Taking Kashmir Seriously

January 9, 2014 by Team SAISA

Adfar Shah 

There is a dire need to understand the theoretical significance of Kashmir as a social reality, as a conflict prototype, as a conscious society, as a vulnerable zone, as a social collective of sensitive human beings and as a prolonged conflict hit region! An idealized image of Kashmir, assuming the people there as less informed, less intellectual, less conscious, more violent, terrorist aides, chaos loving and so on and so forth, is still in the minds of many analysts and agencies who are conceptualizing Kashmir through different prisms. Similarly, an idealized image for India, viewing the whole nation as oppressive, undemocratic and tyrannical, has distorted the thinking in a plethora of minds regarding Kashmir – a Kashmir that needs serious perception management for the social reality of torture and the livid scars of gross mishandling have led to a cocoon mentality and vision of hatred. This indicates to many that the chasm between the Kashmiri and the outsider is widening rapidly instead of getting abridged despite numerous efforts and initiatives at peace building (reveals the ground level observation). Further, amid the range of self-fulfilling prophecies and theory building by leaders of diverse groups and a myriad conflicting perspectives by pseudo K-Experts, it has been forgotten that resolving Kashmir or making a difference in the Valley does not merely mean the redressal of the state’s economic disruptions or political waywardness, but purely repairing the damaged social tissue (that lies almost untouched). Such a project – namely that of Kashmir in conflict – has now remained less political but more social, thereby inviting the attention of rehabilitation work, social planning or social engineering. The dominant clusters thus far though have propagated their dominant narratives and, to succeed, have created specific labels and stereotypes even for the poor victims (not to talk of the dissenting/sensitive youth)! With their frivolous arm chair ideologies they have been trying to justify their unjust diktats and power laws, however the discerning masses know better than to take it all at face value and believe it all! They even attempt to oppress the masses by impoverishing them of their economic, social and psychological capital (by their slogans for vested interests). On the contrary, strategists claim that ‘work is in progress’, however, I disagree emphatically. According to my views, ‘just work’ may be in progress but such work that does not take the psychological and social sensibilities of the people in question, into account, definitely cannot be termed synonymous with progress!

Kashmir has currently become the world’s laboratory for experiments in theory building, where policy makers, the power elite, social scientists and analysts have continued an overpowering bombardment with their ideologies; however, the fact remains that except the assumed progress, the tangible progress and increased magnititude of trust and faith in the system is still not satisfactory. They even refute the ideas/narratives of the locals who have literally lived the conflict (white man’s burden); and that is why, today, the fact remains that even a lay man will not fail to notice the limitations in the current understanding of Kashmir by outsiders, the security apparatus, NGO’s, ideological state apparatus, etc, for there are still a plethora of inadequacies in the existing socio-political atmosphere, institutional forms and socio-legal practices in locating the real violence and putting that in its proper perspective. The decline in quality strategies on peace building in Kashmir, with scores of dysfunctional deviations and paradoxes, have excited and bemused the masses, who feel lost in the whole conflict and conflict resolution game. Kashmir, as of now, provides an open platform to refine the existing theories of terror, security actions, positive interventions like giving a significant boost to the educational infrastructure, tackling insurgency and conflict within, but that needs a strong political will, which seems to be sadly lacking! Therefore, there is a dire need to build a new and valid body of knowledge on Kashmir and ‘thinking Kashmir seriously’ must assume priority as a theme at all the levels of research on Kashmir – both in and outside the valley – so that something worthwhile comes out of the entire process. Something concretely positive which will make a tangible difference! There must be a nationwide awakening and motivation for an economically sound Kashmir, there must be a common slogan of zero tolerance on Human Rights abuses by one and all, there must be stress on good governance, love for justice, a new vision for justice, and a blueprint for peace which will endure; above all, there must be a unanimous commonality in the thoughts and goals of the common masses, as well as the formidable police forces and armed forces, to make a noticeable difference. It could all have come together in a comprehensive and peaceable manner but somewhere we have missed a vital beat. Though so much water has flowed under the bridge (of strategy), yet a uniform way of countering the peace deficit is yet to be explored. Kashmir does not need quantitative work to be done on the peace front but rather qualitative work that can penetrate the social fabric deeply (reaching out to peripherals) and casting a wide arc of positive effects. People in corridors of power have to be clear about what they mean by Kashmir, peace for Kashmir, justice for Kashmir and how do they define the actions for peace by armed forces, statecraft, civil society, youth, women and others. Justice does not merely mean legal based actions but also how to decrease the graph between the victim and the wheels of justice, needs new thinking, in fact serious thinking , that is still lacking. When we talk about Kashmir, there must be a separate and unique justice manifesto developed by all the significant stakeholders be they the police, army, local government and media, with a distinct vision of justice. The Centre, State and Armed Forces need to ensure the delivery of justice in all circumstances (like the recent decision of court martials against erring army men). There has to be basic foot work for accomplishing the ‘visual component of peace’ and for that we need to go beyond the regular slogans, beyond the political aspect of the issue, beyond tried and tested methods and back to the drawing board because we have to bear in mind that Kashmir is not just an event happening out there but a tragedy, a collective suffering and a political tsunami! After all the drawing room conversations, TV shows, hundreds of roundtable confabulations and mere interlocutions, we have still not reached an understanding on Kashmir. We are yet to ascertain a how to define youth and how to define the power of youth there in the valley. They (the power elite) even say that a storm of peace is imminent but practically there is a short-lived wave of understanding and progress, which then subsides and there remains nothing but a lot of meaningless noise, which fails to translate into anything positive.

