India has taken a decision on Jammu-Kashmir and the region is back in the news. The recently re-elected Modi government scrapped the temporary special provisions for Jammu-Kashmir and reorganized the state as a Delhi-administrated territory.
This is a historic decision since it completes the integration of India after more than 70 years of claiming independence from the British rule. The ripple effect is felt across the border in Pakistan and China controlling the other half of Jammu-Kashmir. Some western commentators whose only connection to Jammu-Kashmir is through their ‘cashmere sweaters’ jumped on the issue despite their ignorance of the legal, constitutional or political history of the matter in hand. Some even went ahead to absurdly compare Jammu-Kashmir with Palestine. I question this western centered narrative and locate the real issues at stake.
Perish in Paradise
For starters, the much-used term of Kashmir is a misnomer. The Himalayan region is essentially made of four parts- Hindu dominated Jammu, Muslim dominated and strategically crucial Kashmir valley, Buddhist dominated Ladakh and Northern Gilgit-Baltistan bordering Afghanistan. Once known as “terrestrial paradise of the Indies”, Jammu-Kashmir covers an area almost the same size as the United Kingdom. That’s so much for geography. The history is far more complicated.
In a nutshell, Jammu-Kashmir passed through series of Hindu, Muslim and Sikh rule until the creation of “Princely State of Kashmir and Jammu” in 1846 from the territories previously under Sikh Empire. Despite its Hindu leadership, the “conversion of Kashmir” was already achieved and religious demography of the princely states stood in favor of Muslims.
At the time of India’s partition in 1947, the princely state eventually acceded to India after it was attacked by Pakistan. The princely state signed the same “instrument of accession” as was signed with the 562 other princely states paving the way for its defense by the Indian military.
When UN mandates Ceasefire agreement was reached, the control of Jammu-Kashmir was divided between India and Pakistan. Right after, Pakistan bifurcated the parts of Jammu-Kashmir under its control in to “Azad Kashmir” (Independent Kashmir) and Gilgit–Baltistan. After the India-China war of 1962, China occupied the eastern part of Jammu-Kashmir and became the third party in the dispute. In 1963, China and Pakistan hurriedly made a ‘boundary agreement’ that saw the transfer of the Shaksgam valley to China. In 1965, Pakistan launched “Operation Gibraltar” in Jammu-Kashmir by infiltration its troops into Jammu-Kashmir attempting to create a false narrative of “indigenous uprising”. The scheme was quickly discovered resulting in Second Kashmir war.
Following the 1971 war between India and Pakistan that led to the creation of Bangladesh, the two countries signed the Shimla Agreement in 1972 after India returned back over 90,000 Pakistani PoW. The agreement recognized the ceasefire line as Line of Control (LoC) and mandated settling of “differences by peaceful means through bilateral negotiations”.
But Pakistan’s continued with its action of infiltrating its soldiers and terrorists into Jammu-Kashmir. By 1999, India was once again forced to defend itself after Pakistan occupied peaks in Kargil of Northern Jammu-Kashmir. The Kargil conflict brought India and Pakistan on the brink of nuclear war after Pakistani troops and terrorists were forced out of the occupied peaks. The conflict also ended the US role in the region and introduced a more vigilant approach from India that further boosted its military presence in Jammu-Kashmir.
Yet Pakistan continued with its terrorism as a state policy that regularly targeted Indian military positions. After the terrorist attack in Pulwama of Jammu-Kashmir that resulted in the deaths of 40 Indian security personnel, India’s Modi government did something that no other Indian government had ever done before. India launched a pre-emptive air strike directed against a terrorist training camp in Pakistan controlled Kashmir warning more such strikes in case of a future terrorist attack. Since then, political temperature has remained extremely height between the two South-Asian neighbors.
The forgotten Kashmiri
But the political situation between India and Pakistan is not enough to understand the source of violence that has burnt Jammu-Kashmir for more than half a century. The religious demographics is a case in point.
In all, Jammu-Kashmir has faced three waves of genocide to this day leading to complete annihilation of Hindu and Sikh population in Kashmir under Pakistani occupation and reduced non-Muslims to a mere 1% of the population in Kashmir under Indian control. The first wave of genocide took place under Muslim ruler Sikander Butshiken who ruled Jammu-Kashmir from 1389 to 1413. During his reign, Hindus Kashmiri faced persecution of such extent that the entire state was Islamised in just a matter of a few years. A large number of Kashmiri Hindus were forced out and some of the greatest Hindu temples left to ruins.
