Three surprises from a
visit to Kashmir, by Owen Bennett Jones
Anyone who has visited Pakistan will have consumed more than their fair
share of news - or perhaps propaganda - about Kashmir. And after 15 years of
travel to the country I know the Pakistani version of the Kashmir story
backwards.
But
now, after my first trip to the Indian side of the Line of Control, I have had
the chance to reach my own conclusions about what's going on in
Indian-administered Kashmir.
For
the uninitiated, a brief history. When the British left the subcontinent in
1947 the status of Kashmir was unresolved. To cut a very long and contested
story short, the Hindu Maharaja or King of Kashmir decided his Muslim majority
state would join up not with Pakistan but India. The dispute has led to wars
and today Pakistan has around one-third of Kashmir and India two-thirds,
including the Muslim majority, and intensely politicised, Kashmir Valley.
Time
has not healed the wounds. To keep control India has to deploy as many as
400,000 security personnel. Although all the numbers relating to Kashmir are keenly
disputed it is probably fair to say that as many as 100,000 people have been
killed in the struggle between Kashmiris and the Indian state.
That's
the history - what's happening today? If you listen to the Pakistani version
then India is repressing the aspirations of the Kashmiri people to join
Pakistan or perhaps become independent. If you listen to India, it is defending
its territory against jihadi militants sent over the Line of Control by a
malevolent Pakistani security apparatus.
I arrived in Kashmir
with a planeload of Indian tourists. They see a beautiful place. Kashmiri
businessmen give them a warm welcome. If they should stray beyond the tourist
hotspots then the Indian soldiers on patrol are, for them, a reassuring
presence. But for the most part their holidays are untouched by the political
conflict. The only minor inconvenience they will experience is that many of
their mobile phones don't work in Kashmir. The Indian state wants to know
exactly what people in Kashmir are saying.
Which
is one reason why the Kashmiri perspective on life in Kashmir is quite
different to that of the tourists. Kashmiris have learnt to live with both
political violence and the Indian intelligence agencies. If you are talking
politics in a café in Srinagar and a stranger sits at the next table - you stop
talking. If a foreign journalist asks you how many people in the Kashmir Valley
support union with Pakistan, off the record you say 25% but on the record you
adjust the number down to 10%.
The
Indian army has been in Kashmir so long, and it has been given such huge
resources, that it now has a very tight grip on Kashmiri society. The militants
- rumour has it there now just around 100 in the Kashmir Valley - are up
against an army that not only monitors all communications but also has a
well-developed network of paid informers and that has got to know every nook
and cranny of Kashmir.
So what has surprised me
about Indian-administered Kashmir? Three things.
First
I had no idea how sharply reduced the insurgency is. For more than 20 years -
as Pakistani TV showed at great length - there was intense violent conflict
between separatists and the Indian army. There are still clashes today but so
few that it is now possible to walk through Srinagar after sunset in relative
safety. There are now more checkpoints in Peshawar or even Islamabad than in
Srinagar
Secondly,
the Indian state has been remarkably unsuccessful in winning over the residents
of the Kashmir Valley. Even the pro-India National Conference seems to accept
Indian a rule as an unavoidable reality rather than a desired outcome. Whether
they come from political traditions that look to Delhi or to Islamabad there
are very few residents of the Kashmir Valley who would not embrace independence
with relief and enthusiasm.
Many
students in Srinagar are adamant: Indian rule is oppressive and they are
willing, if necessary, to live their whole lives in resistance.
And the third surprise?
I have often read that Kashmir has an unusually tolerant political culture. Given
the levels of violence and division it seems an implausible claim. But I have
never been anywhere where people are so tolerant of each other's different
political positions and religious beliefs. Just think of the genuine anger felt
by liberals and conservatives about the relatively minor issues that define the
political divide in the United States. Well in Kashmir you can hear a fairly
hardline separatist describe the Indian army chief in Kashmir as a nice man.
Many Kashmiris disagree
with each other. But for the most part they do so with grace and goodwill.
It's an approach that
is, in part, a survival strategy. Everyone knows India is unlikely to make any
compromises over Kashmir for the foreseeable future. While a post-imperial
power such as the UK is willing to offer an independence referendum to the
Scots, emerging powers don't give up territory. If there is the slightest
chance that the Kashmiris would opt for independence, then they won't be given
a vote on it.
When discussing Kashmir
Western diplomats tend to raise their eyebrows and make some rather lame joke
about how complicated it all is. I've always found it to be a highly irritating
attitude. Kashmir remains one of the world's most intractable and important
disputes which has blighted millions of lives.
And there's one thing
about the dispute that didn't come as a surprise. There's no end in sight.
You can hear more from
Owen Bennett-Jones on Newshour at 1300GMT on 2 April 2014
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