It is ironic that we have developed a special fondness for the term conflict, and unless Kashmir is described as a “conflict zone”, we feel some injustice is being done to us. It may seem natural that a place where the gun fights, grenade attacks and taking the ” rebels” into prison dot the daily life, it is difficult to view it from a different angle .
Kashmir conflict is going on at different planes, but at the same time, it has many other aspects that we tend to overlook deliberately – that is we are hiding the truth from ourselves. This is woolly stuff. This self-bluffing should also make us to question where does Kashmir fit in the overall assessment of the conflict zones spread across the world .
The bar of qualifying to the conflict –cum war zones is so high that Kashmir doesn’t blink on the world radar . The world is obsessed with what is happening in Syria, Iraq, Kurdistan , Yemen and so on . It has little time for Kashmir – an occasional article in New York Times or some study or some conference doesn’t mean that the world is discussing Kashmir from sunrise to sunset and having sleepless nights . This is a bitter truth , but it is a conflict zone nevertheless with peculiar signs of its own. And since we have no roadmap to address the causes of the situation afflicting the place, we are making all out efforts , crudely putting it noises to attract the world attention, even as when the world is preoccupied with the US and China trade war and mulling over the consequences of the US suspending the Cold War treaty with Russia .
Armed militants are by product of the rebellious thinking and also the circumstances involving the people , individually and collectively as a community , but the tragedy is that despite having sacrificed so many lives , we have no idea as to what are we doing and with what purpose . Conflicts erupt or they are expanded in search of solutions. Kashmir is perhaps one such conflict where no one is clear what to achieve and how .
Let me point out how the conflict has assumed a new and dangerous shape. It is purely my observation and it may not be the popular definition of the conflict that we cherish . There is an urge among all parents to educate their children . The conflict is born when the parents want their kids to learn the nursery rhymes, ” Ringa Ringa Roses…”, ” Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall” and take an exceptional pleasure when the kids recite it before the family members and the visitors to show , how talented the kids are . These very kids are also encouraged to shout as loudly as possible ” Hum kaya Chahte? Azadi (We want freedom).” The curiosity of kids cannot be suppressed, and at the same time their confusion is not cleared, as to what should they learn fast – nursery rhymes that the rest of the world learns and then goes on to adopt the science as a culture in life , or should they be the “azadi” warriors, who have got a new social and political legitimacy with their pictures on social media with guns forming a new curriculum necessary to show that Kashmir conflict is in progress.
It may be argued that it is but natural in a situation where the innocence of the children is trampled by the night-raids, booming of guns, blood splattered streets, now even the orchards, the massive funeral processions of the slain militants , but the main question remains : to what end . The realism cannot be swept under carpet . Kids cannot be barred for long from seeing what they see happening outside their homes . And, we don’t know the stiff they watch under the comfort of their quilts on smart phones. It is world where no one has clue as to what is happening, and we are happy to camouflage it as a conflict.
The political theories that exist or being propounded to resolve the issue have been historically flawed. There is a deliberately infused illiteracy about the history and geography. There are twisted versions of history in circulation , suiting the narrative that we believe and want to pass on to our new generation, and the global realities are ignored at our own peril . We are sandwiched between the rival narratives and also the rival guns. This is where the conflict is touching new limits in our minds, as also on the ground. But there are no solutions in sight because we don’t want to .It is because we are thriving on the borrowed narratives . The day we will have our own narrative and clear-eyed plan for our children and the rhymes they should learn and grow in the competitive world of science and artificial intelligence , we will have a clue how to come out of the perpetual state of war in our minds.
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