New Delhi can’t blame Pakistan for present crisis in Kashmir. Instead it needs to address political discourse of Kashmir through meaningful dialogue by respecting peoples’ wishes, argues Dr Raja Muzaffar Bhat
|| DR. RAJA MUZAFFAR
The death toll during present unrest in Kashmir has touched 50 and as per media reports more than 2000 people have been left injured of which 100 young men and some minor girls have been blinded due to severe eye injuries. New Delhi, which is the main stake holder in Kashmir’s political discourse instead of taking some political initiatives is acting like an ostrich and continues to blame Pakistan for all the messy state of affairs in Kashmir.
By leveling charges against Pakistan for the present crises, Government of India pretends that Kashmir is a law and order problem wherein militants are being sent by Pakistan. Nobody can deny the fact that Pakistan supported and trained Kashmiri militants, but as of now the situation is completely different. Today, the strength of Kashmiri militants is much larger than those coming from Pakistan and this is worrying security agencies.
The ongoing anti-India protests are quite different from 2008 and 2010 unrests. The reason behind 2008 agitation was Government’s decision to allot land to Shri Amarnath Shrine Board (SASB) at Baltal in Sonamarg and subsequent economic blockade of Kashmir by Jammu-based traders. Similarly the 2010 summer agitation was triggered by the fake encounter of three civilians in Machil by army for rewards and promotions. But the present unrest is spontaneous and it erupted after the killing of 21-year old commander of Hizbul Mujahideen Burhan Wani, who was a household name across Kashmir, in an encounter with Special Operations Group (SOG) of Police at Kokernag in South Kashmir. Some reports said the encounter was also staged and fake. PDP Parliamentarian Muzaffar Hussain Beigh also expressed similar views during a TV interview recently.
Burhan, a role model for youth?
When Burhan was alive and used to post his pictures on social media, he had become what media called him a “Poster Boy” of Kashmir’s armed resistance. He was being related with Cuban revolutionary Che Guevara by many Kashmiri youth. Burhan’s fan following was limited to a selected group of young Kashmiris, but after his death, Burhan has won the hearts and minds of people not only in Kashmir but across many countries especially in India and Pakistan.
The previous UPA Government had more than two years at its disposal to implement the interlocutors’ report but it was never done as New Delhi remained under the illusion that peace has returned to Kashmir. They felt it was useless to go ahead with discussing the Interlocutors’ report. Congress leadership thought discussing the report would lead to their defeat in 2014 general elections.
This may be a dangerous trend but we cannot shy away from these facts. The main reason for this fan-following is that Burhan neither went to Pakistan for arms training nor did he sought active support from them for his militant activities. When he was laid to rest an estimated one lakh people are said to have offered his funeral prayers (Nimaz-e- Jinazah). Noted Pakistani actor Hamza Ali Abbasi, having a liberal and secular mindset, while praying tributes to Burhan, along with his photograph on his Facebook wall said: “Look at this man.
He is not an ISI agent, he is not a Mullah inspired by Pakistani funded militant. He is BurhanWani Shaheed. A KASHMIRI, who joined the freedom struggle when his brother was killed by Indian Army. If KASHMIR issue is not resolved according to the will of Kashmiris and UN Resolutions, we will have another PALESTINE in the making right in our backyard. #IAmBurhanWani #BurhanWaniShaheed #Kashmir,” The status update on Abbasi’s wall was later-on removed by the Facebook admin.
Address K-Issue:
Successive regimes in New Delhi have treated Kashmir as an administrative issue. Whenever people came in huge numbers to vote during assembly and Panchayat elections, Government of India portrayed these elections as normalcy in Kashmir and as a referendum in its favor. Recently Former Union Home Minister P Chidambaram, in a TV interview on NDTV, spoke about greater autonomy to Jammu and Kashmir. But when he was on the hot-seat few years back he could not even discuss the interlocutors’ report.
New Delhi, which is the main stake holder in Kashmir’s political discourse instead of taking some political initiatives, is acting like an ostrich and continues to blame Pakistan for all the messy state of affairs in Kashmir.
