One of the more troublesome aspects of the latest protests in Kashmir, among the biggest since a separatist revolt erupted in 1989, is the impact on the younger generation.
In an op-ed in the New York Times, Indian writer Pankaj Mishra writes that India’s attempt to crush the revolt in 1989 and 1990 ended up provoking many young Kashmiris to take to arms and embrace radical Islam.
“A new generation of politicized Kashmiris has now risen; the world is again likely to ignore them - until some of them turn into terrorists with Qaeda links,” he writes. Calling on India to take some first steps to ease the situation by cutting the number of troops in the Kashmir Valley and allowing Kashmiris to trade freely across the Line of Control – the military demarcation line which divides the former kingdom of Jammu and Kashmir between India and Pakistan – he says the past record does not inspire much hope.
“But a brutal suppression of the nonviolent protests will continue to radicalize a new generation of Muslims and engender a fresh cycle of violence, rendering Kashmir even more dangerous - and not just to South Asia this time,” he says.
It would be wrong to overstate the role of radical Islam in the revolt – the Kashmir Valley is primarily Sufi and the hardline brand of Wahhabi/Deobandi Islam followed by al Qaeda and the Taliban has never really managed to take root there.
And nor would it be correct to hold India alone responsible — many Pakistanis will admit privately that Pakistan played its own role in encouraging the separatist revolt, in part to use as a pawn against its much bigger neighbour.
But no amount of finger-pointing or bitter wrangling over history can take away from the fact that children who were born after the revolt erupted and grew up in violence, are now turning into teenagers as the troubles flare anew. What hope for them?
As the comments on my last post on Kashmir showed, the Kashmir question is one that still stirs powerful and divisive emotions.
There is no “quick fix” solution. The former kingdom of Jammu and Kashmir, promised a plebiscite after partition in 1947, is an intricate mosaic of different ethnic, national and religious identities, now held in parts by India, Pakistan and China, and caught between the strategic interests of all three.
It’s also hard also to see how India and Pakistan can now muster the political will to seek a solution on Kashmir when they failed to do so in the space that opened up after they agreed a ceasefire on the Line of Control at the end of 2003. In Delhi, the Congress-led government faces elections due by May next year, and would be vulnerable to accusations by the Hindu right of betraying India were it to give too much ground. Pakistan is stumbling through a chaotic transition to civilian government, whose leaders will be watched carefully by the powerful Pakistan Army for any signs of weakness in dealing with India.
But then again, what is the price of doing nothing? Children born when the Kashmir revolt erupted will be 20 next year. What will they tell their children? What legacy will they hand on to the next generation?
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Thank you for the response Myra !!
- Posted by OmYou are so right, we should look things in all possible different views.
Reading so many articles in Reuters on the Kashmir issue, it some times makes me happy when I read things like “Hindu majority India”, “kashmir the only Muslim majority state”. I had oftern felt sad when many of my western firends thought that India was a Islamic country now this is bound to change now many more common people around the world who read this articles will know Inida is a Hindu majority country.Muslims and Islam has often been in global limelight for wrong reasons like terrorism and I was feeling Hindus were loosing identity in the global platform. Now everyone will know Hindus also exist who like Christians, jews, Buddists,sikh, Chineese oppose Islamic elements.
Oh, I thought I would post these lyrics which is the best I can think about this issue and not get into unnecessary fights with either Pro Muslim/Pakistani or pro Indian/Hindu lobby. That’s why I am not posting my email or website address in here.
In order to stop this seething hatred and killing you don’t have to look for liberal/ Western texts and constitutions. You may as well pray to your God or gods and you will know how to treat your fellow human beings. Just lighten up, open your eyes and smell the coffee (or tea!)
Leave me out of it and listen to the words of a modern prophet, Bob Dylan
Blowin’ In The Wind
How many roads must a man walk down
Before you call him a man?
Yes, ‘n’ how many seas must a white dove sail
Before she sleeps in the sand?
Yes, ‘n’ how many times must the cannon balls fly
Before they’re forever banned?
The answer, my friend, is blowin’ in the wind,
The answer is blowin’ in the wind.
How many times must a man look up
Before he can see the sky?
Yes, ‘n’ how many ears must one man have
Before he can hear people cry?
Yes, ‘n’ how many deaths will it take till he knows
That too many people have died?
The answer, my friend, is blowin’ in the wind,
The answer is blowin’ in the wind.
How many years can a mountain exist
- Posted by RajivBefore it’s washed to the sea?
Yes, ‘n’ how many years can some people exist
Before they’re allowed to be free?
