The government needs a multi-prong approach to bring peace to Kashmir
Brig. B.L. Poonia (retd)
Terrorism being a political problem, has to ultimately have a political solution, hence let us not be under the illusion that good governance alone can be an answer to the vexed Kashmir problem. That is applicable where poor governance has been the sole cause of insurgency, not otherwise. The militancy in Kashmir is far too complex a problem which cannot be compared with the insurgencies like the Naxalite movement or those prevailing in the Northeast, whose causes are totally different. And till the root cause of a problem is identified correctly, it can never be treated. Unfortunately, in the case of Kashmir, presently Pakistan is the main cause; hence it needs to be treated appropriately.
There are five factors that contribute to thriving of militancy anywhere in the world: cause, leadership, foreign support, public support and terrain. In the case of Kashmir, all these five factors exist and provide ideal conditions for militancy. And when it comes to cause, religion plays an important role. To quote American journalist and essayist H.L. Mencken, ‘Morality is doing what is right, no matter what you are told. Religion is doing what you are told, no matter what is right.’ Religion is the trump card Pakistan has been playing in Kashmir. However, over a period, many other factors have also contributed to the cause.
Till 1987, Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) was a peaceful state, as peaceful as any other state of India. However, the rigging of elections in Kashmir by Farooq Abdullah’s National Conference and Rajiv Gandhi’s Congress in 1987 was the beginning of the problem that we are facing now. This was the time when the people of Kashmir had participated in the electoral process in an overwhelming majority with immense zeal. The election was held on 23 March 1987. With the 75 per cent voter turnout, it was the highest recorded participation in the state ever. Nearly 80 per cent of the people in the valley had voted. A coalition of different groups, including the Jamaat-e-Islami, Muslim United Front (MUF) appeared to be winning with a convincing majority. But rigging of the elections ensured that the National Conference-Congress alliance government won. Rajiv Gandhi was the prime minister and Farooq Abdullah became the chief minister of J&K. The people of Kashmir felt cheated—in fact they were. And this frustration and their helplessness acted as a trigger for militancy. This triggered militancy in J&K.
This grave injustice led the leaders of the MUF to approach Pakistan to help them avenge this act of treachery. Pakistan was waiting, far too eagerly, for such a golden opportunity, and the timing was perfect. Lt Gen. Akhtar Abdul Rehman Khan, as the Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) chief for eight years (1980-87) had trained the Pak and Afghan militants very hard to drive out Soviet forces from Afghanistan. And then onwards, the Pak-sponsored militants received the required public support of the Jamaat-e-Islami cadres of Kashmir.
The rigging of elections in 1987 acted as a spark on dry tinder, and leaders like Syed Ali Shah Geelani, who was later awarded Nishan-e-Pakistan, the highest civilian award of Pakistan, equivalent to Bharat Ratna of India, emerged to give thrust and direction to the Separatist movement in Kashmir. The other important Separatist leaders were Syed Salahuddin, Masood Azhar, Shabir Shah, Yasin Malik and Abdul Gani Lone, to name the prominent few who rose up to provide leadership, and organisations like Jammu & Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF), Hizbul Mujahideen, Lashkar-e-Taiyyaba, Al Badr and Hurriyat Conference (the umbrella group of separatist voices), were fully activated.
The public of Kashmir had a cause, leadership to give it thrust and direction, public support in ample measure, foreign support from Pakistan, and the mountainous and jungle terrain favouring infiltration. All these factors provided a perfect recipe for terrorism to flourish. The ISI had just finished their decade-long venture of driving the Soviet forces out of Afghanistan in February 1989, and now their militant cadres were all available to be employed in Kashmir. A lot of arms and ammunition were smuggled into Kashmir on the quiet, followed by initially striking soft targets like the police or the central police officers (CPOs), but their first major act of militancy began with the targeted killing of Kashmiri Pandits and Sikhs in 1990. Thereafter they were out in the open.
Though not every Kashmiri Muslim is pro-Pakistan by leaning, yet the general public is not trained to follow the secular and nationalist ethos of the defence forces. Among the civilian population, the fanatic mullahs, pro-Pak agents and cunning politicians can influence the public sentiment beyond imagination. If some pro-Pakistan Kashmiri leaders have been able to motivate the public to raise slogans like ‘Pakistan Zindabad’, to fly Pakistan’s flag, or indulge in stone-pelting the vehicles of Indian security forces in Kashmir, it is not because the Indian governance is weak, or Pakistan is known for better governance; rather it is the other way round. But one of the motivating factors for their leaning towards Pakistan is religion. Moreover, Pakistan has always stressed that its creation was based on the grounds of religion. As a result, they have succeeded in brainwashing the religious fanatics to create and spread hatred for Kashmiri Hindus as well as other non-Muslims.
