Kashmir not a theatre for Modi to star forever

The former supreme leader of Iran Ayatollah Khomeini’s grudge against the Americans rested in the unrelenting support that the US offered for many years to the Shah of Iran. Having driven the Americans out of his country he didn’t want to see them play any meaningful role in the region as well. Four decades later in our neighborhood again another leader, PM Modi of India is executing similar politics of ‘ideological hatred’ and what is wrong with his politics is that it comes in an era when the world hates the idea of ‘revolutionaries in power’, ‘absolute power’ and ‘power rested in single authority’. Today’s world community in this multipolar world is guided by many principled ethics including that of ‘human rights’ and ‘responsibility to protect’ and abhors the very idea of imposition of any forced political will (fascism) over the people that isn’t popular with them. Surely, those that empathise with Kashmiris feel that the world has turned a blind eye towards their sufferings; but given the righteousness of their cause, the world will eventually come to their rescue and that is the hope that sustains their movement and the ultimate fight for their independence.

For the moment the world is unable to see the truth in Kashmir as the real truths are buried under the many versions in Kashmir and every version propagates its own reality. The Indian military version, the version of the BJP government, the version of independent media, the Pakistani version — all tend to create their own preferred realities. Yet, the only reality is the one demonstrated by the aspirations and passion of Kashmiri people.

In a very short period of history, men of ambition in the BJP government have torn apart the existing social contract between the ruler and the ruled in Kashmir. While the military has taken out its guns, the policymakers have taken out their ideological pens to try and carve a new state of Kashmir devoid of any social contract that is acceptable to the people of Kashmir and which binds them to the state. How is this possible? States grow out of nations but what India is trying to do in Kashmir is to recreate a new nation out of a state. It can make as many constitutional and demographic changes it wants, what it cannot change is the resolute will of the people of Kashmir.

There is this remarkable story in political history which tells us what happens to a leader who creates his own myths of power and doesn’t allow the reality to sink in. The Israeli strongmen Prime Minister Menachem Begin and his Defence Minister Ariel Sharon were the masterminds behind the Israeli invasion of Lebanon in June 1982. Begin was a man totally engaged in politics of his country even before its birth, a man who was his nation’s greatest orator but ultimately became a man of silence. The Israeli antiwar movement of that time used to hold up a huge placard outside Begin’s house (1 Zemach Street Jerusalem) that kept a running account of Israelis who were dying in Lebanon. Every day that Begin walked outside to go to work, he was confronted by those numbers. The result was that in September 1983 he resigned, locked himself into his apartment never to come out of it again. It is said that what Begin did was “tried himself, found himself guilty and locked himself in jail”.

Modi’s Kashmir strategic designs are also based on his self-delusions which is why they are also likely to lead him to a political and military disaster. Apparently PM Modi considers himself a great political genius who showcases this remarkable ability to move back and forth in winning over both the domestic and international audience. A democrat for external audience, a defender of ideology of Hindutva at home, a moderniser and reformer for foreign investors, but a brutal dictator and bulldozer of human rights in places such as Kashmir. These are not typically the attributes of a leader leading the world’s biggest democracy that the world is accustomed to see. PM Modi’s selfish politics has created a radicalised and an artificial India that exhibits an emotional vacuum. Modi’s biggest mistake is that he doesn’t represent the consensus of the people he is a leader trying hard to shape it — this creates the artificiality. There can be no common sense and no rational calculations if ground realities are ignored. At a certain point of time down the road it becomes necessary to let reality in. Complex, deeply rooted political problem such as Kashmir cannot be tackled alone with power myths and brute force.

History tells us how different eras create different circumstances and their own political realities. Between World War 1 and World War 2 when all kinds of people were getting states of their own, both Kashmir and Palestine missed the train. The whole of Kashmir couldn’t become part of Pakistan and Palestine never got an independent state. Kashmiris were given taste of some real power when they gave up on the armed struggle, the guerilla warfare to return and look up to the Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly to answer their call of independence and sovereignty. What they got in return was the taste of power and their leaders getting less and less in hurry and so the movement of independence drifted to two extremes with none gaining any ground which only sapped its strength.

In the world that we live in today you cannot get an inch of land back by fighting a war. The reality is that nuclear powers don’t fight wars. Under such circumstances the softer approach, the diplomatic approach, the moral and political support is what Pakistan needs to consistently offer to Kashmir. Piling the Kashmiri people with hope across the LoC is not theatrics, nor are the new political maps, songs, standing in silence to pay homage to the Kashmiris’ resilience and pushing OIC to take harder stance on the issue meaningless activities. These activities put the Kashmir cause on the news agenda of India and the world. They all contribute in their small ways to keeping the movement alive. Only if the movement stays alive, one can hope that the world will no more ignore the Kashmir issue and one day will awaken to the Kashmiri cause.

Like Begin, a time would come that the true reality in Kashmir will also hit Modi’s India and Modi himself. At that time he may not have the political grace like Begin to judge and punish himself but he surely will realise that Kashmir was not a theatre where he could star forever, it was a living reality representing the aspirations and will of Kashmiri people.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 9^th, 2020.

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