Switch off your TV set or flip the channel if you are being shown that everything is hunky-dory in Kashmir. It’s not. It can’t be. It’s foolhardy to expect normalcy in Jammu and Kashmir just a month after the Narendra Modi-led NDA government did away with its special status on 5 August.
You need to flip foreign TV channels and take your eyes off the websites of international publications too. Contrary to what some of them would have you believe, Kashmir is not bleeding. Nor are people running helter-skelter to escape the bullets and pellets supposedly flying from all corners.
The truth is somewhere between these two extremes. Kashmir is tense, almost on the edge. People are upset, morose and rebellious. Are there any people in Kashmir who support the Centre’s move on Article 370? None, almost. I met one supporter – the state BJP minority wing chief – out of over a hundred people I interacted with in Srinagar and Anantnag last month. He was holed up in the Police Colony in Anantnag, not daring to leave the heavily guarded campus to even visit his wife who has undergone a surgery.
Also read: Nehru was pursuing a Kashmir solution with Pakistani support, but Cold War came in the way
Security forces facing the brunt
One must commend the security forces. They have been the butt of criticism, barbs and attacks from everyone claiming a stake in Kashmir – the peaceniks, the activists, the commentators, the ‘conflict zone’ reporters, the liberals who wouldn’t publicly oppose the abrogation of Article 370, and the naïve politicians who think Narendra Modi’s image as a strong, decisive Prime Minister would take a beating if there is no normalcy in Kashmir.
There have been over 300 stone-pelting incidents since 5 August but the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) claims it hasn’t fired a single bullet. The CRPF had lost 40 personnel in the Pulwama terror attack in February.
One has to see it to believe the degree of public anger and provocations the CRPF personnel have to deal with. As a senior security official puts it: “Those (from outside India) who have conveniently forgotten the existence of Guantanamo Bay are curious about Kashmir today.”
There were about 40 deaths in the first week after the killing of Hizbul commander Burhan Wani in 2016, says a senior functionary in Srinagar Raj Bhavan. There has been none in the first four weeks since the revocation of Article 370, except a shopkeeper killed by militants. The credit must go to the security forces.
Those on the front line in the Valley are taking confidence-building measures, a job the political class should be doing but isn’t. Take the case of Abhinav Kumar, Inspector General, Frontier Headquarters, Border Security Force, Srinagar. Anxious to counter the ‘propaganda’ over the ‘disarming’ of Kashmiris in forces, he makes it a point to travel around with a well-armed Kashmiri Muslim for his personal security. Security forces are under instructions to ‘maintain restraint’ and let the people (read stone-pelters) vent out their frustration and anger as long as there is no threat to their own lives.
Also read: No reasons given to Kashmiri journalist Gowhar Geelani as he is stopped from flying to Germany
No takers for development package?
But the security forces can do only this much. The political vacuum shouldn’t be allowed to persist for long. The security establishment’s hope hinges on agitated Kashmiris wearing themselves out sooner than later and accepting the abrogation of Article 370 as a fait accompli. Kashmiris are also expected to be mollified by a central development package and promises of jobs and investment.
On my way back from Anantnag to Srinagar last week, I decided to stop by to talk to villagers about the state-turned-UT’s development – much advertised by Governor Satya Pal Malik in national newspapers – in the last one year. The village was named Sursana, about 45 km south of Srinagar. Some youngsters at a saw mill smiled derisively at the questions as an elderly person burst out: “Is it the time to talk about development? We are blasted. Please leave.” Just when our visit seemed to be turning ugly, with a group of agitated villagers following us to the highway, the CRPF personnel deployed across the road intervened, advising us “nikal jao” (leave). We could understand.
We broached the subject of development again near the National Conference office in Srinagar, leaving a group of youngsters laughing. “You guys are from Delhi, aren’t you? You think Kashmiris are poor and Modi can buy us. How much do you pay an unskilled labourer – Rs 350 a day? We pay these migrant labourers (mostly from North India) Rs 750 a day. Have you seen any beggar here? Keep your development and jobs.” They could be boastful though. In the middle of the agitation that erupted post-Burhan Wani killing, 15,000 applicants had turned up for 100 vacancies in the BSF.
