Author: Editorial
Publication: India Today
Date: September 30, 2002
Introduction: Faith in the democratic
process triumphs over fear in Jammu and Kashmir
The idea of Kashmir is steeped in
stereotypes. A land without justice where democracy has no relevance. An
abnormal society where the guns and grenades of Islamist militants are
matched by Delhi's iron fists that control and intimidate. Kashmiris, those
wretched people hopelessly trapped in one of the most dangerous places
on earth, feel no national or emotional affinity towards India... Such
stereotypes thrive when Kashmir is merely an "issue", a "problem", a "dispute"
in which Kashmiris, their aspiration and their hope, occupy the last row
in the hall of received wisdom. Last week, a little sabotage, for a change
engineered by Kashmiris themselves, took place and the stereotypes were
thrown aside. It sent out a big message to the entire nation and beyond:
Kashmir is not a lost society and Kashmiris want to overcome. What else
could have been the meaning of the first phase of elections to the Jammu
and Kashmir Assembly? Statistics from Kashmir may have ceased to excite
the rest of the country. But take note: the percentage of voting in the
26 constituencies was a remarkable 51. And it was not a normal election
as such: the separatist Hurriyat Conference boycotted it, two candidates
and scores of political activists were killed, militants threatened the
voters with dire consequences. The situation has given the turnout a value
that is more than numerical.
It was a redeeming show of faith
triumphing over fear. This faith in the democratic process has exposed,
so eloquently, the lie that those who kill in the name of God are doing
so for the freedom of Kashmiris. Those foot-soldiers of radical Islam,
funded and motivated by the dictator across the border, pretend they have
the copyright over the conscience of the people. They did their best to
ensure the people of the state don't reveal their conscience. Their sponsor
in Islamabad, whose very existence as ruler is a mockery of democracy,
even called the elections a hoax. What a joke! They all misread the Kashmiri,
who aspires to be the arbiter of his own political destiny-like any other
Indian anywhere in India. Kashmir certainly needs a resolution, and it
cannot be achieved at gunpoint, and it won't come out of any negotiations
with the enemy who needs the Kashmir slogan for his political existence.
It has to be a democratic resolution-and Indian. The ongoing election,
even if it is not fully representative, shows that is what most Kashmiris
want.
