Dr D R Kapoor
And ye shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free- St. John 8:32
Kashmir has been inclusive in its culture since time immemorial. Both the Muslim majority and the Hindu minority contributed to the language and the culture, respected and honoured the other community’s religious festivals and practices, and so shared a Kashmiri identity which created a bond stronger than the differences of faith and belief. Hindus, Muslims, and Sikhs used to meet each other on terms of equality. They dined at each other’s houses and seldom allowed their religion persuasions to interfere with their social and friendly relations.
We have substantial evidence to support this thesis if we glance over the past history. Looking back on the trauma of partition in 1947, many millions chose or forced to migrate, and were killed in Pakistan. The Kashmir valley did not endure communal carnage. The Hindu were protected and given safe passage and rehabilitated. The then most commanding Kashmiri Muslim politician, Sheikh Abdullah, rejected the ‘Two Nation Theory’ of Pakistan and supported accession to India. This may have been a pragmatic decision, made in a moment of crisis, but took his supporters with him. His choice could be said to be an indication of Kashmiri opinion. The arrival of the tribal lashkar did not prompt large numbers of Valley Muslims to pick up gun and join the lakshar. A civil defence militia of National Conference was organised which resisted the raiders. When the first Indian troops arrived at Srinagar’s air strip on 27th October, they were not seen as an army of occupation. G.M Bakshi said at the airport “We will live as Indian and die as Indian” in presence of Sheikh Abdullah. When Indian troops repulsed the invaders from the Kashmir valley, they were often greeted as liberators. Sofi Ghulam Mohammad once said “We have got Pakistan and Kashmir, two Muslim states. But both have a difference. We, the Kashmiri Muslims have our own individuality. Our mode of prayer is different. Our mode of thinking, our colour, our costume, everything is different from Pakistan”
Secondly, the contours of the Kashmir conflict have changed since 1947. Pakistan initiated hostilities in 1965 by sending infiltrators into Kashmir. Its expectation that the Kashmiri Muslims would arise in mass rebellion against India, in support of Pakistan, was not fulfilled. Pakistan instigated armed insurrection (1989 to2002) and attempted militarily to alter the line of control. It also supported jihadi terrorism against India. None of these efforts have met with real success. At present, twenty two terrorist groups have been operating despite being officially banned in Pakistan (Haqqani, 2016).
Consequent upon Kashmir accession to India, the most of the Pro-Pakistan Muslims who supported invaders fled to Pakistan for fear of being prosecuted by the Government of India. A few left-over formed small separatist groups with different models. The insurgency that erupted in 1989 had its roots in the Kashmir, that is, rigged election and mis-governance. Pakistan exploited and made the situation more explosive by substantial support to the separatist groups. The shrine of Kashmir’s most revered Sufi saint, Sheikh Nooruddin, was burnt down in 1995. Economy of Jammu and Kashmir suffered serious setback. Schools were burnt, bridges were demolished, Kashmiri Pundits were forced to migrate. The poor vendors, labour class, shikarawallas and petty shopkeepers suffered most. This insurgency continued till 1995. The elected Government came into power in 1996. Once again life in Kashmir was put on the track. Reconstruction of ‘Kashmir’ was undertaken simultaneously.
Thirdly, in 2008 and 2010, youth of the Kashmir were enticed, inspired and involved in stone throwing on forces well in the streets of Srinagar City. Later on it spread to suburban areas of Kashmir. That resulted in 110 deaths and many injured. Political parties in opposition exploited the situations. Similar situations occurred on the death of Burhan Wani ‘A poster Boy’ on 8th of July, 2016 which resulted in 46.deaths and 2400 injured. Pakistan whole heartly supported this home grown insurgency. Situation further worsened by negative and conflicting statements by the politicians to increase their vote bank as they have also faced the similar music when they were in power. Media also presented skewed views. Some cursed para- forces, other eulogised ‘poster boy’. A few talked about the forces behind the scene that instigated and put them into fire. Some of stone throwers were so small they could not understand the meaning of ‘Freedom’.
Finally, no Government can afford that security forces to be attacked by militants, innocent people are to be killed, elected representatives are to be eliminated, and public property to be consigned to fire, and our educational institutions to remain closed. Policy of Government of India, whosoever may be in power, is quite clear that there is no space for militancy. Strategy to deal with situation arising out of killing of militant/militants has not been well executed. Weak linkages between administration, police and enforcement agencies have been observed. Gaps in the protection of public lives provided ample ammunition to the rival political parties to make the situation more explosive.
Research Questions
Finding answer to research question, it is essential that each research question needs to be uniquely defined by a specific set of circumstances; and there can be no attempt to answer a question without deep knowledge of the specific contextual parameters defining those circumstances. In this context, two statements are before us, there is sympathy with stone throwing crowds in streets targeting the police and the security establishments, on the other hands, the same majority are also yearning for normalcy. In consequence, questions arise- does perceived discrimination, persecution, hate mongering and economic, social and political disparities provide fertile ground to terrorist organisations for radicalisation and recruitment of the youth? How can youths of Kashmir be informed, inspired, and involved in socio-economic, political and cultural activities? Are our educational institutions competent enough to develop the potentials of the youth to prevent them from radicalisation? How can civil society, NGOs, Trusts and Charitable organisations be rejuvenated to go for interaction with the people?
Strategies
Strategy to deal with situation arising out of killing of militant/militants is to be planned in advance. Effective coordination between administration, police and enforcement agencies has to be established. Gaps in the protection of public lives should not provide ample ammunition to the rival political parties to make the situation more explosive.
· Our strategies should be a) to provide adequate understanding of complexity of reality; b) to derive substantial evidence of insurgency at the gross root level; c) to set youth as active agent in their environment (contextual) so that they could not be radicalised d) to view and analyse the problem in a holistic perspective.
· “Militant observers” (Darcy de Oliverira, 1975), investigative and advocacy research (Laue, 1978) and “conflict methodologies” of various kind (Lehmann and Young, 1975) to extract information from un-cooperative adversaries need to be applied in order to get tangible solution of the problem.
· Intelligence and law enforcement agencies often have too many data but lack time as well as the skills available in academia to analyse this heap of unprocessed raw data. Moreover, the data available with the agencies is primary source and cannot be given to a wrong person for investigation. Data, therefore, need to be analysed quantitatively and qualitatively to arrive at the logical conclusion.
· Social media has attained significant prominence among youths. The angst and alienation coming from the sheer lack of communication, or dissemination of negative messages, and ineffective advocacy against militancy need to be countered positively and effectively,
· E-Governance needs to based on the parameters of transparency, accountability, participation and effective delivery system to develop positive attitude of youths towards elected government.
· Drop out children need to be identified and provided quality education or requisite skills. Moreover, they are to be groomed to come out of the glamour of gun culture.
· The State Government needs to invest in decoding the matrix underlying the jihadi mind.
(The author is a former KAS Officer)
feedbackexcelsior@gmail.com
Trending Now
E-Paper
Follow our WhatsApp channel