|
 One
of the world's most intractable conflicts appears to be
moderating
Is
change coming to the bitterly contested Jammu and Kashmir region, the
decades-old flashpoint between Pakistan and India? With India's
tk-week electoral process in full swing, all eyes are turned toward
the region where voters, appearing less deterred than usual by calls
from separatist groups, went to the polls last week in the fourth day
of national voting under the watchful gaze of security forces
determined to keep violence to a minimum.
Despite
years of attempts by militants and separatists to stop the elections
altogether, by the end of the week, media organizations said voting
appeared to be slightly ahead of the 2004 pace, going against a call
by the separatist group Hurriyat Conference to skip the polls. As
many as 6,000 protesters turned up in the main city of Srinigar
Friday, led by Separatist leader Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, with about 30
injured as protesters threw stones at police.
Omar
Abdullah, the chief minister, however, hailed what he said was an
actual decline in violence and called attention to what he said was
Pakistan's contribution to the ‘remarkable' drop in
bloodshed in the volatile region in recent years. Nearly 50,000
people have died on both sides in the two-decade-old Islamic
insurgency although violence has begun to subside since peace talks
between India and Pakistan in 2004.
"I will call it
remarkable," Abdullah told Agence France Press. "It would
be impossible for the levels of violence to be where they are if
there wasn't some amount of influence being brought to bear
from Pakistan."
There
appears to be another new element in the political process this year
among the separatists. Sajjad Lone, a prominent 42-year-old leader of
the Jammu and Kashmir People's Conference, has switched gears
to become the first major separatist to stand, in the Baramulla
constituency in northern Kashmir, saying he wanted to take his
struggle to the Lok Sabha, or parliament in New Delhi. The Baramulla
and Ladakh constituencies are scheduled to go to the polls later this
week. It remains to be seen where the electorate will go.
"Fighting
elections is a change of strategy, not ideology," Lone told a
news conference. "I will contest polls with a commitment to use
this mechanism as a method to represent the voice of the Kashmiri
people and to take the strength and merits of our aspirations to the
central stage of India."
His
change of view, he told reporters, is largely due to the unsuccessful
attempts of the Kashmiri political leadership to resolve matters and
involve the global community. Lone has promised to represent the
state in the Indian capital to present its case.
He
faces formidable challenge from the Hurriyat, with support from
elements in Pakistan which cannot be discounted. According to latest
reports, the strike called by chairman of hard line faction of
Hurriyat Conference Syed Ali Shah Geelani, impacted voter turnout in
Srinagar, but not fatally.
None
of this means peace is coming to a region where the communal,
nationalist and political divisions are so deep. Nonetheless, there
is no doubt that the separatists increasingly fear the risk of
political isolation, with their call for freedom (azaadi) for
Kashmir appearing to cut less and less ice as new local young
leadership under Omar Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti look towards
re-focusing on development, tourism and growth.
Mehbooba,
47, the president of the People's Democratic Party was elected
leader of the PDP, the largest opposition party in the 87-member
Jammu and Kashmir Assembly in 2004, with a vow to play the role of
what she called "constructive opposition." The
government is led by Omar, who heads the alliance of the National
Conference and Congress parties. Abdullah's good personal
equations with Gandhi scion Rahul Gandhi have helped the coalition.
December
2008 state elections were hailed as a success with a 62 percent
turnout and a message interpreted by analysts that the of the region
are tired of militancy and separatists' calls for an
independent Kashmir and want to be part of mainstream development.
Unlike
the separatists, the National Conference has a history of backing the
Indian government for armed action against insurgency and has been
urging New Delhi to resume the peace process with Pakistan, derailed
after the Mumbai terror attacks.
Although
the separatists have organized themselves under the umbrella of the
All Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC) and choose to remain out of
the electoral process, major differences have been cropping up. The
hard-liners argue that per the 1950s UN Security Council resolution
‘no elections can either change the nature of the dispute or
affect adversely the future dispensation of Jammu and Kashmir.'
They say any electoral participation is a compromise that requires
acceptance of the legitimacy of the Indian rule in Kashmir.
Lone,
a handsome, charismatic leader who as late as 2008 was leading the
separatist charge, says he decided to fight elections in order to
spread the idea of ‘Achievable Nationhood.' He says
that the change in the view is largely due to the unsuccessful
attempts of the Kashmiri political leadership to resolve matters and
involve the global community.
According
to latest reports, the strike called by the chairman of hard line
faction of Hurriyat Conference Syed Ali Shah Geelani, has impacted
voter turnout in Srinagar, a separatist stronghold, this week.
Nonetheless, even at 24 percent, voting in Srinagar was low but
better than the 18.7 percent and 12 percent in 2004 and 1999
respectively.
All
prominent separatist leaders including Syed Ali Shah Geelani,
chairman of moderate faction Mirwaiz Umer Farooq and JKLF Chairman
Mohammad Yaseen Malik have been put under arrest.
The
decades of violence and strife have marred what is one of the most
beautiful regions in India (or independent country, for that matter),
situated at the base of the Himalayan Mountains and bordering China.
Formed of a one-time principality, the Kashmir Valley is widely
known as "paradise on earth," for its lakes and its
gorgeous mountain landscape. Tens of thousands of Muslim and Hindu
flock to Jammu every year for its plethora of shrines.
Communal
Situation
It
was these shrines that over the last year have brought into focus the
communally surcharged atmosphere. Kashmir witnessed intense communal
unrest between Hindus and Muslims, highlighting the divisions between
the Muslim dominated Valley and Hindu majority Jammu. The riots
commenced around mid-June when the state government decided to hand
over state land to the board, which oversees the Shri Amarnath
shrine. The decision was in contravention to a Supreme Court ruling.
Located
in a Himalayan cave 12,000 sq feet above sea level, about 80 km away
from Srinagar, the holy Amarnath site is a large icicle said to
represent the Hindu God of destruction and rebirth – Lord
Shiva.
The
handing over of state land was intended to enable the shrine board to
build facilities for the pilgrims, who have to walk more than 10
miles to visit the shrine. However, a perception was created that
the economic activity generated due to the pilgrimage, which is
currently one of the major sources of income for Muslims, would after
the ‘sale' be diverted and the pilgrimage would become an
exclusively Hindu affair.
In
the valley, extremist elements fanned the fire of separatism and
called for boycott of the polls, which are due to be held in October.
In the past, systematic ethnic cleansing in the Valley has resulted
in Hindu Kashmir Pandits being hounded out of the state.
(Siddharth
Srivastava is a New Delhi-based journalist. He can be reached by
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what lies !!!!!!
please get your facts right before you write. try to be impartial and unbiased.