Ram Puniyani
Time and over again
while interacting with the youth from Kashmir what comes forth straight and
striking is the pain and anguish of the youth, their frustration, their
realization about the brutality of the system in which they live in Kashmir.
Youth from Kashmir coming to different parts of India for various meetings and
interactions generally display a high level of understanding of the issues
involved and are vocal about the restlessness over their present and future.
What have we done to be labeled as ‘terrorists, is one of the questions on
their mind and lips. Why we in Kashmir have to face the torture from different
quarters, including the one from Indian army. The restlessness is so much on
display that one can gauge the depth of their feeling about the role of armed
players, the militants and the Indian army both in different measures.
What are the causes of
the frustration of the youth and others from Kashmir and what is the way out?
Recently, (May 2012), the recommendations of the group of interlocutors, Dileep
Padgaonkar, Radha Kumar and M.M.Ansari have been made public. This team has
given its recommendations about which the Government is non committal at the
moment, while the BJP has rejected them on the ground that it is a dilution of
the accession of Kashmir to India. The separatists find it insufficient saying
that there is no political settlement of the issue. Essentially while the team
has rejected the return to pre 1953 position, it has also made significant
recommendations which are in the direction of restoring the autonomy of
Kashmir. Being close to the Pre 1953 position, the team suggests that the
parliament will not make any law for Kashmir unless it relates to the security,
internal and external of the state. Significantly it gives the status of
‘special’ instead of ‘temporary’ to the article 370, which is the bone of
contention for the ultra nationalists like the BJP. Very correctly the team
says that the proportion of officers in the state should gradually be changed
to increase the weightage of the local officers. It also talks of creating
regional councils with financial powers, and measures to promote cross Line of
Control (LoC) cooperation while talking of resuming dialogue with Huriyat and
Pakistan both.
It seems the team has
done quite a bit of its homework and while addressing the issue of discontent
in J&K, they have also tried to register the realities which have emerged
during last six decades. It seems to be a major effort around which debates for
initiative needed to restore the calm in the state can be seriously discussed.
Undoubtedly the people of Kashmir have suffered a severe violation of their
human rights all through. The treaty of accession giving full autonomy to the
J&K had come under heavy strain from the communal forces in India. Right
from beginning the right wing elements, the future founder of Bhartiya Jan
Sangh, the previous reincarnation of BJP, Shyama Prasad Mukerjee supported by
the communal groups had initiated the move to merge it fully with India, doing away
with the provisions of autonomy, which were part of the agreement between India
and the Kashmir. The pressure of communal elements and the sentiments of
emerging Indian Nationalism forced the Indian government to keep diluting the
clauses of autonomy of Kashmir over a period of time. The culmination of this
was downgrading the status of the Chief of the state, from Prime Minister to
Chief Minister.
In the face of the
communal elements showing their sharp teeth in India, in the form of murder of
Mahatma Gandhi and intimidation of minorities, Sheikh Abdullah wanted to
explore other options for Kashmir and he was imprisoned for 17 long years. This
alienated large sections of Kashmiris, youth in particular. Equally serious was
the threat posed by interference from Pakistan. Pakistan’s support to the
disgruntled youth and support to the militancy in the initial phases added to
the problem in no mean way. Pakistan was duly supported by the imperialist
designs of United States which wanted to impose its hegemony in the region.
Kashmir being a geographically strategic place US did its’ all to worsen the
possibility of a peaceful solution of the issue.
The situation was to
worsen further in the decade of 1980s, when the Al Qaeda elements and clones,
started infiltrating in to Kashmir. They are the ones’ who communalized the
regional problem. The issue of Kshmiriyat was converted intoJihad against Kafirs by
the US trained Al Qaeda. Both the words, Jihad and Kafir, were distorted by the
US supported Madrassas where these terrorists were trained. The increased
militancy was matched by the suppression of democratic norms by and by and the
state government was reduced to a satellite of the central government. The
parallel process of Indian army being sent in large numbers to curb the
militancy was to become the main problem in times to come. Military was to add
to the problem as it dug its feet in the state, and the force which is meant to
fight the external enemy was ruling the roost in civilian areas. The torture of
the innocent Muslim youth knew no bounds. The military methods ran rampage in
the state with the phenomenon of widows, half widows coming to the fore. Every
youth was a suspect, ruining the lives and careers’ of many of them was passe.
Somewhere along the line the communalization of the issue also led to Kashmiri
Pundits feeling insecure and encouraged by Jagmohan, the then Governor of the
state, left the valley in lakhs. Not to undermine the fact that a large number
of Muslims also left the valley to escape the intimidation from guns of
different forces.
Today the major
obstacle to the normal growth of the state is the conversion of the civilian
areas in to military barracks, army breathing down the necks of civilians all
over. In India the communal forces made this as another Hindu-Muslim issue. An
issue with purely regional ethnic character came to be looked at through the
prism of religion, adding to the misery of the Muslim population. Today
what we need utmost is the proactive peace in the region and this peace can
only begin with the internal withdrawal of military, supplemented by a process
of dialogue with dissidents and Pakistan. Kashmir has been looked at as a
real-estate issue by India and Pakistan both. The people of Kashmir need to be
given primacy while thinking of solution to the vexed issue affecting the peace
all over. What we need to keep uppermost in the mind while discussing the
recommendations of interlocutors is that will these recommendations reduce the
anguish of Kashmiri people in general and Kashmiri youth in particular? Nearly
two generations of Kashmiri youth have suffered at the hands of military and
militants. US-Pakistan nexus have also been the major players in spoiling the
broth. A healthy debate around this report can be a good starting point to
restore peace in the region.
