Wajahat Qazi
The gory daylight murder of three young men at the peak of their lives in a busy market square happens soon after the departure of the so called interlocutors and the waning and ebbing of the protest movement in the blighted vale of Kashmir. Amid the cacophony of allegations and counter allegations about whether they were civilians or militants and the tabloidish attempts to paint them as victims, are lost some important points. First, alienation in Kashmir is cross-generational now.
Militancy has ebbed but not completely died now. Second, the hard glove of the state or the military might of the state cannot really cow down a people. It may drain or whittle down insurgency and insurgents but there are people (new recruits) in the pipeline willing ‘to die for a cause’. What does this tell us about the state of affairs in Kashmir? Should the Indian state be patting itself on its back for having eliminated ’three militants and thus having dealt a body blow to militants? Or should this call for a deeper introspection and an audit of the GOI’s policy(ies) toward Kashmir? And hopefully a policy review? (I am assuming that there is a Kashmir policy in place).
This gory incident-regardless of whether the boys killed were militants or not-should ideally serve as a metaphor for what is wrong with the GoI’s, for want of a better word, approach to the Kashmir problem. This approach resting apparently on ‘beat the shit out of the adversary’ and using the might of the state to crush any hint of rebellion and then leaving the mess to be sorted out itself is , as the recent events-massive and sustained protests now followed by the ominous development of young people reverting to militancy- surely is a non starter. The premise of this approach is a non contextual classic counterinsurgency one without an end goal or endgame in mind. The end game of any counterinsurgency approach has to be to make way and space for politics. This almost clich?d observation may even constitute a law in counterinsurgency doctrines.
Ultimately and in the final scheme of things, it is or it has got be politics that is the arbiter of peace. Reliance on military power or hard power or pure counterinsurgency techniques, cannot wipe out insurgencies. A classic parallel with a contemporary resonance here may be the United State’s very nuanced and sophisticated approach in weeding out insurgency in Iraq. A well coordinated counterinsurgency effort (contrary to media caricatures) , fused with diplomacy (counter intuitively Iran -US axis or some form of loose cooperation and quid pro quo’s over Afghanistan and Iraq) and more importantly the launching of a political process in Iraq-kind of asymmetric federalism, howsoever flawed is bringing a semblance of normalcy and reasonable governance in Iraq. I am willing to place my money where my mouth is and assert that within a reasonable time frame Iraq will be up and about as a reasonably decent state which can hold its own-economically, politically and militarily.
The question is: can or should India look toward the Iraqi model and use it as a template? I would argue in the affirmative. First, it would mean that the Indian state is serious about resolving the Kashmir issue. The implication would be clear: India seeks to resolve the impasse by seeking a political instead of a military solution to the vexed issue. Second, it would mean a contextual approach.
By contextual I mean or am referring to Pakistan here. Pakistan should be taken on board and its inputs not only solicited but also perhaps implemented given that it has staked a substantial amount of national energy onto Kashmir and is perhaps seeking, at this stage an honorable exit from the imbroglio. Third, this approach would mean taking, on board seriously the separatist political spectrum on board, rendering the relationship with them non-adversarial and thereby gradually rendering them into stakeholders and partners for peace. Or in other words, make them part of the solution instead of the problem.
Bringing together the elements and factors identified in this brief monogram and implementing them with vigor may then bring peace to the blighted vale in particular and South Asia at large. And perhaps more importantly bring an end to the loss of lives of young people who should be thinking about creative ways and means to spend the most productive years of their lives instead of fiddling with guns and seeking martyrdom.
Qazi is a doctoral student on conflict and peace in a British University at Scotland
