It is heard quite often that Kashmir can become a bridge between India and Pakistan to help the two hostile nations to resolve the contentious issues, including Jammu and Kashmir. The depth of this statement has not been understood till date nor any attempt has been made to do so.
Those sitting in Delhi and Islamabad always think that they have superior claim to resolving the issues than the people of the State that is plagued by its own internal troubles and contradictions. This reflects their complex, and that is what lies at the root of the problem.Their attempts at reaching out to each other at irregular intervals is in itself a major problem. These are more of photo-ops than the sincere attempts to resolve the issues. It becomes ever clearer when the spate of accusations and counter accusations become the template of their relationship after each round of failed talks.
A typical Delhi view is that how can Kashmir-centric parties or the separatist conglomerate All Parties Hurriyat Conference headed by Mirwaiz Umar Farooq could play any positive role in bridging the gaps between the two nations on Kashmir when they have no unity among themselves. That is true. Any student of Kashmir’s politics knows it better that polemics of the political agendas of various groups are more pronounced than their forcible proximity.
The proponents of this theory advance a formidable logic that these groups work in isolation and their agenda have no takers in the two other major regions in Jammu and Ladakh.
A rapidly advancing cracks between communities and regions threatening close to a full break of the state is an alarming sign. The political, religious and emotional rift has accelerated over the years. That is where the need of a bridge within the state is more important and urgent than ever. The politicians who promised bringing together the regions and communities have failed and they are engaged in mudslinging in open and cyber world. These are not illusory references. The PDP and BJP worked to keep the two regions apart, their denials notwithstanding. The record of other regional and national groups is equally dismal, if not more.
Such circumstances accentuate the differences and push the regions and communities apart. That means that the each region and the community stay cocooned in their corners where the parochialism and clashing visions form an unwelcome outlook. That is the real danger. This runs against the profound idea of a metaphysical bridge of human relations, transcending the geographical, ethnic, religious and geographical diversities.
Add to it all the self-doubts among the communities, it doesn’t take much to realise that what all is happening isn’t the only thing disrupting the State today. The far more profound disruption is happening in our day-to-day conversation, if at all that can be called conversation because there are more heated arguments and contestations rather than talking to each other in a decent fashion. We are losing our basic etiquettes. This is now visible and audible at work places, social gatherings are becoming sordid tales of unsocial behaviour and What’s app is new instrument of tearing the fabric of oneness apart.
A rapid change in the attitudes – after somewhat an uneasy reconciliation to the tragedy of the migration of Kashmiri Pandits from their homes and hearths Kashmir – came after the civilian killings close to the encounter sites and the humiliation of the troops on social media. There is no sense of empathy for the dead from either side. In a bid to silence the militants, the militancy has been allowed to come of its age in the minds of the people. The statistics are deceptive. The resistance has shaped the minds against India and the Hindutva forces. The regions of Jammu and Ladakh where idea of India is expressed in patriotism for the nation have nurtured feelings to the other extreme.
Can a bridge be built in these toxic times and gaps? This is a wrong question. The right approach is that the idea of bridge should be given a shape. The adverse circumstances and narratives should not be allowed to come in way of this idea that can help Jammu and Kashmir rediscover itself. An effort is worth making.