Sincere, consistent approach needed to look for a future

Arun Joshi

Tribune News Service

The unpredictable always happens in Kashmir. On July 8 afternoon, there was not even a single leaf in the air suggesting that there would be a violent cycle of protests, clashes, deaths, injuries and huge losses, lasting for 50 days now, may be more.

On August 27, Kashmir touched the tragic milestone of 50th day of the violent protests that had left 68 dead and thousands more —— civilians and security personnel —– injured, with no immediate sign of trouble coming to an end anytime soon.

Apparently, there was something more than the spontaneity in protests after the killing of militant commander Burhan Wani in an encounter on the July 8. By all accounts, this was a trigger. The ammunition of street protests was dumped over a period of time by separatists, jilted mainstream parties and, of course, Pakistan’s men in the Valley.

Burhan was a spark, had he not died, there would have been eruption in any case. The trigger could have been something else.

History will not be generous to those overlooking the narrative that vitiated the atmosphere and tapped the passions of Kashmiri Muslims, telling them that their identity was in crisis. If separatists like Syed Ali Shah Geelani and Mirwaiz Umar Farooq upped the ante that “outsiders (read non-Muslims) would be settled in the Valley in the colonies for state subject soldiers, Kashmiri Pandits, the mainstream, also joined the chorus. History would judge this courtship with trouble in its own way – lives have been lost and the injured are nursing their wounds.

Separatists, to date, have not explained where are the Hindu settlers at Baltal and Sangam en route to the Amarnath shrine, nor have they answered why every agitation harps on “azadi” and then all is forgotten after the death of dozens of youth . What came out of the 2008 agitation except for religious and regional polarisation is still a question staring at the polity.

The 2010 unrest, which ended with 120 youth in graveyards, was against civilian killings in a staged encounter and that of a teenager, Tufail Mattoo, with a teargas shell. Streets reverberated with chants of “azadi”, which Omar Abdullah had described as “against India, and not against me or my government.” He tried to substantiate his claim by questioning the “accession of

J&K to India.” In the

end, he acknowledged candidly, “Jammu and Kashmir is the most difficult state to govern.”

Mehbooba Mufti might be facing a sort of poetic justice for what her party’s role was in 2008 and 2010. There are ministers in her Cabinet who had pushed for stone-throwing. That’s an undeniable fact. But, it is also a fact that challenges of governing this state have gone up by several notches since 2010.

But the fact remains, no two situations can be compared. The 2016 protest was not against the civilian killings. Burhan was a militant and the fate of militants is scripted the day they pick up the gun. Ironically, when many parts of south Kashmir erupted and police stations and CRPF and Army camps were targeted, there was no such incident in Burhan’s native place, Tral. Mourners or his fans on the social media turned up in thousands for his funeral. There was not a single casualty because there were no clashes with this sea of mourners chanting “azadi slogans.” This proves that there was something more than what meets the eye.

Delhi displayed its usual indifference until the matters became so grave that it had to wake up to reality and realise that something had to be done beyond putting more military boots on the ground. Pakistan geared up its propaganda and other machinery.

Nothing has changed in the past seven weeks, and it won’t change unless a sincere and consistent approach is adopted to look for a future. Kashmir will not take a U-turn from the current situation, just like that.