B L Saraf
Cold climate in the Valley has set in. The actors are planning to retire to the warm and cozy corners in Jammu and in Delhi – on the readymade alibi, for some, to hold Durbar and, for others, to have health recuperation. The summer unrest unleashed in Kashmir is, mercifully, on the wane and has come down to the level where, hopefully, it may be manageable. This is time to reflect, in entirety. The violent phase may be petering out but it has not completely dissipated.
Threat of recurrence stilllooms large. It is most unfortunate that the agitation consumed lives of so many young and old and caused havoc. to the.working.season, adversely affecting the tourism trade – back bone of the Valley’s economy. On the top of it,the shutdown calendar, issued time to time by the separatists, devoured.not only the educational calendar of year 2016 but also disrupted the academic career of the students.
What we have lost is obvious, it is time to evaluate what have been the gains, if any. First, nobody should claim credit in seeing end of the violence. If the managers of Indian state and the local administrators believe that they have brought down the agitation by allowing it to wear out or that protagonists of the agitation have been taught a lesson or two,they will only be fooling themselves. Let us make no mistake; we are not seeing end of.the agitation, permanently.
Time to claim so is far away. In any case bringing ‘ one’s own ‘ to the calm by wearing him down gives no pleasure. In the situation,there can no victor nor a vanquished. At the end, all of us are losers. If anyone in the establishment or in public space hails victory in this unpleasant affair he will be doing.a great disservice to this nation, besides rebutting the.statement that the ‘ agitating boys are our own ‘.
For the separatists it is time to think what they have gained for their ” Quome “, by causing death and destruction. In makes no sense.in taking pride in the claim that the shutdown has been the longest, so far recorded,as to enter the Guinness Book of records. At best it is adubious distinction, making none proud. Nor can they have a comfort of having succeeded in seeing substitution of Pellets by the PAVA gun, henceforth to be used to quell the disturbances.
Then,the separatists ought to reflect, calmly, why even the’ record breaking ‘ shutdown and the loss of so many lives didn’t succeed in evoking a slight inter-national reaction. It is.the emergence of India as a major global economic power, coupled with its strict adherence to the democratic and pluralistic values, viewed against Pakistan’s image as a ‘nursery of global terrorism’ that has poured cold water on the attempts of those who, in the Valley.on a small pretext, want to inter-nationalize the matter. May be there is a local input to the unrest but the separatists’ instinctive urge to link the ‘ cause ‘to Pakistan.has been their undoing. After all, leave alone the world opinion about it, Pakistan to its own analysists doesn’t make a good impression. Some.use words like ‘ rentier state ‘to describe its plight. To put mildly, Raza Rumi – a noted. Pakistani author writes about the country, in his book Fractious Pakistan”. The continued spells of authoritarian rule have retarded the growth of political parties and other necessary institutions essential for democratic governance. We are a country trapped in our history and our self-full- filling conspires.and intrigues that are also rooted in the various phases of the colonial era. Our geo -political.situation, celebrated by a rentier state, has not helped us either.”
Where is the sponsorship of Hartaal culture leading the militants to ? Latest development in the Valley must be evaluated in proper perspective. The separatists calendar of continuous shut down of the educational institutions, with the emergence of new phenomenon of setting them on fire, is not going down well with even with those who, in the initial burst of the unrest, went whole hog with them.
The nationalists may,on the other hand, try to dismiss the summer unrest as of no consequence. No matter their dismissal, the pellet ridden faces of young Kashmiri boys and girls – some losing eye sight have, undoubtedly, shaken many in the mainland.
They surely feel that time has come to have some sort of closure to the issue. Even if no body at the global stage has taken notice of it, the. Indian state cannot be expected to be so callous as not to feel pain of ‘ its own young. ‘It is not good for India if people in Kashmir get the feeling that they have fallen off the national radar. The sense will add to the alienation.
If not for anything else, for its own sake the Indian government.must note that the continued unrest in Kashmir and the picture of a young boy with pellet injuries on his body doesn’t make a good case for India to enter the World’s Apex body, as the country aspires to be in a position to exert influence in deciding matters of global importance. Nor cannot it brook any impediment to reach the economic heights.
There is no denying that Kashmir’s issue with the Centre has impacted Indo-Pak relations. That is why we see fury of gun shots flowing from and to the other side of LoC and the International border, dislocating thousands of the border residents in the Jammu region and heaping untold miseries on them..Attempts must be made to stop the madness at the border.
The violent summer should not lapse in the history without stock-taking of the balance sheet it has produced. For the contesting parties, theaudit of the accounts in the credit and debit columns is a must.
(The author is Former Principal District & Sessions Judge )
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