Kashmir crisis: Delhi yet to spell out the starting point

Arun Joshi

Delhi is looking for a permanent and lasting solution to problems in Jammu and Kashmir within the framework of the Constitution. It seems to be a straightforward statement, but in reality it is full of complexities. This time, the problem is an unending cycle of violence on Kashmir’s streets, where the protesters come out with stones, defying the shutdown calls of the separatist camp and curfew imposed by the authorities. 

The separatists have ignored this defiance. It may be a part of their overground or secretive strategy or sheer helplessness against the new angry generation charting its own course in the absence of a firm leadership. The situation on the ground suggests that either part of it could be true. The fact remains that stone-throwing protests, clashes and the killings and injuries are the visibly grim realities of Kashmir even after more than 50 days of unrest, which some have started calling an “uprising”.

Violence on the streets has left 70 dead and thousands more injured. This unfortunate status indicates that the separatist camp is complicit one way or the other in the whole bloodletting unrest, and the tragedy is that the other side — security forces and the government — have not been able to deal with the protesters in an expected manner. That the protesters could march in thousands, overwhelm and attack the security forces and police camps suggests that there were some fault lines which were not rectified in time.

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So, the Centre will have to think from where to take the first step, especially when the  mainstream has deliberately rendered itself irrelevant.

They all, ruling and opposition leaders, have knocked the doors of Delhi to rescue them – the call for a dialogue and political solution is a cover to their real objective of staying relevant. 

Here, lies the difference – nobody on the streets is suggesting that the talks be held with Mehbooba Mufti or Omar Abdullah or for that matter any other “mainstream” leaders, who at times sound more secessionists than the secessionists themselves. In contrast, the occasional voices from the streets pitch for talks with the Hurriyat Conference. The clamour for adopting UN resolutions, plebiscite and involving Pakistan in talks has been reduced to clichés as the ground reality is known that India would never leave Kashmir, and Pakistan will not part with the territory occupied by it. Then, where is the real problem and the solution thereof.

Delhi, too, is clueless about Kashmir, for the simple reason that it has considered it as a remote area from the core of the national thought. Mere expression that Kashmir is at the core of the Indian nation doesn’t help. If it is the core then why are there prolonged spells of slumber before the flames leap out of the Valley? Pakistan’s mischief apart, what has the Centre done to undo the distrust between Delhi and Srinagar? 

Legally, the state has its own constitution, separate flag, and special position in the Indian Constitution. Whatever might have been said or written at the time of the framing of the Indian Constitution, the fact is that the identity crisis of Kashmir has deepened over the decades. There were chances-cum-opportunities to build on the peace constituency, howsoever small it was, but it existed even in the dark days of the 1990s.

Today, there is darkness alone. Miracles don’t take place on their own, even for that some ground should be there. Pakistan should be dealt with in the manner – honourable or otherwise – depending on the behaviour of the neighbouring country. But “our people” need compassion. May be that is the starting point.