Kashmir, the Muslim-majority region in India’s northernmost territory of Jammu and Kashmir that has seen much separatist turmoil and cross-border terrorism, could see radical change overnight as it heads for “historic” assembly elections later this month.
But which way it is now headed, nobody can say. It looks increasingly messy and fragile.
Each summer, hordes of tourists descend on Kashmir and everything appears hunky-dory. New Delhi says there is normalcy in Kashmir, but it is an abnormal normalcy. The Kashmiri thrive on tourism, therefore the tourist season and the Amarnath Yatra (an annual Hindu pilgrimage through southern Kashmir) are rarely disturbed. That is also why terrorism has gone south of the Pir Panjal range from the Kashmir valley to the Jammu plains.
Naya Kashmir, as Prime Minister Narendra Modi has dubbed his vision for the region after the abrogation of Article 370 (the constitutional provision that gave the region greater autonomy within the Indian union), centers on the claim of taming terrorism.
Initially, our muscular policy paid off. ‘Hartals’ (a complete shutdown of shops and offices, usually as a form of protest) and stone-pelting ended and even the boys in south Kashmir who were prepared to die in the name of Allah thought twice; the Kashmiris decided not to die cheaply.
However, there have been constant whispers of a volcano waiting to erupt.
More scary is the silence in Kashmir. Silencing even the past is not easy and will continue to haunt us. To paraphrase the renowned Kashmiri-American poet Agha Shahid Ali, desolation cannot provide peace.
Dr Farooq Abdullah, former chief minister of the state of Jammu and Kashmir (before the Article 370 abrogation made it a Union Territory largely governed at federal level), has repeatedly said terrorism will not end unless we engage with Pakistan. Now, the situation........