By Rafique Khan
Rukhsana, a Kashmiri female from Sopore, identified the last hideout of Kashmiri militants for the Indian military on July 14, 1994; five militants and their leader were killed. Thus ended the two year old sway held by the Kashmiri militants on Sopore. Another chapter ended, and a new one began, in the four hundred year old history of the Kashmiris search for Azadi (freedom).
In a magazine article titled “And Quiet Flows The Jehlum” (August 14-20, 1994), General Ashok Mehta of the Indian Army narrated Rukhsana’s help to the Indian military in Sopore. Mehta also wrote of another Kashmiri from Sopore, a charismatic bachelor and ex-militant, Molana Latif who helped the Indian Army. Nearby another Kashmiri, Jalal, hunts Kashmiri militants in the countryside for the army. Rukhsana, Latif and other Soporians,.General Mehta writes, became fed up with the hollow slogans of Azadi, fraud fund-raising efforts and sexual misconduct of the militants and asked the Indian Army for help.
All over Kashmir, as in Sopore, many Kashmiris continue to resist Indian occupation of their land, a few among them like Rukhsana, Latif and Jalal have begun to join hands with the ruling Indian authority in Kashmir. Like Rukhsana, some Kashmiri leaders also seek help from outsiders. They go to Delhi and Islamabad in search of ways to achieve emancipation for Kashmir. Some come to America, to Washington and the United Nations Headquarters in New York. They visit with heads of Islamic countries. Kashmiri leaders want “to arouse the world conscience”. They want the world community, in particular the United States of America, to.prevail on India, to implement the four decade old United Nations resolutions that “promised” Kashmiris the right of self-determination.
For four centuries Kashmiris have asked outsiders to end oppression in Kashmir, to liberate Kashmir, and give Kashmiris freedom,’ Azadi‘. Each liberator, in turn, has become a worse oppressor. Kashmiris seem like marionettes on the stage of world geopolitics where the props and players change, but the stage and the play remains the same. The history of Kashmiris reliance on outsiders, and most recently on the “conscience” of the United States of America, is a telling sign of the naiveté of Kashmiris. The Kashmiris, like Khandwaws(weavers of the now extinct but famous Kashmir Kani shawl), seem unaware of the larger design of world geopolitics.
This essay is constructed around three Kashmiris, Rukhsana, Latif and Jalal, and two Kashmiri words Shahriyato, and Khandwaw. Its purpose is to suggest that Kashmiris in Kashmir need to develop their own resources, and rely on their own selves, in order to achieve self-determination.
SOPORE Shahar
Shahar in Kashmiri means an urban place. Sopore is a provincial town. But, in urbanity – “shahriyat” Sopore may be ahead of Kashmiri’s capital city, Srinagar. Beginning in 1930 when the people of Kashmir started an agitation against the feudal ruler, Soporians have played a significant role in Kashmiri’s freedom struggle and are on the forefront of the present movement. Sopore suffers the brunt of suppression at the hands of the Indian army. Most of the town is in ruin. Kashmiri militants, impressed with the Soporian spirit, coined the phrase: “Sopore Ko Dil Ki Gahrayon Say Sulam” (Translation: Salutation to Sopore from the depths of our heart).
This same phrase is now in use by the Indian Army, the new occupiers of Sopore. General Mehta claims that by “sanitizing Sopore” the Indian Army has blunted the impetus of insurgency in all of Kashmir. This could be the turning point of war in Kashmir, notes the General. A jeep ride through Sopore was reassuring for the army man. Wrote the General, in Sopore “Bananas from Banaras were doing a brisk business… And, quiet flows the Jehlum”.
KHANDWAW
Outside Sopore it is not quiet. In the nearby Kupwara area, a Kashmiri named Jalal, a Gujjar(4, leader, is building up a resistance movement against the Kashmiri militants. Jalal has an army telephone and a jeep. His men carry automatic rifles and other weapons provided by the Indian Army. Ramesh Vinayak (India Today, June 30, 19994: “Foe Turned-Friend of the Security Forces”), quoting a local army officer, noted that with Jalal’s tip-offs, militants are being killed: ” Only 15 out of nearly 150 active militants remain in the Kupwara area”, noted correspondent Vinayak.
