PEACE AND RECONCILLATION IN KASHMIR

  PEACE  and RECOCILLATION IN KASHMIR

 Setting up a peace and reconcillation commision( a la the Truth and Reconcillation) for jammu and kashmir as proposed by UMAR  ABDULLAH, cief minister would,if followed up in earnestly to its conclusion,create hope &;vision of peace after nearly a quarter century. It may even sound utopian in veiw of different agendas for disparate  actors in the state’s political landscape.The main thrust behind the idea is to search for peace in the disturbed valley &other militancy affected areas of jammu region. Home grown militant groups like JKLF,HIZB_UL_MUJAHIDEEN(& other splinter minor groups),aided,abetted& supported by their controllers across the border who provide the training &; financial infrastructure.Pakistani groups like lashkar I toiba,  jaish I mohmad and the like, are also active alledgedly in  collusion with al qaida.The process of indoctrination of muslim youth which started since  early 80’s has taken firm roots in these areas,making them easily  accessible to exploitation for becoming cannon fodder for the vested interests  whose only motive is to keep the couldron in kashmir  burning  to serve their ends. The first bottleneck to peace in the valley is the fundamentalistic  terror  inflow  from across the border & its ramifications on the psyche of the youth. These deluded youth are trained in training camps across the borders for guerilla warfare with   unlimited  supply of guns, ammunition and  explosives . Unless & until this continuous  supply line of terrorists and terror to the valley is completely stamped to silence the guns, there shall be no permanent peace in the state.

 The overground polity has given the sloganof azadi which,however,is interpreted differently by different people at different places. For the jihadists, it means nizam I mustaffa . The terror in kashmir had started for the same end so that any semblance of  kashmiri pandit identity & culture is eliminated.

The number of pandits killed in the valley till oct. 1990 as per report of PKM to N.H.R.C. is 391. Late SHRI B.N.BHAN ‘NISSAR’,  compiled a list of 765 casualities .Some non government organisation

Put the figure at 1880,with; the total including other hindus &sikhs as 2550. It was the killings accompanied with rapine that made pandits to migrate enmasse from the valley to face penury,misery & an uncertain future to save their life,honour & faith reducing their numbers from 4% of the population  in 1981 to 0.1% in 1991. It is true that only a handful of terrorists were responsible for this but the majority remained in the mode of quiet acquisence.There has not been a single protest in the valley against the forced flight of kashmiri pandits.

It is fact of history that exodus of more than 3,00,000 pandits from the valley is the direct result of fudamentalic terror with object of ethinic cleansing of the valley. The first item on the agenda for reconcillation  has ,thus, to openly accept this truth & find a solution which is compatible with  the ground reallities .  Pandits being a fully literate community have enough sense to judge where their future lies.More than 20 years have elapsed since that catastrophie,and a new generatin has sprung up who are not aware of life in the valley.Most of them have made a niche for themselves in jammu region,&/or elsewhere in INDIA and abroad .Any wilful transplantation back is unlikely.Circumstances have forced them to be citizens of the world. Even the central and state govts. have indirectly conceded this by constructing more than six thousand  tenements at Bhagti near Jammu .They have thus already made their choice to reconstruct their disrupted lives at places where they got shelter during those horrendous chaotic months of 90 ’s. Peace and reconcillation would be meaningful to the pandits only  if they and their future generations can lead a life of dignity,honour ,security of faith,life and property with protected avenues of making a living. Gun culture being alien to their nature and upbringing, they will not willingly put themselves into such a spot again . The loss of their community values,culture,language,and presence may not survive in veiw of their dispersal into miniscule groups spread over the globe, though the younger generation are sincerely networking  in resurrecting their cultural base and roots. Barring the means to recover their property, agricultural lands, and orchards , they  will find some inbuilt  system within the community to preserve their roots,culture ,honour and faith. Their sudden  and unorganised flight from the valley of terror  under all odds in 1990 exhibits their genius of  preservation of honour and faith without thinking of their home,hearth and lands and orchards, and face an uncertain future full of privations,hardship ,with alarming consequences to health,upbringing,and educatin of their growing generation of those horror filled days. The govt. should acknowledge the cause of exodus truthfully.

