The Kashmir paradox

By Bhaskar Phukan

I t is not that the kind of happenings that are on in Jammu and Kashmir  are new to the State.Both within the State and throughout  the LOC a situation of tension is  present  for years. Some incidents are perpetrated by the Jehadi groups that have roots in Pakistan and some instigated by the separatists led by the Hurriyats. After the Uri incident, the matter has precipitated further.It has added to the headache of the government at the Centre to already existing situation created by the killing of Burhan Wani, the poster boy of Hijbul Mujahiddin. The surgical strike of September 29 no doubt has a moral boosting result, but LOC is still not without regular tension and interl situation is refusing to get any better.

It is more than obvious that the Kashmir as an issue is an obfuscated one. The obfuscation is at times found to be deliberate —caused by section of motivated electronic media and at times due to absence of accurate information. In many cases, it is found that information provided by a certain source doesn’t match with that of the other. The prime reason of this incoherence can be attributed to lack of communication , coordition and at times casual approach in getting at the root of the parenniel  unrest in the valley. The alliance government in J&K as far as the interl situation of the State is concerned has failed to take a stand with the Mehbooba Mufti finding it difficult to tackle the situation which mostly is the result of soft stand taken by her party in the past. It was the party she represents that is mostly responsible in giving anti-India feelings a boost.

It is even said that the present chief minister of the State is one who raised the flag of Pakistan during the Omar Abdullah’s tenure as CM while leading an anti-India demonstration. Her present stand that project  her as a stern tiolist has failed to impress both the separatists and tiolist elements alike. Again the  Prime  Minister who talked  tough a few days ago seems to have realised that Kashmir is not a State where the  government at the Centre or the State government of which  his  party is a constituent can have their way by acting tough.

The ambiguity that was allowed to remain in the instrument of accession signed between Maharaja Hari Singh of Jammu and Kashmir and Government of India on october 26, 1947 has its repurcussions alive and despite India’s repeated claims that the Kashmir is an integral part of India the claim has been put to test on occasions after occasions.

Majority population in Kashmir is of  Muslim faith —the guiding principle of partition of the country being  religion. Another strength Pakistan derives on the issue is  ambiguity allowed to remain in the Instrument of Accession signed between Raja Hari Singh and Lord Mountbatten. According to many, the ambiguity  was creation of the British Governor General for the sake of keeping the dispute over the territory alive. The instrument of accession was signed on October 26, 1947 and so far as Hari Singh was concerned, the accession was fil. But  in a letter to Muhammad Ali Jinh written on the next day, Lord Mountbatten wrote “it is my Government’s wish that as soon as law and order have been restored in Jammu and Kashmir and her soil cleared of invaders the question of the states accession should be settled by a reference to the people”. More than anything else after a clear and unconditiol agreement of accession carried out with the King of Jammu and Kashmir, this matter of referendum or plebiscite helped the Pakistani cause and the separatists who were to become too active in later years.

As regards to the interl situation of the State, the generations of leaders that called themselves as belonging to mainstream party of Jammu and Kashmir in fact strayed  the people of the State away from the mainland India.

The anti-Hindu sentiments and ethnic cleansing of Kashmir of Hindus was the result of Jehadi infiltration. It was the result of casual attitude of the governments at the Centre and the State that allowed Hurriyats to take birth and grow; the net result of this is too conspicuously noticeable now with anti-India demonstrations and stone pelting on the security forces, which becomes a routine affair in the  valley.

There was no clear way of solution to the Kashmir embroiligo in the past and no solution is in sight at present.