Next steps for Kashmir

Colonel Anil Athale

Col. (retd) Anil A Athale is a Fellow at the Centre for Armed Forces Historical Research. A former Joint Director (History Division) and infantryman, he has been running an NGO, Peace and Disarmament, based in Pune for the past 10 years. As a military historian he specialises in insurgency and peace process. Colonel (Dr.) Anil Athale is the author of ‘Nuclear Menace: the Sataygraha Approach’, published May 1997.

The Kashmir issue originated from the accident that the first Prime Minister of India, Jawaharlal Nehru, belonged to Kashmir and was attached to it.

Otherwise, following the illogic of partition, J&K ought to have gone to Pakistan. The division or partition of J&K has become inevitable as contrary to the vision of Jinnah, Pakistan is now an Islamic state and all Hindus and Sikhs have been thrown out from there ( from 20% of population in 1947, the Hindu/Sikhs are less than 1 % today).

India continues to claim Kashmir on two counts, first, in the initial stage in 1947, the Kashmiris did show inclination to be with Pakistan under the influence of Sheikh Abdullah and secondly unlike Pakistan, India did NOT become a Hindu state but remained a secular state. The proportion of Muslims in India has actually gone up from 10% in 1947 to close to 17% today. Unstated Indian argument is that retention of Kashmir in India is necessary for survival of secularism in India.

India lost the Kashmir valley in 1989/90 when in wake of ethnic cleansing; close to 300,000 Hindus (called Pandits) were thrown out of the valley. What the country is facing today is the tragic consequence of that appeasement. The world at large, the Human Rights crusaders and Secularists in India (of all stripes), have been callously blind to the plight of these hapless refugees.

The problem of civic unrest in Kashmir is basically rooted in the lack of economic development. It is true that one does not come across the kind of grinding poverty that one sees in some of the other Indian states, yet the fact is that despite the natural resources, a vast number of Kashmiris are poor.

Unchecked population growth, currently running at 5% per annum with declining death rate has tremendously increased the population pressure on land. Article 370 and in the internal isolationist policy that it engenders, xenophobia instigated by the petty leaders and ineffective administration has resulted in a situation wherein there is a total lack of industrial development. The combined result of these two factors has been that average Kashmiri has seen his standard of living declining over the last two generations.

It is in this situation that some politicians sold the dream of an 'independent ' Kashmir while some claimed Islamization as the solution. With help from across the border the armed struggle began. As a result of visits to the state of Jammu and Kashmir, parts of which are currently witnessing unrest, one realizes that the roots of this unrest lie in the economic underdevelopment of the area. While there is certainly no visible poverty in J&K, of the kind one can witness in many urban areas of India, yet it will be not far from the truth to say that economic development has left J&K virtually untouched. The insular geography, restrictive constitutional provisions, lowering death rate while the birth rate is at 5% and total absence of industry has brought about this situation in J&K. In this atmosphere of stagnation, political leaders and countries across the border sold the dream of better life only if the region attains 'azadi' freedom or merges with Pakistan. World at large is quite content to let India remain in quagmire of internal troubles so that it does not develop its true potential.

On the positive side, in India today we have the technology in agriculture, horticulture and genetic engineering that can revolutionize the agriculture and bring in undreamt of prosperity to the region. It is impossible to undertake this exercise in all of Kashmir as some of the area is in grip of violence. But there are areas of J&K that are currently peaceful and have vast scope for development. The prime candidate being the Jammu division, Kargil and Ladakh. Implementation of projects of this nature will develop the economy and pre-empt any internal trouble. This is a proactive method of dealing with the Kashmir problem.

In whole of J&K army is extensively deployed and virtually the only administrative organ of the Indian State that has a presence. As a part of civic action programme , the Indian Army has been helping the civil population by providing health care, some developmental work like building schools/playgrounds/places of worship et. (Operation Sadbhavana). There are no funds earmarked for this activity and the scale and extent of these operations, an adjunct of the main function of the army, is necessarily limited. Only if the right inputs in terms of technology could be provided, this very action of the Army could become much more meaningful, the role of soldier being more of a catalyst.

The aim is to reward the population of areas that have remained peaceful and loyal to the country, with 'visible' economic development for not having taken to active insurgency operations. This would clearly demonstrate to the people in the Srinagar Valley the loss they have suffered due to joining anti Indian forces, as well as Indian superiority in the field of high technology vis a vis Pakistan, to the people of J & K.

Medium term objectives (2-5 years)

a) Together with the population of Ladakh and the Jammu division to create a pro Indian majority in the state of Jammu and Kashmir.

b) To evolve a technology package for duplicating in the rest of the Himalayan border zones to

i) Improve the living conditions of Infantry soldiers on the border posts.

ii) Preserve fragile Himalayan ecology.

iii) To win over the population by economic development.

c) Spread the various agro-bio-eco technologies to rest of the countryside through Army jawans.

I am aware that this approach will immediately invite howls of protest from the ‘Secularists ‘ as a communal agenda or worse. It needs to be pointed out the 70% Muslim majority districts of Rajouri and Poonch as well as Kargil would also be rewarded under this plan. It is time the Indian state spend the tax payer’s money for pro-India people and not for those who hoist Pakistani flags.

Once the people of valley see the effect of economic development in their neighbourhood, the message would go home. After all Communism collapsed in Eastern Europe not on the issue of so called ‘freedom’ but the visible difference in economic development between Eastern and Western Europe- it is the washing machines and colour TVs or lack of it that made the difference!

The Kashmiri slogan of Azadi is fake, for a Kashmiri enjoys far more religious, economic and freedom of expression than his counterpart in virtually any Islamic country, including Pakistan.