The government needs to follow the same formula it is recommending for Palestine. It needs to open dialogue with the different stakeholders in Kashmir
“If I die,
Remember
That I, We, Were
Individuals,
Humans.
We had names dreams and achievements
And our only fault was that we were
Classified as inferior”
Belal Aldabbour, Palestinian neurologist, Gaza City
It was only a matter of time before this full page New York Times advertorial, also containing short stories of pregnant women and children killed in Gaza, went viral. Social media has shrunk the world and amplified the horror of the Israel-Palestine war.
The bloody conflict that is consuming lives, young and old, has united large parts of the Muslim world. Protestors are lining up on streets and while Kashmir, India’s Muslim-majority region, has not seen an eruption of anger, there are enough indications that the populace is getting affected by what many of them refer to as “Israeli brutality.”
Kashmir’s leaders — including former chief ministers Omar Abdullah of the National Conference (NC) and Mehbooba Mufti, president, People’s Democratic Party — have their ear to the ground and are echoing a sentiment the ordinary Kashmiri dare not articulate. The fear of summary arrests, including under the stringent Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, have seen a sharp decline in protests that were once marked with stone-throwing.
Mehbooba tried to take out a march from the party office, holding a flag of Palestine, chanting, “Israel ke zaalimon, go back, go back.” Other leaders, including a senior one said, “You can destroy the homes of Palestinians but they are not without support. Kashmiri hearts resonate with the Palestinians.” The leader sought to compare the “suffocation” and “suppression” of the ordinary Kashmiri with that of Gazans.
Omar Abdullah too is raising his voice. He has been asking a pertinent question that is now commonly being discussed within Kashmiri homes: If what the Russians did in Ukraine is a war crime, then what Israel is doing in Palestine is also a war crime. Both should be weighed on the same scale. Just because Muslims are dying in Palestine, doesn’t make it less of a war crime.
The impact on Kashmir
Both New Delhi and Kashmir’s local administration know that the senseless bombing of civilians in Gaza is impacting the Valley’s already alienated population. Kashmir has been trapped in a sullen silence since its special status was altered on August 5, 2019, when Article 370 was abrogated. The conflict, playing out miles away, is only adding another dangerous layer to the alienation that stems from stifled political aspirations and denial of basic human rights.
It is over a month since the conflict that began on October 7 when Hamas, in a dastardly attack, kidnapped and killed Israeli innocents including children. Israel’s heavy-handed response has not spared children either. Mehbooba was quick to take to social media with the NYT advertorial, calling for a ceasefire and an end to the siege of Gaza.
The response of the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir, sliced out of the erstwhile state in August 2019, has been typical. The Narendra Modi-led government continues to look at Kashmir through the narrow — and short-sighted — security lens. Troops and more troops lie at the heart of its Kashmir policy and this time too, the security officials drawn from the army, the paramilitary and the local police held a high-level meeting to tighten the counter-insurgency grid.
New Delhi knows that Kashmir is a political problem that needs political redressal but seems content pursuing a policy that only moves the pieces on the security chessboard. Experts including former Research & Analysis Wing (RAW) chief AS Dulat and former Northern army commander, Lt Gen (retd) DS Hooda have warned of an “explosion of anger” but there is scant evidence of any will to do more than govern through force.
What Delhi needs to do
Through the Israel-Hamas war, the Mirwaiz of Kashmir, Umar Farooq, has been locked up once again after being allowed to lead the Friday prayers at Srinagar’s historical Jamia Masjid. When he was allowed to take the stand, after remaining under house arrest for four years, Farooq had called for dialogue and reconciliation. New Delhi will not get a more moderate separatist, but it doesn’t seem interested in any dialogue. Other imams too have been warned against mentioning Palestine in any of their Friday speeches.
The way forward is clear. Actually, it is rather simple. The government needs to restore statehood and call for elections but they are not among Delhi’s priorities. The BJP just got a drubbing in the Ladakh Autonomous Hill Council Development election — swept by the NC-Congress combine — and the party is scared to even have similar elections for the J&K Union Territory. Losing will be tantamount to a vote against the abrogation of Article 370 in August 2019.
Delhi needs to go beyond its narrow, self-serving goals. It needs to do that urgently in Kashmir.
Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has returned to a Pakistan which is firmly under the control of its army chief, General Asim Munir. Former RAW chief Dulat says, India needs to look carefully at how the Pakistani and Palestinians angles will play out on the ground in Kashmir. “I am scared a volcano may erupt,” he says.
No one can quite predict if the scared and sullen population of Kashmir will take to the streets. New Delhi, however, must weigh the consequences of governing Kashmir through its uniformed soldiers. The common Kashmiri is looking at Gaza closely and that itself should force Delhi’s hand. The fear of losing an election can not and must not come in the way of the nation’s interest.
India abstained from voting on a resolution in the United Nations that called for a humanitarian truce because Hamas had not been condemned in that statement but a few days later, foreign minister S Jaishankar spoke in Rome. His words, at the joint secretary session of the Senate’s External Affairs and Defence Commission, hold the way forward.
Jaishankar said, “If there is an issue of terrorism, and we all find terrorism unacceptable…But there is also an issue of Palestine…Our view is that it has to be a two-state solution. You have to find a solution through dialogue and negotiation. You cannot find a solution through conflict and terrorism.”
In Kashmir, where an insurgency has raged and ebbed over three decades, the government needs to apply the same formula it is recommending for Palestine. The words that need to be underlined and actioned are dialogue and negotiation. Not with any terror organisation but its own people. The people who live in the militarised zone of Kashmir.
“If I die,
Remember
That I, We, Were
Individuals,
Humans.
We had names dreams and achievements
And our only fault was that we were
Classified as inferior”
Belal Aldabbour, Palestinian neurologist, Gaza City
Remember
That I, We, Were
Individuals,
Humans.
We had names dreams and achievements
And our only fault was that we were
Classified as inferior”
Belal Aldabbour, Palestinian neurologist, Gaza City
It was only a matter of time before this full page New York Times advertorial, also containing short stories of pregnant women and children killed in Gaza, went viral. Social media has shrunk the world and amplified the horror of the Israel-Palestine war.
The bloody conflict that is consuming lives, young and old, has united large parts of the Muslim world. Protestors are lining up on streets and while Kashmir, India’s Muslim-majority region, has not seen an eruption of anger, there are enough indications that the populace is getting affected by what many of them refer to as “Israeli brutality.”
The bloody conflict that is consuming lives, young and old, has united large parts of the Muslim world. Protestors are lining up on streets and while Kashmir, India’s Muslim-majority region, has not seen an eruption of anger, there are enough indications that the populace is getting affected by what many of them refer to as “Israeli brutality.”
Kashmir’s leaders — including former chief ministers Omar Abdullah of the National Conference (NC) and Mehbooba Mufti, president, People’s Democratic Party — have their ear to the ground and are echoing a sentiment the ordinary Kashmiri dare not articulate. The fear of summary arrests, including under the stringent Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, have seen a sharp decline in protests that were once marked with stone-throwing.
Mehbooba tried to take out a march from the party office, holding a flag of Palestine, chanting, “Israel ke zaalimon, go back, go back.” Other leaders, including a senior one said, “You can destroy the homes of Palestinians but they are not without support. Kashmiri hearts resonate with the Palestinians.” The leader sought to compare the “suffocation” and “suppression” of the ordinary Kashmiri with that of Gazans.
Omar Abdullah too is raising his voice. He has been asking a pertinent question that is now commonly being discussed within Kashmiri homes: If what the Russians did in Ukraine is a war crime, then what Israel is doing in Palestine is also a war crime. Both should be weighed on the same scale. Just because Muslims are dying in Palestine, doesn’t make it less of a war crime.
The impact on Kashmir
Both New Delhi and Kashmir’s local administration know that the senseless bombing of civilians in Gaza is impacting the Valley’s already alienated population. Kashmir has been trapped in a sullen silence since its special status was altered on August 5, 2019, when Article 370 was abrogated. The conflict, playing out miles away, is only adding another dangerous layer to the alienation that stems from stifled political aspirations and denial of basic human rights.
Both New Delhi and Kashmir’s local administration know that the senseless bombing of civilians in Gaza is impacting the Valley’s already alienated population. Kashmir has been trapped in a sullen silence since its special status was altered on August 5, 2019, when Article 370 was abrogated. The conflict, playing out miles away, is only adding another dangerous layer to the alienation that stems from stifled political aspirations and denial of basic human rights.
