[Reader-list] Gun Salutes for August 15

[Shuddhabrata Sengupta]

Dear Sonia,

In the tumult of the last two days, the more substantial conversation  
that we were having has been neglected. I want to come back to it, as  
it was a very productive conversation.

You have rightly pointed out the complexity of the ethnic mosaic of  
the undivided state of Jammu and Kashmir, and the fact that the UN  
Resolutions, by framing the dispute in the India-Pakistan binary,  
seem to leave no room for third or fourth of fifth options.

I think this is a time for creative and imaginative thinking. And  
creative and imaginative thinkers are urgently needed, especially,  
but not only, from all sections of the population of  the entire  
disputed territory, as much as ambulances, gauze and antiseptic is  
needed (which is in short supply) for tending to the rising numbers  
of the wounded in the valley after today's violence by the Indian  
state's forces of occupation. Those of us who are outside can engage  
with this process as interlocutors, and must do so at every given  
opportunity, but I think, that in the end, the paramountcy of the  
wills (and these may be diverse and conflicting) of the people of the  
disputed territory must be recognized.

I believe, like you, that replacing
 >> one nation-state by another is hardly the solution. For many  
years now,
 >> friends in Pakistan and I have been discussing the idea of a  
South Asian
 >> Union which loosens the idea of sovereignty, strengthens people,  
encourages
 >> movement across borders, makes irrelevant armies that are  
presently engaged
 >> in fighting each other.  I wonder whether it is possible to take  
this
 >> conversation into that direction, into bringing together rather than
 >> sundering?

I agree with you. I think we must move towards discussing the  
possibility of solutions that defy the exclusive sovereignty of the  
nation state principle. The tragedy of Jammu and Kashmir is that it  
cannot be resolved within the framework of nation states. But that  
tragedy can become an opportunity if the people of Jammu and Kashmir  
and their well wishers begin to move towards a solution, an actual,  
pragmatic solution that transcends the watertight compartments of the  
nation state.

We forget that the nation-state as a sovereign juridical instrument  
of international law, or as a legal person, is itself a relatively  
recent construct, as old only as the Treaty of Westphalia in 1648, If  
we can recognize thousands of years of history before the legal  
ossification of the nation state and nation state based exclusivist  
sovereignty, surely we can also begin to envisage a future beyond it.

Westphalian sovereignty is the concept of nation-state sovereignty  
based on two principles: territoriality and the exclusion of external  
actors from domestic authority structures. The intractability of  
Jammu and Kashmir defies both the principles of territoriality and  
the exclusion of external actors from domestic authority structures.  
All positive proposals have to take into account that first of all,  
give primacy to the peoples will(s) in the disputed territory. But  
the guarantee for the recognition of this primacy may have to come  
from nominally 'external' actors. These would naturally be India,  
Pakistan, maybe an international body. Who would jointly guarantee  
the security and liberty of all the peoples of the territory. This  
may be necessary for a transition period, or for as long as the  
peoples of the territory desire. Crucially, this must not beceome or  
seen to become a replacement of a monocephalic colonialsm to a  
colonial hydra.

Several situations can be thought of as points of reference, Andorra,  
South Tyrol, Northern Ireland, Bosnia-Herzogovina, The Aaland Islands  
(between Sweden and FInland). All of these examples are working  
instances of exceptions to the Westphalian straighjacket., and have,  
in fact become zones of demilitarization. In fact, a demilitarized  
Kashmir can be precisely the locus of 'bringing peoples together'  
rather than sundering, that you point to with regard to a future  
South Asia that would belong to all its peoples and that could  
refashion itself as a federation of free territories with soft  
borders, no visa restrictions and no standing armies.

To achieve this situation, which I believe is possible, and workable,  
all of us have to work very hard. But to even begin that work, the  
armies, both of India and Pakistan must retreat. The militants must  
lay down weapons (like happenned in Northern Ireland) and principles  
of reciprocity and mutuality must be recognized as the guiding  
instruments of the future.

None of this, in my opinion can begin without the withdrawal of the  
repressive apparatus of the Indian state, its central paramilitaries,  
secret police and army units. Let these be pulled out of Kashmir in  
the presence of a strong force of international peacekeepers and  
observers. Let talks begin between all parties, and let everyone set  
their imaginations and their reasons to work.

hope this clarifies my position

regards

Shuddha