Justin Joseph
Much water has flown down the bridge since Pakistan sponsored militancy first erupted in the Kashmir valley in the 1950s and cries of Azaadi rented the air and the pendulum of opinion in Kashmir has swayed away from jihad to more mundane and socio economic developments.
History
The long history of Kashmir, as we know it today has been marred by never ending sequence of grievance. Over the past 5 millenia, Kashmir has been ruled by Kings from several ethnicities - Hindus, Budhists, Muslims, Afghans, Sikhs and Dogras. While the ruling clans kept changing a large number of Kashmiris in the past 1000 yrs continue to feel they were unrepresented and suppressed.
The establishment of the Mughal Rule in Kashmir marked the beginning of subjugation of Kashmiris. The trend continued with the Afghans followed by the Sikhs and finally the Dogras who were the worst among all of them and primarily used their rule to strengthen their position both militarily and economically without carrying out any development in educational or farming sector thus pushing back the people of Kashmir more than a century in comparison to the rest of India on various developmental parameters. The only constant factor was that at any point in time in its vast history only single communities has been represented by the regime of the day. The subjugation faced by Muslims during Dogras rule was witnessed by Buddhists and Hindus during the Mughal rule.
However, the woes of Kashmir did not end with independence. The continued to be betrayed
by their very own political leaders who failed to implement well planned govt programmes and corruption became rampant. That leaves us with the region of deep lingering sentiment of grievance amongst all Kashmiris, a feeling that they have never been meaningfully represented by the rulers.
And this feeling has been entrenched over centuries of misrule in Kashmir. It continues till today. However the worst of their enemies was yet to show its ugly head and it was only well into the second half of the 20 th century that this enemy i.e. terrorism started to show its presence.
Militancy in Kashmir
Post the 1947-48 war things started to normalize slowly in Kashmir for some time. However
in 1953 when the Sheikh Abdullah – Jawaharlal Nehru pact fell apart the former was arrested. This led to trust deficit between Delhi and Kashmir and gave opportunities to individuals like Maqbool Bhat who later started organizations like the JKLF which soon gained prominence due to the environment of distrust. People like Maqbool Bhat believed that the only way ahead for Kashmir was through militancy even if it required a pact with the devil. He was supported at every corner by Pakistan. His hanging in 1984 for the assassination of diplomat Ravindra Mhatre earned him the title of first “Shaheed” of Kashmir and gave a rallying point for separatists. Parties like the Hurryiyat also slowly raised in prominence. Although Sheikh Abdullah later returned back to the main stream politics the seeds of distrust and separatism were sown deep in the Kashmiri mindset.
One major reason for this has been the non-responsive attitude of the successive state Governments may it be the PDP or the National Conference. Extreme corruption, ineffective governance, poor development standards, limited investment opportunities and high level of unemployment have been the bane of this land. All these factors had led to disenchantment especially among the youth. Lack of credible political stakeholders created a void for them as they were in search of heroes who could capture their imagination. This void was filled by Pakistan’s proxies starting with Sayed Salaudin a disillusioned politician, Farooq Ahmed Dar Aka Bitta Karate who was known for his blood of innocents on the holiest night of Ramzan the Shab-e-Qadr tom the Gen X of terrorist like Burhaan Waani, Zakir Musa etc who were tech savvy and were quiet popularin social media. Through the profile of the terrorists did changeover time what did not see muchchange was their modus operandi or their way of thinking. These decades of terrorism, spilling of innocent’s blood as well as years of mistrust pushed back the people of Kashmir into a black hole from which escape seemed to be impossible.
Present Day Kashmir
Much water has flown down the bridge since Pakistan sponsored militancy first erupted in the Kashmir valley in the 1950s and cries of Azaadi rented the air and the pendulum of opinion in Kashmir has swayed away from jihad to more mundane and socio economic ‘bread and butter’ issues like unemployment, education, development, health care etc. The security situation has also improved considerably as the majority of people have accepted that Abrogation of Article 370 was good for the whole of Kashmir as it will pave the way for Kashmir joining the national mainstream and will lead to faster allocation of resources, better budget allocation from center as well as more involvement of the center in matter of governance which has been a bane of this beautiful land which seldom has had leaders with the singular aim of carrying out development of this area.
It has been seen clearly that Pakistan is trying to spread the cult of militancy and terrorism to new areas so as to create ethnic and sectarian divide and trigger a communal backlash. Its aim is to continue to destabilize India by all possible means. A protracted ‘proxy war’ and sustained political and diplomatic offensive are part of a well-crafted strategy to keep India engaged in internal squabbles thus burdening the already overburdened economy. Off late it has been able to do so without showing much visible presence. As a result of this action the numbers of PT getting neutralized in operations are depleting. This has been done to avoid the negative world opinion which it has had to face for many years. With a crumbling economy and depleting international friends the last thing Pakistan wants is a direct connection to terrorist activities. However, the presence of its invisible hand is felt everywhere. Because of its depleting ground support as well as reduced cadre they are forced to look for easier targets like unemployed youth, criminals and as per the latest trends even minors who get subverted to radicalized easily in the name of jihad and are ready to pick up arms. The days of the intellectual terrorist who used to be an engineering graduate or a Doctor are long gone and it has come to such state wherein recently a terrorist who was a labtechnician was given t he pseudonym of Doctor to garner larger social acceptance /respect. The degree of disillusionment with militancy can also be seen in the increased number of surrenders and suicide attacks.
Kashmir Heals
What is now required is for the healing process to start. And this is the ideal time for that. With the culmination of Panchayati and DDC elections which had a record voter turnout it is clear that people have accepted the decision to join the national mainstream and it is the only way forward. It is imperative for more leaders to set aside their differences and work together for the development of Kashmir. It is high time that the people throw away the mantle of long term suffering and subjugation and work together for a brighter future.
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