There appears no end in sight to the siege in Kashmir. While as both the Central and the State Governments seem to have become totally insensitive to the untold sufferings of the people, the leaders of the movement too appear to be at a loss about the ultimate roadmap to the final goal!
M Ashraf
The entire Kashmir valley has been under total siege for over two months now. Continuous curfews and hartals have confined people to their homes. The valley has been converted into a prison. Rather it is worse than a prison. Inmates in a jail are allowed every day few hours of outdoor activity to keep them healthy.
In Kashmir, people have been deprived of any relaxation and curfews continue sometimes for days on end. It had been reported that the Trehgam village in North Kashmir had been under continuous curfew without any relaxation for 13 days! This is the native village of the famous freedom fighter Maqbool Butt who was hanged in Tihar Jail of Delhi. There seems to be a battle of wits going on between the government and the leaders heading the movement for “Azadi”. While as the government is bent upon breaking the will of the people in resisting its writ, the people on their part appear totally determined to go to the end regardless of the consequences. Some have termed the present agitation as a turning point in Kashmir’s movement and are referring to it as a now or never struggle. They seem to be in a do or die mood. The most pathetic part of the story is the totally insensitive attitude of the authorities in Srinagar and Delhi to the sufferings of the common people. It is like a war being unleashed on the people in every sphere of activity. It is in total contrast to the sympathy wave going all over the country for the people of Ladakh. There is absolutely no doubt that Ladakh has suffered the worst calamity in history of which there is no earlier record and needs all the sympathy. They need massive material assistance to ameliorate their sufferings. However, Kashmir does not need massive material assistance. It needs sympathy to the wounded psyche and a feeling of belonging. Unfortunately, there is a concerted effort on the part of almost everyone including the media to present Kashmir uprising against the harassment by the security forces as a manifestation of anti-national activity. Kashmir is projected virtually as enemy territory and killing Kashmiris is hailed as a patriotic act by the forces enjoying unbridled powers. All the wrongs are supposed to emanate from the local Kashmiris and the security forces are above board. Incidentally, in the recent uprising more than 60 Kashmiris have been killed but there has not been a single fatal casualty among the security forces. It has been bullets versus stones and that too bullets fired to kill and not to restrain protestors!
There are many possible theories about this apparently insensitive behaviour of Delhi. It is said that Delhi does not know the real ground situation. The agencies for their own reasons have not been providing the political leaders the correct brief about the ground situation. This is further compounded by the doctored and biased reporting by the electronic media. The truth is, however, slowly dawning on the concerned and in this some members of the civil society have played an active role. The second theory could be that the vested interests do not want the status quo changed. They are apprehensive of losing huge benefits enjoyed by them due to the prevailing situation of conflict. Another possibility is total confusion among the concerned authorities. They have tried their best to suppress the mass uprising by the use of force. For the first time the uprising is not following any set rules? It is totally leaderless and spontaneous. Earlier they could easily pick up the leaders and the organisers and the movement would fizzle out but not this time. There are no known organisers and there are no known leaders behind the agitation. Every angry person is a leader as well as the organiser. Even detaining dozens of so called stone pelters has not diminished the protests and these continue in different parts of the valley in spite of strict curfew. The easiest tool for the government has been to impose curfew on every second day. But now the youth are not deterred by curfew restrictions. For the first time curfew restrictions are violated almost every day. There is also one view that it is the hawks that are having the last word in Delhi. Their intention is to totally crush Kashmiris. Everything is known to them about the ground situation but they only believe in force and are making full use of it. This takes care of the government side of the siege. The ultimate aim is to break the will of the Kashmiris to resist by every possible means.
The story of the leadership on other side heading the popular movement is almost similar. They too seem to have run out of options and find it convenient to issue calendar upon calendar of shut downs and protests from some unknown places. In fact, it appears the leadership is giving these calls to maintain their relevance in the face of the spontaneous initiatives of the new generation. The children of conflict brought up in the turmoil of last two decades are fed up of all types of leadership. They have seen how Kashmir’s leadership right from 1931 has been rising up to get Kashmiris a place of honour and dignity but has always compromised to achieve these goals temporarily for themselves and their kin. It has become a tradition for the leadership to walk some distance with the movement and then abandon it for greener pastures close at hand. They have never had the conviction of the ultimate goal being ever reached. They have been struggling to see the fruits of the movement being achieved in their own lifetime! Another problem with the traditional leadership has been its nature of being dynastic and undemocratic. This nature of leadership of creating a personality cult has been extensively promoted and patronised by Delhi as it suits them. The passing of the leadership of the movement into the hands of the unknown youth all over the valley does not suit them. It is impossible to crush such a movement as one does not know whom to approach for a dialogue? The most difficult part is that this leadership has no road map or strategy. They only have a goal which they are prepared to reach by all possible means. If they believe that a Kashmiri Intifada will get them “Azadi”, they will not give it up. They will reject all traditional leadership which counsels them to give it up! The result is a siege without end!
Recently the prime minister as well as the home minister publicly admitted that the situation in Kashmir was causing concern. The home minister went a step ahead and stated that the government had not succeeded in ending the cycle of violence and the situation was serious. It was interesting to note that even some top columnists who were usually taken in by the usual line of instigated protests frankly admitted that these were indigenous and spontaneous and reflected the extreme anger of the youth against India. Apparently there is no light at the end of the tunnel and the logjam seems impossible to disengage. The only possible way which may work is to remove the basic irritants which have given rise to the present uprising in the first instance. This would involve removal of paramilitary (CRPF) from all the civilian areas with dismantling of the hated bunkers; revocation of AFSPA or ceasing its operation by declaring Kashmir valley no longer a disturbed area, and the release of all the prisoners both the new ones and earlier ones incarcerated for decades now. This alone may give a sense of victory to the youth who have given their blood in last few months. As already committed by the home minister in his speech in the Parliament, these measures should be accompanied by the restoration of all basic rights of the people. The angry youth after getting somewhat pacified should be allowed to hold peaceful protests regardless of the fact that these may snowball into massive long marches. It is these peaceful protests which will throw up the new leadership approachable for any dialogue to sort out the main political problem. Without the present angry youth on board, all attempts at a peace process to resolve the intractable problem will be futile. The alternative of crushing the movement with an iron hand will only result in getting it underground thereby creating a fresh occasion for a more violent militant uprising which may plunge the entire sub-continent into what would probably be the last round! The ball is presently in the courts of Delhi and Islamabad and on them depends the fate of the sub-continent. Let us pray that the good sense prevails in both the camps and they usher in peace and not a destructive war!
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