The valley  has been on the boil since1989 when militancy assumed alarming proportions .There was no law and order worth the name . The situation became so grave that both the governor and the C.M. resigned and left the valley in early 1990. The adminstrative vacuum was filled only after JAG MOHAN was posted as the new governor putting the state under governor’s rule. Those were the reasons why the state was ultimately  declared a diturbed area and the footprints of army , BSF,CRP,and local police got thickened shrinking the free movements of civilians without searches and checks. Even at present the apparatus of terror is well organised and structured duly supported by infrastuctural supply line from across the border ,and continues to be active through their covert gun wielding  guerrila fighters and overt sympathisers .In2005,an indian estimate of militants active  in the valley was 2000 out of which1200 were from hizb ul mujahideen.  Proper weightage has to be given to this reallity while searching for peace. The continuing militancy has resulted in 47000 deaths till2009and 491 persons missing in police custody (JK ASSEMBLY proceedings) .The no . of  persons who are missing after police interrogation as listed  by local Association of parents of missing persons is being put at 9000 till 2009.

 The main cities and towns in the disturbed areas for a first time visitor look like garrisons of security  forces and India is getting adverse press internationally as well as a low human rights rating ,enabling all who are no friends to beat India with the’ kashmir dispute’ stick.The state and central govt.s are walking a tight rope to be able to withdraw the army and other central forces from the civilian areas. If that could be done ,the public resentment in the valley against the army and other central forces shall eventually  vanish.They will cease to be looked as an occupying force.

To facilitate this, terror fighting units should comprise only the jk police personnel with liason only for training with the army and other central security forces.

Peace and Reconcillation for different regions will have separate connotations.

In the valley peace would settle only if they get azadi,which has different meanings for different mainstream parties.The common strand running throgh all these is the dilution of governing role of the central govt. by a throwback to pre1953 position. The bills of resettlement, autonomy, or self rule point to the same end. In this conundrum ,the ghost of  plebicite  is another tool  for expediency used by vested interests when it suits them. .For Gillani  and his ilk peace would dawn only after joining pakistan.

It is a fact that the youth of the valley are finding life difficult in veiw of the restrictions imposed on them even with routine security checks due to the disturbed conditions. They are pining for a life free of such hassles  and getting easily  excited when led to believe that only an agitation shall rid them of the impositions and restrictions .The resultat loss of life aggravates the hurt and hate further.  They believe  that the indian  army and police are an occupation force.They have their hopes,dreams and vision of kashmir. The aspirations and hopes of the present generation of the valley need to be addressed to  early to disable them  to get restive and aggressive. It is the prime need of the hour.

Jammu has become a home to all the people who were uprooted by partition and annexations by pakistan in 1947 from adjascent areas in west panjab,muzafarabad,mirpur,kotli,bhimber etc have since settled in jammu.Another wave of migrants followed in 1965 war with pakistan when they were allowedto annex part of area across  the munawar tawi river.The irony for the migrants from pakistan is that they have no state subject rights in the state.

Another wave of more than 300000 kashmiri pandits arrived in jammu region in the first stage of their flight.some  went to other parts of the country ,some abroad,but majority stayed in jammu.

In the recent past,some hindus from higher reaches in chenab basin in ramban area also migrated to camps in jammu to escape terror.

Jammu region wants unconditional accession with union of india.regional aspiration of a separate assembly has gained ground due to various  factors especialy to move away from the dominance of the valley.

The ladakh region comprisng Budhist ladakh district and Shia muslim kargil district want to shed the kashmiri domination and aspire to have a union territory status. Recocillation  thus has  different formats for the three regions of the state.

The P.M. has taken an initiative recently and sent  apolitical interlocutors to the state.Having met almost  all groups in the three regions, they have submitted a final report to the centre which has not been made public so far. Their conclusions and the  action being taken by the govt. shall be keenly awaited.Ground realities have to be taken into account and decisions have to satisfy one and all,even if some administrative restructuring may be necessary. The interlocutors have had so many meetings with representatives of all shades of opinion ln kashmir,jammu and ladakh but their final report and recommendations are still privy only with the govt..

All these factors  have to be reconciled to find durable peace in the region .Every stakeholder in the state needs to get a fair deal,half way measures may even worsen the present scenario.