Our most prominent government initiative on Kashmir in seventy years has been the February 5 holiday. Combined with hot discussions on Kashmir issue on PTV that now also runs on the rest of the private channels. In the name of ‘Kashmir Jihad’ we witness the cold-blooded coffins of Pakistani youth studying in schools and colleges.
The political rallies on ‘Mall Road’ headed by Mian Tufail to Qazi Hussain and now Siraj-ul-Haq, the speeches of Kashmiri leaders on the same old rotten script and now tweets based on the summary of the same script, the cowardly explosive shells being fired from across the border, targeting civilians and the valiant shells fired from here, the Kashmir camps of our politicians, media footages displaying destruction of five to six military posts in news bulletins every other week, the same old rhetoric of UN resolutions, the chairmanship of the Kashmir Committee, contracts for roads and dams, and the endless world tours on the Kashmir issue. The many benefits that the people of Kashmir, Pakistan and India have reaped from all this are in front of everyone.
Now the story has taken a new turn. Seventy years later, the ever-popular narrative has suddenly become obsolete and some mathematical equations have been put forward that we were never taught how to solve. The pages of ‘Pakistan Studies and ‘Indian Polity’ have suddenly become so rotten that the words on them cannot be read. Tweet script has lost somewhere and drafts of old speeches are dying. Faces here are stunned, and expressions across the LOC bewildered.
Jumping from right to left and vice-a-versa is rampant from both sides. Both believe that the journey to the destination may end in the same leap, but in the darkness that has always covered the forest, there is a sudden thick fog. Over the years, the dark monster with which the eyes were accustomed, now the features of its dark face have also changed. There is noise. Everyone is speaking in their own dialect but no one understands anything.
The question here is, what was there to understand before? Didn’t the great leadership of ours with a wise head on their shoulders carved a Kashmir deal over Hyderabad and Junagarh? It is a different matter that no substantial benefit could be obtained and we are still walking around blindfolded. Whether it is the Shimla accord, the Lahore Declaration or the four-point agreement, the life of an ordinary Kashmiri revolves around the same hollow hope whose rotation only scratches the earth.
Diplomats from both the countries kept on wrestling in the ring of Kashmiri land. While the people of the land applauded from the steps of the far-flung arena. The distance was so great that it was never known who had an upper-hand. On the blind trail of the UN resolutions, the Kashmiris’ childhood dawned in the evening of their youth and descended into the valleys of death in the darkness of night. One after the other, no one ever admitted that this path does lead anywhere.
Chapter Six of the UN charter resolves to a peaceful resolution of disputes that the parties themselves must resolve. The United Nations could not intervene yesterday nor can it today, but we are selling these lies with great arrogance. No one says that under Resolution No. 47, first every Pakistani citizen and soldier will leave Kashmir, including Gilgit-Baltistan, then the next thing will happen. The Indian Army will remain in the Valley even after this under the same resolution. The referendum will follow.
Did we ever really take this resolution seriously? Can we still comply with these conditions today? Why are we beating the drum of UN resolution when we cannot commit to it? This is the tune on which this nation has been made to twirl like a mindless animal for seventy years. The pity is not on the musicians. It’s on the dancers.
In the loving land of Mahavira, Buddha, Kabir, Baba Farid, Guru Nanak and Bullay Shah, every line was drawn with blood and hatred. Not only Kashmir but also Punjab, Balochistan, Sindh and Bengal were divided. The rivers also shared, the deserts split. Relationships remained stranded on both sides of LOC. Daughters separated from their fathers and the sons snatched from their mothers. If here, the blood was found cheaper than the bread, the same holds true on the other side. If women were abducted and raped here, then on the other side massacre was spread like a fire in the jungle. People were beheaded here and there. This is not the tragedy of one nation, this is not the sole story of one generation; this is the oppression of history in a region which does not seem to stop.
How long will we sell the dream of green pastures and sow the crop of young corpses? How long will we apply blood on our children’s lips instead of water to quench their thirst? How long will we trade color, fragrance and clouds with dynamite, bombs and guns? Same sorrow, same little hope on either side. Remembering Nasir Kazmi here who said: “is ranj-e-bekhumar ki ab inteha bhi ho” (Let there be an end to this suffering)
The Kashmir issue has never been a ‘Kashmiris’ issue for both parties. We have never considered a human tragedy to be a human tragedy. For us, it was a war of land yesterday, it still stands the same today. Blood has been flowing in KishanGanga for seventy years.
