[Reader-list] Kashmir : Beyond the Numbers Game

[gowhar fazli]

Kashmir : Beyond the Numbers Game

Examining the Zardari Proposal

I only ask for an abode where I can live at peace with
myself, where life means dignity and honour, writes
Wajahat Qazi.

Circa 1989.The Berlin Wall comes crashing down. The
Soviet Union implodes. Germany is reunited.
Afghanistan is bloodied. And the staccato burst of
Kalashnikov fire disturbs the idyll that was Kashmir.
Intense, young and angry Kalashnikov wielding men are
feted by women and women alike in a place where the
bulbul (nightingale) sang its denizens to sleep and
the mountain trout flew. Now is there an overarching
theme that binds all these disparate events of
historical import together? The answer is axiomatic
and obvious: A redounding yes. The basic aspiration(s)
of freedom and political rights- the animating
principles of history and the historical process-
connects all these together. 
 While it is too soon to prognosticate on the panning
out of this historical process, it is however safe to
conclude that all these processes exacted a terrible
price: loss of human life and other tragedies that
accompany such processes. Significantly, these
’events’ unfolded under the shadow of another process
of historical import: renewed (or recharged)
globalization which entailed (roughly) the diminution
of state sovereignty, the so called ‘retreat of the
state’ and free( r) trade and commerce. Kashmir and
Kashmiris remained, if one can allow sarcasm to
intrude into this serious affair, unsullied by these
salutary processes. What happened in this interregnum
is known to almost all. The question that now arises
is whether it-the price paid in loss of life and
treasure-was worth it. And how it can be remedied. And
should wounds be reopened and or nurtured? Or should a
more cathartic and sober approach-one that is
salubrious and healthy for all - be adopted?
 The starting point of an enquiry of this nature is to
understand the nature of history or the historical
process: it (unfortunately) is not linear and more or
less appears to be circular. The implication being
that it is prone to repeat itself unless wisdom and
foresight of sage men and women pre-empt it. Now the
question may be asked: how does this relate to Kashmir
and its modern history? Kashmir’s implosion is
intimately related to its modern history or more
broadly the history of the subcontinent and its
permutations and combinations. This axiomatic but
hackneyed explanation is self evident and elaboration
of this would merely mean restating the obvious. 
 However one may in the interests of clarity state
that it was neither police brutality or brutalization
of young men by the state apparatus, the denial of
state power to a clique of disparate political
groupings that led to the implosion nor the
accumulated set(s) of grievances that led to the
implosion. The dispute over Kashmir or Kashmir in
conflict (I owe this formulation to Victoria Schofeld)
was and remains the classic dispute of competing
sovereignties and conceptions of nationalisms and
state formation of two post colonial states viz India
and Pakistan. Kashmir in this schema becomes integral
to the identity and self definition of these nation
states and hence the dispute over it and the
tremendous energy vested in either retaining the
status quo or changing it. Now in this imbroglio or
impasse where the employment of state power becomes
integral to maintain (or disrupt) the equation, the
voice of the victim or the most aggrieved victim is
lost. That is to say, the idea of self determination
of a people becomes party to cynical power politics
and or is lost in the noise and clamor. This idea -it
germinated or reached fruition in the decolonization
period- is, we are told passe and dated in today’s
globalized world and because states after their
consolidating phase never give up their remit on
consolidated territory. 
 Examples galore can be cited: the blighted
Palestinians ,the ‘Iraqi’ Kurds, or the ‘Turkish’
Kurds the Tibetans, the Maoris or the Aboriginals
.The
implication being that it is a sysphan endeavor that
only results in or leads to tragedy , mayhem and
bloodshed. State power through the forces of attrition
can drain away the will to secede or self determine an
entity. Kashmir, like other disputes of such a nature,
in this sense ,it may be safely said ,here fits the
bill. Now the question arises: how can this self
determination conundrum or puzzle be resolved? 
 That is to say, how can state power and the demands
or claims or competing claims be reconciled to reach a
satisfactory solution to all parties concerned. The
answer, I posit ,again may lie in the sovereignty
thing or more accurately redefining the ‘allegedly
sacrosanct principle’ of sovereignty ,state remit and
,of course ,globalization. This or these sets of
propositions lead us inevitably to examine the idea
floated by Asif Zardari of Pakistan. The implication
of this proposal is or appears to be an eerie echo of
approaches adopted to reunite the post war European
sysphus-a daunting task that was achieved by sagacity,
wisdom and foresight of a few good men and a redefined
and new approach to conflict and dispute
resolution(Alsace Lorraine, Germany and France spring
