Far & Near: For a new start in Kashmir

Above all, what afflicts the people of Kashmir Valley is a sense of humiliation. This has built up over the decades. This is what Pakistan, the separatists and the small but ever-present pro-Pakistan constituency, always seek to exploit. But so must all democrats be concerned about this deeply sensitive issue if they are serious about being democrats — party colours don’t matter. And this is what the all-party delegation of our MPs led by home minister Rajnath Singh should keep in view in Srinagar on Sunday, and try to offer reasonable assurances that steps can be taken to restore Kashmir’s hurt pride. The MPs’ delegation should know that ordinary people in the Valley are looking to their arrival with hope, notwithstanding the curfews and protests, some of the latter being a put up job. In truth, everyone is by now mentally exhausted — not just the security forces. The unprecedented shutdown is nearly two months old.

“Development” and “defeat of poverty” are always important. But these can’t be equated with people’s pride and sense of belonging. In any case, our MPs should be aware that Kashmir Valley is among the economically better off places in the country, thanks to Sheikh Abdullah’s “land to the tiller” programme which came under his Naya Kashmir initiative guided by his leftist friends. We must also bear in mind that only the Government of India can bring sanity back, not the chief minister or the 15th Corps commander. As for the separatists, they revel in seeing bridges burn. Some of them are “naysayers” by conviction as they’d like Kashmir to join Pakistan, some take money to speak negative language, and some are genuinely afraid of being shot dead on instruction from “the other side” if they show the smallest inclination to talk to New Delhi.

Several prominent personalities have thus been eliminated, and this makes the fear real. In any case, New Delhi alone — not just the GoI but also our Parliament — has the power to make a difference. The key separatists are likely to engage in baiting talk but do little to alleviate the miseries of the people. They are not in the business to look for solutions. They have not been elected, and are therefore not answerable to the people. They are there to stoke the fires. The more miserable and alienated the people, the more the separatists prosper politically, and derive associated benefits. Remember, there is a proxy war on. Politics under the shadow of the gun is what we are condemned to negotiate. The Kashmiris understand this. They are among the politically shrewdest people anywhere and perfectly capable of speaking in nuanced code language, and are not given only to exaggerated chest beating and shrieking, which is alas what comes across on television screens as so much journalism these days — including in Kashmir — privileges drama over substance.

But because the people of Kashmir are not naive, they know when New Delhi is serious, and when it makes meaningless noises. If the Centre is serious, the people will lose no time in putting the separatists in their place. Atal Behari Vajpayee as Prime Minister struck a chord in the Valley because he did not speak only of “jamhooriyat” (democracy) but also “Kashmiriyat” and “insaniyat” (humanism). No one had done this before. “Kashmiriyat” addressed identity issues, including those relating to politics. “Insaniyat” took care of matters relating to violence and related abuses (from the side of the State and the militants in the insurgency years of 1989-93). Speaking in the impersonalised categories of democracy, development, integration and unity, or talking up the clichés of confidence, trust and healing touch, would have set Mr Vajpayee on a barren course. These have become vacuous phrases from an unproductive past. But mechanically repeating or rehashing the Vajpayee vocabulary today won’t do either.

Before Mr Vajpayee, his predecessor P.V. Narasimha Rao had said, “The sky is the limit” for Kashmir’s autonomy within the outlines of the Indian Constitution. The late PM’s words are also recalled in the Valley. But for the people of Kashmir, the uplifting language did not leave the page on which it was written. This is where this all-party MPs’ team can make a contribution. To begin with, it can advance an idea which is full of powerful symbolism and seeks to directly address the “humiliation” issue — that calling the J&K governor “Sadr-e-Riyasat”, and the chief minister “Prime Minister”, as in the old days, can be revived. Such nomenclature remained long in use after the last Kashmir Maharaja, Hari Singh, who wished to remain independent of both India and Pakistan but found it expedient to sign the Instrument of Accession with India when Pakistan sent raiders and invaders into the Valley in October 1947, was obliged to demit office. When Kashmir formally agreed to be incorporated into the territory of India, it was also agreed that the J&K constitution and flag would remain in use, and this agreement has been duly honoured. So, what’s wrong with the recall of names of prominent constitutional offices?

If this happens, a frisson of excitement will course through the whole Valley. Also, in PoK and Gilgit-Baltistan, the example will set an enormous pressure on the Pakistani authorities, who have made these regions an inconsequential fiefdom of a militarised State bordering on Islamism. At the time of accession, Maharaja Hari Singh had agreed only to surrender foreign affairs, defence and communication to New Delhi. It is time to institute a commission to study which laws passed by Parliament can be adopted by the J&K Assembly for implementation, and whether any should be deleted. The Indian Constitution and our laws are among the most progressive in the world. Kashmir itself may voluntarily choose many or most of our laws — such as those relating to the judiciary, labour, women and children, or the right to information. In real terms, measures such as these do underscore the idea of “autonomy”, and India can take up the matter internally. Talks with Pakistan — of the kind that PM Manmohan Singh had to link J&K with PoK through trade — are not needed here.