On the banks of the ‘Tatwal Bridge’ people are sadly looking at each other. ‘Dal Lake’ is gloomy and ‘Rati Gali’ silent. The eyes of loved ones on both sides of ‘Wagah are staring in the hope of reunion, but both India and Pakistan are playing the same tune on the flute. Srinagar is burning and its dust is floating in the streets of Muzaffarabad.
The solutions we have been proposing are not possible. India has revoked the special status of IOJK. Ladakh is now a union territory. On our side of Kashmir, we did this years ago. We have extracted Gilgit-Baltistan from every formula, every equation. Some part of Kashmir went to China, some it took itself, some we gave. Now the meat cannot be taken out by putting a hand in the lion’s jaw. Aksai-chin is lying there, Ladakh too, Jammu has already been taken, Gilgit is separated, Baltistan also alienated.
The rest of the remnant state, will it be able to survive economically and financially on its own? Who knows but it is also a mirage. The reality on the ground is that neither Pakistan nor India will give up on its share, let alone China. Whether it is a principled stance or rational, it is a dream that can only be seen with closed eyes. The moment one wakes-up, it’s all air.
The conditions of a referendum will never be met. The result of militancy and armed struggle is that there is a grave in every room of every house in Kashmir. The assassins of Jamaat-e-Islami, Hizb-ul-Mujahideen and Lashkar-e-Taiba, with our pseudo-intellectuals are still hell-bent on selling the “Tehreek” deal. Their pen fills with blackened blood that has flowed through the lifeless corpses of oppressed, innocent Kashmiris for seventy years. The problem is supply and demand. The survival of the blood-selling traders lies in the fact that blood is available in the market, even if one generation after another and those following are destroyed.
Is the Kashmir issue to be resolved through Article 370, Supreme Court decisions, non-existent Constituent Assemblies, Indian or Pakistani legislature resolutions or UN Chapter Six? Obviously not, if this was the case it would have happened by now. So, will it be solved by the fighting of the armies? In 1948, 1965 and 1999, it became clear that this too is also not the legit route.
It is believed that there is a puppet government here. By the way, the cords of the government there are also tied across the bridge of Kohala. If they were to do something, it would have been done too by now. Well, even if the LOC is not defined as the international border, what will happen then? Will there be employment in Neelum Valley, will the literacy rate of Bagh improve? Will the broken roads of Pallandri be turned into motorways? What did Kashmiris get by keeping the special status? International development projects could never be initiated on both sides, investments have been curtailed, bridges, roads, education and health has deteriorated over the years. Kashmir has always been treated as a step-child on either side. What did the people get by keeping the special status of the divided region?
Is it not clear that neither Pakistan nor India will ever end their occupation of Kashmir? If this is not clear even after seventy years, then one can only pray for the sight of the beholders. How long will 1.5 billion people remain hostage to this problem? What have Kashmiris earned by keeping their special status? The situation of an ordinary Kashmiri on both sides of the LOC is dire. Human life has become the cheapest thing in the region. How long will this story be told in the same tone, and how long can it be written in the same manner?
It’s time to change direction and move on. Let’s come out of the cage of illusion and face the naked facts. Let the Kashmir that is there become part of India. Start calling what is here ‘Pakistan’. It will be a blow to the politics of a certain segment and to the livelihood of few people, let it be!
If the divided Punjab can have the ‘Kartarpur Corridor’, then the bridge of ‘Tatwal’ should also be opened. Kashmiris will remain Kashmiris. The land will remain where it is, but instead of pulling guns and building fences, it is time to distribute flowers and build roads. Give the pen to the youth of ‘Baramulla’ and let the farmer of Jammu drive the tractor. Stop calling Kashmir a problem and start considering Kashmir as a solution. It is time to sow the seeds of love in the land of hatred.
A region of over one billion people cannot afford to constantly stay hostile. Kashmir will remain where it is. If the roads are open, those separated can again be re-united, the border is just a name, and what difference will it make if one waves the tricolor on the other side of the river and the green and white crescent flag on this side? Diplomats must stop with hate-mongering and start talking about relations with likes of Europe. Politics over Kashmir must be put to rest, and there should never be a talk of war. Let humanity prevail in Kashmir. Let’s find some fresh words, it’s time to write a new story.