Jalal is now a favorite Kashmiri of India. He, like other agents of occupiers before him is given favors. Rajesh Pilot, the Indian Minister in charge of Kashmir is brazen in his prom-ises to Jalal. On April 7, 1994 Minister Pilot visited Jalal’s village. Jalal organized a procession of the local people against militancy. Pilot, in turn promised everything that the villagers had never even dreamt of. They were promised a school, hospital, a ration depot, Panchayat building, bus stand and a road.” Notes the correspondent “Little wonder Pilot has been visiting the forward areas of Kashmir. He knows if the Gujjars can be won over, it will not only help check border crossing but in the long run help blunt the secessionist movement in the Valley as well.” Jalal is a pawn in Pilot’s colonial play. Pilot’s promises are a part of the old strategy of colonialism. He exploits parochial aspirations to build up a movement against challenges, in this case the Kashmiri militants. Jalal seems unaware of the larger designs of his new benefactor. Jalal shows the true characteristics of a Kashmiri Khandwaw.
In the Kashmiri language a Kani shawl weaver was called Khandwaw. Khandwaw is also a Kashmiri word which subtly sums up an ignorant person. A Khandwaw worked with infinite dexterity but blindly, without any concept of the larger design emerging under his skilled fingers. His skills made the name Kashmir famous through-out the civilized world but he himself was trapped in eternal servitude.
KHANDWAV Politics of Rukhsana
Historically, most Kashmiris seem to relate to their government and rulers as a Khandwaw did to his craft. Government means oppression. Oppressive rule for centuries has alienated Kashmiris from government. Many stay aloof from the affairs of the State. The average Kashmiri’s unwillingness, rather his unawareness, to challenge oppression perpetuates his enslavement. Indian oppression in Kashmir is maintained on the basis of this historic legacy. When the militants first took control of Sopore, the Indian government apparatus in Sopore
had ceased to function. For two years, there was no government in Sopore. Soporians let the militants take over the authority to govern without taking the responsibility to ensure just law and order in the community was achieved. In Sopore, over time, militants authority may have become ruthless. When Rukhsana did not like what the militants were doing, she sought help from the Indian military. By her actions Rukhsana did not get her freedom, she only exchanged masters. She continues the 400 year old Kashmiri tradition of exchanging masters. Masters who keep their control through agents like Jalal and Latif.
KHANDWAV Politics of Power Jalal Style?
While most Kashmiris stay disfranchised, a few join hands with the oppressor. The quest for personal gain by a few, without regard for justice and fair play to others, results in the continued oppression of most Kashmiris. Jalal first joined hands with the Pakistan Intelligence Service. Ins 1989, he became the chief guide to help militants cross the border. In 1990, he started his own militant group in Kashmir. In March 1992, the Indian military caught him, “and then came his ideological about-face”. The Indian Army now uses Jalal as their agent.
As an agent of the Indian authority Jalal has power. He is among the few who exert political power in Kashmir. Empowerment of the people of Kashmir, in particular the poor majority, is rhetoric without substance. In the early thirties the freedom struggle in Kashmir began as an agitation by Kashmiri Muslims for jobs. Kashmir’s ruler then was a Hindu, the ruled were Muslims. The Muslims were landless in their own homeland. Their bonded labor produced the economic wealth of the country. Yet, they received no gain. So they began an agitation for a piece of the economic pie.
Soon after, the economic agitation of the Kashmiri Muslims was caught in the web of the Indian subcontinent’s politics. Muslims in the subcontinent supported the Kashmiri masses. Muslim aristocracy, who controlled the dominant Muslim political party, however, shunned the populous agitation. The Indian Hindu press sided with the Hindu Maharaja of Kashmir. But the Hindu leadership, as part of their larger political design for the Indian subcontinent, gave the most prominent Kashmiri leader, Sheikh Abdulla, mentorship and money.
