Resurrecting Paradise

(this article originally appeared on the blog 'Lord of the Flies')

"Gar firdaus ae baruhe zamin ast, hamin astu hamin astu hamin ast... "

These famous Urdu words uttered by a Mughal Emperor (most probably Jehangir) aptly captured the beauty of Kashmir once upon a time. The translation would be: If there is paradise on Earth it is here, it is here, it is here. 

 

In this beautiful valley, amidst the splendor of snow-capped mountains, somewhere among the lush green fields the breezes still blow. The peaceful waters of the Jhelum river still scintillate rapturously under the benevolent sun, seeming to have lost all bloody memories of the past, ignorant of the sound of gunshots in the distance. The smiles of its people having faded away, the grandeurs of nature bestowed upon this war-torn land and the many beautiful gardens constructed here by mankind seem like a mockery of its fate- the fate of this ‘paradise’. 

Kashmir has recently been in the news once again for the wrong reasons: ceasefire violations by Pakistan. 

Sixty-six years have passed since the first conflict began, and Time has twisted together the myths and the facts so capriciously that it seems almost impossible to disentangle them today. 

Sixty-six years ago, the Indian subcontinent became independent from the British rule, and two nations were formed: India and Pakistan (later on, former East Pakistan separated from Pakistan as Bangladesh). And ever since then, India and Pakistan have been fighting over Kashmir. 

I am from India and, until now, I used to hate Pakistan for this. 

What I knew was that when the British were leaving India, some Muslims started demanding for a separate nation exclusively for Muslims, perhaps insecure of being dominated by an overwhelming Hindu majority, probably also fearing vengeance given that most Mughal rulers, with the exception of Akbar and a few others, were not particularly kind to the Hindus. What they could not see is that the two-hundred-year-old past was long forgotten ever since the Hindus and Muslims came together and embraced each other, united to fight against the oppressive British rule. Another reason was perhaps that India aspired to be a secular democratic, and ‘secularism’ was not something the orthodox Muslims were very fond of. Also, it would have been highly unlikely that the founder of Pakistan, Muhammad Ali Jinnah, would let go such a great shot at power. 

It was a deadlock that was difficult to resolve, since all Hindus and some Muslims did not want this separation. But the British couldn’t leave India till a consensus was reached on this matter. They alternatively proposed that all the states having a Muslim majority be allowed to constitute Pakistan, and this became the demand of Jinnah and the Muslim League, as opposed to the Indian National Congress. When there arose talks about an interim government constituting both the parties, the Muslim League felt threatened and launched the 'Direct Action Day' in Calcutta, which turned into a campaign of violent aggression and worst kind of Massacre, killing around 5000 people. Muhammad Ali Jinnah said: 

Why do you expect me alone to sit with folded hands? I also am going to make trouble. 

The Indian leaders were desperate for Independence (probably also for power?), and everyone was tired of the 200-year long fighting. It was also heartbreaking in general to see the people who once fought together on the battlefield now kill each other. The only solution was: Pakistan. 

And so Pakistan was formed. East Pakistan and West Pakistan, on the two sides of India. Few years hence, East Pakistan would separate from Pakistan to form an Independent nation called Bangladesh, owing to differences arising from language, culture, ethnicity and many other factors. (India had helped Bangladesh in this war, which is infamous for the Pakistani war crimes that are often compared to those that happened during World War II, giving Pakistan another reason to hate India.) 

 

Even after the partition was given a thumbs-up, terrible violence followed, leading to the worst kind of riots India has ever seen. Nobody seems to know the real reasons. It could have been the result of a cycle of rebuttals. Also, when it was agreed that states with a Muslim majority would go to Pakistan, some people in these Muslim-majority states took it upon them to ‘create’ this majority by destroying the minority as far as they could, because the majority-minority ratios were usually like 60-40. Since in those days there were no proper information channels, and radio was a luxury of the rich, there could be many rumors being propagated and people reacting to them with blind emotions. Amidst the confusion and lawlessness no one really knew for sure where Pakistan ended and India began. It took months to contain this violence, which killed millions of people. The horrors echo to this day. 

In such a way, British India was divided. However, there were some parts of India which were not exactly under the British: these were known as the ‘Princely States’, and they stayed mostly independent of the British rule in return for huge sums of money. These states were granted the freedom to choose whether to join India, or Pakistan, or stay independent. These Princely States included some Muslim-dominated states with a Hindu ruler, and some Hindu-dominated states with a Muslim ruler. Although they had been given a ‘choice’, it was not exactly their choice because there was a lot of pressure from the local people. In all cases, except Kashmir, the religious dominance, and sometimes even the location, determined the fate of the state. 

Kashmir, however, was different. Located on the India-Pakistan border, it was a Muslim-dominated state with a Hindu King, who chose to remain with India. This was not acceptable to Pakistan, and they have always wanted Kashmir ever since. They have also attacked and occupied a part of Kashmir. 

Pakistan looks at India as a Hindu country, while the truth is that India has more Muslims than the entire population of Pakistan! 

Today, the people of Kashmir, as citizens of India, participate in the general elections and state elections in considerable numbers. I take that as an expression of solidarity with India. The Ministry of Kashmir majorly comprises of Muslims, accurately representing their population, and they all see themselves as Indians. Lot of people from Kashmir are going to different parts of the country for higher education, or for jobs, or settling down in inter-religious/inter-caste marriages, it does not matter: the views of the educated generation resonates with the ideas of a ‘secular democracy’. That includes a lot of people I personally know. 

