India needs to move on from conflict management to conflict resolution with out-of-the-box ideas that do not harp on meaningless anachronistic narratives
Lt Gen Kamal Davar (retd)
We need to think “out-of-the-box” for getting the people of Kashmir fully into the national mainstream notwithstanding Pakistan’s unending mischief. The J&K is, undeniably not only a symbol of India’s secularism but its very guarantee also. Thus all the governments, at the Centre or the state of whatever political hue, need to be single- minded to work towards Kashmir becoming the bulwark against Pak-inspired insurgency and need not make J&K a political slanging match between themselves.
Like most intractable problems, the J&K conundrum also has external and internal dimensions to its resolution. Thus there is a conflict of Kashmir (external dimension foisted by Pakistan which seeks to win Kashmir by any means for itself) and the conflict in Kashmir (the internal dimension which is characterised by the Kashmiris not fully and emotionally integrated with the national mainstream.). If the Indian State could rise to the challenges of the latter, the former dimension will
gradually lose its relevance !
Kashmir is currently on the edge of a precipice witnessing a new form of uprising which it has not seen since late 1980’s or early 1990s. The highly restive yet indigenously popular anti-establishment movement in fact got sparked with the Indian security forces eliminating a Hizb-ul-Mujahideen (HM) poster boy Kashmiri youth, Burhan Wani, on July 8,2016 in South Kashmir. Till date, over 90 Kashmiris, and a few soldiers have been killed in these near–daily clashes between the security forces and the stone-pelting youth. The current unrest is a cause of greater concern to the Indian establishment as most of the agitators are not only locals but also very young ones among them. In addition, some of these stone-pelters and agitators are well educated and are from the middle class families. The separatist leadership in the Valley, with their old loyalties to their Pakistani mentors, continue to stoke the fires of unrest in the Valley exploiting the youth. They continue issuing dates for ‘bandhs’ (disruptions to close shops, schools and establishments etc) thus affecting the daily lives of the ordinary citizens.
Meanwhile terrorists, Pakistani and locals, have upped the ante inside the Valley targeting mostly security forces installations and convoys. As a part of a well- conceived strategy, Pakistan has also intensified its nefarious activities along the Line of Control (LOC) and the international border (IB) in J& K.
Also of concern is the upsurge in religious radicalisation in the Valley. Traditionally, Kashmir has been home to a tolerant form of Islam with a distinct dose of Sufi influence where Muslims and Hindus have lived in
harmony for centuries. Unfortunately, for the past few years, Hanafi thought, which was greatly influenced by the tolerant Sufi way of life is being overtaken by radical Wahabi ideologues in mosques in the countryside and even in urban areas. Some analysts opine that the radicalisation in Kashmir has been a fall-out of the rise of Hindu radical politics elsewhere in the country. In addition, a large number of ordinary Kashmiri folk are now according legitimacy to militants and terrorists—both Pakistanis and locals.
Even the so-called moderate Hurriyat leaders are finding it difficult to influence the growing community of agitating youthful hordes. Mercifully, in the last two weeks or so, there has been a slight improvement in the law and order situation in the Valley.
What are the concerted measures India needs to take to achieve Reconciliation through Dialogue and Development to bring the restive Valley into the national mainstream? Does the Centre need to pump in greater resources in the fields of education, healthcare and infrastructure generating additional employment for youth in J&K which may also wean them from militancy.
The issue of a large number of Rohingya Muslims, displaced from Myanmar and Bangladesh due to internal strife there, and settling in J&K has all the potential to become both a communal and security problem in the foreseeable future. While the Rohingyas have managed to get citizenship rights in J&K, while poor refugees from West Pakistan, who have been living in the Jammu region since 1947 remain stateless. Both the Centre and the state government need to resolve this issue with alacrity and fairness.
Notwithstanding J&K’s accession to India being irrevocable, it is equally critical that its emotional integration with Mother India is speedily and comprehensively achieved. India, thus, needs to take unwavering steps in its J&K policies. Apart from measures suggested in the narrative above, major steps to be undertaken are summarized below:-
(a) We should make it clear to Pakistan that we will not brook any interference by them in J&K. The unfinished agenda of the Partition is how to get Gilgit-Baltistan and POK back into India. If need be, we must raise the costs to Pakistan for exporting terror to the state by
synerging our diplomatic, political, economic and military measures. We can remind them of their various faultlines, which India being a peace loving neighbor has never exploited so far.
(b) Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on his next visit to Srinagar, must address a large gathering of locals and in his own inimitable style, convey to them that Pakistan’s mischief to create unrest will be dealt with
strictly. Kashmiris should know and accept that their future lies in a secular, progressive India and not Pakistan which is a failing, terror infested, economically starving state.
(c) The Centre must ensure economic resurgence of J&K in a substantial and time bound manner. Generation of employment must become a top priority.
(d) All efforts to resolve various
differences between the three main regions of J&K be made with sincerity. J&K must never be ever divided into separate entities for that will be potentially dangerous from the security and communal point of view.
(e) Any seditious/anti-national
activities must be dealt with firmly and speedily to send out the right signal to all concerned.
(f) Perception management be
accorded its due significance to give a true picture to the local Kashmiris about state of affairs in Pakistan.
(g) India must open up channels of communication to the oppressed masses in Gilgit-Baltistan and POK. Pakistan has to be firmly conveyed that India too can exploit Pakistan’s many faultlines which it has avoided so far.
(h) The Indian Army and the Air Force must further re-energise their reaching out to ‘welfare of the locals’ programmes.
The J&K is at the core of Indian nationalism and secularism on which the values of a multi plural and inclusive Indian nationhood is based. Notwithstanding the mistakes and blunders of the past 69 years, successive governments at the Centre and state, may have made in J&K, it is time for us to discard the baggage of history and take all suitable and firm measures, both in the external and internal dimensions, to fully integrate J&K into its parent nation. Thus not only sagacious and strong leadership but determined implementation of
measures to ameliorate the plight of the Kashmiri populace is the need of the hour. In its Kashmir policy, India needs to graduate from conflict management to conflict resolution. We cannot achieve this if we stick to currently meaningless anachronistic narratives.
(The writer is former Chief of Defence Intelligence Agency)