Yes, ‘n’ how many times can a man turn his head,
Pretending he just doesn’t see?
The answer, my friend, is blowin’ in the wind,
The answer is blowin’ in the wind.
I like most of the Kashmiries am not able to understand why some of the people in India are against solution to Kashmir Issue. They must read about Kashmir history before putting on such comments. Kashmiris are not Anti-Indian or Pro-Pakistani; however one reality is that Kashmir remains divided between India, Pakistan and China. And this division is not on the basis of culture or religion or alike, it is based on the position of soliders at the cesefire, which has never been acceptable to us. No society will like to be divided in parts and so do we. It has been about 60 years that these countries have kept us divided and the unification movement will not end until we get united. I request to Indian brothers to read about Kashmir issue before putting on a comment.
- Posted by Tariq BandayKashmiris are not Terrorists we are religious and secular. We demand unification of all parts of Kashmir and want to have a friendly relationship with both India and Pakistan.
These angry comments give me headache. Why is it so difficult for people in South Asia to leave each other alone for God’s sake?
Doctors of Kashmir- Yes, friends, the Constitution of India does sound very eloquent, democratic and liberating but not because it was intended to be so but because it was copy pasted from all of Western World’s constitutions and civil laws: USA (liberty stuff), Ireland (I think they copied the idea of preamble from there, I’m not sure), UK (facade of parliamentary system) and many others.
The best solution that I can think of may sound contradictory but it may work. India, Nepal, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka should form a lose confederation (not country) granting autonomy to different regions. This way they won’t have to spend billions to upkeep military and police that torture grieved people.
Why cant’s South Asia (which has strong historical, cultural connection be a democratic group like Swtizerland or EU?
But guess what? That would be possible only if India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Pakistan could at least live up to their current copy pasted constitutions and laws.
I know this comment will also be ignored or even attacked by hate mongers. There can be no dialog when everyone is shouting and swearing.
- Posted by RajivNarai Takbeer
- Posted by AfzalAllahu AKbar
We Want Freedom
Hum Kya Chahte Azadi
Kashmir thought as a dispute between india nad pakistan is not true. Both the countries are unncessarliy and illegaly trying to put this Country into their control.
- Posted by Afzalin the indian occupied Kashmir during the past two months we have seen worst acts of state terrorism. Amrnath land row and aftermath opens the hoax claims of Govt. of India that Kashmir is integral part of india. In Kashmir the Kashmiris are bieng killed without any fear by the Indian troops. firing and tear gas shelling on peaceful protestors in kashmir is known to every body. media showing the ugly face of indian democracy by covering such incidents was banned.
Amrnath land row was over, it was now the renisance of freedom movement. india wants to sabotage it which the kashmiris will never allow to happen.
This freedom movement will go on till achieved.
SALAM KASHMIR
Myra,
thanx for the prolific article…
john, abhishek: u guys look biased and hateful…
Myra: we expect more such truth revealing articles from ur side for our enlightment..
John: ur questions raised to Myra, sounds too immature and childish, to worth attention for a pensive journalist like Myra.
I think the greatest obstacle for India today are the right wing groups who are brainwashing and misguiding the people against a particular religious group or people. Beaware of such dirty politics which is degrading the political stability of india drastically, and spreading hate from their biased controlled media.
- Posted by prince of angelsMyra,
- Posted by JohnThanks for a generic response. By the way, have you read Balraj Madhok’s books on India and Kashmir? or books by Sita Ram Goel or Arun Shourie. Please read works of real experts, instead of reading pamphleteers who pose as scholars.
The conditions for plebiscite have been changed. The Hindus have been driven out and Pakistan has handed a chunk of Indian territory to Chinese.
Your heart bleeds of Muslim Kashmiri kids? But what about Hindu children who have been enslaved by an anglicised elite, supported by ignorant and often pro-Christian media?
I wonder why it never raises a question:Why can’t India be a secular Hindu Republic? In Britain, blashphemy laws only cover Christianity, and in the U.S., Christian agencies oversee social work.
Myra, India is secular because Hindus are in a majority. If you want to ask the right questions as a reporter, here is a sample for you.
1.How come basic education isn’t a fundamental right in India? Providing educatioin in high schools is so expensive for ordinary people, but college education is almost free. Nobody, not even the Marxist leaders in Kerala and West Bengal, are concerned about the knowledge gap.
2. Why is that Muslims continue to have Shariyat law for justifying marrying four times, but prefer to be governed by Indian Penal Code for criminal offenses. Do they want to outnumber Hindus??
