Kashmiri
struggle in 2013
Dr Shabir Choudhry 08 January 2013
It was in 1988, a
Pakistani sponsored militancy started in the Valley of Kashmir, apparently to
‘liberate Kashmir’. However, later events and evidence proved that those who sponsored
the militancy had other agenda and ‘liberation of Kashmir’ was only used as a
ploy to woo Kashmiri youths to pick up guns against India. In this militant
struggle tens of thousands of Kashmiri people have lost their lives, women have
lost their dignity and honour; and thousands of people are still unaccounted
for. Sad thing is that despite so much destruction and human suffering we are
nowhere near the goal of independence; if anything, people are more divided,
leaderless and frustrated.
Some
Kashmiri people have understood that they were used to protect and promote
sovereign interests of Pakistan; and people of Jammu and Kashmir were used as a
raw material in the competing interests of India and Pakistan. However, there
are many Kashmiris who are mentally not prepared to acknowledge this bitter
truth, mainly because of their political and commercial interests; and it is
these people who are major hurdle in the path of our independence. Designs of
the Pakistani establishment were in an article by Pakistan’s famous journalist
Hamid Mir like this:
‘Pakistan introduced militancy in
this movement; but contained the militancy to certain areas. When militants
protested against this, they were bluntly told by ISI senior officer, Major
General Iftikhar Hussain Shah that we don’t want freedom of Kashmir, we only
wanted to wound India....From Kargil adventure of 1999 to division of
Hurriyat Conference in 2002, there is a long list of betrayal of Pakistan’s
political and military leadership to the people of Kashmir. A request to this
leadership is, please stop now, if you cannot do anything good for the people
of Kashmir then, at least stop dividing them and making them fight each other.’
1
Pakistani sponsored
militancy has not only brought havoc to the people of Jammu and Kashmir, and
divided them on communal, regional and ethnic lines; but it also brought India
and Pakistan to the brink of a nuclear clash. Over the decades, the militancy
and Pakistani establishment’s selfish attitude and blunders have transformed
fundamental character of the Kashmiri struggle for right of self determination.
India gradually got
upper hand and militancy showed signs of decline; and it was at that time
‘guest militants’ (Jihadis from other countries) were introduced by those who
were calling shots in the Kashmiri struggle. The Pakistani establishment
continued to support militancy but after 9/11 and ‘War on Terrorism’ it was no
longer possible to overtly support the militants; and they ditched Kashmiris
just like they ditched the Afghans.
Many experts on Indo Pakistan assert that the
Pakistani policy was to bleed India with many wounds, and bring its foe to
knees. Reality is that India, despite these ‘wounds’, has made tremendous
advancement in many fields; and it is Pakistan that seems to be in serious
trouble as a nation state. Pakistani academic and thinker Dr Pervaiz Hoodbhoy,
while analysing the Pakistani policy asserted:
‘Pakistan bleeds from a thousand cuts. If things had gone according to
plan it is India that should have been hurting now, not Pakistan. The army’s 25
years-old low-cost, high-impact strategy of covert warfare would have liberated
Kashmir and secured Afghanistan from Indian influence. Instead, a fierce
blowback has led to a daily pileup of shaheeds, the casualties of a plan that went awry. The morale of
a fine fighting force plummets still further when its soldiers are ordered to
fight those coreligionists who claim to be fighting for Islam. The reported
refusal of some military units to confront the Taliban during last year’s South
Waziristan operation is said to have shocked senior officers and severely
limited their battle options in North Waziristan.’ 2
However, anger against
India is still strong, especially in the Valley because of human rights abuses,
humiliation and suffering; but militancy has considerably declined. People of
Jammu and Kashmir are increasingly realising that they were used as a raw
material to protect and advance Pakistani interests. With militancy
considerably under control, some kind of normalcy is returning to the Valley;
and that does not suit people with vested interests, and those who have made
the ‘struggle’ in to a lucrative business.
Normalcy in Jammu and
Kashmir and peace between India and Pakistan does not suit some powerful
forces, as their interests only flourish when there is instability, violence
and hatred. In view of this, my fear is that these powerful forces will ensure
that the Kashmir pot boils again. People with vested interest could be secretly
planning their next move which could again engulf the Valley in the coming
months and destabilise the peace process and the entire region. I feel once
again they will use religious card to generate hatred and start a new phase of
the struggle.