Then there are other equally important contributory factors like United States (US) military aid to Pakistan comprising supply of arms, ammunition, equipment and monetary aid for a decade from 1979 to 1989 for the training of militants by ISI in Pakistani training camps, to drive out the Soviet forces out of Afghanistan to avenge their humiliating defeat in the Vietnam War. Motivated by their success in this decade-long venture, Pakistan turned its full attention towards Kashmir, believing that if they could drive a super power out of Afghanistan, using Pak-trained militants, why could they not now drive the Indian Army out of Kashmir? While their logic was strong enough to convince their political masters, their assessment of the capabilities of the Indian Army and its leadership was weak, which they realised much later. However, the damage they inflicted in Kashmir was disproportionately higher than expected.
Unfortunately, the US left all the arms, ammunition and equipment they had supplied to Pakistan to drive the Soviet forces out of Afghanistan, and these were available thereafter to be used in Kashmir. Pakistan then announced a ‘Jihad’ in Kashmir, when hundreds of foreign Muslim militants also responded by joining, and the mission was supported by many Muslim countries across the world. Hence financing the militancy was not a problem. We must appreciate that the Kashmir problem is not a case of ordinary militancy; its roots are politically far too deep, and its support bases are spread across continents. Pakistan wants to keep it as a boiling pot on a par with the Israel-Palestine problem, and many Muslim countries support Pakistan on the Kashmir issue, purely based on their religious affinity. For them, religion takes precedence over the facts of history.
Sajad Gani Lone, a former MLA of J&K People’s Conference asked two pertinent questions in the State Assembly which highlighted the root cause of militancy in Kashmir. These were:
- Had 1987 not happened, would the guns have made an entry into this region?
- Dacoits of 1987 filled the graveyards here, but why haven’t these dacoits been questioned?
In fact, if history is to blame one single person for the eruption of insurgency in Kashmir, Farooq Abdullah is the most deserving candidate. He was the originator and author of militancy in Kashmir, purely for the greed of power. He is a shrewd, selfish and high-headed politician with no scruples whatsoever. When the insurgency was at its peak during the early Nineties, he fled to London. When the situation stabilized, he returned to Kashmir, and tried to arm-twist the Indian government by saying, “Kashmir can’t be claimed by India unilaterally; it is a bilateral issue between India and Pakistan.” Farooq Abdullah also demanded an aid of Rs 70,000 crore from the central government on the pretext of rebuilding Kashmir. In short, he was trying to arm-twist the government and project himself as the voice of Kashmiris. Two decades later, Mehbooba Mufti followed his footsteps, and both opposed abrogation of Article 370 tooth and nail, threatening the central government with consequences of a bloodbath, if they dared to do so. Both have pro-Pak leanings and have a key role in keeping the militancy alive. Both want Article 370 to be revived.
As recently as 5 August 2023 (fourth anniversary of the abrogation of Articles 370 and 35A), external affairs minister S. Jaishankar, in response to a media question on US’ position on Kashmir said, “If that be so, the US was questioning the very existence of India, which came into being, based on the ‘Instruments of Accession’ signed by the rulers of 565 princely states.”
We should also not lose sight of the fact that the counter-militancy operations by the army for the last three and half decades in J&K have had an unavoidable side-effect on the public in general getting alienated, since they have been victims, having undergone cordon and search of their houses multiple number of times every year for the last 35 years, at odd hours of the night, and the arrest of some of their family members on suspicion being a routine matter. House searches are very embarrassing and psychologically disturbing, especially for the women. No one likes his/ her house to be searched at odd hours at night, without warning and seeing their family members getting arrested.
As a result, the Army appeared to them like an occupational force. All these factors led them to believe that the Indian Army was their enemy number one and not the Pak-trained militants. While the army has only been doing its duty, let’s also accept the fact that occasionally, discrepancies in performance of duty do take place, which further encourages the public to help the militants. It is a cycle of cause and consequence. Militancy is not easy to fight, leave alone wiping it out completely. In fact, the majority of Kashmiri youth have suffered the ill-effects of militancy right since their birth, losing love and respect for the army. Their wounds need to be healed, their feelings need to be appreciated, and they need to be treated sympathetically. After all, they had been misguided in the name of religion, and they have seen nothing but militancy throughout their lives. Moreover, occasionally they have been at the receiving end from the militants too.
