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New Delhi’s road to Islamabad runs through Srinagar

By Khalid Hasan

WASHINGTON: The road to Islamabad for New Delhi runs through Srinagar, and unless the ride is smooth, India will never be able to reach Pakistan, according to an Indian academic.

Suba Chandran of the Institute of Peace and Conflict Studies in New Delhi, writing in the current issue of ACDIS, a journal published by the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champagne, rejects the option of an independent Kashmir, quoting in support the late Kashmiri leader Abdul Ghani Bhatt who said in 2003 that the political leadership inside Kashmir, both moderate and separatist, is aware that an independent Kashmir is nothing but a dream. The author argues that independent Kashmir is not a workable idea. The Indians don’t accept it, nor do the Pakistanis. China may also not choose to accept it. Most of the Kashmiris, especially in rural areas, Chandran maintains, demand employment, electricity, water, and freedom from harassment by the security forces. Azadi as a demand comes in only fifth in the ranking of concerns for people in rural areas, while only being the first among the people of Srinagar city.

Chandran argues that New Delhi should recognise changing conditions and initiate a new process aimed at bringing the Kashmiris closer to the Indian mainstream. First, it is imperative that New Delhi devolves an element of autonomy to Jammu and Kashmir. It could change the nomenclature of the head of state to Wazir-e-Azam and Sadar-i-Riyasat for the state’s chief executive. The state could also be provided a significant role in selecting its governor. Second, India would need to improve its human rights record and also “dispel some myths” regarding human rights violations. Many inside Kashmir support militancy due to the harassment from security forces. While an element of human rights violations is sometimes unavoidable in a conflict situation, the fact that Indian forces could improve their track record is undeniable, adds the author.

However, the Indian academic asserts that there is no need for an external monitoring of human rights conditions in Jammu and Kashmir, and the Indian National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) should be given full powers to monitor the situation. Third, India could constitute a commission on those who have “disappeared” since the uprising began. Chandran quotes Mushtaq Ahmad Lone, former home minister of Jammu and Kashmir telling the state legislative assembly in 1999 that the government was aware of 3,257 people who had gone missing since violence escalated in Kashmir. The current chief minister of the state, Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, also reported in the state legislative assembly that 3,741 had disappeared since 2000. Independent accounts estimate that the figure could be as high as 6,000, adds the author, while recommending that a committee on disappearances on the model of Truth and Reconciliation Committees in South Africa would “go a long way in redefining the faith of people in government institutions.

Fourth, writes Chandran, India should take adequate measures to address the conditions of the victims of the conflicts, especially those of widows, “half-widows,” and orphans. According to independent estimates, there are roughly around 10,000 to 50,000 widows in the Valley. Besides the widows, there are a number of “half-widows”, whose husbands have either crossed over to Pakistan or were killed by the security forces, but their identity has not been established or they have simply disappeared. Besides widows and half-widows, according to independent estimates there are around 35,000-40,000 orphans in Kashmir, according to the Indian academic. Fifth, the Union government should initiate a serious dialogue with the entire spectrum of Kashmiris, including the Hurriyat.

A dialogue with the “Hurriyat is essential because it occupies a certain political space, minimising the space for the militants, “argues the author, warning that a marginalised and divided Hurriyat will not be in the interest of India, at least, until the democratic process in the Valley is re-established. Such a marginalisation of the Hurriyat would in effect reduce the significant political space that presently it is occupying, and would increase the space for militancy. In fact, the Hurriyat to an extent has been resisting the space for the militants. It has been opposed to militants calling for strikes and shutdowns. The shutdowns organised by the Hurriyat have, in fact, been acting as a vent for the public in Kashmir to express their dissatisfaction and anger against the government. To an extent, the Hurriyat acts as the safety valve and it is in the government’s interest that the Hurriyat continues to occupy this play this role.

Chandran is of the view that India’s efforts in Jammu and Kashmir should be aimed at reducing the space between New Delhi and Srinagar.

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