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KOKOI-WEST
KASHMIR
08/08/08
Blunt realism can lead one to the depths of
darkness and despair, idealism invariably provides scope for hope…
Indeed, it’s time
for people in Jammu
and the Valley to trade in their verminous polemics and self-destructing
demeanour to prepare for the lofty heights of economic dynamism, communal
cohesion and environmental revitalisation. Meanwhile, the governments of India
and Pakistan should each swallow an ample dose of sober medication and realise
it’s time to confess; “We tried for almost 61 years to control the tempo,
fracture the identity and dictate the destiny of Kashmir: We’re terribly sorry,
it hasn’t worked out well for any of us, not least because we attempted to defy
nature: It’s over to you folks, we both hereby concede that you’re more than
capable of reversing the mess we’ve put you in.”
(An imaginery
and quite wishful quote no doubt - but to paraphrase the venerable Kashmiri
pandit film-maker Sanjay Kak…”The obnoxious silence
has to break.”)
Background
The Kashmiri
people, be they Hindu, Muslim, Sikh or Buddhist; are an incredibly
accommodating lot. Judging by how they’ve overlooked and tolerated the rule of
‘outsiders’ in these past few centuries; functioning as a tug of the pernicious
post ‘47 two-nation theory was an absolute given. Pakistan tried in earnest to
make the Muslim much more of a Muslim than he needed to be while India
gradually did much the same to the Hindu. Where did that leave the poor Hindus
in Pakistan or the hapless
Muslims in India?
Marooned in their very own ancestral abode!
The millions of
‘desis’ that had been forcibly uprooted from either side of the un-natural
divide, found it excruciatingly difficult to come to terms with the loss of
their loved ones, left behind or killed in cold-blooded communal frenzy. The
Sikh of Rawalpindi (undivided India
and post partition Pakistan)
who escaped with his bare life to Jallandhar (India),
didn’t merely change his address in the Punjab, it was a blood-soaked divided Punjab. His centuries old identity and ancestral roots
were ripped in exchange for a new identity, which defined his roots as enemy territory.
The Muslim from pre-‘47 Agra (India) led a contorted existence in Karachi (Pakistan),
her family members who didn’t migrate with her became her nascent nation’s
enemies.
As the decades
passed by, progress and development for India
and Pakistan
was a laborious struggle. Amongst other factors, unprecedented population
growth and unhealthy military expenditure made post-colonial restructuring nigh
on impossible for both countries. Whilst poverty in the region rippled;
education, health and infrastructure were coldly sacrificed. Intellectual and
artistic advancement was and still is sadly, deemed a luxury, ill-affordable to
a pair of overly paranoid nation states.
Muslim Pakistan and
Hindu India were an existential threat to each other and so sermonised
Doordarshan and PTV, not to forget Radio Pakistan or All-India Radio. Their
favourite playground for battle was of course Kashmir,
attrition after attrition. The intelligence agencies of India and Pakistan, in conjunction with local
lackeys; ensured that the Kashmiris were forever obliging hosts. Dissension or
god-forbid obstruction was never an option. Pakistan’s
“Jugular Vein” (Shah Ragh-Urdu) and India’s “Integral Part” (Atoot Ang-Hindi)
were loaded oxymorons that quite literally made morons of the Kashmiri
mentality.
Setting aside the
moral liability of nuclearisation for just a moment, 1998 was a year of
technological accomplishment for the region. Both countries demonstrated vigour
to defy the “International Community”. Nevertheless, Kashmir as an issue that
accompanied the creation of Pakistan
and independence of a crippled India,
was the perfect binary foil that prevented the “International Community” from
prolonging it’s dismay. The “Islamic” and “Hindu” bombs were here to stay.
1999 and Kargil’s
fiasco; followed by 9/11 have mercifully in retrospect, changed the modus
operandi, if not modus vivendi, from the proverbial ‘war-war’ to ‘jaw-jaw’.
Dialogue and
communication as a means of conflict resolution, is not only plausible, efficient,
cost-effective and positively natural. For Kashmiris of whatever persuasion,
it’s the only possible method, an alternative simply did not and will not exist.