It is over a month since the conflict that began on October 7 when Hamas, in a dastardly attack, kidnapped and killed Israeli innocents including children. Israel’s heavy-handed response has not spared children either. Mehbooba was quick to take to social media with the NYT advertorial, calling for a ceasefire and an end to the siege of Gaza.
The response of the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir, sliced out of the erstwhile state in August 2019, has been typical. The Narendra Modi-led government continues to look at Kashmir through the narrow — and short-sighted — security lens. Troops and more troops lie at the heart of its Kashmir policy and this time too, the security officials drawn from the army, the paramilitary and the local police held a high-level meeting to tighten the counter-insurgency grid.
New Delhi knows that Kashmir is a political problem that needs political redressal but seems content pursuing a policy that only moves the pieces on the security chessboard. Experts including former Research & Analysis Wing (RAW) chief AS Dulat and former Northern army commander, Lt Gen (retd) DS Hooda have warned of an “explosion of anger” but there is scant evidence of any will to do more than govern through force.
What Delhi needs to do
Through the Israel-Hamas war, the Mirwaiz of Kashmir, Umar Farooq, has been locked up once again after being allowed to lead the Friday prayers at Srinagar’s historical Jamia Masjid. When he was allowed to take the stand, after remaining under house arrest for four years, Farooq had called for dialogue and reconciliation. New Delhi will not get a more moderate separatist, but it doesn’t seem interested in any dialogue. Other imams too have been warned against mentioning Palestine in any of their Friday speeches.
Through the Israel-Hamas war, the Mirwaiz of Kashmir, Umar Farooq, has been locked up once again after being allowed to lead the Friday prayers at Srinagar’s historical Jamia Masjid. When he was allowed to take the stand, after remaining under house arrest for four years, Farooq had called for dialogue and reconciliation. New Delhi will not get a more moderate separatist, but it doesn’t seem interested in any dialogue. Other imams too have been warned against mentioning Palestine in any of their Friday speeches.
The way forward is clear. Actually, it is rather simple. The government needs to restore statehood and call for elections but they are not among Delhi’s priorities. The BJP just got a drubbing in the Ladakh Autonomous Hill Council Development election — swept by the NC-Congress combine — and the party is scared to even have similar elections for the J&K Union Territory. Losing will be tantamount to a vote against the abrogation of Article 370 in August 2019.
Delhi needs to go beyond its narrow, self-serving goals. It needs to do that urgently in Kashmir.
Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has returned to a Pakistan which is firmly under the control of its army chief, General Asim Munir. Former RAW chief Dulat says, India needs to look carefully at how the Pakistani and Palestinians angles will play out on the ground in Kashmir. “I am scared a volcano may erupt,” he says.
Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has returned to a Pakistan which is firmly under the control of its army chief, General Asim Munir. Former RAW chief Dulat says, India needs to look carefully at how the Pakistani and Palestinians angles will play out on the ground in Kashmir. “I am scared a volcano may erupt,” he says.
No one can quite predict if the scared and sullen population of Kashmir will take to the streets. New Delhi, however, must weigh the consequences of governing Kashmir through its uniformed soldiers. The common Kashmiri is looking at Gaza closely and that itself should force Delhi’s hand. The fear of losing an election can not and must not come in the way of the nation’s interest.
India abstained from voting on a resolution in the United Nations that called for a humanitarian truce because Hamas had not been condemned in that statement but a few days later, foreign minister S Jaishankar spoke in Rome. His words, at the joint secretary session of the Senate’s External Affairs and Defence Commission, hold the way forward.
Jaishankar said, “If there is an issue of terrorism, and we all find terrorism unacceptable…But there is also an issue of Palestine…Our view is that it has to be a two-state solution. You have to find a solution through dialogue and negotiation. You cannot find a solution through conflict and terrorism.”
Jaishankar said, “If there is an issue of terrorism, and we all find terrorism unacceptable…But there is also an issue of Palestine…Our view is that it has to be a two-state solution. You have to find a solution through dialogue and negotiation. You cannot find a solution through conflict and terrorism.”
In Kashmir, where an insurgency has raged and ebbed over three decades, the government needs to apply the same formula it is recommending for Palestine. The words that need to be underlined and actioned are dialogue and negotiation. Not with any terror organisation but its own people. The people who live in the militarised zone of Kashmir.
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