seems to care.’

Kashmir has been on fire since the killing of Burhan Wani during last Ramzan, and Ramzan is again around the corner. No effort has been made all this while to try and retrieve the situation. Winter provided the ideal situation when the Kashmiri hibernates with his ‘phiran’ and ‘kangri’. It is also the time when Kashmiris visit Delhi. The darbar too is in Jammu. But neither was there any motivation from Delhi nor any initiative from the Kashmiri leadership.

Kashmir is not in rebellion against the idea of India. Kashmiris have over the years mingled and even inter-married beyond the Banihal they were once averse to crossing. Kashmiri business flourishes in Mumbai,Goa, Kerala, etc. There is no love lost for Pakistan. At best, Kashmir would have been another Bangladesh in Pakistan. So, Kashmir is not going anywhere; the Kashmiri has nowhere to go. But what are we doing in Kashmir? Treating it as a purely law and order problem; trying to quell the uprising of the last 10 months with muscular force without understanding the psychological complexities and problems of Kashmir. In the Kashmiri perception what is basically wrong is our 'approach' to Kashmir. Consequently, the Kashmiri feels alienated; under siege. His ultimate fear is that he could be reduced to a minority in his own land.

Neither has there been such blatant polarisation in the past. Jammu may be more secular, as some claim, but it has nothing common left with Kashmir which perceives Delhi as being partial to Jammu and resents Hindu dominance. Kashmiriyat is almost dead and radicalism grows apace owing to perpetual conflict. Little wonder that Geelani, once referred to by Gen Musharraf as a 'nuisance', now calls the shots. Whether we realise and acknowledge it or not, extremism has grown both in Jammu and Kashmir.

The scariest part is not the alienation or the violence on the street that we have dealt with in the past but that today's generation, both boys and girls, are no longer afraid to die. That is why Dr Farooq Abdullah, who has uncharacteristically been pleading for a dialogue between India and Pakistan to salvage the situation, said: 'The policy of bullet for bullet was not going to work at this stage.' The problem is, the moment any Kashmiri leader mentions Pakistan, he is looked upon as anti-national. If Farooq is anti-national, we won't find a nationalist in Kashmir.

Distrust permeates the landscape of Kashmir even as the generational gap grows. Youth in the age group of 15-25 is growing increasingly impatient. There are more boys and girls on the street than in schools and colleges. A father may still follow the old Sufi tradition whereas his son could be on Facebook with a gun in his hand. Radicalism is growing rapidly, encouraged both by Islamabad and Delhi.

Kashmiriyat is disappearing along with Mufti Mohd. Sayeed's healing touch. Two pillars of Kashmir Islam — Sheikh Nurrudin Wali, fondly referred to as Nund Rishi, whose songs dedicated to Lal Ded are at the very heart of Kashmir's composite culture, and Mir Syed Ali Hamdani have been forgotten. Last year, the 700th anniversary of Hamdani was celebrated in a big way in Tajikistan but not in Kashmir.

The Kashmiri suffers from a deep disempowerment complex. But for Sheikh Abdullah's term as Prime Minister or Farooq Abdullah's first term as Chief Minister, the Kashmiri has never felt a part of the government. Nor does he think that democracy in the rest of the country applies to Kashmir and that Kashmiri sub- nationalism is unnecessarily looked upon with suspicion, as are the separatists as agents of Pakistan. Even autonomy, the most legitimate and reasonable of Kashmiri demands, are now regarded as pampering, if not anti-national.

There is also the problem of void of leadership in Kashmir. The state government barely exists. The J&K Police is hardly in control. The postponement of the Anantnag byelection was a surrender to stone pelters. Relief to Kashmir, when it comes, should be through engagement not blackmail. 

The Chief Minister appears in a trance. Her brother, Tassaduq Mufti, the reluctant candidate for the suspended Anantnag byelection, has also expressed concern at the complete erosion of the party’s core political base and the lack of concern in Delhi over the credibility of the state government. He has gone to the extent of saying that the mainstream would not survive in isolation without interaction with other parties. Pretty much similar to what  Farooq Abdullah has said at least twice, that all parties including the separatists need to get together to engage with Delhi.But there has been no response from the Hurriyat which continues to act at the behest of Pakistan while ignoring Kashmir’s interests.

Pakistan had lost out in Kashmir. But the turmoil in the Valley since last summer has brought it back in a big way. Ironically, it would appear that Pakistani and Indian interests coincide to the extent that the chaos in Kashmir seems to suit both.

Kashmir cannot be retrieved by force. As the former Army Commander, Gen DS Hooda, said recently: 'People have to be on our side; the population has to be the centre of gravity.' Earlier while serving in Kashmir, he had pleaded for a dialogue with all stakeholders, to which the Mirwaiz had responded that if the Army could find a solution to Kashmir the separatists were prepared to talk to the Army. There was still no response from Delhi.

There is no way out of Kashmir but to talk, both to Srinagar and Islamabad. Not talking makes no sense. Our former Foreign Minister Yashwant Sinha, who has shown a keen interest of late in Kashmir, was recently quoted as having said: 'For God's sake, Modiji, talk to the Kashmiris.'

Kashmiri poet Ghulam Hassan Ghamgean writes: ‘Saath-e-Hassan, Saath aasen wenkenen/te Saath-e-Hassan/ Ye Maango te banen Khuda bozen.’ (A moment of divine approval in which what we wish and pray for happens.)

For Kashmir, it is a consummation devoutly to be wished. Indian interests are too deeply entrenched to let go of Kashmir. Kashmir cements the idea of India.

AS Dulat is the author of “Kashmir — The Vajpayee Years”

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