I have always condemned Pakistan for wanting something that does not belong to them, wanting to force themselves on people who do not want them. And it is not just Kashmir. India has suffered many 9/11’s in the hands of Pakistani terrorists, many bomb-blasts. I can understand if some people in a country turn out to be bad, what I cannot understand is how all the people in a country can harbor so much hatred for their neighbor. No, Pakistan does not feel sorry for the people they have killed in India. In fact, if they do, they get killed. Pakistani attacks are also threatening the Indian democracy in a way that ‘Islamophobia’ is increasing in the country, and our own Muslims are being segregated against, looked upon with suspicion. 

I have always hoped that one day I wake up to see that there is no Pakistan in the world map. 

Meeting Pakistani delegates in a school-fest did not help. Becoming a fan of Pakistani musicians who made it big in Bollywood did not help. Reading Khushwant Singh’s accounts of a high society, where the ultra-rich Indians and Pakistanis apparently had no differences, did not help. The marriage of the Indian tennis star Sania Mirza to the Pakistani cricketer Shoaib Malik did not help. 

It is like, "fine, they are also normal people, like us". But how can we proceed from here unless the major issue is resolved? A part of Kashmir still remains with Pakistan, and the people of Pakistan still believe that Kashmir is theirs. In fact, Kashmir used to be one of their election issues before they stopped having elections and sank into this cycle of alternating democracy and dictatorship. Kashmir, of course, remains their foremost issue. And in spite of what the whole world can see, how can they still believe that they have got a better economy than ours? Why do they mistake the soft corner Indian Muslims might understandably have for them as some sort of support? The strong Muslim cast of a recent Bollywood movie, D-Day, which deals with a wishful Indian operation in Pakistan in search of a most-wanted terrorist, sends out a message. And I guess Pakistan got it when they banned the movie in their country. 

Today, India and Pakistan are trying to be friends, without referring to the Kashmir issue. Now, how does one put all this unsettled business behind and set about to make friends? One of my friends has a Pakistani pen friend but I cannot understand that. If I did that, I would be faking, as I am sure many people are. 

Yet something unexpected made me look in the other direction. 

The Indian Media is on a high note these days, and recently NDTV succeeded in inviting Pakistani professors to a Panel debating the Kashmir issue. And the professors were quite cool, I really liked them! In the course of the discussions I came to know the root of the conflict, which was much more subtle than I used to think. During the partition, the ruler of Kashmir actually wanted independence, probably due to greed for power. This was not acceptable to anyone and it was decided that a poll would be conducted in order to decide whether Kashmir goes to India or Pakistan. But that poll never happened. Pakistan attacked Kashmir before that, in an attempt to overthrow the King, and this propelled the King to react by pledging allegiance to India. Immediately, Indian troops were sent to defend Kashmir. The Indian troops had managed to secure about two-thirds of Kashmir when the United Nations ordered a cease-fire. Since then, one-third of Kashmir remains with Pakistan, and the dispute continues. (China has also got a chunk of Kashmir, but that is another story.) 

Pakistan realizes that it was a great strategic mistake to attack Kashmir. Some Pakistanis even deny that the invasion happened with the knowledge and support of the State. Some Pakistanis also argues that the King of Kashmir had sought India’s help during the attack but that did not mean he wanted to join India. 

Along with this, Pakistan highlights the atrocities committed by Hindus on Muslims in Kashmir during the riots while India highlights the reverse. The scenes of trains full of slaughtered people arriving at the stations, in both the countries, have not been forgotten. Under such circumstances, it is natural for people on both sides to hate each other, especially so when they are introduced to the partial knowledge at a young age. 

Could a reality check at a younger age help? Two years ago, three young Pakistanis set out on a mission to create a History textbook that presented the History taught in Indian schools and those taught in Pakistani schools side-by-side. The two Histories are apparently quite different. I am quite jealous that this awesome idea should come from Pakistan. Although still waiting for widespread acceptance, and probably some more painstaking research, with this venture they not only created history but also won my heart. 

And so did this photograph: 

 

 A Kashmiri farmer crosses a barbed wire fence to check his crop on a foggy 

morning on the outskirts of Srinagar, India (AP Photo/Dar Yasin) 

Here is a common farmer from Kashmir, who is living his routine life, earning his daily bread, oblivious and indifferent to the big deal people are making about his land. In the fight between two nations we have perhaps forgotten the people of Kashmir. What do they want? Will it be fair to conduct a poll now given that a lot of Kashmiris are still in refugee camps in the adjacent states, too afraid to return? Or should we just forget the past and accept the Line-of-Control as the National Border? Does Pakistan want to keep the dispute alive as an election issue? There is no consensus. It could be an issue that is being strategically kept alive so that it could be used to advantage at an opportune time, by China or the United States. 

Many people think that the first step towards resolving the Kashmir issue is friendship. Friendship on a personal level could produce something fruitful after a few generations, but at the moment that kind of thing is more tangential to the current problem. As education in Pakistan is improving, a lot of people are coming out of the cocoon, becoming more aware and doing good work, and also extending a friendly hand towards India, so there is some hope. Friendship on a National level though is very tricky, given that Pakistan has breached treaties it signed with India in the past. The political climate in Pakistan remains unstable, cross-border terrorism continues, and until this stops I don’t think we can proceed towards peaceful negotiations. 

Omar Abdullah, the Chief Minister of Kashmir recently said: 

"Thinking that the relations will get normalized in such a situation, that is impossible. We will surely talk, but the results that we want out of that dialogue, we cannot achieve those till such things (infiltration and ceasefire violations) are not stopped. "

And I agree with him.