The Proxy war in Kashmir

 

Proxy war and domestic terrorism in J&K after August 2019

Jammu and Kashmir, the northern most part of India, is known to be a regular hotspot in terms of the border issues that India has faced since its independence from the British, and the partition from Pakistan. The three bordering states of Punjab, West Bengal and Jammu and Kashmir suffered traumatically at those times, but its only in J&K that the trauma has carried on for 73 years.  A Muslim-majority region with a Hindu ruler, who was Maharaja Hari Singh, only decided to become a part of India after  Pakistan had set  affiliations with the Afghani tribesmen who sent thousands of their men to set base in the Kashmir mountains, and have seemingly been there ever since.

 The balance of the area on a social as well political basis has been deferred for far too long. Article 370, the special status given by Nehru to the state was supposed to be a temporary affair, until the articulation  of its constitution, but instead had become a life long sense of autonomy over the political rights set up by the Government of India until August 5^th 2019 by abrogating the article, which Pakistan was quick to response to as “perpetual lockdown.” The Pakistani Prime minister was quick to respond to this by calling it an illegality and stating, “ If the world does not act now, if the so-called developed world does not uphold its own laws, then things will go to a place that will damage the whole world.” The main focus for Pakistan’s sponsored proxy war has been to implement the idea of “Azadi” into the minds of the people of J&K. Pushing the idea of them being different from the other states of India because of the Muslim majority . This idea of being exclusive, was an effective way to bait the people into the idea of demanding more political freedom, and hence seeing a demand for a so-called autonomy. It was the special status given by Article 370 and 35A, that can be blamed for this kind of mindset coming into place with making of a sentimental attachment which could be used as ammunition by Pakistan as well as anti-nationalists of the State. The elimination of these articles should lead to a new path of national integration into the system. Due to Article 370, Kashmir did not have many of the important regulations like the RTI in their state government, while 35A was an opposition to the idea of disparity and gender equality in the now Union territory.

Completing a year on the abrogation of the article, the people of Pakistan received text messages stating, “5^th August marks ‘Youm-E-Istehal’ completing 365 days of military siege of Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir. Pakistan stands shoulder to shoulder with Kashmiri brothers and sisters. The day is not far when their struggle will bear fruit.” Istehal meaning exploitation, has been a way of trying to get the people of Kashmir’s support. What they forgot to take into account are the losses of lives of civilians in Pakistani shellings in areas like Kupwara and Baramulla; places where the current tension has been quite tight with very recent incidents of border-crossing by the Pakistani military which has resulted in military as well as civilian casualties.

Kashmir has been facing terrorism on terms of both border-crossing as well as domestication of the process of radicalizing. The now union territory has for long suffered the radicalization of the Youths into acts of militancy either for the idea of joining hands with Kashmir, but more for the idea of Independent Kashmir. Shopian, a town that has been through many of the incidents of militancy is known to be home to a radicalized mindset. Gunfights are in comparison to other towns quite a normality in the picture of Shopian in mind.

Going through social media as a way of influencing minds, there have been many pages and articles about the wrongdoings of the Indian Army and the government in Kashmir, and hence creating a sense of enmity to being a part of India. But that is not the entire picture there. The ones who have been supportive to the decision of abrogation have been deemed as unsupportive and enemy of the cause for the radicalized minds taking in an example of one recent event in the end of September 2020 when the newly formed “The Resistance Front(TRF)” came out with a list of targeted journalists and media personnel referring to them as “Whole gang of so called Journalist/Media Fraternity working under Indian pay roll. But such topics are not that well voiced out on social media. Instead the pages have even pushed forward a mindset of freedom of Kashmir from India, in the minds of people in India, which would work as a major factor for pushing Pakistan’s idea of Kashmir’s separation from India. What the problem for Pakistan in this factor though is that even the domestic terrorists groups while many being funded and supplied by Pakistan, are not working on the idea of joining Pakistan, but the idea of liberation from both sides of the coin which is not that rational a decision in its making. Just the way Pakistan had sent in Afghani tribesmen in vast number in 1947, what guarantee is there that  if the idea of Free Kashmir becomes a reality, Pakistan is not going to take it as an opportunity to cross the boundary without any interference by the border security.

Statistically, since the abrogation, there have been mixed accounts on the progress of Kashmir. On some accounts, the role of Kashmir diaspora has been referred to an as anti-colonial struggle, with the Indian Army getting stuck in the blame game for shelling and bombings. The other side, the Army has got an overall increase in the number of terrorists they have eliminated in comparison to their own losses suffered. There has been a reduction in civilian casualties, which is the more important factor while there has been a growth in terms of development of the UT in terms of factors like Education, Healthcare, Agriculture and Local Governance. This is the time to focus on stabilization of the system, the game of geopolitics for the affairs of PoK and Gilgit-Baltistan. It is not a matter of fairytales to see an end to this proxy war, it is the practicality of the State, as perceived by its own people, on how to progress ahead fairly. It is the minds of the locals of Kashmir that must be convinced about the coming of normality in the state.