George Orwell in his famous book “1984” which was written by him about the future authoritarian regimes mentions about “New Speak” (the official language of Oceania) as being the new way of speaking the truth. Every word in the new order of things has a double meaning. The people who speak about something interpret their sayings always in a dual manner thereby avoiding speaking the real and the absolute truth. This is precisely what has been happening in regard to Kashmir. Each player in the dramas enacted from time to time in relation to the ever green “Kashmir Problem” indulges in “New Speak”. There are two other books which can be a great help in understanding the roles and methodology of some of the actors in this tragic drama. These are the “Prince” by Machiavelli and the “Arthshastra” by Kautaliya. During last sixty years the main casualty in Kashmir all around has been the truth. It has become relative to various factors such as national interests, personal interests, prevailing circumstances, economic interests, and so on. The concept of absolute truth has ceased to exist. The truth is what suits various contenders at a particular point in time. What has been in the past or what would happen in the future does not matter. Let us begin with the attitude and utterances of Pakistani leaders. There was a time when Pakistan was supposed to be incomplete without Kashmir. It was said that the letter K in the word Pakistan represented Kashmir. It was claimed to be the jugular vein of the newly created Islamic Republic. Three wars were fought for liberating this land from the “infidels”. The struggle of Kashmiris for their right of self-determination was not only supported morally but physically also. The struggle was a jihad, a holy war, and dying in this cause would make one a martyr. Islam is the religion of truth. There can be no compromise on the absolute truth. The first requisite of a true Muslim is to speak the truth regardless of the consequences. Hundreds of thousand of Kashmiris have sacrificed their lives during last sixty years to uphold the absolute truth. However, with the passage of time there has been a dramatic change in the attitudes as well as utterances of the Pakistani leaders. Sometime back the spokeswoman of Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry stated that Pakistan had never laid a claim on Kashmir. President Musharraf in his interview to Prannoy Roy of NDTV was prepared to forego Pakistan’s claim on Kashmir if the problem was settled through his four point proposal. He had climbed down from his earlier rhetoric and intransigent attitude in Agra about Kashmir being the core issue. Pakistan was now flexible and would accept gracefully whatever was acceptable to Kashmiris. Had the leaders of Pakistan taken this stand truly and honestly in 1947, there would have been no Kashmir problem now. In a recent statement, their Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz again stated in Delhi while interacting with the media during the SAARC Summit that Kashmir was the core issue. There could be no real progress in relations between two countries including trade unless Kashmir problem was resolved. One wonders what is the truth as perceived by Pakistanis? Which of the statements should one believe? There seem to be some continuously changing compulsions which force them to interpret the truth in different ways at different times. If one glances over the conditions prevailing in their part of Kashmir including Northern Areas, then the “New Speak” gets fully vindicated. They seem to be totally hypocritical. One cannot demand political freedom for others while denying the same to ones own citizens.

Let us now take up the Indian leaders. The very first truth is that they denied Kashmiris a free choice to decide their own future. The Indian leaders attitude is fully understandable as they meticulously follow the historical treatise on state craft, the “Arthshastra” written by Kautaliya. Chanakya Neeti is part and parcel of governance in India. There is nothing like absolute truth according to this bible of Indian politicians. The chapter on covert operations in this masterpiece of use of deceit in governance gives one shivers. The first act of the Indian leaders was to entrap the charismatic leader of Kashmir, Sheikh Abdullah. He was totally unaware of the manipulations being made behind his back by his various Indian “friends”. Ultimately the “friend” with whom he had recited the famous Persian verse of a person being the body and the other being the soul in presence of thousands of people in the historic Lal Chowk (Red Square) of Srinagar, dumped him in prison for over a dozen years. Nehru gave umpteen promises and written commitments about the right of Kashmiris to decide their own future but honoured none of these. With the change of circumstances the truth also changed. From time to time Indian leaders have spoken about honouring the wishes and aspirations of Kashmiris. Some leaders have even put Sky as the limit. However, there has always been a wide gulf between the spoken word and the action on ground. A typical “New Speak”. Last couple of decades have shown Kashmiris the ugliest face of the Indian might. They would have never expected such brutality from the land of Gandhi and Tagore. One sees contradictions galore in every aspect. On one hand the forces honour the Hajjis (Pilgrims) through felicitation parties while on the other innocent children are murdered in cold blood on the pretext of mistaken identity. Militancy is considered to be some sort of malignancy and it is being surgically removed from the body of Kashmir. Of course this type of surgery does damage the healthy tissue also. However, in the process the forces themselves are growing like an uncontrolled malignancy spreading fast all over the body which is totally disappearing under it! A time may soon come when locals would be outnumbered by the soldiers of all types. The present utterances of the Indian leaders have surpassed all the previous records of “New Speak”. While affirming the desire to find a practical solution of this vexed problem it is declared that the solution has to be within the Indian Constitution. Then what is the dispute? Assuring “Zero Tolerance” for human rights violations, it is emphatically stated that the forces are doing a commendable job in protecting the lives of the ordinary people. Then who is committing the violations? Declaring the formation of committees to asses the possibilities of withdrawal and relocation of the troops, it is in the same breath stated by no less than the Defence Minister that not a single soldier would be withdrawn. Then why go through this futile exercise and raise all the unnecessary fuss? The only solace in this all round darkness of “New Speak” is that there are still people in India like Arundhiti Roy, Gautam Navlakha, and Sanjay Kak who can call a spade a spade. They do not mince their words in speaking out the real truth. They are probably the only persons who possess a mind without fear and can hold their heads high! One sincerely prays that their tribe grows to counter the beneficiaries of conflict in the whole sub-continent who love the “New Speak”.

Unfortunately, the worst form of “New Speak” has been coming from the Kashmiri leaders themselves, especially the ones said to be from the mainstream. Our own so called leaders have done the maximum damage to our cause by their “New Speak”. After having taken the poor and innocent people of Kashmir for a ride for over half a century they have suddenly woken up to their basic rights. For all these years they had only a one point programme, “Self aggrandisement”! They enjoyed power along with all the goodies that go with it and shared it with their kith and kin. Kashmiris did not matter. For them they had an ever green slogan, “Place of dignity and honour”, which they are still chasing like a mirage in the desert. At one time they were demanding aerial bombardment of the militant training camps across LOC. They declared that they would not rest until they had eliminated the last of the rebels. Now they are demanding basic human rights and a dialogue with the militants and even with those sitting across LOC directing operations in Kashmir. What a reversal of the roles or one should say the authentic “New Speak”! Will Kashmir be able to ever produce honest and genuine leadership speaking the truth and nothing but the absolute truth? A very difficult question to answer. However, as and when that happens, only then all the traditional “New Speakers” will cease to speak.