It would be far too rich and ludicrous for either India
or Pakistan
to suggest any indigineous provocation of violence. Contrary to what some
Kashmiris and others have suggested, there is little evidence of any of the
many ethnicities in Kashmir espousing martial
instincts.
Moving on to the
“irreversible Peace Process” initiated in January 2004; this has thankfully
proven to be the freshest of fresh airs since 1947. Both entities have shown an
element of maturity and resolve, tit-for-tat provocations notwithstanding.
Dialogue between Indian and Pakistani civil society has invoked and propelled
fresh thinking as well as nostalgia of an un-divided past. Ruefully, at the
insistence of both countries, most of this ‘dialogue’ has taken place outside
the region in the wider “International Community”. Both governments still feel
it un-nerving and unsafe for barrier-breaking intra-dialogue and initiatives to
take root in the region.
Of utter
frustration to the Kashmiri is that any peace dividends that have accrued so
far have been primarily gobbled up by the Indian and Pakistani national.
Movement between the two countries has increased exponentially while between
the two parts of Kashmir, it’s still barely a
trickle. The contrast is startling if one considers that many ‘well-connected’
Indians and Pakistanis have travelled to each other’s country on numerous occasions
and at will, to “merry-make” while there are ample Kashmiris belonging to
divided families, who have yet to meet their siblings after 61 years!
Intra-Kashmir
movement and dialogue, though unprecedented has been lacklustre to say the
least. By extension, reference may be extended to economic activity, cultural
interaction, administrative reform and well…the list is endless. In short, India and Pakistan
have not kept pace with global socio-economic/geo-political changes: Elements
of an ‘Iron Curtain’ reminiscent of the ‘Cold War’ are starkly evident,
particularly in Kashmir. Their respective administrative
mechanisms are not quite equipped or even focused on speeding things up, both
having a tendency of getting bogged down in inevitable cul-de-sacs. Old habits do
die hard!
A bit of historical perspective
It’s an indisputable
fact that pre-colonial India was an economic powerhouse of global proportion (in
relative terms, way ahead of it’s current trajectory) and a fabulous specimen
of world-class culture and art; driven by an amazing array of diversity in
food, clothes, language and construction; organised and administered by a
harmonious fusion of Hindu/Muslim spirit.
Ideas, people,
goods and services in whatever dimension flowed freely. If an artisan of Attock
(NWFP/Punjab-Pakistan) decided one day that he wished to venture East for work…his
destination may well have been no less than modern day Myanmar….traversing the breadth
of modern day Pakistan, India and Bangladesh…others of his ilk had little
hesitation in setting up home en-route, if a place took their fancy…indeed, Tagore’s
“The Kabuli Wallah” fails to escape reminiscence.
Symptoms
In it’s current
collective predicament and despite modern advancement in transport and
information networks, the region has poisoned itself with a mad concoction of Westphalia and inappropriate religious fuel, amidst a
rotten basket of other self-inflicted ills. As a consequence, entities within
the historic ‘whole’, repeatedly fail to recognise the humane aspirations of
those it has been programmed to categorise as the ‘other’, this blinds it from
visualising the stupendous potential; that a harmonised region with an
efficient governing structure can deliver.
Pakistan and India, despite their vast
potential, have cultivated fractured societies with fault-lines in every
direction. Pro & anti-US, extremist-moderate, local-national, Muslim-Hindu,
pro-establishment & anti, Punjabi-Other, progressive-traditional,
spiritual-material, Aryan-Dravidian even etc etc. Though both are unanimous on
progress, they are blinkered on any form of reform or revision: In the
meantime, those who consider themselves victimised and/or isolated, are
screaming out for recognition and opportunity.
A major irritant is
the glut of misinformation that public opinion is subjected to. There is only
one way to make democracy work: to provide accurate, unbiased information and contextual
education, particularly of our common history.
An example from
another tormented region may be apt: Alan Hart is a seasoned British journalist
with arguably unrivalled exposure to the Israeli-Palestinian issue. The
following is an excerpt from an interview he gave to worldpress.org last month.
url reference> http://www.worldpress.org/Mideast/3206.cfm
“ Most citizens
throughout the Judeo-Christian world are totally ignorant about the truth of
history. I'm a classic example. I came out of my mother's womb conditioned by
Zionism's version of history. It took me 12 to 15 years of being an ITN TV
reporter to actually get to the other side of the story. I can understand how
people who didn't have my exposure to it don't challenge.”
