Why America must not ignore Kashmir

The international community, especially the US, views Kashmir as a bone of contention between two nuclear-armed nations. A potential nuclear engagement between Pakistan and India is perceived to be a security concern arising out of this conflict. The two nations have gone to war over Kashmir four times — 1948, 1965, 1971, and 1999. However, there is a graver threat brewing in Kashmir. The US is ignoring Kashmir at its own peril.

When Saddam’s forces invaded Kuwait, the Saudis feared they were next. Osama bin Laden offered to help protect Saudi Arabia with his battle-hardened Mujahideen fighters. The Saudis rejected his offer and instead invited the Americans to protect against a potential invasion by Saddam.

Bin Laden was deeply offended. He loathed the idea of infidel forces setting their feet in the Holy Land. He turned against the US and declared a holy war (Jihad) against it. This background is important to understand why al Qaeda became anti-America. Another reason was the American support for Israel. Israel’s creation among the Palestinians is commemorated as the Nakba Day (the Day of the Catastrophe). Ever since, Israel has been on a never-ending quest to grab more and more Palestinian land by never defining its permanent borders.

Israel is a nuclear-armed state, though it never officially acknowledges it. And the West has comfortably looked the other way. The US covertly and overtly supported Israel in its atrocious activities, always vetoing any UN resolution against Israel. All this generated a lot of anger against the US. Public opinion especially in the Arab world has been against Israeli actions and by extension against the US for its support.

India is a similar US ally as it shares with Israel the occupation and annexation of a land that does not belong to it. Kashmir is the world’s most densely militarised zone with close to a million Indian soldiers deployed there. In a deja vu, the US is choosing to look the other way. This Sunday, President Trump will join Modi at a gathering of Indian-Americans in Houston, Texas. The event is dubbed with a Texas twang as “Howdy Modi!” The disgruntled youth of Kashmir will not forget this tacit American support.

It is natural for the Kashmiris to be completely disillusioned eventually and follow the jihadists’ path. Those jihadists fought against the domestic tyrant (near enemy) as the concept of takfir dictated, without losing sight of the distant enemy supporting the near enemy. Chalmers Johnson in his book Blowback warned before 9/11 that the US government’s actions in foreign countries will have consequences. The heat from Kashmir will reach far and wide. Ignoring Kashmir will make ISIS task of recruiting angry young men very easy.

With no education, job, and a promising future these Kashmiri men would be driven into the arms of ISIS and al Qaeda. Lawrence Wright in The Looming Tower explained how humiliation causes young disgruntled men to join terror groups to take revenge. Humiliation drove many to abandon their families and go on a kamikaze mission called 9/11. It caused the Afghans to fight against the Soviets, created the Taliban, and is continuing to cause resistance to aggression around the world. Kashmir is where every individual, regardless of age and gender, faced humiliation by the occupying Indian army. The world should brace for impact.

If the US continues to ignore Kashmir, the future may cause terrorism created by Indian aggression in Kashmir to reach the West, because terrorists also believe in guilt by association. I sincerely hope that it doesn’t happen and if it does, the world would have enough decency to not ask “Why do they hate us?”

Published in The Express Tribune, September 19^th, 2019.

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