Kashmir can be amply linked with the current social turmoil that the country is currently undergoing, especially in the national capital (rise of AAP). If we aspire for change, we have to embrace bigger and riskier actions or experiments (even referendum can be an option to measure our success). Because, better than the analysts, the common masses have theorized and perceived the economic, social, and political vulnerabilities well before time.

As ‘Kashmiris’ we need to have a clearer perception of our socio-political landscape, for we are highly sensitive on social, cultural, religious and historical matters. We also need to have a more pluralistic vision when solving our core social, political and other sensitive issues that are not based on maintaining the age old hegemony but based rather on egalitarian principles, so that the equally important sections of society (Pandits, Gujjars, Pahadi’s, Ladakhi’s, Jammuites and others) do not feel excluded. We have to know the isolated segments of our society better, understand their woes, feel their pain and for that make a healthy and friendly reconnect with the Kashmir diasporas, thereby understanding their migration issues, possibilities for return and for that a sustained interaction is the key. We also need the preservation of our rich cultural heritage and rich historical legacies connecting us with our rich past, so that we can find peace via non-violent procedures. But, today we are more prone to emotions and less rational arguments. We follow the school of violence school rather than worrying about peaceful ways of achieving our collective and practical objectives.

Who can make the difference in building a new Kashmir? Obviously, activists, sane voices, NGO’s, business leaders ,informed journalists, researchers and scholars and, above all, the general public but that needs immense ground work. Also establishing a culture of debates and discussions has to be promoted so that we can express our views freely and set our goals for a collective peace building. We have to stress upon the need for the balancing of economic, social, environmental priorities and for that we need a relentless engagement with various groups including youth, to actualize a functional transformation for the rebuttal of rhetoric and rumour mills (not confrontation on the issues of development like making Amaranth yatra ‘pilgrim friendly’). The refusal of Kashmiri’s of being labeled as terrorists, suspects, etc, highlights their acute awareness of the politics of labeling and the very branding becomes the factor of resisting statecraft and their imposed policies and actions, which needs an immediate rethink (branding has to go). This criterion of Kashmir’s (with all its labeling, suffering, torture, social exclusion, governance problems) belonging to India, needs a rethink in case we are serious about the strategy front. There has to be an ABC (active, beautiful and clean Kashmir) approach for integrating Kashmir into a haven of peace, love, safety, harmony and brotherhood.

Last Word

The time has come when Kashmir should enrich itself intellectually so that we are able to develop our own social theorizing and methodologies to deal with our social woes and injustice, and building concepts that reflect our total social matrix. The time has come to fight a book with a book, argument with a counter argument and rhetoric with reality. Thus, this fight for justice and peace building can become a revolution rather a counter revolution against evil doers. As writers, when we write on Kashmir, the aim must not be merely to inform but also transform simultaneously and to develop a reflective critical consciousness. We need to see things in an encompassing manner and use a wide variety of methodological approaches aimed at people’s understanding. There has to be a serious effort to investigate the questions at the centre of the common man’s life (centralizing the mass issues and decentralizing power). The true meaning and feeling of being an oppressed and dumbfounded Kashmiri can only be realized by understanding Kashmir from a common man’s perspective; this can be collated by interacting with only the common man from diverse fields, like university teaches, the lowly postman etc and not K-Experts exclusively! The relevance of ‘Kashmiriyat’ as a discourse in conflict resolution has to be understood in its entirety as it has been badly manipulated and exploited, mostly in the political cadres. There has to be a serious and sincere effort to understand a Kashmiri who is non-traditional, up-to-date, sensitive to happenings around, progressive, peace loving but scared. For the proper understanding of Kashmir,we need to refer to the Kashmiri version analysis and that can be achieved through a complex field study, investigating the traditional aspects and changes and not by our own biases, arrogance, intellectual presumptions and assumptions, illusions of experience in Kashmir, etc. Further understanding of the social tensions within, institutions and political structures and the great new game will help to locate the various issues and challenges that beset us in Kashmir. There is certainly not one obstacle that can be easily removed or resolved and that is why there needs to be a continuous dialogue between the security apparatus, civil society and the common people. The political and military leaders have to understand the new emerging situations and embrace the new policy shifts and security mind-set to enhance the peace effort and thus become a party to the peace building process without further ado and mere philosophizing of the simpler issues. It is imperative that there be an end to the culture of creating a security dilemma in Kashmir as the time has come when we should say good bye to AFSPA for the sake of spreading goodwill in Kashmir. We have to believe in our positivity and inner power without caring much about the small numbers or chaos lovers. Goodwill will prevail even if a lot of negative energy is still around. It needs peace keepers and a sincere heart, says my mentor.

Rahim Das beautifully says,

‘Jo Rahim Uttam Prakrti Kaa Karsakt Kusang

Chandan Vish Vyapatt Nahi Lipte Rahatt Bhujang’.

Adfar Shah is a Delhi based (Kashmiri) Sociologist. Views expressed are personal. Mail at adfer.syed@gmail.com). Edited by Associate Editor Vinita Kaul Gardner.