The Kashmiris are
akin to being stuck in a sardine can, compelled to either defer to India or Pakistan. Lack of freedom to evolve
their own identity, traps them in the communal mess that we repeatedly witness.
Fears
The current crisis
in Indian-administered Kashmir has the
un-needed potential of repeating the horrors of 1947. The symptoms are all
clearly visible. There is ample human potential in the region, forever
un-utilised and repressed; conditions perfect for dancing towards collective
doom.
The peace process
at it’s current pace is blatantly ill-equipped to neutralise the situation. India and Pakistan simply do not have the requisite
time or the broad strategy necessary to solve a problem which has thus far,
exasperated them and caused an unwanted shift of focus from their respective
schedules. If anything, a hands-on approach on their part could exacerbate the
tension. When people are suffocating on one side (Valley) and lava-laden on the
other (Jammu), military
instruction/obstruction or ‘intelligent’ manipulation could cause an
uncontrollable eruption.
There is ample
evidence to suggest that Muslims in Indian-administered Kashmir
are galvanising and by extension contemplating isolation of the minority Hindu
community. As death tolls rise and economic activity on the Jammu
road from the Valley dwindles to a complete halt, consequential blocking of India’s only surface route in and out of Kashmir, could be a precursor to a communal division of
the state. Anathema for the construction of a global “super-power”, forever
exposing the region to become servile to the machinations of ‘others’.
Recommendations
Solidifying the
whole region; not on communal lines but by re-aligning diversity to the whole
region. Pakistan and India
need to get over the idea of restricting movement via borders and imposing
separate identities. It is important for both to not come across as inveterate
narcissists who do not like to be crossed. They should provide an historic opportunity
for Kashmiris to demonstrate how calmly they can, through penetrating dialogue
and inspiring initiative, solve problems that have afflicted the State. This
will change the perception of seeing the Kashmiris as a liability to witnessing
them as a force that cements the region together.
Thus far, political
rhetoric alluding to some of the above has not been translated into practice.
Those who can instigate a change in approach are metaphorically tied in chains
e.g writers, artists, activists and other energetic members of civil society.
Whereas, lackadaisical technocrats and bureaucrats, wearing the badge of either
country are given the duty of enacting the rhetoric.
That doesn’t work.
It raises false hopes at best and repeatedly exemplifies a frustrating
inability to bridge the gap between political decisions and implementation on
the ground. We’re not living in the 5th century BC; this is the age
of instant communication, overt round-the-clock economic consciousness and unbridled
movement of people and ideas.
If one were to
sincerely make an effort to convert looming tragedy into benign opportunity,
the current scenario could be viewed as “The Pangs of Reunion”, an actual desire
by the public to revert the region back to it’s natural formation, minus
borders of course.
A broad strategy
could focus on provisioning a return of religious space to the Hindus and Sikhs
who were forced to leave Pakistan
and Pak-administered Kashmir. Hence re-vitalising
their ancestral roots and giving those areas the much-needed diversity they have
sorely lacked for 61 years. L.K. Advani and others should work vigorously with
the Pakistani establishment to re-create Hindu space in Pakistan, especially in his home province of Sindh where remaining Hindus live in
isolation.
Giving the Hindus
and Sikhs who live in the border areas of Indian-administered Kashmir, an
opportunity to rebuild their mandirs and gurdwaras in their ancestral land in
Pak-administered Kashmir, is a crucial part of
this suggestion.
In light of all
above, Amarnath is but a minor issue, perhaps not worth the environmental
degradation and political agitation that it has evoked. Symbolising it as a
landmark of the re-union of the sub-continent could have unlimited positive
consequences.
The 61 year old
Indo-Pak mess could be transformed into giving the Kashmiris what the Moghuls,
Afghans, Ranjit’s Sikhs, the Brits and Dogra rule couldn’t give them…the
freedom to utilise their abundance of talent.
The writer is a freelance journalist,
activist and consultant
Website: maloomaat.net
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