Ashok Bhan
The citizens outrage reflected by mass protests in Delhi and across the Country included the participation of Priyanka Gandhi’ along with thousands of protesters in the midnight candle light protest against the rape and killing of “nomad girl” in Kathua (Jammu) finally forced BJP to dismiss its two Cabinet Ministers.The Ministers were allegedly shielding the accused and attempting to stoke communal tension over the heinous crime in the sensitive state of Jammu and Kashmir.
The PDP-BJP combine Government is pulling in opposite directions and the so called North Pole and South Pole alliance of convenience has messed up the affairs of Kashmir and failed to deliver good governance. Kashmir seemingly spins out of Control.
Chief of Army General Bipin Rawat recently said that Kashmir imbroglio can not be resolved militarily realising that it is the biggest internal security challenge and advocated engagement and dialogue.Until recently he had argued against any dialogue process and hailed the officer who had tied a Kashmiri boy to bonnet of the jeep to scatter the stone throwing crowd on army. Democracy is the only way forward to resolve the peoples issues.General, it is a welcome change of perception, keep it up, with a citizens CAVEAT –no let up on anti-terrorist operations.
New Delhi needs to approach the issues keeping in sight the fact that `India’s strategic interests are intertwined with the goodwill of the `Valley’s ordinary People including Kashmiri Pandits and not the land alone.
The unabated violence and street protests have engulfed the Valley again before the durbar of governance would open in first week of May in summer capital Srinagar. CM Mehbooba has frantically asked for Centre’s support for a dialogue process with the youth and stakeholders inwardly and externally with Pakistan. In Kashmir, people expect violence to end in their homeland.They ask -Don’t they deserve peace and violence free life to their future generations after losing almost a generation has gone to graves and citizens are suffering perpetual miseries and colossal societal agony.–? Don’t the aborigines exiled natives who are yearning to return to their home deserve their rightful place in their own roots which are engraved in the soil of Valley for more than five thousand years? These are the important questions being asked from the PM and the leadership of all hues.Kashmiris loudly say PDP-BJP combine Government has failed the people of Jammu and Kashmir.
The Kashmiri Pandit Community enmasse has been hounded out by ethnic cleansing. A concerted plan of killing one and scaring a thousand was the militant’s tactics to exile the Kashmiri Pandits who are on the verge of disintegration.Tragedy of violence has brought about the threatre of mayhem and instability to dismantle the idea of democracy and plural ethos in Kashmir.
It is well known by now that,the young Kashmiris and all others those crossed over to Pakistan for receiving arms training and for waging anti India campaign are totally disillusioned. These elements have realised that Pakistan has no strength and interest in freeing Kashmir.Pakistan just wants to bleed India and Kashmiris.It is the grand intelligent realisation with Kashmiris of all hues living in Kashmir and the Kashmiri diaspora that “secession is not possible”..Pakistan may have created limited terrorist space in the Valley.With radicalism spreading the vicious narrative,the rich and lasting political legacy of Kashmir is fast becoming a casualty – say the Kashmiri intelligentia. Therefore, the dialogue and engagement with New Delhi is the way forward to resolve the Kashmir imbroglio.They say,-The dire requirement for peace in the Valley’s polity is the guarantee of upholding the ethinic, geographical, Constitutional and plural distinct entity of Kashmir say the Kashmiri civil society.
Pakistan”s use of terrorist groups as part of its security and foreign policy is function of its obsession with India,which it perceives as existential threat. Pakistan’s paranoia is unfounded.India wishes and wants a peaceful,terror free and democratic Pakistan as a friendly country say the foreign policy experts.
Pakistan’s Army Chief General Bajwa is also reportedly advocating peace and dialogue with India to resolve the outstanding bilateral issues. It is taken as an assurance by experts in India and hopefully it is helpful for ongoing NSAs engagement of both Countries.
US is concerned about the regional security in South Asia.US experts feel that India-Pakistan tensions will complicate and spoil US’s interest in the region as was reflected by the recent visit of Ambassador Alice Wells US Assistant Secretary of State to Pakistan, Afghanistan and India.
Kashmir spins out of control.Unabated street protests and killing of innocent civilians,the security force personnel, militants and continued recruitment of young local educated boys to militancy has made Valley almost a battlefield.The level of discontent has gone up and there are no palliatives of succour.The aimless and meandering policy perceptions are fraught with that we lose people and retain control over the geographical location. Unfortunately BJP has allowed Kashmir to slip away of its grasp and it is sad for India as a world’s largest democracy. Policy framework on Kashmir needs a correction in view of changing political dynamics.
Edward Luttwak had said, “Insurgents and terrorists do not always win, actually they usually lose. But their defeats can rarely be attributed to counter-insurgency warfare” Irony is that political leadership employs military as a desperate endeavour to stay in control of geography rather than making an effort to gain control of demography. The conflict in Kashmir is non-linear and there are multiple forces at work simultaneously. Therefore making it appear as a conflict driven by single factor is a miscalculation because that is what the enemy state and non-state actors want us to believe. Reconstruction of society, tracing the roots of enlightened values of Kashmiriyat and upholding religious tolerance in Kashmir assume greater significance. Thus: Don’t appease but reconcile; don’t suppress anger but convert it into energy to involve in reconstruction of state; create space for debate, dissent and societal reconstruction.
(The author is Senior Advocate Supreme Court of India and
Chairman Kashmir policy
and strategy group)
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