KASHMIR valley has been under vicious circle of protests from the past three months. The news of three Kashmiri youths killed in a fake encounter in the northern Kashmir district of Bandipora ignited the anger on the streets of valley. The news of this fake encounter spread all across the valley resulting in the protests by Kashmiris, demanding action against the criminals involved in the incident. The anger was fueled with the killing of Tufail Matoo, a seventeen-year-old boy, who was hit by a tear gas shell in the police action. Since then the cycle of deaths has been going on which has so far resulted in 64 civilian killings. On one hand, the protesters claim that security forces are targeting innocent protesters without provocation, a claim which government denies. Whereas on the other hand, security forces and the state maintain that forces only fire in self-defense. Though the Union government recently in a statement accepted that a dozen of killings were a result of unprovoked firing by security forces and could have been avoided.

 The state government in response to the protests conveyed an All Party Meet on June 11, which was attended by almost every mainstream political party except the valleys second largest political party Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). The state administration headed by Mr. Omar Abdullah maintained that Kashmir is a political problem and can be solved only by a political dialogue. The Chief Minister appealed to people of valley to stop violence so that the atmosphere becomes feasible for the political dialogue. Not only did Chief Minister appeal to the people of valley to maintain calm but also Indian Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh and Home Minister P. Chidambaram. The appeals from the state head and the union government went unheard in Kashmir. However, Hardliner Syed Ali Shah Geelani, who heads the hardliner section of Hurriyat Conference, appealed the people of valley to protest peacefully did the damage control.

 The fire on the streets of Kashmir seems to be spreading with each passing day. Chances of peace in the valley seem to be far from reality. Thought both state and center assured the people of valley to resume normal activities so that a political dialogue takes pace, but it has not changed the minds of these protesters who have left their schools and offices and are on the streets. People of Kashmir by and large don’t trust New Delhi and mainstream political leadership of Kashmir. The counter argument from these streets is that Kashmir has heard these promises from past six decades.  Narshima Roa’s “sky is the limit” and A. B. Vajpayee’s “anything within the ambit of humanity” and now succeeded by Present Prime Ministers “anything within the ambit of constitution” doesn’t seem to have any takers in valley. The autonomy proposal by Dr. Manmohan Singh has not only been rejected by valley but also by countries second largest party BJP.

 None other than the successive governments in New Delhi have taken the people of valley far away from the constitutional setup of India. Added to these deceptive political promises by Delhi, the enormous presence of military has resulted in hatred against India throughout the length and breadth of valley. The need of the hour is not to make promise but to act on the promises that state and central governments have put forward to resolve Kashmir. The solution of Kashmir lies in a bold initiative that is to be taken by the union of India so that Kashmiris sense the sincerity of India, which is always been questioned in Kashmir.

 Peace should not be made prerequisite to bring normalcy in Kashmir. The political leadership of valley and Delhi has to take a bold initiative so that an amicable solution of Kashmir is achieved. Treaty of Versailles (1918), which ended World War I, would never have come into force if peace were mandatory to end the war. World War II ended with unconditional surrender of Axis powers so has other wars ended in the history of conflicts. In the present scenario of political discourse of Kashmiri a mile to walk past has arrived. The Prime Ministers’ statement of looking into AFSPA and autonomy proposal has not made any difference on the ground level in Kashmir.

 The autonomy proposal passed by state assembly has been on the table since last ten years but no action has been taken till date. The recommendation of diluting the most undemocratic draconian Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFPSA) in a democratic setup is yet to be looked at. In his speech after the all-party meet on Kashmir Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh once again reiterated that his government is ready to look in these matters. The time has come to go past the mere political statement of looking at. Instead a more pragmatic approach is to be adopted so that peace prevails in Jammu and Kashmir.

 Most people in India have misinterpreted autonomy proposal of National Conference. The right wing political organizations in order to gain their political mileage criticized Prime Minister’s statement in a way as if Prime Minister was giving the orders of independence of Kashmir. National Conference always maintained their stand on autonomy that they are demanding restoration of autonomy and nothing more. Even Communist Part of India-Marxist supported this demand of National Conference. In his inaugural speech at the CPI-M’s four-day central committee meeting in Andhra Pradesh, party general secretary Prakash Karat made a specific reference to Kashmir and said the Central government has failed to solve the issue and they tide over the alienation of Kashmiri youth. The CPI-M furthermore said, “Central government had failed to solve the Kashmir issue and supported “maximum autonomy” for the troubled state, as its problems “can’t be resolved through conventional means.”

 If government of India has to win hearts and minds of people of Kashmir then the words ‘look at’ has to be replaced by ‘do it’ so that people of valley feel that their feelings and aspirations are sensed by Government of India. A slight lull in Kashmir is misinterpreted as peace and normalcy by the political leadership and common people in India. The vocabulary that describes the narrative of political discourse of Kashmir is to be changed; national pride has to take a backseat, and promises to be enforced. If the present political leadership can take this one step past, peace is not far away in Kashmir. If the government still is in denial mode and not sincere in its efforts to restore peace and harmony in valley, as many political analysts argue, Kashmir is on the verge of going back to 1990. The present situation is even worse than 1990. It is high time for the civil society and government of India to take serious steps to restore what is at the verge on extinction. 

 (Masrook Dar is from EFL University, Hyderabad)

Lastupdate on : Tue, 7 Sep 2010 21:30:00 Mecca time
Lastupdate on : Tue, 7 Sep 2010 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Wed, 8 Sep 2010 00:00:00 IST