Also read: Should India be offended by BBC, Washington Post, New York Times coverage of Kashmir?
Resist the temptation to rule directly
There may be a lot of pessimism in the Valley today but one can’t draw any conclusion about how the future will unfold. The Centre may still be proved right if the Kashmiris decide to let bygones be bygones and start afresh. But for that to happen, the Centre, especially the ruling party, must be ready to make a few compromises.
With the National Conference (NC) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) rendered irrelevant – by design or by default – and the Congress being a marginal player, the BJP can fancy a shot at power on its own in Jammu and Kashmir. As it is, there is a big question mark on the participation of the mainstream parties in the polls that the government plans to hold some time next year. The NC and the PDP chiefs are still in detention and the Centre doesn’t have any plan to release them in immediate future. Even after they are released, would these former chief ministers, who are already reviled as ‘pro-India’ leaders in the Valley today, choose to participate in the polls and vie for the post of a UT CM with no real powers? In the event of these parties staying away from the elections, the constitution of a defanged Legislative Assembly of Jammu & Kashmir union territory would be a travesty, with the BJP candidates virtually getting a walkover as seen in the local body elections last year.
Remember the consequences of a farcical assembly election in 1987? It was rigged to re-install Farooq Abdullah as the chief minister, with the Muslim United Front crying foul. It was the trigger for the bloodshed in the Valley in the coming years. Incidentally, Yusuf Shah a.k.a. Syed Salahuddin had contested the 1987 election on an MUF ticket but lost. He went on to head militant outfit Hizbul Mujahideen.
A farcical election, even if it installs the BJP as the ruling party in Jammu and Kashmir UT, is likely to do more damage than good. At this point in time, one doesn’t see any alternative political leadership emerging in the UT as envisioned by Prime Minister Modi.
The three sacrifices
What the Centre can, meanwhile, do is to replace Governor Malik with an LG who understands Kashmir –someone like Wajahat Habibullah. Or, the Centre may think of breaking the convention of the Governor or the Lieutenant Governor being from outside the state/UT. In the absence of a local political leadership, an LG from Jammu or Kashmir would probably connect better with a fellow Kashmiri. An Amitabh Mattoo, a Haseeb Drabu or some other eminent Kashmiri as the new LG would probably be a balm on the wounded pride.
That would be a sacrifice by the BJP for the larger national interest. The second sacrifice the BJP must make is not to rub salt on Kashmiris’ injured ego, with their state (now UT) being stripped of the special status. Although spin doctors in the government claim that Modi has instructed ministers and MPs not to go overboard with celebrations over Article 370, the party has a different plan. The BJP has launched a month-long mass contact drive from Sunday over Article 370; it will hold 35 mega rallies and 370 outreach programmes across the country. Such display of ‘triumphalism’ by the ruling party would alienate Kashmiris further.
The third sacrifice the BJP should make for larger national interest is to ask its leaders/workers to stop talking about how all Indians can now buy land in Kashmir or marry Kashmiri women.
When you talk to ordinary Kashmiris about what really hurts them, they don’t talk about the finer points of Article 370. It’s more of a generic, emotive issue of how their special status has been taken away (without obtaining their consent). The hurt sentiments may still heal over a period of time. What seems to gnaw at them is their belief that ‘outsiders’ would be brought into Kashmir in a planned way to divest them of their rights and privileges and effect demographic changes. The Centre doesn’t have to restore Article 35A. Just the replication of laws, which restrict purchase of properties in Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand and northeastern states, can go a long way in allaying apprehensions of people in the Valley.
Also read: Fears of Udta Kashmir, no English school, concentration camp in J&K communication black hole
This copy has been updated to reflect changes.
It is like tryin to win back estranged woman .Better keep house. sooner or later woman will come to her senses. Don’t listen to assorted secus who have messed up the situation for so long. Just wait and control the streets. Learn from Chinese. Muslims can never be appeased, no matter how much you give in.
Rohi Desai’s words I endorse.