The second wave of an organized Hindu genocide in Kashmir took place at the time of India’s partition. When Jammu-Kashmir was attacked by Pakistani militia, their main objective was to capture Srinagar that would have allowed them to take control of the entire state. But Pakistani raiders got busy with mass murders, rapes and other crimes against humanity. The Mirpur and Rajouri area massacre of 1947 alone accounted for over thousands of Hindu and Sikh killing. As a result, today there is no Hindu population left in the entire Kashmir under Pakistani control.
While the first two waves of Hindu genocide in Jammu-Kashmir took place before the creation of India, the third and the last wave took place just 30 years ago in 1989. By now, Pakistan that had already lost two wars to India and shifted to unconventional warfare by using the porous Line of Control to infiltrate well-trained terrorists. The successive meddling in the election process and electoral corruption by successive Congress governments frustrated the democratic faith of Jammu-Kashmir. These two long-term factors triggered violence and strife like never before.
By 1989, communal violence and attacks started against the Hindu Kashmiri population resulting in mass killings by terrorist groups. Various Kashmiri Hindu intellectuals and political leaders were shot down with growing local support among Kashmir Muslims to expel their Hindu counterparts. A range of slogans were repeatedly played from mosques: ‘Kashmir mei agar rehna hai, Allah-O-Akbar kehna hai’ (If you want to stay in Kashmir, you have to say Allah-O-Akbar); ‘Yahan kya chalega, Nizam-e-Mustafa’ (What do we want here? Rule of Shariah); ‘Asi gachchi Pakistan, Batao roas te Batanev san’ (We want Pakistan along with Hindu women but without their men). Around a quarter-million Kashmiri Hindus were forced out of their ancestral homes and exiled overnight while their family homes were razed. Anyone who was not a Muslim Kashmiri had no place in Kashmir valley.
The end of Kashmiri Exceptionalism
Post-Independence India was led by Prime Minister Nehru who came from a Kashmiri Hindu family but failed to resolve the Kashmir issue. He expected the integration of Muslim majority Kashmir valley as a natural eventuality. Nehru’s strategy was to buy more time and for this purpose, he played an instrumental role in granting special rights to Jammu-Kashmir.
For this purpose, a temporary Article 370 was introduced in the Indian constitution that became the vehicle of these special rights. Further, Article 35A was inserted as enabling provision that empowered Jammu-Kashmir to define its “permanent residents” who has access to special rights and privileges.
These special rights gave a semi-autonomy to the state and prohibited Indian citizens from other states to settle, work or vote in Jammu-Kashmir. No such bar existed for state residents but curtailed inheritance rights of Kashmiri women who married outside the state. Consequently, Islamisation of Kashmir peaked by the end of the last century.
While the rest of India was embracing a globalization boom with mushrooming of multiplexes, bars, theatres, sports league, etc., these were declared un-Islamic and banned from Kashmir valley. Terrorists started roaming freely and threating to burn down girls seen driving a scooter. The terror threat ensured a low turnout in state elections allowing corrupt family-based parties to clinch power. This cabal worked as middlemen between Pakistan backed Islamists and New Delhi while engaging in gross abuse of state resources for corruption and private gains.
Over a period of time, Article 370 was no more a mere “special status” but conferred a disputed status on Jammu-Kashmir weakening Indian interests. Despite India’s long-standing narrative that “Jammu-Kashmir is an integral part of India”, Article 370 created a hybrid identity for residents of Jammu-Kashmir and Ladakh. Thousands of Indian migrants workers from neighboring states who lived in Jammu-Kashmir for years faced discrimination in education and employment because they were declared ineligible for a permanent status certificate. These special rights and privileges for Jammu-Kashmir sanctified class and gender discrimination compromising their basic human right and right to life. After the latest decision of Prime Minister Modi led BJP government, they will finally get access to their fundamental rights as guaranteed by the Indian Constitution and in keeping with India’s international obligations to the U.N. Charter and international conventions.
The murmurs over an impending Kashmir decision started right after a thumping electoral victory for Prime Minister Modi in May this year. Abrogation of the special status for Jammu-Kashmir was a core demand of BJP since its formation and regular part of its election manifesto since 1984.
