J & K Forum for Peace and Reconciliation recently arranged a lecture by a prominent Kashmiri scholar, Prof. Dr.Amitab Mattoo, Vice-Chancellor, University of Jammu. The topic of the lecture was, “Peace Building in South Asia: An Agenda for Civil Society”. The lecture was attended by a galaxy of intellectuals from the Civil Society. Prof Mattoo is a great scholar and has brought the University of Jammu to an intellectual discourse of a global level. This was the third lecture of Prof Mattoo organised by the Forum. In his lecture he discussed a wider picture of a peaceful and reconciled South Asia of the future which we all need to imagine and work for. He would like us to go from “Kashmir First” to “South Asia First”. It is a very sublime and idealistic goal which all of us cherish to reach. Merely by imagining a utopian South Asia by forgetting the rivers of blood which have flown through Kashmir all these years seems an impossible assignment. It was stated that moving towards Peace and Reconciliation on a broader canvass will make “minor” conflicts automatically disappear. It may be true that unless there is reconciliation on a broader level, the resolution of disputes at micro-level may not bring in lasting peace. The areas of conflict and disagreement are countless and unless there is honesty and sincerity at the macro level, moving forward at the micro-level gets terribly bogged down as has been demonstrated by the abnormally slow pace of the Indo-Pak Peace Process. Unfortunately, in spite of all these well meaning thoughts, the reverse can also be true! There can be no movement forward on a broader canvass unless the “minor” irritants are removed. A miniscule moth can eat away the whole canvass. This very premise generated a lively debate after the lecture. The organisers of the J & K Forum for Peace and Reconciliation must be elated that their event had not only drawn an appreciable chunk of the Civil Society but it had also generated quite a bit of discussion, sometimes slightly hot! Debates and discussions are the real heart of democracy provided these are allowed to be held without fear or favour in all sections of the society at all levels. However, where the students from a university have to be turned out to accommodate very important politicians on the inauguration of a scholastic centre; where even a dozen civil society members are not allowed to come out on the streets to protest gross injustices (unlike the hundred thousand marching in New York against America’s War); where people in thousands disappear without a trace; how can one have a sophisticated scholarly discourse? America is considered a fully evolved democracy. The Universities there are political think tanks. Here, even mention of a political discourse has been a taboo! It was pointed out that every lecture in Kashmir cannot be expected to be Kashmir centric only. Well, what else would one expect here in the prevailing situation? Unless the open wounds on the face are healed first, the entire make up will go down with the oozing pus! Kashmir’s wounds whether within or outside need to be healed. One cannot heal these by giving a Gandhian discourse of non-violence to the victims of Kunan Poshpora. How can one expect Pandits to return when they are told that every Kashmiri Muslim is a potential terrorist? They can return only when they are sure that Peace has returned. All of us want peace to return but peace with dignity and honour. All Kashmiris within and outside are yearning for Peace. The peace of the serene meadows and lush green forests with chirping birds and dancing butterflies. Not the peace of the graveyards or unknown graves. One pines to get away from this valley of death. Leaving behind rows upon rows of epitaphs of a complete generation one cannot escape because even in those far off meadows there are rows upon rows of unknown graves. Death haunts one everywhere in the valley. How does one bring Peace to this tormented valley? This is a question which would engage the attention of the members of the Forum for a long time. Peace is a delicate and fragile plant which slowly grows from the roots. First the seeds have to be sown and for that one needs a piece of moist soil where these can germinate. For that Reconciliation is needed but not in five star hotels. The people meeting in these elite places over cocktails and dinner need no reconciliation. They are already reconciled to the life of high society and the glitterati always gel regardless of their origin. Reconciliation is needed between the dwellers of migrant camps in Purkho, Muthi, and Nagrota with their erstwhile neighbours in Habba Kadal, Ganpatyar, and Zaina Kadal. Pandits left because of a systematic exodus. It is a separate issue as to who engineered it but they were uprooted from their ancient moorings. They have to come back to their roots. The Muslims left behind faced the worst and continue to do so even now. How does one bring the two together? Definitely not in five star Hotels! Our estrangement is only a couple of decades old. In the rest of the sub-continent the traumatic separation is more than 60 years old. Reconciliation is needed across the International border and the Line of Control. For last 60 years people have been separated by artificial barriers. While the borders are completely becoming irrelevant on the ground in Europe, we are erecting stronger and tougher fences fully electrified on our borders which from the very start are artificial in the true sense of the word as these were actually drawn by outsiders. We must be the only people in the world swimming against the tide! Peace building in South Asia will start earnestly only when we dismantle fences and walls on our borders in the sub-continent. These borders are in fact lines drawn on a map by a crazy person called Radcliff. Similar is the case with the Line of Control which was drawn by the “White Men” of UN after ceasefire in 1949 regardless of the area through which it passed. In some cases it passed through the middle of villages and even some houses!

The separation cannot be ended by a fortnightly or a weekly bus carrying 30 odd persons. It needs the surge of the Berlin Wall. This surge is bound to come, sooner than later and no fence or wall will be able to hold it. Revolutions do not come through gradual testing of waters. These surge up without warning, first in the minds of the people and then physically by a sweep of humanity moving across all borders and barriers. It will happen in “Kashmir First” and then engulf the entire South Asia obliterating all lines and divisions. According to Prof. Mattoo we have to do it in our imagination and once we do that honestly, it will actually happen on the ground. Let us hope the Forum for Peace and Reconciliation becomes the spark to light those revolutionary fires in the minds of the people!