By
Sagarneel Sinha
The
recent deadly attack by a suicide bomber from the Pakistan based terrorist
group Jaish-e-Mohammad in Pulwama of South Kashmir which killed 49 Indian
paramilitary forces, the worst terrorist attack in decades since the start of
insurgency in the valley, has once again brought the issue of Kashmir before
New Delhi. The suicide bomber identified as Adil Ahmed Dar, who was reportedly
in his early 20s, recorded a video message earlier which clearly indicates how
the valley has slipped into the hands of a violent Islamic ideology — similar
to ISIS, probably the most violent terrorist group in the history of world
terrorism.
Many
always say that Kashmir is a political problem but if one checks the pages of
history one would find that it is not exactly a political problem. The problem
dates to the partition period when British administered India was split into
India and Pakistan based on the two nation theory of Muhammad Ali Jinnah, the
founding father of Pakistan. According to Jinnah India was for Hindus and Pakistan
for Muslims. So for Jinnah and his supporters, Muslim majority Kashmir belongs
to Pakistan. Although despite Jinnah’s attempt, Kashmiris were divided in
backing Pakistan, but as the things turned up, larger part of Kashmir stayed
with India and the other part remained with Pakistan. Since then, Kashmir has
been the bone of contention between the two countries and the issue was mostly
viewed through political lens.
However,
things took a more negative turn in the 1990s with the rise of insurgency in
the valley aided by Pakistan. The insurgents attacked the minorities — Hindu
Kashmiri Pandits and Sikhs. It has been over three decades of unending bleeding
in the valley with many moderate Muslims too facing the wrath of the Pakistan
supported terrorists. It is this insurgency which actually shifted the issue of
Kashmir from political to an extreme religious issue. A chunk of Kashmiris has
been demanding freedom from India though divided whether to join Pakistan or
stay independent. For them Kashmir is still a political mess and they have
always echoed this.
However,
the present situation of Kashmir says — it is no more a political issue with
roots of Islamic terrorism deeply penetrating into the ground. Obviously, this
was first witnessed when minority Hindus and Sikhs were targeted and were
forced to leave the valley by turning Kashmir, which once used to be the centre
of Hinduism (Shaivism and Advaita Vedanta) and Mahayana Buddhism and later
Sufism, into an intolerant religious state. However, many refused to note the
change in the valley including New Delhi. Nevertheless, the attack on the
convoy of the Indian forces in Pulwama by a local suicide bomber clearly shows
the ground of Kashmir has changed radically abandoning the moderate Sufi
ideology and New Delhi’s disconnection from the ground realities of the valley.
India
is blaming Pakistan for the Pulwama attack but the question is will that solve
the mess of Kashmir? No. Because blaming Pakistan will not help us as our
neighbour is globally known for sheltering and nurturing terrorists — world’s
most wanted terrorist Osama Bin Laden was found hidden in Pakistan before being
killed by United States. And Pakistan’s support to Kashmiri insurgency against
India is actually a tactic of waging a proxy war against its neighbour. It is
better for New Delhi to shift the focus on Kashmir. Unfortunately, New Delhi
also has its own share, apart from Pakistan, of blame for the mess of Kashmir
mainly due to ill political decisions made by two former prime ministers —
Indira Gandhi and her son Rajiv Gandhi. Even previous prime minister Manmohan
Singh’s approach about Kashmir didn’t change the reality of the ground and so
is the present prime minister Narendra Modi’s viewpoint. It was only during the
regime of Atal Bihari Vajpayee, most probably the only Indian prime minister
who knew the illness of the valley and was genuine to solve it, the solution of
Kashmir seemed achievable.
New
Delhi never tried to connect directly to the voices of Kashmir. It has always relied
on the two dominant family run regional parties — National Conference of the
Abdullahs and People’s Democratic Party of the Muftis. Truth is both the
leaders of these parties speak in double voices — when in power they speak in
India’s tone and while in opposition they speak in a voice which is softly
opposite to India — especially PDP is known to be more soft on separatists. It
is due to this reason that leaders of these two parties are not even well
accepted by all the Kashmiris. It is this political vacuum in the valley which
helped Pakistan to fill with the help of its sleeper cells in the valley — the
separatists — largely due to New Delhi’s negligence.
But
withdrawing security cover of the separatists whose thoughts are well rooted in
the valley, will not change the ground actuality. New Delhi has to fill the
political vacuum. People’s Conference leader and former separatist Sajjad Lone,
son of former separatist Abdul Ghani Lone who was killed by terrorists for
leaving separatism to join Vajpayee’s peace efforts, is currently the major
option New Delhi has. But New Delhi has to prevent itself from committing the
same mistakes — instead of imposing its own ideals on Sajjad Lone, it should
rather cooperate with him.
The
situation of the valley — especially South Kashmir — has worsened heavily due
to influence of the extremist religious ideas of ISIS, which emerged as a
global threat in 2014. The radical youths with guns and grenades in their hands
and brains filled with hate have to be eliminated. For that strong military
response is needed mainly in the areas of South Kashmir — Shopian, Pulwama,
Anantnag and Kulgam. It is also true that more army action may result in more
radicalisation. To nullify that, Indian forces have to recruit more Kashmiris
in the battle against the terrorists and should also reduce the communication
gap between the Jammu & Kashmir police forces and the Indian army and the
paramilitary forces. Apart from that, a strong intelligence system is needed in
the valley which can come into force only after having the local Kashmiris on
board. Plus, Centre also has to ensure protection of the nationalists living in
the valley who are also targeted by the terrorist groups.
So
it is high time that New Delhi starts the political process of engaging with
all the locals of the state — youth, shopkeepers, public sector employees,
teachers, traders irrespective of their age and gender — hearing patiently
their grievances to know the causes of their worries and pondering on solutions
— both economic and intellectual — to win their hearts. Addition to that,
Centre should also seriously try to bring new faces mostly belonging to common
backgrounds into mainstream politics to fill the political vacuum of the state.
Obviously, these strategies will take time to bear fruits but one should
remember that Kashmir issue is a complicated one and it can’t be solved
overnight. Ball is now in the court of New Delhi. (IPA Service)
The post Time For New Delhi To Seriously Focus On Kashmir appeared first on Newspack by India Press Agency.