In the last 35 years, with thousands of people having got injured and killed, including soldiers and civilians, what is the way ahead now?
The abrogation of Article 370 was a strategically important step by the government to ensure complete integration of J&K with the rest of India, which has shaken up Pakistan, Farooq Abdullah, Mehbooba Mufti and their party cadres, but it will take a long time to heal the wounds of the public which suffered the consequences of Pak-sponsored militancy for three and a half decades. Unfortunately, factors like foreign support of Pakistan and a favourable terrain that contribute to the growth of militancy continue to remain a constant factor, the separatist leadership within J&K and public support for the same need to be curbed, but it cannot happen overnight. While stone-pelting on the security forces has now stopped completely, the Kashmiri youth need to be guided on the right path leading to peace, progress and prosperity. They need to be integrated with the mainstream and convinced that they are Indians first and Muslims later, for which the Indian Army is doing a commendable job by launching various schemes for integration of the youth with the rest of India. Let us not assume that nothing right is being done, just because militants are still firing the shots. Every agency, at the state and central level, is doing its best.
Moreover, the apparent non-cooperation of the public in providing intelligence regarding the presence of militants to the security forces is not because of poor governance but can be attributed to many factors—primarily to the fear of militants and the fear of muscle-wielding supporters of the militants. After all, the public has to survive there. Moreover, every individual is not in the know of things. Hence any recommendation regarding mass punishment of the villagers will only alienate the public further. The army should never resort to such retrograde steps; it will only alienate the public. Mass punishment is the biggest injustice. Those who advocate such measures, lack experience.
When it comes to foreign support, let us not forget that Pakistan happens to be the biggest rogue state in the world, and the epicentre of churning out militants from its terror-producing factories. It’s one of the most well-trained nations in the world in this field, and let us have no doubt, that it will continue to sponsor militancy in Kashmir to the best of its ability. It has made it a prestige issue to break up India, geographically, politically and economically, to avenge the humiliating defeat of the 1971 war, and for converting East Pakistan into Bangladesh, apart from being in possession of Kashmir. For that, the fuelling of separatist movements in Kashmir and Punjab (by promoting the creation of Khalistan) are handy tools. These provide Pakistan a low-cost option to bleed India. Moreover, no government in Pakistan can survive if it gives up the Kashmir issue and makes peace with India. Hence, we should not look for complete normalisation of the situation. It would require a coordinated effort by the government, all the political parties of the country and the security forces, coupled with a strong foreign policy, to keep the situation under control. The government is doing its best.
Notwithstanding all the above, the situation now is reasonably under control and improving steadily, except an occasional surge in the graph due to the impending elections in J&K. However, Kashmir is slowly limping back to normalcy. While we need to fight out the Pak-sponsored militancy with a heavy hand, let’s accept the fact that with Pakistan being our neighbour, it will never allow normalcy to prevail. So, the best we can do is to keep militancy under control, and make Pakistan pay a heavy price for its mischief, so that it doesn’t find it cost-effective to indulge in sponsoring militancy. If we can achieve that, we would be heading in the right direction. However, we need to treat the cause as well.
Military history is a great teacher, both for the soldiers as well as the politicians. Its lessons are few and oft repeated. The wisdom lies in learning them. When it comes to sensitive issues pertaining to national integration, the opposition parties also need to cooperate with the government by rising above their narrow political gains, though presently they are doing just the opposite. They are opposing abrogation of Article 370 even now and promising to bring it back if voted to power. In addition, they have tried their level best to fight it out in the Supreme Court to prove that the abrogation of Article 370 was illegal, though they have failed.
While Pakistan’s aim is to bleed India by a thousand cuts, our challenge lies in making it uneconomical for it to indulge in this dirty game. During the last one year, some ‘unidentified people’ in Pakistan have been in the news for eliminating the notorious militant leaders who were involved in major acts of bloodshed in India, especially against our security forces. We need to promote such unidentified people in Pakistan. It is undoubtedly a difficult and a challenging task, but we have no option but to accept this challenge. As Zarathustra said, ‘Life is an eternal struggle between the good and the evil forces.’
(The author is ex 2nd Battalion Brigade of the Guards [1 Grenadiers])