Politics in Kashmir were based on personalities. All political parties and leaders in Kashmir were driven by emotion and dogma. The agitation led by Abdulla resulted in new jobs for the educated Kashmiris who thus benefited from the agitation. To safeguard their new found jobs they had to shun politics. Political activities thus were left to the uneducated poor masses. They gave unquestioned love and allegiance to Sheikh Abdulla Sheikh Abdulla’s egalitarian concepts of Naya (New) Kashmir, taken from communist literature, were beautiful in design, like the famed Kashmir Shawl. But Abdulla’s actions were Khandwaw, myopic, devoid of understanding of the larger geopolitical design of the Indian congress leadership.
Abdulla did not comprehend the intent of the Indian leaders. After the British left India, Indian leaders projected India as the world’s largest “secular democratic union”. But the country was and is ruled by an elite group of upper-caste Hindu Brahmins and Banjos. British colonialism has given way to Brahmin colonialism in India. Pakistan is no different in this respect. In Pakistan, a troika of landlords, military officers and bureaucrats govern the country. In 1947 the British left the India subcontinent, but colonialism did not leave with them.
Colonialism and autocratic rule has not left Kashmir either. When the British authority over Kashmir ended, Abdulla, with help from India, headed the government that replaced the Maharaja’s in Kashmir. He continued the tradition of autocratic rule. Collaborators got favors, opponents received punishment. Abdulla and his functionaries moved into opulent houses vacated by the keepers of the autocratic order. In Sher Gadi, the hall of power, a gathering of the new rulers in 1948 was no longer called Darbar, it became the State Assembly. Sheikh Abdulla selected members to this assembly much as the Maharaja had selected his courtiers. Relatives and lackeys took places of influence. Later, in the 1950’s Bakshi Ghulam Mohammad who was installed as Prime Minister by India, after Abdulla lost favor with New Delhi, perfected the tradition of punishment and reward. This form of governance continues today in Kashmir. At present, both the Indian military rulers of Kashmir and most militant freedom fighters, each in their own way, live above the law. Kashmiri masses desire political emancipation but are unable to participate in exercising political power. The few who strive to do so do it for personal gain, like Jalal and Latif.
KHANDWAV Politics of Religion Latif Style
Latif uses religion to gain authority. He first joined the Kashmiri militants. Later, he switched sides but continued to use religion for his purposes. Latif now helps the Indian Army in Sopore. He narrated tapes titled “Zara Sochiye” (Just Think) condemning militants outrages in Sopore. Latif of course is not the only one to exploit religion. Seekers of power all over the world have used religion to motivate and use the masses. Kashmir is no exception. Sheikh Abdulla used religious places and his talent as a “singer of Qur’an” to promote his self interest under the garb of secular politics.
Nowadays in many parts of the world the concept of Islamic rule (Nizani Mustafa) is used to gain political power and legitimize control by others. In so doing, some religious parties ignore the Islamic message of humanism and universalism. They confine Islam to sectarian dogma. They reduce Islam to an imaginary and harsh penal code. In the name of religion power brokers preside over repressive regimes and do not tolerate the mildest opposition.
A religious political party in the subcontinent opposed the very concept of the creation of Pakistan up till 1947. Then when Pakistan was created, it tried to overtake governance in Pakistan. The same party leaders participated in the elections when held in Kashmir under the Indian constitution. The same party leaders now issue “fatwas” to castrate any Kashmiri who seeks a political framework other than as part of Pakistan.
SHAHRIYAT
In Kashmir while on one side the Srinagar-Pindi Islamic axis uses the slogan of “Islam is in danger”; from the opposite side, the Srinagar-Delhi Secular axis, projects the theme of “danger of Islamic fundamentalism”. Both sides have little to do with ideology or reality. Their slogans are used to create turmoil and condone lawlessness to exploit the common people. In Kashmir the tradition of exercising power is still feudal, through sectarian networks and geographic origin.
For most Kashmiris, caught between the warring factions, the concepts of collective decision making, rule of law and individual freedom – collectively described here as shahriyat – is yet unknown.
