Rethinking politics on Kashmir

After more than 115 days of mass uprising in Kashmir, the occupying Indian government is clear – both in its actions on the ground and the rhetoric that it generates – the problem in Jammu and Kashmir is a law and order problem to be dealt strictly in that spirit. As a result, even after more than 110 deaths and 15,000 maimed persons, the Indian state response remains to send in more troops to quash the public rebellion that calls for an end to the Indian occupation. More than 15,000 have been arrested – two-thirds of them students – as the Indian troops have launched massive nocturnal crackdowns against towns and villages throughout the length and breadth of Kashmir.



Indian refusal to acknowledge the political dimensions of the ongoing Kashmir unrest has created more suffering on the ground as the extremist Indian government and the jingoistic media in thrall to the Islamophobic and anti-Pakistan sentiment continue to advance outlandish theories that blame Pakistan for financing the unrest in Kashmir. As such, it absolves the Indian state of any scrutiny from its own people or the institutions that would otherwise offer some critique of the state brutalities which include murdering and traumatising of Kashmiris without fail.

Indian refusal for any meaningful diplomatic and political engagement with Pakistan to seek a political solution to the problem is adding to the miseries of a besieged population who have no recourse to their growing humanitarian suffering. This failure to engage in a productive dialogue – either with Kashmiris or Pakistanis – has allowed Indian extremist politicians to enhance the constituency of hate not only among the people of India but also among the Indian army and paramilitary forces whose behaviour in Kashmir is increasingly becoming Islamophobic and who are more than willing to see the people’s struggle against the state through a religious binary. This is subjecting Kashmiris to a more ruthless state terror that draws its inspiration and raison d'être from both the state and the religious narrative against a population that it considers its enemy. Perhaps this is one of the reasons that India has refused to engage politically to find a way out of the current morass that it has provoked and enacted in Kashmir.



As the de facto occupier, the continuous Indian refusal to engage politically and diplomatically with Kashmiris or Pakistan should not end the hopes of politics as the main vehicle of resolving disputes. Despite the Indian intransigence, there is massive room for political engagement between other parties to the dispute – Kashmiris, Pakistan and China. The current mass uprising in Kashmir has restored Pakistan’s role as the right’s defender of the Kashmiri people as Pakistan enjoys overwhelming support in the streets of Kashmir. Equally, China has emerged as a strong voice advocating for a political resolution of the problem.

It is important to acknowledge that the Kashmir problem has four parties – Kashmir, Pakistan, India and China. While Kashmiris remain the principal party, Pakistan, India and China retain their roles by virtue of each controlling a part of Kashmir. In order to enhance the constituency of politics, it is important that Kashmiris and Pakistan cease the initiative and engage in a concerted and a structured political engagement alongside China to work on a political solution to the problem that has not only the potential to cause a nuclear war between India and Pakistan but also breach the peace between India and China.



It is important that Pakistan takes the initiative beyond its stated position of ‘political, moral and diplomatic support’ through the communiqués issued by the Foreign Office and engage in a much deeper political engagement with the stakeholders on Kashmir. Since India refuses to budge from its unnatural and intransigent position, it is important that other parties of the dispute fill the political vacuum to create conducive conditions that could lead us to a political solution. As the voices for a political engagement will grow, India will have to jettison its extremist and maximalist position on the Kashmir dispute and agree to a solution that leads to a long-term peace in the region while recognising the position and aspirations of the Kashmiri people. The Kashmir problem needs a political solution acceptable to all parties including China and the onus is on Kashmiris and Pakistan to start the process regardless of Indian refusal to engage.

Murtaza Shibli is a journalist, author and communications and security specialist. He keeps shuttling between London, Lahore and Srinagar, Kashmir. He tweets @murtaza_shibli