Governments are not elected for the lust of power, or to impose restrictions and enforce harsh rules on people. A Government is made not to play blame game with the opposition parties or debate on who was the cruelest dictator but for the welfare of the people, stability of economic during a crises and to understand and work to eradication all flaws, problems faced by her people. Security Is deployed to secure the people from attacks not vice-versa. But in contrary to it, Kashmir has become the worst nightmare of jingoists in India. There habit has become to rub salt on our open wounds. Our minds have been caged. The aura of fear and terror created by the Indian armed forces who are best trained, to hurt every Kashmir be it, physically, mentally or emotionally.
The opposition leaders had two choices prior to this visit. They could have insisted that the BJP first announce concessions before the visit, about prosecuting those guilty of excessive violence and announcing a road map that addresses political questions, like restoring Jammu and Kashmir’s autonomy or they could have tried to be a part of separatist outreach to begin with. They have gone through the latter knowing fully well it would fail in the hope that it would offer an opening to the center to make substantive announcements.
What is clear, at this point in time, is that both in terms of having any impact on the conditions that obtain in Kashmir, the APD has not cut any ice, neither has the delegation done anything in terms of the larger issue or issues involved, the conflict in and over Kashmir. Frankly, those like Yechury, D Raja and Owaisi have been acquainted with Kashmir for years, and there is extensive media coverage on Kashmir to be able to discern conditions in the Valley without actually meeting the separatists.
Some experts and key Kashmir watchers have been arguing that there are no “magic bullet solutions” to Kashmir, some have termed it as an intractable dispute while others claim, that only a statesman like leadership in India, Pakistan and Kashmir, with strong political will, can actually resolve the Kashmir dispute once for all. In the valley, the dominant political sentiment is for complete independence from both Pakistan and India.
Violence is likely to decline, giving space to address the larger problem. Outside the anti indian postures, there is an emerging reference to loss of business, injuries and lives. The primary focus of the renewed approach should be aimed at the youth and civil society. Violence and street protests led by the Kashmiri youth started as a leaderless movement. A section within the valley, led by separatists through their protest calendar and outside, Pakistan through its renewed international push, is hijacking the youth anger and exploiting it for political reasons. Such hijacking of street anger had taken place even during the intifada in Palestine and the Arab spring. The state and civil society should be aware of this.
It is time to institute a commission to study which laws passed by the Parliament can be adopted by the Jammu and Kashmir assembly for implementation, and whether any should be deleted.
If peace and non violence are to be conceived as instrumental values, then there must be clearly identifiable values whose intrinsic worth, must be more than a peace.
The moot question is: does such a solution exist? A solution that is honorable, implementable, palatable and politically acceptable to all stakeholders? How far can India go? How much will India concede? How much flexibility will Pakistan exhibit? Will it satisfy Kashmiris?
We may not all agree but we have to wake up to the consequences of leaving this so called freedom movement unchecked. We know very well what the other side has to offer, extremism, bigotry, religious intolerance, kidnapping, violence and suicide bombings. We don’t want another Afghanistan. It is very alarming to know that people are legitimizing the violence in Kashmir, which could become a very dangerous trend and could inspire a new generation of suicide bombers.
The views presented in this article are the Author’s own, and does not in anyway depict the views of the Kashmir Digest. This is an Op Ed.
Syed Abadi Hamdani
Freelance Writer
Writes on Social, Economical and Environmental Issues.