Shahriyat implies equality. Equality is at the core of Islam. There is thus no conflict between a true democratic and a true Islamic order. Most Kashmiris are Muslims and therefore equality is also a part of the Kashmiri value system. The problem is that in Kashmir there is no organized institutional arrangement in place for exercising collective decision making. There is no rule of law and there is no individual freedom.
The political party structures now in place in Kashmir are autocratic. The National Conference Party built during the struggle against the Dogra regime is now demolished. Besides, the National Conference was in essence an autocratic apparatus since decision making was confined to few individuals led by Sheikh Abdulla. To enable decision making at the local level by individuals, i.e., to exercise empowerment, for Azadi – (self-determination) – there need to be a grass roots level decision making institutional arrangement in place. An institutional arrangement which serves as an educational, consensus building and decision-making apparatus.
In Kashmir the first order of business must be to change the present autocratic medieval political order into a democratic political order. Kashmiris must build institutions which can enable democratic participation at the grass roots level.
It needs to be pointed out that the coalition named All Parties Hurriyat Conference Party, as an umbrella organization of political parties in Kashmir, must not be viewed as an organizational structure for collective decision making. It is an assembly of leaders of factions and thus cannot substitute for a grass roots decision making apparatus. Hurriyat is a step in the right direction. But, on closer examination it becomes obvious that the emphasis continues to be on personalities and not on process. Individuals and not institutions continue to be at center stage in Kashmir, still.
WORLD CONSCIENCE AND AZADI
In 1990, when the present armed struggle began, the Kashmiri’s mass support was spontaneous. Neutral observers reported seeing hundreds of thousands of Kashmiris come out on the streets protesting against Indian occupation of Kashmir. India responded then, and continues to do so now, with lethal force. Kashmiri leadership appealed to “the conscience of the world”. Kashmiris continue to wait for the champions of world human rights -in particular the United States of America – to react.
The context for America’s geopolitics is best described by an American President, John Quincy Adams. Adam wrote in 1821 – nearly a century before the struggle for democracy and freedom began in Kashmir -: ” Whenever the standard of freedom and independence shall be unfurled, there will be America’s heart, her benedictions and her prayers . . . She is the well-wisher to the freedom and independence of all. She is the champion and vindicator only of her own. (emphasis added) Adams was the 6th president of the United States of America (1825-1829). Under its 42nd President, Bill Clinton, America is also a well-wisher to the freedom and independence of all… She is the champion and vindicator only of her own.
River Jehlum flows quiet as the Indian general wrote. The river will continue to carry bloated bodies of Kashmiris, the victims of oppression. The free flowing blood of Kashmiri youth will not stop either, until Kashmiris seek counsel among their own and thus champion their own freedom and independence.
External events and attitudes will always influence the future of the Kashmir freedom struggle. But, freedom – Azadi – will come only when Kashmiris exercise PERSONAL responsibility, when Khandwav politics will be replaced by politics of Shahriyat: collective decision making, rule of law and individual freedom.
Footnotes:
- In Kashmir Valley a five hundred thou-sand Indian military force controls the three million people of Kashmir. This occupation is a continuum of four centuries of foreign occupation. The British made Kashmir and its adjacent areas a buffer State between the soviet Empire on the north and the British Empire on the south.
- ‘Kani Shawl weaving was done by weavers called ‘Khandwaws’. They followed the instructions read aloud from the short hand pattern called Talim by a master weaver with-out understanding of the larger design of their creation. From the King to the master weaver all profited from the labor of the weaver, Khandwaws’, but he was the most exploited.
- Desire for freedom is to a large measure an urban phenomenon, part of “Shahriyat”: urbanism. It is a change in attitude and values. A change from medieval and autocratic values to contemporary urban values. This word is used here to denote three aspects of a democratic society: collective decision-making rule of law and individual freedom.
- Gujjars are a distinct ethnic group in Kashmir. Their traditional life was nomadic. They lived on high altitude Alpine pasture. Their main occupation is animal husbandry. Gujjars have begun to give up their traditional vocations and are settling in villages.
- Pampori (Kashmir In Chains 1819-1992), 1992 describes how Sheikh Abdulla used religious places as a platform to consolidate his power. He used religious recitation to promote his sectarian politics.