[Reader-list] Kashmiri separatists are isolated from reality Colonel Dr Anil A Athale (retd)

[Pawan Durani]

In a television debate, National Conference leader Farooq Abdullah mocked a
Jammu Muslim who supported the agitation. Little does he or others realise
that the Muslims of Jammu have also suffered from the stupid government
policy of appeasing the separatists and kicking the nationalists. Just one
example should suffice. School teachers' jobs in even remote Jammu regions
go to Kashmiris from the valley. The teachers so appointed (at a good
salary) are absent most of the time except on the first every month to
collect their salary. The education levels among Jammu's Muslims are
abysmal. In a tehsil of Mendhar in Poonch district, for example, there is
not a single graduate!

In Rajouri division, when I led a team of scientists ten years ago (in an
attempt at bringing in horticulture technology to J&K to better people's
life), we were aghast to see a soil testing laboratory that had a clean look
about it -- all the equipment for soil testing was never used! This is the
legacy of valley appeasement that the Jammu people revolted against.

The Hurriyat and other separatists, marginalised by the peace process,
jumped into the fray, cried wolf and went back to the bad old days of
shutdowns and marches to the United Nations office in
Srinagar[Images<http://search.rediff.com/imgsrch/default.php?MT=srinagar>
]. A new innovation this time round was a call to march to and a threat to
take their fruits to Pakistan. In a reversal of fortune the slogan of
'Azadi' (freedom) was replaced by the cry for merger with Pakistan.

*Root causes of current unrest in Kashmir*

The root cause of the present trouble in the valley is the fact that
beginning in the 1980s the Sufi tradition of Kashmir has been on the retreat
and in its place the virulent Waahabi/Deobandi Islam has become the dominant
creed. Saudi money, the influx of mullahs from UP have dealt a death blow to
the *Kashmiriyat* that took pride in tolerant Islam. The *burqa, *totally
alien to Kashmir, made its appearance. Sufi shrines like the one of Baba
Rishi at Tannemarg (on the way to Gulmarg) and Charar-e-Sharif were burnt
down by the militants. Girls schools were destroyed and Ayesha Andrabi of
Dukhtaran e Millat was emboldened to throw acid on girls daring to wear
jeans. The State, such as it was, abdicated its responsibility and watched
helplessly. This is the underlying cause of the present unrest -- neither
the use of force by security forces nor the so-called economic blockade.

The idea of *Kashmiriyat *today exists only in the minds of a lunatic fringe
of candle carrying peaceniks and in the studios of politically correct
television channels.

But it will be wrong on the part of the Indian State and even more for the
Kashmiris to think that they can repeat the shenanigans of the early 1990s.

*Changed geopolitics*

The world, specially the West, has changed radically since 1989-90.**The
sole superpower was then in support of the Kashmiri cause, such as it was.
BBC, the paragon of Western objectivity, repeatedly showed a clip of a
toothless old Kashmiri woman shouting 'We want *Sharia' *in Kashmir. The US
was bent upon teaching a lesson to erstwhile Soviet allies like India. Osama
bin Laden was the blue-eyed boy of the Americans and Mujahids (Muslim
religious fighters) were still basking in the afterglow of the victory over
the Soviets in Afghanistan. The West had still to learn the disaster that
awaited it by patronising the Waahabi creed.

The attacks on the US on September 11, 2001, changed all that.

One wonders if the Kashmiri separatists have noticed the absence of any
comment from the West on the current happenings in Kashmir. Even the
Pakistanis appeared surprised, though delighted, by the present happenings.
The Pakistan Senate promptly passed a resolution condemning 'excessive' use
of force by the Indians. It was comic since at that very time Pakistan was
using helicopter gunships and fighter aircraft against its own tribals in
the frontier area. The day the march to Muzaffarabad took place, over 50
Shia Muslims were killed in an attack on a hospital in Pakistan. Pakistanis
were delighted that while Baluchistan and the tribal areas were in open
revolt against the federal authorities, Kashmiris were clamouring to join
them. Pakistanis were indeed grateful that at least someone in world thought
that they were not a failed State.

But despite some noises, even Pakistanis seemed aghast at the movement in
Kashmir. Thanks to the peace process and people to people contacts, most
Pakistanis now accept the secular credentials of India. The average
Pakistani is keen to establish trade, cultural and educational contacts with
India.

*Is there a way forward?*

The valley Kashmiris' outburst was and is like a reaction of a spoilt child
who revolts irrationally when denied his demands. The reaction in Jammu was
the first time ever that the valley people received a jolt. It is noteworthy
that the troubles in J&K, of the separatist variety, are confined to
Srinagar valley. It is the valley that is out of sync with the region and
the world. There is no hope of any support to the irrational demands of a
fundamentalist minority.

Neither the US nor UK wants another safe heaven for the Al
Qaeda[Images<http://search.rediff.com/imgsrch/default.php?MT=al%20qaeda>
] to come up in the subcontinent. Even China, which faces Muslim separatism,
is wary. The Russians know what it is like to create another Chechenya.

Kashmiri separatists are isolated from reality. India must sit tight and not
succumb to pressure tactics. After relative peace that Kashmir has got used
to, let there be a dose of unrest for the Kashmiri to come to his collective
senses.

*Colonel Dr Anil Athale (retd) is the Chhatrapati Shivaji Fellow at the
United Services Institution, Delhi
[Images<http://search.rediff.com/imgsrch/default.php?MT=delhi>
]**, and coordinator of the Pune-based Institute for Peace and Disarmament*