to mind here). Again, the underlying premiss was to
discard the principle of sovereignty, an unwieldy and
stubborn one-as the EU is still learning and the
nature of politics inherent to it. That is the balance
of power approach to state craft and interstate
relations. Now in terms of Kashmir, the ‘centrality’
of the dispute or more accurately the centrality of
Kashmir to the self conception and definition to the
two nations involved has held these nations hostage to
a milieu and certain disposition which, in turn,
thwarts the aspirations and holds life chances of an
entire subcontinent hostage. As such, the Zardari
proposal, if it reflects these premises may warrant
some interest or a relook. The idea may be to develop
trade links or deepen trade links between Pakistan and
India, over the core dispute and over a period change
the nature of the dispute. It does not appear to be
much wrong with it save the aspirations of Kashmiri
people and the blood and treasure lost in the process.
And it may seem more like a sop than anything else to
the victims, the sufferers and the protagonists.
However, as far as the eye can see, inherent in this
proposal or its successful denouement may even lie an
optimum or optimal solution that sates the natural
desire and will of Kashmiri people. Substantive
political, economic and social rights that approximate
or come close to a sovereign entity can be accorded to
genuine representatives of Kashmiri people. Perhaps
not along lines of the so called autonomy or autonomy
packages that are either honored in the breach or mere
lip service thing or a need accruing from a new
template (or paradigm)of governance and state
authority , made inevitable by a gelling together of
forces that the traditional state model is under
assault from. Or more of the same, so to speak, in
different guises and permutations and combinations
with cynical political parties vying for a slice of
the pie. Or the changing nature of Indian federalism.
Recourse to these worn out techniques promises nothing
but a gloss or covering up of a dispute that history
tells us is bound to relapse. That is, recidicivus
classicus. 
 However, if imagination is allowed some leeway and if
the Zrdari proposal is in effect along the lines I
divine then Kashmir may become or morph into a bridge
or an entity that brings plenitude to all parties
involved. And offers a bold and beautiful future to an
entire subcontinent. This becomes even more important
and pertinent for Pakistan: a country is teetering on
the edge of state failure and collapse and has
belied(consistently) the vision that its founders, the
poet-philosopher, Muhammad Iqbal and the legal
luminary and genius Muhammad Ali Jinnah had in mind
for it. Insofar India is concerned, its power of
attrition and containment of disputes is well
recognized and known and its trajectory of or toward
great power status now almost a fait accompli. However
one may add that great powers, as the wounded hegemon,
the US, is learning to its peril and chagrin do not
lead through force or naked power. 
 Their greatness is known and recognized for the
magnanimity and unstinginess. India in this sense, may
need or want to develop a kind of benign hegemony that
allows it to not to be humiliated or spited in the
nose by a small irritant like Kashmir. The onus also
lies on people who have bene in the thick and thin of
it all-especially ones who can claim to embody the
will of the Kashmiri people. I have people like
Yasseen Mallik in mind, whose existential travails and
life -from a romantic Maisuma teenager to a gun toting
young intense man , sacrifices and a gaoled and reborn
principled political leader-in mind. That is to say,
the millennial Baba e Qoum or a Baba e Qoum in
waiting. I , of course do not deny or demean wiser
heads and scholars like Syed Ali Geelani , the
eloquent, articulate and well traveled Mawlana Omar
Farooq and last but not the least, the eccentric but
experienced politician Farooq Abdulla. All of these
wise people have before themselves an opportunity to
morph into or become statesmen and alter the course of
history lest it repeat itself again.Sordidly so. And
inject Kashmir, in particular, and the subcontinent,
at large, into the broader and wider historical
forces. This is a once in a life time opportunity that
may not come again. Otherwise Kashmir will always be
the hostage of a numbers game (who killed How many
were Killed- a sordid disrespect of all those who
died), or a cynical game of proposals and counter
proposals and international deadlocks. So I as a
humble wandering Kashmiri-I have been wandering around
the globe in search of a home-beseech you eminent and
wise people to give me a home where I can live in
dignity and peace.
 
(Wajahat Qazi is a Kashmiri Free Lance writer based
currently in Pennsylvania  US. He is working on a
couple of books,’ The Future of the International
State System:An Anthology’ and ,’The US: The Dying 
Hegemon or a Mythical Superpower’)


Unfortunately, the balance of nature decrees that a super-abundance of dreams is paid for by a growing potential for nightmares.   
      
Love is an act of endless forgiveness, a tender look which becomes a habit. 

Peter Ustinov