A 39-member delegation of parliamentarians from India came to Srinagar during 2010 agitation. P Chidambaram was himself heading that delegation. Senior Hurriyat leader, Syed Ali Shah Geelani, who was spearheading 2010 agitation had, rejected the invitation on the grounds that the delegation wanted to treat Kashmir as India’s internal problem. Moderate pro freedom leaders Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and Yasin Malik had also turned down invitations, but they sent a joint memorandum to the delegation reiterating their demands for restoration of normalcy and the initiation of dialogue.
Their demands included “demilitarization” along with the release of detainees and the “withdrawal of the draconian laws. A section of the delegation, however, later called on Geelani and Mirwaiz at their residences, where both the leaders reiterated their position and conditions for restoration of normalcy and settlement of the longpending dispute of Kashmir. Neither did New Delhi initiate demilitarization process nor were the draconian laws were revoked in-spite of the fact that militancy had almost declined post 2010 agitation. Now, we are again in the middle of uprising in Kashmir. The protests aren’t the outcome of any human rights violation or any other similar issue, but the situation unfolded spontaneously after Burhan’s death.
J&K Interlocutors:
The three member team of interlocutors appointed by the New Delhi on October 13, 2010 submitted their report to the Home Ministry in March 2012, recommending several measures for addressing Kashmir issue. The recommendations included setting up of Constitutional Committee (CC) to review all the central Acts that have been extended to J&K since 1952. T he c ommittee w as s upposed to come out with its findings within 6 months. In addition to it the report had recommended several other things which included appointment of Governor on the recommendation of J&K Government, non extension of central laws, strengthening of Article 370, separate Regional Councils for Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh.
Successive regimes in New Delhi have treated Kashmir as an administrative issue. Whenever people came in huge numbers to vote during assembly and Panchayat elections, Government of India portrayed these elections as normalcy in Kashmir and as a referendum in its favor.
There were other recommendations also to address social, cultural and economic aspects of state. The previous UPA Government had more than two years at its disposal to implement it but it was never done as New Delhi remained under this illusion that peace has returned to Kashmir. They felt it was useless to go ahead with discussing the Interlocutors’ report. Congress leadership thought discussing the report would lead to their defeat in 2014 general elections. Congress still lost those elections miserably inspite of the fact that they even put to gallows Afzal Guru in Tihar Jail in February 2013.
Tailpiece:
New Delhi cannot blame Pakistan for the present crises because Burhan and his associates were neither Pakistani insurgent nor had been trained inside the militant camps in Pakistan or its administered Kashmir. Senior Congress Leader Mani Shankar Aiyar has also authenticated this fact in his recent interview with Srinagar based news agency CNS. Aiyar who was a cabinet minister in Manmohan Singh led Government admitted that there is so much dissatisfaction among people in Kashmir and it is high time we take measures to solve the Kashmir imbroglio.
The present unrest is spontaneous and it erupted after the killing of 21-year old commander of Hizbul Mujahideen Burhan Wani, who was a household name across Kashmir, in an encounter with Special Operations Group (SOG) of Police at Kokernag in South Kashmir.
“We don’t have to re-invent the wheel but we have to only dust-off the past records that we had on Kashmir. So many groups and even interlocutors had come up with recommendations on Kashmir. We need to have a closer look over those Kashmir related files that have gathered dust and try to implement them. We need to show to the people of Kashmir that we are serious to settle the Kashmir issue,” he said. We must also acknowledge the fact that Pakistan is not sending stones to Kashmir.
If some political measures are not taken immediately by New Delhi, the situation will further worsen and very soon Kashmir will become another Waziristan. On one side Kashmiri policemen are forced to target angry protestors and on other side these young protestors are attacking fellow Kashmiri policemen. In a nutshell Kashmiris are at the receiving end and New Delhi is mute spectator to it. Kashmir’s political discourse has to be addressed through a meaningful dialogue and democratic means by respecting the wishes of people of Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh including the part of Kashmir under control of Pakistan.
(Author can be reached at [email protected]).
