Kashmir: return of 1989

Professor Amartya Sen’s idea of multiple identities that individuals possess and use them according to their situation in life is convincingly unraveling in the Jammu and Kashmir. When Umar Farooq Abdullah wanted a voice in the government many found his speech eloquent and even the best. But others smelt rat here and dubbed it as a provocation for insurgency. There are thus two levels at which the identity works in the region. Thus individuals play whichever identity suits them in a context but when parties play politics with identities it can backfire.

L.K Advani also jumped in the fray and dubbed the agitation in Jammu to be a matter of identity. His party construed the agitation as ‘nationalist’ after it failed to ignite the protest in the rest of the country. The smoldering fires in Indore have turned into cold ashes. The tricolour was in full display in the agitation in Jammu. What identity did the protesters use or see in lynching the two constables is of the same piece. Lynching constables in Bhiwandi and in Jammu inspires different emotions.

How could you foist on the nation what is essentially regional? The Hurriyat leaders disowned the Muslims of Jammu region in the present times. The Muslims of Jammu also joined fellow people from their province in their agitation against what the people believe to be the hegemonic insolence of the people in the valley because of which their progress is hindered. Behind the smokescreen of hegemony of course lies the religious identity of the ‘other’.

Even the casualty figures from the valley and the plains indicate this split personality. Veteran Hurriyat leader Sheikh Abdul Aziz and five others who died at the hands of the army while trying to breach the barricade on the road to Muzaffarabad wanted markets across the line of control. They viewed it necessary save the apples and earn some money badly needed for life. The blockade in Jammu was meant to starve the people in the valley because they were the ‘others’. Their identity was different from theirs and so they wanted to rot the apples in the trucks. The government with all the might of the army in hand did precious little to lift the blockade. On the other hand the blockade at the Muzafferabad was a matter of different kind. Even the Gaza crossing at the Egyptian border was humanistic.

In the meantime a letter appealing to the UNO High Commissioner for Human Rights for humanitarian intervention depicts the grim scenario that highlights the plight of identities caught in Jammu and Kashmir. It says what cannot be gainsaid that the blockade is “by religious nationalist groups from India”. After naming the identity of the group it goes on to point out “The situation in Jammu, where the Muslim minority is facing violence on a scale that can be described as ethnic cleansing, is alarming.” Turning to the valley the signatories write that the situation is so disastrous that in the next few days nothing would be left to eat in the valley. The most disturbing part of the letter focuses on the army and the extremists." Army is supporting the mobs who have allegedly beaten up the drivers stranded on the national highway. The drivers who were beaten up reported that they asked Army to help them but all went in despair and the Army people in return handed them over to the mobs. The target is only the Kashmiri Muslims and some sources from Jammu say that it is the outsiders who have come to Jammu and are doing such attacks on the Muslims and it is quite evident that the Hindu fundamentalist groups viz. BJP, RSS VHP, etc., are all sponsoring the planned attacks onto the Kashmiris like it was done in Gujarat.” This appeal for humanitarian help is signed by some of the most distinguished academicians, rabbis, social workers, human rights workers, etc.

As if those fifty luminaries mostly from the US were not enough, intelligentsia within India is also concerned. As Professor Noor Ahmed Baba of political science in Indian Kashmir’s main university remarks that: "The protests [in the valley] are the manifestation of an anger that the peace process doesn't seem to have achieved anything,..The peace process has not addressed the concerns of Kashmiris. They want to see an end to uncertainty. They want a resolution of the Kashmir dispute. The protests are serious and should serve as a wake-up call."
If Pandit Nehru took Kashmir to the UNO for which he has been always criticized by the BJP and the sangh privar, this time round it is the latter configuration which has done the same in its impetuosity as it is ‘angry, jilted, slighted, and frustrated’ after losing face in the no confidence vote. Why should India find it difficult to deal Kashmir at international forum? It is precisely for the record. The instrument of accession of Jammu and Kashmir to India and the assurance to the princely state by the Constituent Assembly then are matters of recent history. Among them is also what Lieutenant General Viney Sharma, General Commanding Officer of the Rising Star Corps warned on August 8, 2008 that if violent protestors of Jammu break or disrupt communication channels or the working of the civilian government the soldiers would resort to firing. Given this fire power the blockade still holds driving the people in the valley to the wall. The world would wonder to know if the general is sent there to maintain or lift the barricade.