3. How come never see a story about politicians continuing to groom their own progeny for careers in politics?
4. Also, we never hear about the religious imperialism fostered by anti-national missionaries, who want to play the number game at the behest of their political masters abroad.
Do you have to guts to write about these issues, Myra? or you prefer to choose topics handed over to you by your handlers in New Delhi.
Can those of you posting comments with such certainty about J&K say whether you have actually been there?
And to those of you who asked, yes, I do know about the Pandits - ref my previous comment above, you don’t go to Jammu without talking to Kashmiri Hindus. (Though actually I went to Jammu to interview Bana Singh, awarded the Param Vir Chakra for bravery on Siachen, so Abhishek, don’t start accusing me of deliberately running down Indian security forces until you have read my book on Siachen.)
John, if you don’t agree with Pankaj Mishra, read my last post on Kashmir: (http://blogs.reuters.com/pakistan/2008/ 08/17/breaking-the-taboo-indian-op-eds-s uggest-kashmir-plebiscite/), quoting Vir Sanghvi in the Hindustan Times and Swaminathan Aiyar in the Times of India. Neither can be described as unknowns, or outside of the mainstream.
And yes, of course I know about Article 370 and development aid. For those of you who think this post doesn’t cover all the elements you would have liked, I’m not aiming to write a thesis on J&K. (By the way, I have dozens and dozens of books on J&K, written by people of different nationalities, from about the 1820s to the present day, and as I have said before, will happily discuss its history with anyone.)
That was not the point of this post. It’s not my job as a journalist to prescribe answers. It’s my job to raise questions, to try to turn over every stone, and to do my best to understand everything from as many different points of view as possible.
And here I posed a simple question. Regardless of anything else, the rights and wrongs of history or the present day, what does it mean to be a child growing up in the Kashmir Valley in the midst of all that violence?
- Posted by Myra MacDonaldThis is the post by UMPK from your own article on Pakistan — or rather by another writer on his being of Pakistani - British descent.:
So this proves beyond doubt the Paki connection in Indian affairs. Hey Paki stay out of Indian things and stop posing your self as an Indian. Well I caught you didnt I. What does this UPMK stands for — some of your jehadi outfit???
Pakistan is alive with possibilities, this country and its people has got immense potential. It is again a question of thinking what Pakistan has given me or what did I give to Pakistan. I think Pakistan gave me an identity, and pretty much everything I have today. It is my turn to repay this country. Pakistan may have problems like any other country, still this is our homeland and I love Pakistan.
- Posted by UMPK
- Posted by Abhishek KumarSolution: Where is the solution if a community is hell bent on killing innocent people?
Where is the solution when a community is hell bent on asking islamic rule in a free democratic country?
Where is the solution when one side is making the life of non muslims hell and driving them out?
Well to have soultion first world would have to realize the real motive behind all this. Is this islamic terrorism or is it demand of some peaceful society.
As for Myra: You are not the most biased person I have seen but yeah ignorent yes for sure. Why ignorent? Well you talk high and loud and dont talk about the victims of this millitancy and terrorism. What about millions of religious minorities who were displaced?
You know you are biased and still say that you just stated the facts. Wow!!! Your motive behind stating Mr Pankaj and telling the kids of kashmir took up arms and are embracing radicle Islam is due to Indian Government “crushing” the revolt? Is this not putting a perspective to the issue. Or trying to paint the picture in your own colors. Well it is. Your motives are outright clear. You want to bring bad light to India and its security forces and its 1 billion hard working peace loving citizens. A democratic nation in which everyone is equal. A country in which weaker sections of the society are protected by granting them special previliges. A country which is a Hindu majority but yet a Sikh Prime Minister, The last President was a muslim, The leader of ruling party is a Christian. Tell me in how many countries do you see this? Well I dont want to put any perspective but yes I am sorry to see the esteemed papers like reuters publish such biased opinion as yours. Why to provide forum to only one feeling or opinion and not bring the other side of the story. I am sorry for you Myra now that you realize that all those visits to India were futile and you didnt even get any true picture of things. If only by visiting someone knows about the issues then I think I must be a one stop shop for matters related to world affairs due to all the travelling I have done.
Well Myra not stop your biased publishing or else people will start taking you as nothing more then a mouth piece of some agency who just wants to paint picture in their own colors.
This time the issue brought a different angle to the whole story. In latest Amarnath row the non muslims openly came out in protest through out Jammu and other parts of Kashmir as they are fedup of the muslim terrorist organizations and spoke for themselves. Well did you cover them. No. Why? Answer this.