It must be noted that
there are millions of young men in Pakistan who have ‘graduated’ from religious
schools and there are no employment opportunities there for them other than to
promote ‘jihad’, their brand of Islam and religious hatred. Furthermore, after
withdrawal of NATO forces from Afghanistan tens of thousands of young men will
become ‘jobless’; and they would need a new war theatre to pursue their
ambitions to promote jihad and pursuit of Heaven and Hoors (Heavenly virgin
women). ‘Jihad in Kashmir’ is still an attractive slogan, and will attract many
jihadi warriors; but it will surely add to suffering and miseries of the people
of Jammu and Kashmir.
Over the year Pakistani
establishment’s resolve to interfere in matters of Jammu and Kashmir have
weakened; and they with help of their Kashmiri supporters are trying to make China
part of the Kashmir dispute. China was never part of the Kashmir dispute even though
there is considerable area of the State of Jammu and Kashmir under their
illegal occupation. This move is not designed to help the Kashmir cause or the
people of Jammu and Kashmir; but to further complicate the Kashmir dispute. In
view of loyal sons of soil this move is very dangerous and detrimental to
unification and independence of Jammu and Kashmir.
However, it is good to
note that majority of Kashmiri parties now believe that the struggle for
independence should be peaceful one; and that militancy is not the way forward.
However, it must be pointed out that my colleagues and I advocated peaceful
struggle more than a decade ago. I wrote a number of articles in support of
political and diplomatic struggle; and sad thing is at that time I was accused
of being, ‘anti jihad’, ‘anti Islam’ and ‘anti movement’. I wish those in
position of power had listened to this at that time then we could have saved
many valuable lives.
With the above
background we enter the New Year 2013, which will be very important for
politics of South Asia. Pakistan is getting deeper in to their internal
problems and there are very serious threats to body politics of the country. It
is an established tradition of the Pakistani rulers that when they find it
difficult to control internal troubles they like to divert attention by starting
some external adventures. I hope that they don’t start another direct or
indirect adventure in Kashmir or in India – Mumbai 2, as it would get Pakistan
deeper in the mud.
APHC is still in two
factions and both factions claim to represent people of Jammu and Kashmir; and
are more ‘loyal’ to Pakistan than to State of Jammu and Kashmir. Their
opposition to each other and point scoring does not help the Kashmir cause or
help to relieve miseries of the suffering people. Other pro freedom parties are
also in tatters. The much talked unity of two groups of JKLF (Amanullah Khan
Group and Yasin Malik Group) still leave many JKLF groups working
independently; and as predicted, even this ‘unity’ has produced a split in the
form of Sardar Saghir Khan and his colleagues. Sardar Saghir Khan, former
Chairman of JKLF openly defied this ‘unity’ and called it handiwork of Pakistani
secret agencies.
Without going in to
details who caused these splits, fact is that all nationalist Kashmiri parties
have suffered splits and their meagre resources, time and talent is utilised
either fighting each other or proving that so and so are agents of forces of
occupation. This is not to suggest that there are no agents of forces of
occupation among the nationalists. Reality is that senior leaders of some nationalist
groups are there only to protect and promote interests of either India or
Pakistan; and their role is to confuse nationalists in name of religion or by
spreading communalism, regionalism and hatred.
True nationalists need
to acknowledge this bitter fact that hold of India and Pakistan on both side of
the divide is firmer than ever before. It is also fact that pro Pakistan and
pro Indian parties in their respective parts of Jammu and Kashmir are stronger
than ever before. In view of this prevailing situation, we must formulate our
policies and alliances otherwise both India and Pakistan will enforce some kind
of solution to divide the State of Jammu and Kashmir. And if they do that, are
we in a position to resist it?
In conclusion, year
2013 is going to be very important, not only for people of Jammu and Kashmir,
but also for the entire region of South Asia. However, we people of Jammu and
Kashmir need to keep our eyes and ears open that, once again, we don’t become
tools and victims of our neighbours quest for resources and territory.
References:
3. Writer is a political analyst and author of many books and
booklets. Also he is Director Institute of Kashmir Affairs.Email:drshabirchoudhry@gmail.com
No comments:
Post a Comment