The events of Saturday, November 3 in Pakistan have once again vividly demonstrated that a solution to Kashmir problem is jinxed due to some strange and inexplicable reasons. Right from 1947, Kashmiris have got entangled themselves in situations not of their own making. In fact, the freedom struggle which was started in 1931 was jinxed from the very beginning. It is a historical fact that it were the valley Muslims who had suffered miserably under the Dogra rule. After centuries of oppression and subjugation, the Kashmiris had risen in 1931 to liberate themselves from the shackles of slavery and breathe the fresh air of freedom. The struggle was started and led by Muslim intellectuals for the emancipation of suffering masses. The beginning of the jinx was the conversion of the movement from the struggle of the oppressed Muslims to a nationalist and secular one in 1938. This conversion faced the first major problem in 1947 itself. The partition of the Indian sub-continent put the people in such a logjam that in spite of the best efforts they are unable to get out of it. Throughout last 60 years whenever any leader in the sub-continent attempted to sort out the vexed problem of Kashmir, it got more complicated and entangled. Instead of solving it, the leader ended up with more severe problems and some even got liquidated in the process! The conflict of 1947 in the sub-continent completely washed away the historical background of the Kashmiri struggle and converted the poor people into guinea pigs for conducting field experiments of the two conflicting ideologies. No one from among the leaders of the sub-continent was sincerely interested in the historical background of Kashmir. Both the countries which had become independent used Kashmir as a stick to beat each other with. They had territorial claims on this unfortunate piece of land because they considered it strategically most important for their own survival. The people did not figure in their scheme of things. The so called aspirations of the people were used simply to strengthen their claims. Pakistani leaders were over-confident that Kashmiris could be encashed by them as a bearer cheque any time they liked. However, Pakistanis got a shock when the popular and charismatic Kashmiri leader refused to toe their line. On the other hand the Indian leaders thought that they had successfully manipulated this leader to side with them. They too got a shock when he turned against them in early fifties. Some say that they deliberately made him turn to eliminate him from the scene. However, after putting his friend for a long period in prison, Pandit Nehru realised that he had been very unfair to him. He released the Lion of Kashmir and sent him to Pakistan to convince Field Marshal Ayub Khan for making Kashmir a buffer state as a bridge between two countries. No sooner Sheikh Abdullah announced in Rawalpindi that his mission was successful, Pandit Nehru very mysteriously collapsed after a massive heart attack. Kashmir was back to square one. Having failed diplomatically to resolve the issue, Pakistan launched in July, 1965 “Operation Gibraltar”, a clandestine military operation camouflaged as a militant uprising by Kashmiris. India retaliated strongly and attacked the Pakistan’s mainland through Lahore. A destructive war resulted and again a ceasefire was brokered. USSR invited Ayub Khan and Lal Bahadur Shastri to Tashkent to clinch a deal between the two conflicting neighbours. It is reported that a deal was in fact arrived at for the solution of the problem but Lal Bahadur Shastri died mysteriously in Tashkent itself just after signing the agreement. Kashmir was back to square one. Subsequently, came the war of 1971 which was very destructive and resulted in the dismemberment of Pakistan. Bangladesh was created and Pakistan ended up with over ninety three thousand of its soldiers as Prisoners of War in India. Yet another agreement was signed in Shimla. Mrs. Indira Gandhi and Zulfiqar Bhutto reached some tacit understanding to resolve the vexed problem of Kashmir which had been the main cause of conflict between the two neighbours. Well, the jinx did not allow them to complete their genuine initiatives. Indira Gandhi was shot by her own body guards and Bhutto was hanged by General Zia-ul-Haq. As usual Kashmiris continued to be in the perennial uncertainty. After sometime, a young leadership emerged in both the countries. Rajiv Gandhi and Benazir Bhutto were expected to leave the burden of partition behind and go for a revolutionary change. In fact, Rajiv Gandhi had almost started the process by agreeing for the demilitarisation of Siachen glacier. This was expected to be the first step towards ultimate resolution of Kashmir problem. However, the jinx was there and Rajiv got assassinated before his ideas could fructify. Somehow, Almighty had destined that Kashmiris should go on suffering and this ordeal took a new turn in 1990 with a massive armed uprising. Even the sacrifice of over a hundred thousand youth did not result in the emancipation of Kashmiris. An entire generation was wiped out. During this period the two countries came twice near to all out war which was avoided only because of the fear of Armageddon due to possession of nuclear weapons by them. Both the countries after having realised that the only way out was to sort out this issue once and for all took a momentous initiative. Vajpayee extended a hand of friendship which was grasped with both hands by General Musharraf. There was a marked détente between the two countries and a number of confidence building measures were initiated. For the first time there was complete ceasefire on the Line of Control. A composite dialogue was initiated. Kashmiris started sincerely believing that the days of their suffering were about to end. Lo and behold, Vajpayee was gone with the wind! Still there was hope as the General on the other side seemed very sincere in ending this mad conflict which had severely debilitated both the countries by wasting their precious resources on fighting each other. He had seen the futility of the war in the debacle of Kargil. However, the jinx finally caught up with him on November 3 and now his very survival is in question. The joke of the day is the spokesman of Pakistan Foreign Office declaring that the Indo-Pak Peace Process is proceeding smoothly! How oblivious are they about the ground situation in Kashmir. The whole story is back to where it had started. Is this uncanny situation of a divine making? It is difficult to say. However, one cannot deny that there is a strange pattern and coincidence in various happenings concerning Kashmir over all these years. There are many other theories which ascribe these events to the machinations of the original authors of the division sitting across the seven seas! A perennial conflict in this region is a fertile ground for their political manipulations ultimately giving them a sizeable economic advantage. Price of oil touching $ 100 a barrel is the beginning of disaster for their economies. As regards Kashmiris, the only escape is to get disconnected from both the countries. It is often said that there are three parties to the dispute. In reality, there is only one party and that is Kashmiris. The other two are claimants of the spoils of war. For us it is a question of life and death. Our very survival as a nation is threatened. The jinx can end only when Kashmiris realise this basic truth and act accordingly. There will be no escape as long as people look outside for a solution. We have to speak the truth with one voice and abandon the tower of Babel which we have in Kashmir at present. Similarly the two countries cannot get out of the muddle unless they too accept this fundamental reality and decide to leave Kashmiris alone. In the alternative, the jinx will continue and would one day decimate all of us into oblivion.