What do you propose for the Jammu and Ladakh people? So its amazing they are also from the same region and they dont want your “freedom” from India — as per you the worst country?
- Posted by Abhishek KumarPankaj Mishra is an ignoramus. It’s a typical Western trait to find a recognizable person in India and use he or she to comment on things they know nothing about. Few years ago, Western media found Arundhati Roy, now it’s some aspiring writer called Mishra’s turn to surmise about the future of Kashmiri children.
- Posted by JohnAnd, perhaps Myra you need to read, if not books, at least newspapers, that have reported how the millions of Kasmiri Hindus have been hounded out of Srinagar valley by your sufi islamists.
Do you know about Article 370 that gives Jammu and Kashmir a special status? or how much have successive Central governments have done to promote development in the state, even at the cost of alienating other states.
If anybody thinks Kashmir is the unfinished agenda of partition, then India needs to have a total transfer of Muslim population, the task left incomplete in 1947.
On the comments above:
I’m not entirely clear where the bias lies in saying that “children who were born after the revolt erupted and grew up in violence, are now turning into teenagers” or indeed in saying that “children born when the Kashmir revolt erupted will be 20 next year”. Those are statements of fact.
Om, I didn’t see the Times Now programme. But as a journalist I have always tried to understand the J&K issue as a whole from as many different angles as possible, by talking to people and visiting places which included not just Delhi, Islamabad and Rawalpindi, but also Jammu, Srinagar, Kargil, Leh, Siachen base camp, Skardu, Gyari (and you can also throw in Manipur if you want the north-east perspective). That is why I wrote that there is no quick-fix solution.
Perhaps rather than shooting the messenger and hiding behind accusations of bias, it would be more constructive to offer solutions?
- Posted by Myra MacDonaldHey Myra, why do you all the time pick some foolish comments from insane people who are in limelight for wrong reasons ?? Do you get money for number of comments people leave in here ?? I bet if you would have earned more if you had only listened to about 20 odd people living in Srinagar who were interviewd in thier homes by Times Now and how badly all those people wanted to be part of India and were begging govt of India to save them from foolish seperatist politics. Not only were they sad but i believe they were the people who sitting in thier homes because of curfew in the area for days together doing nothing but thinking about consequences if they were part of pakistan or stay as a part of India.
- Posted by OmAnyways not only your articles but many articles in Reuters is biased and this agency takes all chances and makes irrelavent references to show people and govt of India down. AM abandaning this site.I request other users also to do so.if this ever show up for others to use.
Hey moderator I know you wont publish my comments. But if you dont do then its all biased opinion and you also have some reasons for not doing so
- Posted by Abhishek KumarMyra,
I think you have an agenda. Your reports are biased at best. I dont understand what is your real motive.
1/ Pankaj Sharma: Lets see how authentic is this source and how much his opinion counts: In 2002 when your president visited India there were 8 innocent killed. This Pankaj Sharma was crying hoarse that it was Indian agencies trying to bring bad name to people across the border and killed their own people. Later it was proven beyond doubt that Lashkar e Toiba was behind it. This outfit is banned by US Government. So I think your Pankaj Sharma doesnt even know what goes on his own country. How dumb a person? Well your article is based on the opinion of such a sane person.
This to the guy who signs of as “Kashmiri” — bol to kya Pakistan sahi hai. Ya phir terey woh log sahein hain jo ki innocent logon ko martey hain. Woh log sahi hain jinhoney Kashmir sey non muslims ko mar kar bhaga diya?
Jammu key log and Ladakh key logon ko kya bolta hai tu? Woh to terey saath nahin hain. Kyun??? Tera leader Gilani bolta hai ki usko India sey alag hona hai kyunki usko Islamic rule chaiyey.
The above translates like this : So tell me is Pakistan right? Or your those people are right those who killed non muslims innocent people in Kashmir and did ethenic cleansing. People of Ladakh and Jammu are not with you. Why?? Your leader Gilani says the reason he wants to get seperated from India is that he wants islamic rule in Kashmir.
Well guys forget your evil designs. No one is going to give you an inch of land and by killing innocent people you are hurting your own self.
Myra: I think you are the worst I have seen in journalism. Why? You suggest Indian government to open our borders with Pakistan? Well you better take some lessons on India. Shall we open our borders so that Pakistani ISI agents can blow us up. Like what they did in our Parliament. Like what they did in Bombay blasts. Like what they did in Kabul Embassy.
