The events of past some months that saw many youth dead and consequently the entire nation strained calls for a deeper reflection. All politics aside, Kashmir is losing both life and the avenues of life. Some sudden developments instigate people to come on to the streets, the protest turns chaotic, followed by an intense clash between police and paramilitary personnel; youth resort to stone pelting but police and paramilitary fire smoke shells and bullets to keep them at bay. The result of this turns out invariably in the form of a death. This is then followed by a strike and some more protests. In some of these protests another youth falls to a smoke canister or a bullet shot, and the phenomenon of loss is perpetuated. Whose life is snatched– of a Kashmiri! Whose property gets damaged – of a Kashmiri! Whose chorus of life goes out of gear– of a Kashmiri! Who dies, who suffers, and who finds ultimately facing the void – it’s a Kashmiri. Year in year out we have been observing things happen this way without any meaningful break. Particularly from 2008 onwards things have been put on an unstoppable carousal and none seems to be in a position to pick them up, or apply breaks on the unending circular movement.  The atmosphere of killings and strikes is only deepening in Kashmir. Who does it and why it happens are fantastic subjects for academic and analytical exploration. Journalists too can find it an inviting  story. But all this is a negative interest in the situation that has developed here. This negative way of engagement with the situation has been acting as the great mover of chaos. On the one hand we have government trying to establish that the trouble is being fomented by those who are interested in destabilizing it. On the other hand we have opposition parties consistently sharpening their knives against the government. The statements of opposition are more about the inability of the government to handle the situation than about the grief stricken people. Yet there are separatists who bring into discourse the question of Kashmir and connect every little thing with the big question. All this is not wrong. It does make sense in one way or the other. But the real concern right now should be this: is it in any way working to the advantage of this people. If not, why should this situation persist. Now all of us do agree, and there is no way other than agreeing to it, that the loss of life and the paraphernalia of life are inflicting deep scares on us as a collective body.  So our major and dominant concern should be to find ways that could stop this mayhem. Going beyond the conspiracy theories, and the moralistic assessment of stone pelting people who matter in this situation, must sit down and work for some solution. We cannot afford dying everyday. We cannot afford going on strikes everyday. If we have problems here, which we certainly have, there must be some way other than this to fight them out. On part of the government, rather than thinking in terms of tightening the ring of ‘security’ they better had revisit the situation as a mixed problem of  politics, economy, administration and society. The essential point is how we approach the problem. If we are genuinely worried over the deaths of our youth, solution can begin from thinking about the solution. Without turning it into a complex debate and bringing all the elements of history and non-history into it, we can begin by asking ourselves: why should we die on streets this way! It is primarily our problem and the solution must come from our side. Government or no government, Kashmir issue or inter-state rivalry, our life is not for the offering.

Lastupdate on : Tue, 22 Jun 2010 21:30:00 Mecca time
Lastupdate on : Tue, 22 Jun 2010 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Wed, 23 Jun 2010 00:00:00 IST