Author:
Publication: Today Online
Date: December 3, 2004
URL: http://www.todayonline.com/articles/30524.asp
After 15 years in "exile", my brother-in-law
is beginning to hope he will get to see his ancestral home in Srinagar,
the capital of Indian-held Kashmir, by next summer when the crocuses will
be in full bloom.
The last time he and my sister were
there was in the mid-1980s for a cousin's wedding when late crocuses were
splashing the meadows purple in a dramatic swansong. Winter arrived and
never left with the outbreak of a deadly insurgency by Islamic militants
in 1989, which has ravaged the land that poets and travellers have called
a "paradise on earth" since ancient times.
What began as secular political
protests soon deteriorated into terrorism and ethnic cleansing that saw
non-Muslims and Kashmiri pandits (the original Hindu natives) like my brother-in-law's
family fleeing for their lives.
Now that India has made a significant
first move towards "Pax Kashmira" by reducing troops there, hope is rising
in displaced and dispirited Kashmiris who cherish the idea of returning
to their homeland.
This despite having to abandon their
livelihoods as the armed secessionist movement launched a campaign of intimidation
against minorities (mainly Hindu pandits and Sikhs) in their bid to create
a minority free Kashmir Valley where the goal of Islamisation became as
important as secession.
Last month, Indian Prime Minister
Manmohan Singh announced that he would reduce troops in Kashmir in an initiative
that experts have hailed as sending a message of reconciliation to Kashmiris.
By Kashmiris, the media invariably
means the majority Muslim Kashmiris of course. The world has long ceased
to mention the "other" native Kashmiris - the Hindu pandits - who since
prehistory until the late 1980s were an integral part of the state.
It was only in the 13th century
that Kashmir became a Muslim-majority state and both the peoples - who
share the same ethnic lineage - have always lived in relative harmony since
then.
The Sufi-Islamic way of life followed
by Kashmiri Muslims complemented the "rishi" tradition of Kashmiri pandits,
leading to a syncretic culture where Hindus and Muslims revered the same
local saints and prayed at the same shrines.
The history of the "Kashmir problem"
is well known. A half-century old standoff continues till this day.
After Kashmir's Hindu ruler Hari
Singh opted for India in 1948, India accorded a special status to the state
under Article 370 of its Constitution. This prevents other Indians from
settling or doing business in the state.
This has resulted in a socio-economic
disaster for the minorities and a freefall down the fundamentalist path
for many secessionist-minded Muslims who converted their special status
into hegemony across the valley.
Having lost its diverse character
after 40 years, the Kashmir valley was ripe for upheaval and in 1989 it
exploded with a bloody insurgency that included the ethnic cleansing of
the entire remaining population of indigenous pandits.
The question now is whether the
Kashmir valley's population will be willing to give up their hegemony and
include the minorities. Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf's suggestion
to carve the state into regions based on their religious character is not
only disingenuous, it is retrograde.
Fifty years after the sundering
of the sub-continent on religious grounds, how can politicians use religion
again as a key determinant of political identity? It is a bankrupt idea.
Religion has historically proved itself an inadequate basis for nationhood.
There are more than 80 countries that have Christianity as their major
religion yet do not seek to become one.
Likewise for the 50 members of the
Organisation of the Islamic Conference who may cleave together on many
issues but do not see themselves as a single nation.
I believe the real impetus to the
peace process will come from the people, not from politicians or mercenaries.
And there are some positive signs on this score.
Speaking to Today, Professor Ishaq
Khan, a native Kashmiri who teaches history at Kashmir University in Srinagar,
said inclusion of the minorities was vital for a solution to the problem.
"The division of Kashmir on religious
grounds will not solve the problem, it must be solved through talks" he
said. "And there cannot be any talks without the pandits because we are
all one people. Only if their views are included can a solution be found."
As a historian, he is aware that
a Kashmir that denies itself to some Kashmiris might end up being denied
to all Kashmiris.
