A K Ganguly - Kashmir : An Affair of Continued Existence

Kashmir

An Affair of
Continued Existence

Kashmir

An Affair of
Continued Existence

by

Brigadier Ashok Kumar Ganguly, SM, VSM

Vij Books India Pvt Ltd

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Copyright 2019, A K Ganguly

ISBN: 978-93-88161-41-1 (Hardback)

ISBN: 978-93-88161-42-8 (ebook)

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The views expressed in this book are of the author in his personal capacity.

S o much has already been said and written about KASHMIR, yet the problems of Kashmir seems not to be getting resolved in-spite of efforts, there seems to be no positive outcome and neither likelihood of concrete solution coming up in the distant future. Kashmir has always been in the midst of geopolitical hullabaloo due to its geographical location, issues and one of worlds nature tourist destination, Mugal Emperor Jahangir was so impressed with the beauty of the Kashmir Valley, he quoted the couplet of Persian poet Amir Khusru: Agar Firdaws ba roy-i zamin ast, hamin ast-u hamin ast-u hamin ast, meaning, If there is Paradise on earth, it is this, it is this, it is this. Kashmir has been centre of attraction since ages and it has always remained exclusive and subtle subject for both the populace and those who had been at the helm of affairs of Kashmir; each had their own understanding of related issues of ethnicity, religious fervour, social outlook and the culture of Kashmiriyat (way of living which signify centuries-old indigenous secularism of Kashmir and its people). The socio-political sentiments of Jamuriyat (the belief in freedom and equality between people) have been the political epitome of the rulers since ages, which in due course became part of the eventual outlook of Kashmiriyat. This did make the difference in the life of the people of Kashmir and co-existence of various communities with varied religious followings. Kashmir has always had its own dynamics, which has been very peculiar, unique, and distinctive and have always believed in its own terms of existence.

This region had seen many ups and downs, the ruler and the subjects have lived through hard times and faced frequent invasions, invaders were obsessed by Kashmir, ruled to exploit its natures bounty and some held on to the region due to its strategic importance being on the trade route from Euro-Asia region through Himalayas. The changing dynamics with each successive dynasty rule over the period, in its sway have brought in unique culture in Kashmir with conglomeration of many faith and beliefs over centuries which is called Kashmiriyat, tolerance to secularism was the highpoint of Kashmiri culture. In the process the people went through many glories and hard times in the history of Kashmir. With partition of India and Pakistan in 1947 and over the last seven decades saw tussle between the people of Kashmir, India and Pakistan, culminating in the present embroil with no go and as it is where it is status. Many authors have dealt on the subjects of whats ailing and what should be done, issues and prolific recommendations have been made from time to time, prognosis to growth and development of the region with pragmatic participation of the State and at National levels and lastly possibilities of political solutions examined, but nothing seems to work. Some school of thoughts are of the view that the Islamic radicalisation of Kashmir is the cause to the no-go situation, while others have termed it as talibanization of the century old Kashmiri culture of Kashmiriyat in particular reference to the Kashmir valley, which is the main cause of the embroil and the continued existence of the issue of Kashmir.

Actually the World and International community are confused with the ambiguity prevailing in Kashmir regarding legality of the issue, which side to believe and is not in a position to make any of the stakeholders come to any reconciliation, it has thus left the issue to bilateral settlement between the two countries India and Pakistan. In addition to said dynamic, are the issues of alignment of various forces, stakeholders and players who have given nuance to the issue in their own terms and in their own perceived ideas of Azadi i.e. the freedom of the Kashmiri? The Kashmir Region parse covers an area of only 15,948 Square Kilometres out of total 222,236 Square Kilometres of the land area of Indian Jammu & Kashmir (J&K) State and the Azadi (freedom) is only confined to this region, the Azadi raises three basic connotations, firstly accession with Islamic State Pakistan, secondly total independence from both India and Pakistan and lastly remaining with India and in the process press demand of exclusivity in the terms of autonomy and for the said reason keep the freedom movement in existence. The people are very much aware of the consequences of first two demand of Azadi, yet are getting swayed with promises of Islamic Statehood from Pakistan, the Indian Kashmiri separatists call for freedom who as such are assisting the Proxy War of Pakistan on radical religious lines and half-truths and present internet savvy Kashmiri youths who dream of independent self sufficient Kashmir as International Tourist Destination.

I had the opportunity of serving in the Kashmir Valley, Jammu region and on the Line of Control (LOC) and was witness to the start of Azadi (freedom) movement in 198789, exodus of Kashmiri Pandits from the valley in 1990, growth of insurgency and terrorism, proxy war of Pakistan and the internal political turf wars, what I would be covering in this book is my personal perception and understanding of the ground situations as it was then and is presently obtainable in Jammu & Kashmir and on the Line of Control (LOC) dividing Pakistan occupied Jammu & Kashmir and the Indian held Jammu & Kashmir. The prognosis and certain recommendations are based on my understanding of the ground realities and various interactions with the people of Jammu & Kashmir.

There are experts on Jammu & Kashmir, Journalists and Political Analysts who have written volumes about the Kashmir issue and given their views, I am not trying to prove anybody wrong or make my point contrary to the views. My endeavour is to highlight certain issues which I feel can make some difference in the approach to address the Kashmir issue, what in my opinion is of foremost importance is to look inward first before addressing the outward issues. Over the years, aversion to planning, tendency to respond to knee jerk reactions, more efforts on fire fighting than on establishing systems and procedures and lack of long term prospective planning have been the prevailing factors, these got turned into grievances of the people of Jammu & Kashmir. The set of articles, acts and regulations, which were part of appeasement to hold on to the accession at the time of independence continues to hold ground on political lines, these articles, acts and laws have created an aura in the people of Jammu & Kashmir of being different from the rest of India and its citizens. The autonomy thus granted to the only State of the Indian Union has given an exclusivity to the people which they do not want to sacrifice or come out of the convenience of the provisions of the articles under the constitution of India; this on the other hand has given leeway to the political parties and interested stakeholders to garner support for so called Azadi (freedom) of Kashmiri. In fact the syndrome of Azadi has created fault lines in the process of integration especially of the people of Kashmir region with the main stream population of the country. At present the issue is of the existence of each of the players and stakeholders who are part of the problem and no one wants to lose the turf and space so created by them, thus I have titled the book as Kashmir: An Affair of Continued Existence.