By Sagarneel Sinha
The recent deadly attack by a suicide bomber from the Pakistan based terrorist group Jaish-e-Mohammad in Pulwama of South Kashmir which killed 49 Indian paramilitary forces, the worst terrorist attack in decades since the start of insurgency in the valley, has once again brought the issue of Kashmir before New Delhi. The suicide bomber identified as Adil Ahmed Dar, who was reportedly in his early 20s, recorded a video message earlier which clearly indicates how the valley has slipped into the hands of a violent Islamic ideology — similar to ISIS, probably the most violent terrorist group in the history of world terrorism.
Many always say that Kashmir is a political problem but if one checks the pages of history one would find that it is not exactly a political problem. The problem dates to the partition period when British administered India was split into India and Pakistan based on the two nation theory of Muhammad Ali Jinnah, the founding father of Pakistan. According to Jinnah India was for Hindus and Pakistan for Muslims. So for Jinnah and his supporters, Muslim majority Kashmir belongs to Pakistan. Although despite Jinnah’s attempt, Kashmiris were divided in backing Pakistan, but as the things turned up, larger part of Kashmir stayed with India and the other part remained with Pakistan. Since then, Kashmir has been the bone of contention between the two countries and the issue was mostly viewed through political lens.
However, things took a more negative turn in the 1990s with the rise of insurgency in the valley aided by Pakistan. The insurgents attacked the minorities — Hindu Kashmiri Pandits and Sikhs. It has been over three decades of unending bleeding in the valley with many moderate Muslims too facing the wrath of the Pakistan supported terrorists. It is this insurgency which actually shifted the issue of Kashmir from political to an extreme religious issue. A chunk of Kashmiris has been demanding freedom from India though divided whether to join Pakistan or stay independent. For them Kashmir is still a political mess and they have always echoed this.
However, the present situation of Kashmir says — it is no more a political issue with roots of Islamic terrorism deeply penetrating into the ground. Obviously, this was first witnessed when minority Hindus and Sikhs were targeted and were forced to leave the valley by turning Kashmir, which once used to be the centre of Hinduism (Shaivism and Advaita Vedanta) and Mahayana Buddhism and later Sufism, into an intolerant religious state. However, many refused to note the change in the valley including New Delhi. Nevertheless, the attack on the convoy of the Indian forces in Pulwama by a local suicide bomber clearly shows the ground of Kashmir has changed radically abandoning the moderate Sufi ideology and New Delhi’s disconnection from the ground realities of the valley.
India is blaming Pakistan for the Pulwama attack but the question is will that solve the mess of Kashmir? No. Because blaming Pakistan will not help us as our neighbour is globally known for sheltering and nurturing terrorists — world’s most wanted terrorist Osama Bin Laden was found hidden in Pakistan before being killed by United States. And Pakistan’s support to Kashmiri insurgency against India is actually a tactic of waging a proxy war against its neighbour. It is better for New Delhi to shift the focus on Kashmir. Unfortunately, New Delhi also has its own share, apart from Pakistan, of blame for the mess of Kashmir mainly due to ill political decisions made by two former prime ministers — Indira Gandhi and her son Rajiv Gandhi. Even previous prime minister Manmohan Singh’s approach about Kashmir didn’t change the reality of the ground and so is the present prime minister Narendra Modi’s viewpoint. It was only during the regime of Atal Bihari Vajpayee, most probably the only Indian prime minister who knew the illness of the valley and was genuine to solve it, the solution of Kashmir seemed achievable.
New Delhi never tried to connect directly to the voices of Kashmir. It has always relied on the two dominant family run regional parties — National Conference of the Abdullahs and People’s Democratic Party of the Muftis. Truth is both the leaders of these parties speak in double voices — when in power they speak in India’s tone and while in opposition they speak in a voice which is softly opposite to India — especially PDP is known to be more soft on separatists. It is due to this reason that leaders of these two parties are not even well accepted by all the Kashmiris. It is this political vacuum in the valley which helped Pakistan to fill with the help of its sleeper cells in the valley — the separatists — largely due to New Delhi’s negligence.
But withdrawing security cover of the separatists whose thoughts are well rooted in the valley, will not change the ground actuality. New Delhi has to fill the political vacuum. People’s Conference leader and former separatist Sajjad Lone, son of former separatist Abdul Ghani Lone who was killed by terrorists for leaving separatism to join Vajpayee’s peace efforts, is currently the major option New Delhi has. But New Delhi has to prevent itself from committing the same mistakes — instead of imposing its own ideals on Sajjad Lone, it should rather cooperate with him.
The situation of the valley — especially South Kashmir — has worsened heavily due to influence of the extremist religious ideas of ISIS, which emerged as a global threat in 2014. The radical youths with guns and grenades in their hands and brains filled with hate have to be eliminated. For that strong military response is needed mainly in the areas of South Kashmir — Shopian, Pulwama, Anantnag and Kulgam. It is also true that more army action may result in more radicalisation. To nullify that, Indian forces have to recruit more Kashmiris in the battle against the terrorists and should also reduce the communication gap between the Jammu & Kashmir police forces and the Indian army and the paramilitary forces. Apart from that, a strong intelligence system is needed in the valley which can come into force only after having the local Kashmiris on board. Plus, Centre also has to ensure protection of the nationalists living in the valley who are also targeted by the terrorist groups.
So it is high time that New Delhi starts the political process of engaging with all the locals of the state — youth, shopkeepers, public sector employees, teachers, traders irrespective of their age and gender — hearing patiently their grievances to know the causes of their worries and pondering on solutions — both economic and intellectual — to win their hearts. Addition to that, Centre should also seriously try to bring new faces mostly belonging to common backgrounds into mainstream politics to fill the political vacuum of the state. Obviously, these strategies will take time to bear fruits but one should remember that Kashmir issue is a complicated one and it can’t be solved overnight. Ball is now in the court of New Delhi. (IPA Service)