How are cultures synthesised? How are nations built? What made Gandhi, Gandhi ? What made Hitler so effective that his followers chose path one could hardly imagine any other path more brutal than that? What made USA a superpower? All these questions have same answer i.e; “ A REASON”.
Gandhi made disjointed people unite by giving them a reason. His early efforts for the plight of farmers in Champaran, traders in Ahmedabad and peasants in Kheda were the attempts to bring these people into the mass revolt against the British. This was a leader led integration. Hutus massacred nearly a million Tutsis during Rwandan Civil war for the “Hutu Power” ideology. This was a leaderless integration of Hutus followed by annihilation of disjointed Tutsis. Being a tribal society the divided people with different ideologies in Afghanistan united to expel Soviet Union,then USA out of Afghans territory,this was cultural synthesis to act against a common brute threat.
People unite for a common objective. This made Britishers apprehensive hence to check this synthesis they indoctrinated policy of Divide and Rule, which prima facie was a success for them but it was this only that temporarily brought different, incongruous and polarised cultures together for the sake of their political autonomies.
The recent events post 14 Feb suicide bombing on CRPF’s convoy is uniting the people in the valley for different reasons. The attack on kashmiri students and traders outside Kashmir followed by ban on Jamaat-e-Islami and other similar events is in a way bringing the different doctrinaires to a common table, as the disjointed populace fighting for land, assertion of religion(or culture) and livelihood were/are seen united as common entity taking such events as a threat to not only insurgents but also the to being a kashmiri. Sociologists maintain that resentment is due to perceived threat to either culture or livelihood and is facilitated by a third party. In that perspective it wouldn’t be wrong to say the provoking paradigm espoused by insurgents and also the proxy leaders that kashmiri identity is at loggerheads with the policies formulated in New Delhi has in a huge capacity succeeded.
This indicate the center’s attempt to bring kashmiri population into India’s mainstream by spending millions of dollars has perhaps failed or sent backwards in time due to events following 14 Feb. Lets see from another side, Burhan Wani picking up arms did less harm to country than him using social media to promote and export his ideas. His strategy gave a new impetus to the almost decaying militancy in the valley. In the same way one can suspect same this time as the unification against a perceived common threat can boost the spread of insurgent’s ideas, particularly and obvious to the vulnerable i.e; Students. Lets break this assumption to validate it;
1) The students targeted are mostly the recipients of the center’s scholarship (PMSSS) aimed to bring them into mainstream. Among them were those with mainstream inclination but that faded to an extent when they or their colleagues were harassed or beaten up in parts other than Kashmir. They cohabited and united after seeing themselves as victims and many returned back amidst tensions with hate and alienation. The more the alienation from mainstream ,the more is the affiliation with the anti-India sentiments prevailing in the valley which is the ideology pulling the youth towards militancy.
2) Among the students and traders were those who are fed up with the ongoing crisis,this has pushed them to either study or trade outside the valley but now the striking question for them probably would be that their is no space for a kashmiri in India. They escaped from armed aggression to unfortunately get caught by the popular aggression, thus inclining them emotionally and mentally towards ideology calling this a common cause.
3) This convergence is also visible at the top political level in the backdrop of center’s attempt to tamper with Article 35A which is highlighted as a center’s impingement over kashmir’s sovereignty over the promised land and the special privileges it enjoy under the article 370. Kashmir’s relation vis-a-vis India is special, it has multi dimensions.International interference and different contrasting cultures reflect this relation. This attempt is is bridging ideologically (if not in other terms) the differences among pro-Indian politicians, Pro Indian individuals and pro-freedom(separatism) camp, which earlier was bone of contention among different doctrinaires.
4) on the religious front ,Banning Jamaat-e-islami (a socio-religious and political) organisation is considered not as an attack on its functions but the attack on the religious identity in J&K, giving muslims belonging to different school of thoughts a reason to fight against what they call ‘religious aggression”. inclining religious affiliates towards the militant’s exportee of threat to religious identity.
5) the restrictions imposed on private and public transport has twofold ramifications ,one on transport community and the other on students .The school buses are stopped and asked to wait security forces’s convoy pass, what would it convey to a student of class 1st or 8th. this is not going to do any good but sow the seed of hate and alienation in these innocent hearts. since the transporters bear the highest brunt of joint Resistance leadership, on top of that harsh behaviour of forces during convoy has a potential to drift this community towards ideology which New Delhi is consistently struggling against.
As is said history repeats itself, the iron hand policy that was adopted by USA post 9/11 ( eg operation enduring freedom ) had twofold impacts ie; it made a muslim more muslim and increased the rate of conversion to islam ( by nearly around 67% ,including from immigration). Those who were captured and tortured by the US authorities in Guantanamo bay (including innocents),after their release gave significant boost to extremist groups. They made talibans more stronger and its mostly those released inmates, USA hold talks with after a decade.
In Kashmir, post Burhan Wani’s killing the rate of youth resorting to militancy has increased manifolds and the people coming to streets to hide and protect the insurgents has seen a significant rise. The new iron hand policy is thus a crucible of producing more violence. The Dehli’s hard handed policy is pushing the Kashmiri youth against the wall eg; as reported by Suicide bomber Adil Ahmad Dar’s father, Adil was harassed by Indian security forces twice and he was also made to rub his nose against the ground and circle the van just to humiliate him. What further worsened the situation was “catch n kill” theory which made a muezzin hard to call people for early dawn’s prayer prayer. What pushed Manan wani, a PhD scholar pick up arm was the regular raids and harassment of him or his fellow kashmiris by the hands of indian security forces and Him being asked for his ID around 7 times from Srinagar to his home Kupwara. Many youth who were booked under draconian PSA often reported of torture they had to face in the cells, often they were were to cloth -off and Parade naked.
Military mights work only after conventional war is fought ,what failed USSRs and then USA’s military might before Taliban is hard to ignore. The more one is pushed against what one believes the more he is inclined towards that.
Psychologists have often theorised, children who are witness or recipients of violence, report highest levels of depression, anger and anxiety. Kashmir in that capacity is witnessing and reporting severe violence in forms of pellet,humiliations etc and to expect them to behave in ways policy makers want is a fool’s dream and very weak wall strategy to lean against and is doomed to fail.
It would be politically incorrect to conclude from all this in the most literal sense but showing a little optimism it can be said, it is mandatory to raise voice against the policies that have the potential to backfire as it is a collective loss or collective gain. If one dies in Kashmir (a kashmiri or a non-kashmiri including security forces) that impacts whole of valley. To be politically correct it unites the kashmiris to resist the what they call oppression .
The Author is a Freelance Writer from Raiyar Doodhpathri and can be reached at sahilshabir@rocketmail.com
