Dr. Romesh Raina
Recently Mohd. Yousuf Shah Chief Hizbul Mujahadeen said “we are fighting Pakistan’s war in Kashmir”. Wait! this is only the half statement. The other half say– “and if it withdraws its support, the war would be fought inside Pakistan”. In this small statement, he has summed up the 60 years of uneasy journey of Kashmir with India. This set the Valley on a road starkly different from the one on which rest of India subsequently embarked, and also sowed the seeds of confusion which gradually flowed as an invisible undercurrent of discontent. Thereafter, all the political commentaries and narratives on Kashmir centered around this premise, subsequently becoming the high point in popular politics resulting in major changes in its fundamentals.
Pakistan factor played an important role in laying the foundations of a situation where people started seeing themselves as a viable political force. Its impact has remained a significant feature of post partition reality. It manifested itself as a psychological motivation of the people to enter in their sphere of influence. ‘One thousand years war cry with India by Zulfikhar Ali Bhuttoo bears testimony to this argument. Subsequent four wars by Pakistan to wrest Kashmir from India set the trajectory of confrontation. It is of great significance to the politics of Pakistan, as it changed the tide of events and the whole atmosphere in its favour. This only resulted in shaping the political consciousness of the people over the years. Emergence of Ghulam Nabi Fai and his ilk is only an extension of this phenomenon. In the years that followed, Kashmir witnessed a historical shift in its politics.
This factor expressed itself in many ways as it left its foot print on both the social and political life of the valley. Because of its high visibility and presence, the spirit of liberalism and environment of harmony weakened gradually. It only helped in creating a breeding atmosphere of extremism, hatred and violence. The process continued rapidly, albeit silently. This was part of Pakistan’s policy of ‘bleeding India through a thousand cuts’. Emboldened by its achievements it started giving definite shape to its agenda of wresting Kashmir through proxy by manifesting in creating:
* Crisis of Secularism
* Perpetual uncertainty
* Obstructing Indian identity of Kashmir.
* Demolition of Shrine and Sufi culture in Kashmir.
As a consequence, it created an edifice for the complex interplay of all these factors. Their ambit became hugely overextended resulting in disrupting the existing structures which led to violent manifestations. The wave of extremism that followed etched a deep furrow in the people’s Psyche. Social unrest was triggered at the slightest pretext which affected the life at all the conceivable areas. It resulted in irreversible antagonism between various constituent elements of the society. The polarization laid the foundations of creating some notions powerful enough to undermine the traditional political life of the place. These are the notions of sub-nationalism and ambition to attain more influence to manipulate the situation from behind the scene. As a sequel it became an instrument to seek legitimacy through acts of terror and intimidation.
There is another dimension to all this and that is Shrine and Sufi culture, it had been acting as an impediment to the grand designs of Pakistan because of its centrality to Kashmiri life. It is the primary marker of cultural identity of the valley. The manner in which such an identity is perceived and represented constitutes the popular belief of the people. Any attempt to hit at that amounted to assaulting the foundations of Kashmiri identity. Its roots lie in the liberal Islam being practiced there which is at variance from the one practiced at other places. There are two instances which I wish to quote in support of my argument– one is gutting down of Chrar-e-Shariff by Mast Gul in 90s and another the tragic fire incident at Dastgir Sahab. It has traumatized the soul of common Kashmiri irrespective of which faith he belongs to. Kashmiri Pandits call Dastgir Sahab as Kah-nov signifying number 11 which is synonymous with the famous saint Abdul Qadir Jeelani on whose name the Sufi Shrine has been built. There is one more instances –that of Resh- Mol of Anantnag. A ten day festival is observed there every year in his memory where entire township abstains form non-vegetarian meals for ten days dedicated to the memory of the patron saint. Of significance is that no non-vegetarian food is cooked even in the household of a Pandit, Sikh or a Muslim. What I hope to achieve in this analysis is its impact on the social life of the people. Acts of vandalism represents rise of extremism which only helps conservatism to grow and occupy more public space. This is to erode the deep rooted syncretic culture from the public memory and replace it by something hitherto unknown to the people.
It is clear that much of the debate on emerging situation is camouflaged because of the self description of the movement and its activities. The first casualty of its intensification has resulted in the crisis of secularism. It is important to this analysis because in the local debates and academic discourses the meaning of the word has often been twisted to suit their version. There has never been any doubt that it has often been brutal in its ways, the disquieting feature of its manipulation has been denial of plurality in Kashmir. It has been on the strength of ideology consistent with the domestic politics of Pakistan.
Pakistan factor has become central to the rapid changes and unsafe environment in Kashmir. This elemental truth is the crucial road block to stable valley. The net result of all this is that we Kashmiris have been taking deadly blows on us. It has been able to subtly change the nature of political discourse in the valley. The debate surrounding its role is illustrative of its powerful continuity in the mindscape of the people. During the past two decades Kashmir has assumed a high priority in the ideological politics of Pakistan. As a corollary it continues to seek its unending role and presence in different forms there. There also is a growing apprehension in Pakistan, that if India stabilizes in Kashmir, its rhetoric about it will sound hollow and that will expose it further before the international community as also its domestic politics. That also might lead to the erosion of its authority in PoK. As a result it has manifested itself by imploding the element of faith and disintegrating the structure of the society to achieve the desired prominence on the local scene. This laid the foundations of perpetual uncertainty in obstructing the Indian identity of Kashmir by stocking the fires of secessionism at any given time. This has made Pakistan far more demanding.
As Kashmir emerges from decades of protracted violence and dance of destruction, the new challenges to the political context are palpable. It flows from its deep obsession of the so called unsettled Kashmir’s political status. It raises certain pertinent questions, most importantly being should we turn a blind eye to the dominance of our social, political and cultural lives by aliens. The stakes are high for both Kashmir and kashmiris. It is about undermining the role of Pakistan in our affairs and redefining the historic Indian identity of Kashmir by revisiting the unanimous joint parliamentary resolution on Kashmir in 1994 which states Kashmir as an inalienable part of India.
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