The Kashmir Unrest

Post-independence, 562 princely states joined the dominion of India, largely due to the efforts of Sardar Patel and V.P.Menon. Two states that didn’t join India were Junagarh, Hyderabad and Kashmir. The Nawab of Junagarh wanted to join Pakistan, but the people wanted to join India. So the Indian troops occupied the state and plebiscite followed, which was in favour of India. The Nizam of Hyderabad wanted to remain independent but was forced to join India in 1948 following the Indian troops marching into the state post-Telengana revolt.


Raja Hari Singh was undecided and being a Hindu king of the Muslim majority state didn’t help either. But, Pakistan pre-empted a peaceful settlement by organizing an invasion disguised as an ‘uprising’ in Oct, 1947. If Pakistan had not sought to seize Kashmir through war, the Kashmir problem would have been resolved across a table in 1948. Mountbatten as Governor General and Nehru as PM did not let Pakistan seize Kashmir by armed force. They ensured the legality of the Indian response to Pakistan aggression through the instrument of accession signed by Hari Singh and supervised the Indian Army action that drove the invaders out of most of Kashmir. Incidentally, Mountabatten was the one who made the cardinal mistake of asking Nehru to go to the UN for referring the Kashmir issue. Pakistan would not recognise the instrument of accession, the UN ordered for a plebiscite which was vetoed by USSR (thankfully) and the Kashmiris were still undecided (although they were continuously wooed by Pakistan along religious lines). Nehru, not heeding to Shyama Prasad’s suggestion, stupidly granted a separate PM and Constitution to Kashmir! A lot of historical blunders have followed ever since and now it has become practically an impossibility to find a political solution to Kashmir on the question of ‘azadi’.


Currently, the situation as it stands in Kashmir, is of extreme lawlessness. Kashmir has always nurtured a core group of highly motivated activists who never reconciled themselves to the accession of 1948. It was further fueled by Pakistani adventurists determined to complete the unfinished business of Partition. For the propagandists of the yet unspecified ‘azadi’, the upsurge has become a poetic justification of endorsement of the fidayeen gunmen hailed as ‘freedom fighters’ that has led to the defiant proclamation that a political solution to the Kashmir issue isn’t possible within the Indian Union and the Indian Constitution. This is a potentially dangerous sign! As Swapan Dasgupta says, the word ‘azadi’ for Kashmiris is poetic rather than literal.


In the last Assembly polls, about 70% Kashmiris turned up and voted. It was in favour of good governance, not on the question of ‘azadi’. Now, that the protesters have hit the roads screaming ‘azadi, azadi, azadi’, what does it imply? Does it imply freedom from the Indian Union? No! It is a unified protest against govt’s draconian laws, unjustified criminal encounters of innocents, rapes, lack of development and administration’s apathy for good governance. The Kashmiris have let their voice heard to the entire nation. The govt must make a fresh start - admit its mistakes and respond with kindness and tolerance. The army must make independent inquiries on the alleged fake encounters. The most important factor here is winning the confidence of the Kashmiris through honest political will. More jobs, better health and educational facilities are not ‘bribes’, they are gestures to win back the confidence of the people of Kashmir who have been let down.


One must look at both sides of the coin. Yes, it’s true that it’s unfair to call the protestors ‘anti-nationals’ as innocents are brutally beaten up or killed everyday in the name of maintaining law and order. The protest is a volcanic eruption of suppressed voices that have witnessed nothing but brutality and high-handedness of the govt n army. Yet, it’s also true that many of the protesters have the ulterior agenda of carrying forward the Pakistani dream of finishing the unfinished business of Partition. Majority of the protesters are on the streets to claim ‘azadi’ from military oppression and on demand of better governance. But the rest are fueling the fire of age-old issue of ‘free Kashmiriyat’ and juxtaposing them with this present situation of chaos. On the other hand, India has to be careful of the fact that the detractors do not get a chance to provoke an anti-Muslim backlash across the nation.


Indian govt must address this issue by opening up a dialogue with everyone concerned. Letting go of Kashmir is definitely not a solution! Will it be the Republic of Kashmir? I am in favour of limited autonomy of Kashmir. Even the Kashmiris know that it’s better to be in the economically resurgent Indian Union rather than acceding to the politically turbulent Pakistan.