India must quit Kashmir

The Indian government has deployed its army around the histone Hazratbal masjid in Srinagar for the past 12 days, the publicized Indian target is a group of Kashmir militants reportedly holed up in the shrine. There are numerous other pilgrims, too, help up in the place, The Indian authorities do not appear to have any precise information about the identity of the persons hiding there, therefore, no mention has so far been made about why the inmates are wanted by the Indian security forces. It is not at all difficult to fathom the Indian strategy behind the Hazratbal drama which is essentially aimed at electoral gains for the ruling party in the forthcoming Assembly elections to five of the 22 states.

It has become a standard practice with India’s ruling class to Organize a few massacres of the minorities to whip up Hindu hystena which culminates in Hindu political consolidation on the eve of each major election in favor of the grouping which organize such slaughters, This consolidation is considered necessary because the so called Indian society is inherently torn apart by its caste divisions. Traditionally, this so called “Hindu card” was monopolized by the Jana Sangh or its reclamation the Bhartiya Janata Party. But a fascist lobby consisting of Rajiv Gandhi, Arun Nehru and others somehow persuaded the late Indira Gandhi in late 70’s to try her hand at the “Hindu card” and outdo the BJP in communalization of politics. The new strategy implied dispensing with the support of the minorities for the Congress (I) under Mrs. Gandhi’s command successfully employed the Hindu card in the Delhi municipal corporation elections in 1982 and in Jammu region of Kashmir in 1983. It ‘was on the basis of the experience gained in Delhi and Jammu that the ruling party minutely devised the Operation “Blue Star” in June 1984 to presage the general election in India, No wonder, the Congress(I) secured the maximum number of seats in India’s lower house at the end of 1984. The Hindu card evidently stood at the ground, Later, it was sought to be employed at regular intervals by the Indian ruling party to beat the BJP at its own game.

The confrontation at Hazratbal should be viewed against his back ground, It is a culmination of the ruling party’s strategy in Delhi, Jammu, U.P (remember Maileana), November 1984 Delhi notes, the Babri Masjid episode and the massacre of more than 2000 Muslims in its wake. Whatever the western countries may think of India’s so called liberalization, this is not an issue in the current electoral Campaigning. If anything, the so called liberalization is a source of embarrassment for the ruling party. The focus, therefore, is on Hazratbal which supposed to bail out the ruling party at least in two of the five states Himachal Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh. Himachal Pradesh in particular is next door to Kashmir and a recent incident at Chamba in Himachal Pradesh attributed to Kashmir militants sent shock waves to the ruling party which was looking for something to impress the upper castes in the hilly state that the Indian state is strong enough to suppress Muslim dissidence in the Kashmir valley. When U.S. secretary of state, Robin Raphel, asserts that Pakistan is not “informed” of the Hazratbal issue, she, in fact, may have India’s “electoral compulsions” in mind, But presumably the “information” is too embarrassing to be spelled out by Raphel.

But India’s crooked strategicians evidently had not bargained for the reaction from the whole mass of Kashmiris and the world public Opinion m general, That hundreds of newsmen from all over the world will converge on Srinagar to see the drama at Hazratbal was also not in India’s calculations, Kashmiri masses are in a defiant mood and are totally opposed to India’s presence in the Jammu and Kashmir territory, This is frankly admitted by the Indian media and government authorities themselves, No wonder, India finds itself in a predicament: it cannot leave Hazratbal as it is; it cannot rush matters as it did in Amritsar or at Ayodhya or elsewhere in December 1992.

The U,S, administration’s reactions to the confrontation in Kashmir are puzzling. The Clinton spokespersons continue to believe that while Kashmir is a disputed territory, ways should be found to ascertain the views of the people of Kashmir without holding any opinion poll there. The administration has taken upon itself the task of disciplining Pakistan against meddling in the valley and providing help to “terrorism” there, The people of Kashmir do not regard armed fighters as terrorists. But assuming that the armed men holed up in Hazratbal are “terrorists,” as the U.S, administration unwisely be lives them to be, then why advise restraint to India? Once the U.S. administration commits the solly of dubbing Kashmiris armed movement for freedom as terrorism, then its advice of restraint is sheer hypocrisy, it indulged in dual talks ‘so that the administration is not seen to be opponent of freedom, At the same time, it has to Ponder to the business lobby which is hailing contain overdue concessions as economic liberalization by the “world’s largest democracy.” President Clinton’s wrong policy has attracted criticism from an influential section of the elected representatives of the U.S. people, these representatives need to be strengthened by all those who stand for freedom and democracy in the Indian subcontinent. India must be forced out of Kashmir. Imperialism has no place in the world polity now. Independence for Kashmiris the only solution now.

Article extracted from this publication >>  October 29, 1993