Since the eruption of armed struggle in Kashmir there is not a single day which passes off without a death on account of the unresolved Kashmir dispute. In fact, there are multiple of deaths each day without there being a sign in sight that this cycle of death will end soon. Instead fresh fuel is added to the cycle to keep things burning and keep dousing the precious human lives. The cycle involves the deaths mostly of the young men who just begin to enter the prime of their life.
This cycle of deaths began in the last decade of the 20th century with the eruption of armed struggle in Kashmir. The Indian state has invested huge financial and human resources in curbing the armed struggle and if the killing of militants is an indication she has achieved a great success in killing thousands of militants in these three decades of armed struggle. But if the phenomenon of militancy is the indication then the Indian state has achieved no success at all. The militancy is there as it was in the last decade of the last century. We can go to the extent of saying that in reality the militancy is more powerful and vigorous than it was in the past considering the level of support that militants have gained and the amount of dedication of militants and their resolve.
They are so resolved that death for them is a reward than punishment and all other hardships as prizes so dear to them. The message that they give while dying and the smiles on their faces after death indicate that perhaps they have achieved what they wanted. However, what is beyond life and what is after death is between the Creator and His creation, we as ordinary mortals cannot say much about that. What we can say is that the death of these young men, and those on the other side of the dividing line, is a collective failure and collective defeat of the parties to the dispute, irrespective of their claims and counterclaims.
Realistically, as long as these deaths are there no party can claim to be successful and the claims, of success, they made are farce and falsehood pure and simple. These deaths must stop and that will be our first step towards the success, and collective success – Collective success, for the simple reason that a workable resolution should bring minimum level of satisfaction to all the parties to the dispute so that each party could genuinely claim some degree of success.
Losing people is our collective loss which should have been prevented at all costs but nobody seems interested towards that end. All the parties in the hyper state of their minds have lost touch with the reality and the reality is that no party is winning the battle. Kashmiri people are the greatest sufferers of this dispute but that ends not the sufferings of the other parties, they too suffer though on a lesser degree which is a sufficient enough reason for them to end the cycle of violence and the perpetual dance of death.
About the suffering of Kashmiris we suffer in all forms, we suffer when a militant is killed and when a policeman loses his life and now even military men killed turn out to be mostly Kashmiris. The civilian killings have remained there and they die at most of the times without knowing why. It is not only their life but they suffer due to the loss of their property also which they accumulate while facing all hardships of life. In an instant all that property is lost as if it evaporates in the surrounding air.
A lot is being said about these losses and a lot has already been said. Most of the people want the deaths, and losses, to stop from taking place but very little is being said about the methodology how that can be achieved. When the question comes about the methodology we often avoid it due to any reason, or even due to the fear factor involved. There are only few people who invest their thoughts, time and sincere efforts to find and suggest ways which could aid us to end the cycle of violence and killings.
The current is an attempt to suggest some ways which could prove beneficial and productive towards bringing the cycle of violence and death to an immediate halt. It by no means is a divine revelation but there is no doubt that if the approach is followed it could go a long way in giving peace a chance. Sincere will from the people holding the reins of power of the parties to the dispute and a concern towards the plight of the people of Kashmir could help in an immense way to accomplish the desired ends.
The Indian state wants peace, this is what she claims and the armed militants want peace after their voices are heard, they also claim so. The former use guns for that purpose and the latter use the same which somehow put question marks on the claims. As long as the guns are firing peace cannot be established and no progress towards peace can be made. Therefore, the first thing is to set the guns silent and announce and unconditional ceasefire. The current efforts on part of the regional parties in the state are encouraging and though they have been rejected by the Central government but the efforts must continue make the ceasefire a reality.
The Indian state may claim that it will give a chance to militants to regroup but that is a flawed thought process because the continuous killing of militants is broadening their support base which is more dangerous than the regrouping of a few hundred armed men. It is this killing which has now forced people to be ready to die for the armed militants. Nowhere else this sort of support from unarmed men to the armed ones is witnessed in the world and perhaps has never been witnessed in the entire human history. No support can be purer and greater than the one when one is ready to die for you. This seems not being realized at the corridors of power in India. Militants on the other hand should be willing to accept this ceasefire for it will give life a chance without compromising on the dignity of the people.
