Kashmir’s self ruin for hurt

First published Daily Greater Kashmir, 7 June, 2009-06-07

Kashmir’s self ruin for hurt

Let us understand it does not matter to our oppressor if we eat our dinner or not. It doesn’t matter to him if a widow fails to feed her children, and in desperation resorts to prostitution. It does not matter to him if economic deprivation breeds crime and nihilism in our society. Whether our children are getting quality education doesn’t matter to him either.

Arjimand Hussain Talib

Kashmir’s history looks like on a pause. Its life has become cyclically predictable. A brute tyranny, a bizarre national contradiction and a compulsive sense of self ruin forms a cycle. All these components fuel each other. And the cycle rolls.

There is an awful feeling of déjà vu every time a Kashmiri woman is raped, or an innocent man killed by Indian soldiers. It evokes a mass feeling of haplessness among Kashmiris, which is torturous.

The latest atrocity in Shopian at the hands of Indian soldiers is one such example. Alas! Omar Abdullah still looks the other way. Alas! His coalition government, the PDP and their ilk continue politicking for the sake of power.

Every time such atrocities are reported, Kashmir’s rulers resort to their creepy scheme: order probes, buy time, dilute public memory and close the chapter. They never had the conviction to confess that they have bartered their moral authority to make justice prevail for their brush with power. They don’t tell us it is that way their feigned autocracy, skilfully disguised as democracy, works. Still worse, they get away with everything, and usually have the last laugh.

For more than half a century now Kashmiris are under a disguised slavery. For more than three decades they struggled peacefully to chart their destiny, but achieved nothing. Two decades of armed struggle did not get the goal any closer.

Kashmir’s armed struggle has now largely subdued. Peaceful and democratic means of struggle are back. But, sadly, India’s response to it continues to be overly militaristic. A democratic space to allow a peaceful struggle remains a mirage.

For more than two decades, peaceful shut downs have complemented Kashmir’s armed struggle. It is now an established fact that they have done more harm than any good. Worse, we continue to embark the same path.

Looking at the level of repression, many people argue shut downs are the only means of protest left with the Kashmiri people. That is only partly true. Resorting to shut downs on selective basis could be effective. They need not be frequent and indefinite. They could be even more creative.

A long shut down with no clear goal is a clear recipe for self ruin. Its rationale is intrinsically faulty. It brings economic mayhem, tatters our social and psychological wellbeing. You cannot inflict self hurt and expect the oppressor to mend. It has to be the other way round.

Monotony and predictability in any kind of protest defeats its very purpose. It fails to catch attention and incite action. When it hurts the self, it fails to mobilise. Its approach becomes surreal, turns people away and makes them reluctant participants.

Let us understand it does not matter to our oppressor if we eat our dinner or not. It doesn’t matter to him if a widow fails to feed her children, and in desperation resorts to prostitution. It does not matter to him if economic deprivation breeds crime and nihilism in our society. Whether our children are getting quality education doesn’t matter to him either.

Let us understand such long shut downs severely impact people’s psychological well being. There is a limit to human endurance in everything. Long shut downs are known to breed domestic frictions and frustrations among our jobless youth. They result in loss of lives. They are a health hazard too.

A day-long shut down doesn’t only mean a quantifiable loss of business. It results in indefinable and innumerable opportunities lost – a loss which can be hardly regained. This culture of frequent and long shut-downs sickens us and pushes us further to lethargy and inaction. It deepens the crisis of our work culture. Let us realise we continue to lack in independent and credible national institutions because we have impaired our social, educational, psychological and intellectual ability.

By pure miracle we have survived about two decades of economic mayhem by long shut downs. God has been kind to us by bestowing us with bounties of agriculture and horticulture. A strong sense of social cohesion and brotherhood ensures the poor do not go hungry. But let us do not take God for granted.

India and South Africa’s freedom struggles have some key lessons.

The youth wing of the African National Congress (ANC), sickened by a lack of progress in achieving their goals, in somewhat similar circumstances, took control of the organization in 1949. The new young leaders, among other things, embraced a new Programme of Action – which included a series of strikes, boycotts and civil disobedience actions.

The aim of the protests was to disrupt the White regime’s trade and commercial activities. It was a kind of civil disobedience. The White regime was at a loss because it was losing production and tax revenues. The action made the White regime feel the pinch.

When we reflect on the means of protest in India’s freedom struggle, the message is the same. The movements of non-cooperation, civil disobedience, the Dandi March… they were not the instruments of self ruin. The objective was clear and unambiguous. There was no element of self ruin.

Breaking the cycle of Kashmir’s hurt and self ruin is possible.

First, New Delhi and its regime in Srinagar must allow a space for peaceful expression of protest and disapproval. You cannot endlessly deny a right of peaceful protest in the name of maintaining so-called public order.

‘Undeclared curfews’ remain a blot on the rule of law. They mock at the concepts of basic human freedom and civil liberties. They must be done away with.

Second, the leaders who are supposed to lead these protests are often detained; house arrested and denied the democratic right to connect to the people. If you grant them that right, their logic for resorting to long shut-downs would stand questioned.

Third, any form of protest needs to re-invent its raison d’être. Should it be self hurting or the other way round?

Fourth, a protest could be an opportunity as well. Imagine business establishments or even houses lighting up candles every night on a day of protest! Imagine those candles coming from micro enterprises of our jobless youth or even widows, who are today left dependent on government aid! Imagine on a day of protest special messages and slogans displayed on our vehicles! Imagine women wearing black ribbons when it is for them to convey a message. Imagine children too doing like that! Imagine revisiting the 90s’ popular mode of protest - beating of tin roof tops and making the ‘right noise’! There could be any number of ideas.

Fifth, hydro power is the main resource of Kashmir which goes places. Imagine a peaceful protest surrounding it!

Let us understand no matter Kashmir’s democratic façade; as long as there is occupation, there would be repression. Time to bid good bye to this intellectual narrowness has come. Struggles must bear results. Or else, they must re-invent.

Feedback at Arjimand@greaterkashmir.com