A few Seditious Remarks

Fortunately for me, unlike Arundhati Roy, my fame extends only to the main door of my house. So, if I said that Kashmir was never an integral part of India, I need not be worried about a backlash against me for my “seditious” remarks. However, I do not share the view of Ms. Roy. Kashmir is as much a part of India (which was nothing more than an Idea before 15^th August 1947) as Uttar Pradesh, however morally dubious the process of acquiring it might have been. But when raison d’état is at stake, morality takes a back seat. There is no doubt in my mind that both Machiavelli and Kautilya would have given India’s annexation of Kashmir a Thumbs - Up.

Kashmir was not like any other state, it had to be treated differently for it would always be a battleground not only for territory but, as Jodef Korbel put it, “uncompromising struggle of two ways of life, two concepts of political organization, two scales of values, two spiritual attitudes”. The makers of the constitution were aware of this reality and granted Kashmir a special autonomy according to which all laws passed by the Indian constitution have to be ratified by the state legislature of J&K, only exceptions being laws pertaining to defense and foreign policy.

The problem for me however is not about the legality of India’s control of Kashmir but what we have done or not done in that part of “our country”. We squandered the opportunity to win the hearts and minds of the Kashmiris through poor governance and economic mismanagement and most importantly through failure of justice. Instead, when the insurgency started, the government responded with the enforcement of the Armed Forces act. The wisdom to enforce the act in a state like Jammu and Kashmir is questionable to say the least. You only have to go to you tube to get an account of how the Armed Forces Act is being misused by our security forces. According to some sources, there might be as many as 8,000 disappearances in the valley, majority of which are blamed on the Security forces. Allegations of fake encounters, rape and general heavy handedness by the security forces in the area are all too common and have been corroborated by the UN and Human Rights Watch along with other independent observers.

Human Rights Watch, in letter in 2009, has appealed to the J&K government to hold transparent and independent investigation into allegations of disappearances and punish those security personnel who are found guilty. I don’t believe that the state government has replied yet. The abolition of Armed Forces Act will probably be one of the first steps to correct the wrongs of our security forces on our own people. Last summer’s protests involved mostly teenagers which should prompt the Indian government to ask itself some tough questions – Why are the teenagers of Kashmir pelting stones while the teenagers in the rest of the country are planning their careers in IT or as engineers, doctors, media persons etc.

The territory of Kashmir might be an integral part of India but we have been unsuccessful so far in making Kashmiris integral to the Idea of India.