Pinned Against The Wall: Losing The Argument In Srinagar
Saeed
Naqvi
The arrival of Dineshwar
Sharma, formerly of the Intelligence Bureau, as the Centre’s interlocutor in
the troubled state, has clearly not set the Jhelum on fire. But Hari Niwas, the
former Maharaja’s palace, Sharma’s headquarter, has acquired a temporary prominence
with Armoured Personnel carriers, TV vans, and a gradually diminishing number
of journalists outside. The approaching winter is a deterrence for assembly
after sunset.
Reactions range from total nonchalance
at the Amar Singh club, to bewilderment among the intelligencia and anger among
prominent members of the civil society. “Yet again, this is an insult to
Kashmiris; what can an interlocutor find out that the State does not already
know after 28 years of total military occupation.”
Subjects that were hush hush
in the past are now part of casual conversation over cups of kahva. “Democratization
of corruption” for instance. This the intelligence agencies have achieved –
transferring cash in ever expanding concentric circles. This kind of money,
induces dependency, not gratitude, a sort of helplessness, demoralization,
which conceals simmering anger.
Householders are more liable to
be implicated in such transactions. This would distance them further from the
youth fired by idealism and the social media. It is this youth which is controlling
the agitational mood. I must however, add in parenthesis that too much should
not be extrapolated from the experience of urban centres like Srinagar.
Hardly a day passes without an
encounter, a shootout, disappearances. Director General of Police S.P. Vaid’s
boast that 170 militants have been killed this year disguises the hundreds of
civilians and security personnel, including the Army, who have also been
killed. Figures, in any case, do not reflect the scale of the tragedy.
South Asian Terrorism Portal
records 11 civilians, 15 security forces and 40 militants killed in the past two
months. These, again, are mere figures. They reveal little. The tragedy is in
the empty streets past 9 pm. During a 30 kms ride from a friend’s house near
the airport to my hotel past Dal Lake, I saw headlights of one or two cars, but
no people, not even security personnel. Has this stretch been totally
tranquilized? No one will ever know what fills the spaces within the heart behind
those unlit windows?
One of the finer intellectuals
in Srinagar tossed in a comparison with Catalonia. He was suggesting that
Catalonia is more prosperous than the rest of Spain and is yet in rebellion. seeking
independence. The comparison is slightly farfetched even though people in
Kashmir are apparently better off than in many places in the rest of India. A study
of this relative economic well being would have to be a mean minded
accumulation of data. How can you point to the decorous carpet in a man’s house
when you have blinded two of his sons with pellet guns?
Lifestyles are sometimes a self-deception,
make belief, a cover up for a deeper want. The most spectacular arrangement of
colours and motifs in women’s wear in Rajasthan, Kutch and Sind, compensate for
the aridity as far as the eye can see.
People living under extreme
pressure pick up nuances swiftly. When Mehbooba Mufti, Ram Madhav and Dineshwar
Sharma repeat the same image, ears are cocked: “We do not want Kashmir to become
another Syria”. This raises a spectre of Jabhat al Nusra, Al Qaeda, the Islamic
State. Well, the US had to flatten out Raqqa on the scale of Dresden during
World War II and yet allowed 375 IS to sneak out to few know where.
The very mention of Syria
invites a kneejerk response. After the massive protests last year following
Burhan Wani’s killing, new names are being brought into focus as militant
leaders, some of them demanding Shariah law, unusual for youth rebels in their
20s.
Zakir Musa, once associated
with Burhan Wani, is being projected as the new jihadist. That Musa is alive in
a culture saturated with “encounters”, is interpreted here, by some groups, as
the Deep State promoting ogres to justify some drastic action in the future.
In an atmosphere so charged
with suspicion, no one is expecting the interlocutor to pull a rabbit out of
his hat. He has diligently started visiting senior politicians who ask “what is
the bottom line?” To this Sharma cannot possibly be expected to have an answer.
Has he been sent to salvage accidental Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti’s sinking
political fortunes? It has certainly given people something to watch – wearily though.
The Sharma initiative makes sense
if there is a similar expedition to Pakistan. This cannot happen before the
2019 General elections because such a step would immediately bring down
Hindu-Muslim temperatures, a state of affairs most deleterious to the BJP’s electoral
health.
In the 70s and 80s I wrote
repeatedly with such conviction:
“Indian secularism protects,
among a billion others, the world’s second largest Muslim population. Any issue,
including Kashmir should be addressed keeping this in mind.’
How foolish I feel when some
of the best minds in Kashmir hurl the following at me: Love Jihad, Cow lynchings,
Ghar Wapsi, Tipu the traitor, transformation of shrines into temples….
“You in India are a cowering
minority” they mock. “We in Kashmir are in battle against occupation.”
“They disempowered you through
secularism; they are disempowering us through democracy.” It is a staggering barrage.
I find myself wriggling against the wall.
# # # #
No comments:
Post a Comment