It’s a new Kashmir, not the one Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah had promised in his doctrine “Naya Kashmir”, the equivalent of which could be discovered in “Ram Rajya” concept of Mahatma Gandhi. This Kashmir is of angry young children, barely in their teens, angry and aggressive, who believe that their stones and blockades will deliver them “azadi”. They are emboldened when police vehicles swoosh past them to escape the fury and intensity of stones thrown at the speed of more than the speed displayed on the speedometer of their vehicles.
The only thing they know is that all the previous generations, including the ones who were of their age during the 2010 unrest, have betrayed the cause. And, it is they who can shape new Kashmir of their choice, different from than they inherited — unresolved conflict.
If they have occupied roads and pathways to towns and villages and laid siege to homes, they have also made it clear to the recognised separatist leadership that if they make even a single inch retreat this time, then they will have it.
The Centre and state are struggling to find answers to calm the situation with a twin strategy — waiting for fatigue to dawn on the troublemakers and the besieged people. At the same time, they have raised the pitch for an undefined political solution. Both the strategies are being played out while calm on the streets is failing to return.
Kashmir is not a law and order problem. No mistake should be made about it. But, what is happening in the streets — blockades, young boys holding the centre stage and targeting civilian and military vehicles, smashing faces of security personnel is definitely a law and order problem. This part cannot be looked away from.
The brand ambassadors of frozen history are suggesting that all laws extended to J&K since 1947 be reversed. Perhaps, they don’t know that then they will need a permit to visit Kashmir. Do we want the rights of appeal to be confined to the state only? This type of liberalism has no takers — neither those right-wing groups which bank upon “integral part” nor those who want “azadi”.
The Kashmir of today requires pragmatism and innovation, not obsolete clichés. Their attempt to reach out and “engage” the separatists was met with shut doors. The TV cameras chased them to capture the moment that never came. But, this type of engagement never takes place in the glare of cameras or through sound bytes.
Separatists won’t let them take credit for the “engagement” when they are in prisons or under house arrest. They know what consequences wait for them if they happen to have a round of interaction with the delegates. In politics, “engagement” very often finds doors shut, but the knocks require secrecy and credibility, not the glare of cameras.
The problem here is that the people who matter did not pick up the right signals when the trouble had started graduating from simple protests for basic amenities to cheating of elections, from insurgency to militancy, from armed militancy to civil resistance. They thought that time and fatigue would lead them to permanent peace. That has not happened. Those calling for troops back to barracks have seen more troops landing here in 2010 and 2016.
Militancy can be fought, but how will mobs be fought in the streets? Either security forces retreat and stay in camps and wait for their camps to be torched or ransacked or they do something to avert the disorder. Nothing is working at the moment.
Ambivalence — shall the action be taken or not — has already spelled disaster. The district bureaucracy working under political influence has not shown any signs of assertion. They are not ready to issue warrants for the troublemakers because of the fear of annoying their political masters, bringing the situation to this pass. When government employees take an active role in fuelling the unrest and save their skin by bribing the police, things tend to worsen.
Behind the unrest, the picture of Islamabad and Rawalpindi is becoming larger and larger. The flow of money and involvement of the erstwhile Al-Fatah of the 1960s in the trouble is combined with the inciting statements by those thriving because of Pakistan’s patronage. But, their children are comfortably placed in their lives.
The fact is that there is big trouble and there are multiple reasons for that. Those need to be addressed with compassion and reason. Those who are reading pure politics in it should also know that the seven- or eight-year-old children don’t know what politics is, except that their “stones are for azadi”.
Stones sit at odds with schools. The new Kashmir is being shaped by stone throwers. Is this the future of Kashmir that we are looking forward to? The need is to work out a plan to see children back to schools with pens because stones make tombstones, too. Kashmir has seen that.
Angry Kashmir is the new reality