Modi’s BJP is widely seen as the flagbearer of Hindu cause that promised to correct the years of Muslim appeasement in government policies. Jammu-Kashmir is also home to a range of sacred Hindu temples and caves and hosts the annual ‘Amarnath Yatra’ pilgrimage attended by thousands of Hindu devotees.
But, Prime Minister Modi surprised even his supporters. While ending temporary special rights of Jammu-Kashmir was only a matter of time, the reorganization of the state into two “union territory” (territories governed directly by the Delhi based union government) came as a shock to many. This move making the local politicians redundant is a fundamental paradigm shift in India’s Kashmir policy.
Conflicting Ideologies: India’s Plurality Vs Islamic ‘Kashmiriyat’
Now coming to the after-effect of India’s decision to reorganize Jammu-Kashmir in its control. For neighboring Pakistan practicing terror as state police, this is a sucker punch. Pakistan has a notorious track record of committing genocide in Bangladesh and Balochistan. Even today it continues with the persecution of its non-Muslim population on the lines of Jews under Nazi Germany. This leaves even fewer options for Army backed Prime Minister Imran Khan (who took office last year) so far been denied an audience by Modi. The decision also confirms the emergence of an assertive and aggressive Indian foreign policy not wary of taking risks.
But the bigger question remains: What does it mean for India’s religious pluralism and democratic ethos. Now that’s where India is in a fix. Majority of Kashmir Muslim’s population resists the idea of finding itself within the fold of India’s secular traditions. The constitutionally guaranteed temporary special rights were deemed permanent while irreversible Kashmiri accession to India was seen conditional and interim.
The ideological battle between secularist Kashmiri Hindus and Kashmiri Muslims holding the ISIS flags shall determine the future of Jammu-Kashmir. Many young Indians (many of whom conceived during their parents’ honeymoon in Kashmir valley) are disenchanted with a soft approach to Kashmir. They have come to realize that the plurality of India is purely a Hindu construction recovering from the scars of Muslim orchestrated partition of 1947. The youth of India wishes to see Jammu-Kashmir like any other state of the union and therefore seems highly supportive of Modi’s Kashmir decision.
Dawn of a new age
Over 70 years of autonomy granted by Article 370 has alienated Kashmiri Muslims from their Indian identity and pushed Jammu-Kashmir to economic isolation. So far India, home to the second-largest Muslim population in the world, has avoided looking at the Jammu-Kashmir issue through a demographic lens. The reason is simple. If Kashmiri Muslims can not be entrusted with allegiance to India after all these years, will that not cast doubt about millions of Muslims spread across the rest of India?
There has never been a single case of successful secession in well-established democracies. India’s unique model of ‘unity in diversity’ is not going to be an exception to that rule. It is a country where Tamil, Bihari, Bengali, Assamese, Odia, Gujarati, Marathi and many other regional, linguistic, cultural and religious identities have existed and thrived. The scrapping of Jammu-Kashmir’s special status should be a stepping stone to add the Kashmiri tulip to India’s colorful flower basket. But this will have to be a long term vision where India’s patience will matter more than any expression of passion.
Prime Minister’s Modi hard stance on Kashmir gives India an edge on the ground. India is going through a tremendous political shift since the rise of Modi and collapse of Congress party that held power since its independence. Even if Kashmiri hesitates to trust Modi, they must put their faith in him. At this stage, Neoliberal orientated Modi is Jammu-Kashmir’s best bet for a future of peace, progress and development. In his address to the Nation, Modi promised a “new age” in Jammu-Kashmir and Ladakh. Jammu-Kashmir has every potential to become a model for economic growth. It can emerge as a hub of education, tourism & agro-based industries and lead the growth story of the world’s fastest-growing major economy.
Jammu-Kashmir’s redefined status is an opportunity to use the tool of economic expansion for curtailing secessionism, bloodshed and anti-India tendencies among the Kashmiri Muslims. But can it guarantee a sustainable peace project in the region? Will Kashmiri Hindus forced out of their homes ever return back without facing any threat of violence? Will Jammu-Kashmir democratic inclusion over religious secessionism?
In many ways, the Kashmir issue might evolve into a difficult test for India’s secular democracy. The resilience of Indian democracy has surprised experts in the past, and it may continue to do so in the future.
