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BRIDGING
THE SOUTH ASIAN DIVIDE
Down in the Valley, the mood is
somber
By Sudha Ramachandran
SRINAGAR - The decision by India and Pakistan to
commence a composite dialogue on contentious issues,
including Kashmir, has been welcomed as a significant
breakthrough in bilateral relations. However, the
international applause that has greeted the handshake
between Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and
President General Pervez Musharraf in Islamabad has
failed to resonate in the Kashmir Valley.
Leaders of mainstream political parties, as well
as the separatist groups, including the pro-Pakistan
Jamaat-e-Islami, see the decision to start talks next
month as a step in the right direction. But the ordinary
people of the Valley are skeptical that the dialogue
will bring peace on the ground.
However,
residents of villages along the Line of Control in
Kashmir (LoC) that divides the Indian and
Pakistani-administered sections of Kashmir are
nevertheless excited about the peace process. These
people have lived for decades under the shadow of daily
shelling from Pakistan. The recent ceasefire has brought
a remarkable change in their lives. The guns have been
silent for almost a month now.
Residents of Uri,
a town that lies near the LoC, told Asia Times Online
that India and Pakistan's decision to enter into
dialogue would make the ceasefire more stable and
enduring. "We might even start repairing our homes if
the talks start," says one resident. In the past, few
people have bothered to repair their shell-shattered
homes as their houses would get damaged any way because
of the endless shelling.
The people of the
border villages are looking forward to the opening of
the Srinagar-Muzaffarabad Road that runs through Uri.
Many families along the LoC have relatives in Pakistan
Occupied Kashmir (POK). The opening of the road will
enable them to meet their relatives. More importantly,
they see it as an opportunity to boost the local
economy.
But unlike the people living along the
LoC who are upbeat about the upcoming India-Pakistan
talks and the radical change it could bring in their
violence-hit lives, those living in the interior parts
of the Valley view the talks with cynicism and
skepticism. Many Kashmiris believe that far too many
jihadis have already been infiltrated into the Kashmir
Valley for violence in the near future.
Although
the security situation in Srinagar, the summer capital
of Jammu and Kashmir state, has improved remarkably over
the past year, it is not free from violence. An
improvised explosive device exploded in the city last
week, killing several personnel of the Indian security
forces.
But it is the situation in rural Kashmir
that is particularly worrying. People living in villages
say that there has been a marked increase in the number
of jihadis operating here, especially in southern
Kashmir. According to Kashmiris living near Tral, unlike
in the past when militants were infiltrated from
Pakistan into India across the LoC in districts like
Kupwara in the Valley, in recent years it is through the
districts of Rajouri and Poonch in the Jammu region of
the state that most infiltration takes place. The
Pakistan-trained militants transit through Doda, a
Muslim-majority district in Jammu, into the Valley.
Shopian, Pulwama, Tral and Anantnag are being described
as the new "hotbeds of militancy", especially jihadi
militancy.
But the influence of the jihadis
extends to urban Kashmir as well. A Kashmiri journalist
pointed out that they have a formidable intelligence
network in Srinagar. Describing the way they pressure
the media, he said that it is the jihadis who decide who
will write an editorial and the line to be taken. The
jihadis are not keen that issues such as peace,
development and the political process are discussed or
written about. "They expect people to write and think
only about religion," he said, adding that any
anti-Pakistan articles are simply not published.
Journalists who write on development issues have been
threatened.
The anti-Pakistani mood in the
Valley is widespread. While this does not mean that
people are pro-India - most Kashmiris are in favor of
azadi (independence) from Indian and Pakistani
control - many realize that their economic future is
brighter with India. They admit that they are better off
with India, but only with a secular-democratic India.
Several Kashmiris this correspondent spoke to
pointed out that Pakistan would never give up backing
terrorism in the Valley. As a professor in Kashmir
University put it: "The Kashmir issue holds Pakistan
together. Successive governments, whether military or
democratic, have thrived on the Kashmir issue. They have
made funding terrorism here their business." It is
"foolish", he said, to believe that Pakistan will change
its "fundamental policy on Kashmir".
In fact,
many in Srinagar believe that Pakistan would never agree
to the opening of the Srinagar-Muzaffarabad Road as the
azadi of POK would be exposed. People in Indian
Kashmir would wake up to the fact that they are better
off with India, a cab driver said.
The Indian
security forces are of the view that Pakistan might
crack down on only those militant groups that threaten
Musharraf. "But we expect terror camps based in Pakistan
Occupied Kashmir to continue functioning," a senior
officer of the Indian Border Security Force told Asia
Times Online.
Ordinary Kashmiris are skeptical
about their lives changing as a result of the
forthcoming India-Pakistan talks. They believe that
international pressure (United States in particular)
notwithstanding, India and Pakistan will not change
their positions on the issue. They fear that the talks
will break down as soon as the Kashmir issue comes up.
Besides, they believe that Pakistan will step up
militancy to pressure India to concede more.
Moreover, "The formalization of the LoC as an
international border that India and many in the
international community see as the most practical
solution clarifies things between India and Pakistan,"
points out a lawyer close to the pro-azadi Jammu
and Kashmir Liberation Front. "It does not address the
problem of the Kashmiri people and their right to
self-determination."
The border and where it
will lie is of little consequence to many Kashmiri
people who are fed up with 14 years of violence. A
generation of Kashmiris has lost out on education and
normal life that those in other parts of India have
benefited from. They want the militancy to end.
A Srinagar-based Kashmiri businessman said that
unlike the Kashmiri militants who were responsive to
local sentiments and demands, the jihadis (mainly
Pakistanis and Afghans) are not bothered about Kashmiri
concerns. "They have their goals and they will pursue
them come what may," he says. Nobody believes that the
jihadis will lay down arms simply because the Indians
and Pakistanis are in a mood to talk now.
A
resident of Sopore said that the suffering of the
Kashmiri people would not end simply because of the
dialogue. The ceasefire is between India and Pakistan
along their frontier. India has not extended a ceasefire
to the militants. India's counter-insurgency operations
continue. "The security forces still harass us and
search our homes. That has not and will not change," she
points out.
The proposed Islamabad-Delhi talks
could bring some change in bilateral relations between
the two neighbors. The people of Kashmir fear that for
them it could be just business as usual.
(Copyright 2004 Asia Times Online Ltd. All
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