The Modi brigade would not be ready even to make these so called sacrifices.
They are blind with hate,revenge and retribution.
When most educated,well read and articulate among them,like Swapan Dasgupta for eg. are endorsing the Modi-Shah brutality of humiliation and subjugation of entire Kashmiri population
it is futile to expect it from the regime and its street goons.
Kashmir has no beggars because it gets 10% of central funds though it only has 1% of the population – see this https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/other-states/JampK-gets-10-of-Central-funds-with-only-1-of-population/article14506264.ece
In this entire debate all the talk has been about the Kashmiri. But what about the ordinary Indian who has sacrificed blood and treasure and development opportunities for a group of people who want to be treated as ‘special’ compared to other Indians. What is unfair about treating a man in Srinagar on the same level as someone in Mumbai or Chennai or Kolkata?
The advice may be good from the writer’s point of view. But fact is that ailments have been allowed to deepen from the decades for the sake of votebank politics. Now the patient has been admitted to a hospital. Let the doctors decide how to treat.
The steps you list the government should take are by no means “sacrifices”! 1. change of governor would be for better governance, since the Kashmiris would like the new governor more after what has happened there. 2. how can NOT RUBBING THE SALT IN THE WOUNDS BE A SACRIFICE? IS NOT BEING CRUEL A SACRIFICE? 3. how can stopping the Indians from teasing the wounded Kashmiris by talking about buying the land in Kashmir and marrying Kashmiri women be called a sacrifice?
Keep on appeasing, the problem will not solve.
Well balanced article.Govt may consider the suggestions and proceed.
For this author, only Muslim Valley is important. Hindu Jammu and Buddhist Ladakh are non-existent in his eyes. This is the kind of pampering Muslims get from the media.
“You guys are from Delhi, aren’t you? You think Kashmiris are poor and Modi can buy us. How much do you pay an unskilled labourer – Rs 350 a day? We pay these migrant laborers (mostly from North India) Rs 750 a day. Have you seen any beggar here? Keep your development and jobs.”
This statement should ring alarm bells in pseudo liberals because they thought jihad in Kashmir is because of lack of JOBS and development. The INDIAN govt has stood very very firmly on restrictions in KASHMIR and i would advocate that for at least JAN 2020. Jihad in Kashmir has to be dealt with brute force , there is no alternative to fight jihad or Islamic radicalism. This does not mean mass killings BUT a certain clean up and fear in these jihadi trainers has to be installed. Strategy in Kashmir is changed and now it will be more focused to leverage pro INDIA groups and sidelining of separatists. PAK as a player on ground is efficiently reduced.
One question will need a decent answer as time goes by. Aap ne yeh sab kiya kyon ? Why was the state converted into a UT ? What does the removal of its special status – worth little more than a flag – give the government in terms of control or security that was missing earlier ? Why does 370 hurt but not similar provisions for other states, including several in the north east, soon to include Nagaland as well ? What is so different between 35 A and the restrictions other hill and NE states impose ? 2. If security forces are observing restraint, one big reason for that is world opinion. There is no appetite for a high body count.
Forming an opinion based on one or two interactions with Kashmiris around Srinagar is the worst analysis ThePrint journalist can do. The Kashmiri who had been fed Pakistani propaganda from their childhood will take some time to realise the changed ground reality. Government is moving cautiously in the right direction. The sacrifices from BJP, the author has talk about can’t changed situation instantly. At no point of time the J & K governor and government can have differences in approaches to normalise situation in Kashmir. The focus must remain on slowly lifting restrictions and government is doing fine in that direction.
Had there been time and no personal risk involved, the columnist could have had not one or two but one hundred or two thousand interactions with ordinary Kashmiris. I don’t think he would have formed a materially different impression. Let us not mock the intelligence / common sense of all Kashmiris by claiming that they have been fed a propaganda diet since birth, do not know what is good for them.
Do they really know that Wahabi sect of Islam and Pakistan is good for them?
A very good balanced advise. I think center should follow it.
Why doesn’t the reporter also report on the situation in jammu and ladakh?