Kashmir – Earth’s Heaven Turned Hell!

Once known as the Heaven on Earth, the beautiful state of Kashmir is well-renowned in the world today for being one of the most sensitive states where terrorism is rampant. With different surveys and different responses in both India and Pakistan alike, the one thing that is clear to me despite the statistics involved; is the dream for establishing their supremacy in Kashmir region has done more harm than good to both the countries involved.

The History of Kashmir
The land of Kashmir was predominantly ruled by the Hindus and the Buddhists till the 15th century, when the Mughals conquered the region. Thereafter, will the fall of the Mughal empire, the Kashmir region was ruled by independent rulers till the middle of 19th century when the British installed a puppet Hindu prince in the Muslim-predominant state. Things worsened when the British Government declared independence for the Indian Union and a partition was ordered.

After the futile efforts of the Hindu king to have his own state, he rushed to Indian Union for help after the Pakistani military attacked Kashmir with a view of annexing it as a part of their country. After his agreement that the territory will be placed under India, Indian troops were flown to Srinagar and in 1949, a UN cease-fire stopped the battle. This also led to the drawing of a cease-fire border between the two nations. A constituent assembly in Indian Kashmir voted in 1953 for incorporation into India, but this was delayed by continued Pakistani-Indian disagreement and UN disapproval of the disposition of any portion of the region without a plebiscite. A new vote by the assembly in Indian Kashmir in 1956 led to the integration of Kashmir as an Indian state; the area where Pakistan had entered i.e. PoK (Pakistan Occupied Kashmir), however remained under the control of Pakistan. India refused to consider subsequent Pakistani protests and UN resolutions calling for a plebiscite. In the decades that followed, the line of control blurred due to the two wars with Pakistan.

The years that have followed have only made matters worse. With continuous cross-border firing and more than 30000 people killed since 1989. Kashmir has now remained heaven only for the different extremist groups operating in the region.


Is the issue un-resolvable?

This post is more about finding a solution than just stating plain facts or asking questions. Though the Kashmir issue is highly tangled, I recently came across a case which can act as a precedent for the situation. The case is regarding the North Ireland region where the people were polarized similar to Kashmir and the place had to select between the United Kingdom and Ireland.


A brief on the North Ireland Case and The Good Friday Peace Agreement
Like India, Ireland was once upon a time a colony of the United Kingdom. The British Government had proposed a six-year trial rule of self Government in Ireland in 1914. This got shadowed by the First World War. On the other hand, in Ireland, nationalists won the overwhelming majority of the seats in the 1918 (United Kingdom) parliamentary election and declared unilaterally an independent (all-island) Irish Republic. Since the British Government refused this, the Irish war of independence followed. This created two Home Rule parliaments: a Parliament of Northern Ireland and a Parliament of Southern Ireland.

While the Protestants (a majority in North Ireland) wanted to stay with the United Kingdom, the Catholics (a majority in South Ireland) wanted an independent Ireland. This mismatch of vision led to attacks on Catholics in the north by loyalist mobs and attacks on Protestants in the south in 1920–22. When the independence was granted, Northern Ireland promptly exercised its right to remain within the United Kingdom and Southern Ireland became the independent Republic of Ireland. What followed was a Civil War and the resultant was complete mistrust in the Ireland isle.

In the events that followed included a lot of wars and cross-border tension. Finally in the 1990s after decades of peace talks, the region stabilized a little. In the year 1998, a peace agreement was signed, which is The Good Friday Peace Agreement. This agreement also called the Belfast Agreement was a major step in the peace process. The referendum in Northern Ireland was a direct vote on the Agreement while the vote in the Republic of Ireland was a vote to amend the Irish constitution where it was stated that Republic of Ireland has complete control over the Ireland isle (which included North Ireland) in line with the Belfast Agreement. From then till now, though there have been a lot of hiccups, the peace process has gone further and the problem of North Ireland is now non-existant.

Cutting the long story short, the basic underlying story can be crudely matched to the India-Pakistan independence and the state of Kashmir.


So is the Belfast Agreement A Ray of Hope for Kashmir?
Reading about the North Ireland episode made me feel that India and Pakistan can resolve their issues on similar lines. When Bill Clinton was in Power, he had suggested the same solution for Kashmir, but when I look into the intricacies of the issues, it may not be that simple to replicate the solution.

First of all, to resolve the issue, both sides must realize the limitations of violence to resolve this issue. Any solution brought forth on basis of plain majority is neither democratic nor will it work towards bringing lasting peace. Moreover, since there are various communities living in the state of Kashmir, any solution that is brought forth should take into consideration adequate representation of all the parties involved.

The other major difference is that while Government of Ireland was completely unrelated to the activities of IRA, it also shared a cordial relationship with the Government of Great Britain. Unlike this, we see a lot of Pakistan involvement in the various terror outfits that work for the “liberation” of Kashmir. As long as a real effort for reconciliation is not made and the relationships of India-Pakistan do not improve, peace talks are not bound to yield any results.

Moreover, unlike the polarized North Ireland (i.e. Catholics and Protestants), the issue in Kashmir is highly ethnic. There are various communities who are more interlinked with other communities than with people of their own region. I came across a movie (Shaurya), in which they state that Kashmiri Pundits make 12 types of meat. Now unlike the other regions of India, this is more bent towards Islam or Christianity as Hinduism inherently upholds vegetarianism. Again, religion is a way of life and over ages has evolved with region and hence just dividing the people based on caste would not bring forth a viable solution.

Apparently, for resolving North Ireland, there were various committees that worked together to reolve the issue. These include the UK Government, Irish Government and Independent Councils of North Ireland. Can we even imagine autonomous regional governments or representative committees of Jammu, Kashmir, Ladakh, the Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir to be included in peace talks and a joint India-Pakistan council?

Owing to the above discrepancies, the North Ireland issue cannot be directly mapped with Kashmir and yet, it is more like a precedent. Of course, we cannot find an exact match for any issue, one-size-fits-all thinking will not work and apparently the solution needs to be tailor-made. But as long as the underlying countries look at the issue with openness, any problem can be resolved.


Kashmir – Paradise Lost
India and Pakistan have in the recent decade come forth with lot of peace talks and brought to the table their interests in resolving Kashmir issue. Till recently, serious efforts were visible and the bus and train services (Samjhauta Express) showed that the ice was finally breaking. The countries seemingly looked as if working together and progressing towards peace. Ceasefire was also declared and firing stopped at the borders after almost 15 years.

But this good beginning was disliked by some radical groups and recent terror attacks in both India and Pakistan are on the rise. What is saddening is the fact that with the Mumbai Terror attack, Pakistan has shown resistance in bringing the people involved to justice. Apparently, the Pakistan army still has a major say and the democratic government seems to be just a puppet of the army chief. Both the Prime Minister and President, alongwith Nawaz Sharif in the beginning promised different things like sending ISI Director to India and bringing the Terrorists to justice, but later on the same people rectified that their statements were misquoted, called the terrorists state-less and demanded for more evidence. The recent turn of events have heated the situation even further and almost shown a possibility of war.

The current situation shows that Pakistan needs more political stability as it has had more than 20 years of Military rule in the last 3 decades. The Indians and Pakistanis realize that they are much more similar than they have been portrayed. We are a part of the same culture and apparently the same civilization which was once a “melting pot” of the best of all cultures. Yet all said and done unless a proper democracy comes in both the countries, the dream of a Kashmiri Paradise will remain – but a Dream.