Myra cant you see its islamic terrorism Indian goverment and its innocent people are fighting. I never saw your article on millions of Kashmiri Hindus who were displaced by these Kashmiri terrorists. Or about those innocent Non Muslims who were killed in thousands in cold blood by these so called “Freedom Fighters” of yours.
So stop one sided and biased journalism and bring out the true picture.
- Posted by Abhishek Kumarumpk first there will be azadi is balochistan,the balochis will declare azadi from a bankrupt corrupt exploitative punjabi republic of pakistan who is killing balochis and taking away all their natural resources without compensation(that’s 50% of your territory) then comes the pashtuns and the sindhi/mqm independence pakistan will be landlocked country.
- Posted by Shantanu Chatterjeebalochistan zindabad!
UMPK if u r so concerned about getting Azadi first ask all ur Kashmiri shops to wind up their business in all the tourists destinations of India.Because of the secular nature of India and its people all Kashmiri emporium operate freely in places like Goa and Kerala where the shopowners shamlessly run behind foreigners while ignoring the local tourists.
- Posted by latha rajamaniThe state of Jammu and Kashmir is a disputed territory between in India and Pakistan. The 1948 UN resolutions calling for a plebiscite for the people of Kashmir to decide the accesion of the state to Pakistan or India are still in place. India has denied the rights to Kashmiri people for more than six decades, generations of Kashmiris have come and gone, but not much have changed for them. The time for Azaadi is now, if the people of Kosovo and East Timor can win freedom, why not Kashmir. If the international community advocates for the rights of Tibet, why do they get forget Kashmir. The coming decade belongs to Kashmir, independence is their destiny. No one can stand between them and independence, no tank, no gun, no fence. The tide will sweep everything in its way. The protests will keep growing bigger and bigger, till the shouts of AZAADI will start reaching the Lok Sabbha in New Delhi.
- Posted by UMPKIndia & the real India
WE, THE PEOPLE OF INDIA, solemnly resolve to constitute India into a SOVEREIGN SOCIALIST SECULAR DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC and to secure to all its citizens:
JUSTICE, social, economic and political
LIBERTY of thought, expression, belief, faith and worship;
EQUALITY of status and of opportunity; and to promote among them all
FRATERNITY assuring the dignity of the individual and the unity and integrity of the Nation;
The more I read of the foundations of India, the more despicable I find them. A mere reading in between the above lines confirms that each word of this document worshipped as the constitution of the nation is FALSE , is PRETENTIOUS & has feel good value for the inhabitants of India- to the extent of being DELUSIONAL .
Pick each one by one & you will know why I think the way I do. Let’s analyse each of these carefully chosen words in the preamble of India’s constitution & check whether they hold any significance in contemporary India.
SOVEREIGN: In spite of all costs it has paid, India grapples with 17 insurgencies today. From the north (Kashmir) to the south (Tamil militia) .From the centre of India (Naxalites) to the Northeast (Manipur, Nagaland, Arunachal) India juggles with people’s discontent wherever it pays a deaf ear to the wishes of people. Talking about sovereignty seems all but preposterous.
SOCIALIST: The divide between rich & poor is evident even for the visually challenged to see. 26% of India lives below the poverty line, many don’t ve food to eat , clothes to wear , shelters to save themselves. Healthcare, sanitation, pure drinking water are a luxury most in India cant afford. So talking about Indian socialism is dreaming whilst awake.
SECULAR: Some of episodes that shine as marvels of Indian secularism include , Godhra , Babri Masjid , Sikh riots of 1984 , Graham Stain roasted alive , Nuns raped & roasted for dinner , marginalisation of Muslims in all spheres of activity ( I don’t say it ,Justice Rajinder Sacchar committee says it ) . And I missed out on a million other examples for want of time.
DEMOCRATIC: Where the qualification for being a politician is to be a rapist or a murderer or a dacoit of public money or a hooligan, that my dear is the democracy of India.
REPUBLIC: The very definition of which fails in India, because the final power is not with the common man but the miscreants who rule the poor creature.
JUSTICE, LIBERTY, EQUALITY & FRATERNITY: After having been witness to what is happening in today’s India ,not even Gandhi could lay claim on these high principles. Iam afraid in contemporary India, he would have certainly committed suicide considering the sensitive soul that he was. And of course that’s if he wasn’t killed by a right wing Hindu fundamentalist.
Iam certain that upon truthful introspection by an Indian , he could sum up to say :
- Posted by kashmiriHarr shaakh pe ullu baitha hai,
Anjaamey gulistaan kya hoga . . .
Courtsy: kashmir-burning.blogspot.com
Posted by Doctors of Kashmir at 8/27/2008 09:55:00 PM