The second things that should be done by India is to ban all the corporate media from reporting about Kashmir. Credible international channels should be allowed to report from Kashmir in an unbiased manner along with the state owned Doordarshan. In the latter case also the real, and actual, reporting from the ground should be promoted which could restore the some of the lost credibility of this institution among the people of the state.
If anything that is hurting Indian prospects in Kashmir it is the corporate media. They are flaring up the sentiments of Kashmiris that leaves budding young men with passion with no other option than to fight the Indian state and agencies representing the state. The way the corporate media conducts the debates and reports from the ground level makes even the peace loving people hate this media. This media mostly spreads propaganda and blatant lies which are not in the interest of even the Indian state. It gives them a higher Television Rating Points which is why they do so. The nation and national interest is literally no consideration for these news channels. Banning them could do lot of good than harm. Indian state in Kashmir is identified with Arnob Goswami than Mahatama Ghandi which hurt the prospects of peace in Kashmir.
The third is related to the second, here Kashmir based experts, reporters, writers and intellectuals should be given more space in the national media and international media so that the real situation of Kashmir goes out to the people of mainland India and the people of the world. Once a problem is known as it exists appropriate remedies could be planned and others could also come to our aid for suggesting the remedies. There are many disputes and issues which have been resolved by the third party mediation and efforts of the people outside the realm of those disputes.
The fourth is about the giving military one more power of planning and conducting talks with the militants. Military already has sufficient powers but those powers have not been able to establish peace in Kashmir. However, if military is allowed to conduct talks with militants it could yield fast and credible results. The talks of military either fail or succeed unlike the civilian leadership. The latter is never decisive in conducting talks; it takes them years and decades to reach to any conclusion about conducting talks and about the outcome of the talks.
Plus, the civilian leadership, it has been witnesses are moved more by their electoral consideration than any other interests. Military has no such considerations. They know the ground situation and if allowed to conduct talks while calculating the losses and gains out of the conflict to the nation, they surely will choose the one giving gains to the country. And, they will surely work for the resolution of the Kashmir dispute if no other interests are involved.
Amidst the eroding credibility of other institution, army can be trusted if it is allowed and involved in the peace building by taking the real interests of the nation into account. It could also show the human and humane face of each other to militants and military and the chances are they may develop a greater degree of trust which could be used understand each other better and to accommodate the genuine concerns and demands. Their talks can also be a precursor to the subsequent talks at the higher levels of administration.
The military civilian interface should be reduced; they should try to be avoided to come face to face. It can be done by allowing peaceful protests and by encouraging them. By allowing people to protest peacefully and by taking cognizance of the things people are demanding the situation of law and order could be improved to a great degree. And, when there is less of contact between the instruments of the power of the state and people, the episodes of stone pelting and disturbances would end soon.
A corollary to the last step is to provide separate spaces at each city and town for people to protest. It is at these spaces where government functionaries should visit to register the protests and take immediate steps to provide relief to the people. What if people resort to sloganeering at these places, which for the government may be antinational, but that will be a case for few days, there won’t be any sloganeering once people realize that their demands are met with peaceful methods of protests.
In the current circumstances and on account of the curbs on protesting, the current status is that even a protest for water or electricity ends up sloganeering about freedom and stone pelting. This is the clear outcome of the use of force where force should not be used. The use of force make people prone and accustomed to that use and if that force is not used against them that only is the cure to stop protesting and protests. Our purpose is peace and not violence and any activity that ensures that should be willingly initiated.
These are only temporary measures to halt the cycle of violence in the state. The real process of the resolution of the conflict should have these measures only as the beginning of the process. The end result should be the resolution of the Kashmir dispute which needs a longer route. Resolution of the dispute can be allowed to tread that route to take care of the aspirations of the parties concerned but the stopping of deaths should be the top priority first. Hope it is!
Fayaz Ganaie can be reached at fayaz.greatstep@gmail.com
