A British explorer in his book on Kashmir has remarked that no outsider is able to know what is in the heart of a Kashmiri. Outwardly he may be calm and quiet and may even appear perfectly docile but then suddenly one fine morning he is all fire! Centuries of oppression by outsiders have taught him a special kind of technique for survival in the worst conditions. He behaves like a born Guerrilla. He patiently bears all the tyrannies and faces torture stoically. Outsiders get completely taken in by his calm and unruffled poise. However, when he feels that enough is enough and it is the question of basic survival, he strikes with a vengeance without any fear.

Any outsider visiting Kashmir at present may get the impression that a Kashmiri has now reconciled to his fate and his movement is dead. Even the leaders of the popular movement sometimes get confused and fatigued over a period of time. But then suddenly the common Kashmiri takes the hold of the movement and shows to the world that he has been dormant and not dead! This leaves even the leaders in the lurch and they get themselves led instead of leading. A Kashmiri is very deeply attached to his valley. He cannot imagine leaving it voluntarily. Even going to a place like Kargil, hardly two hundred kilometres away means exile for him! He gets alarmed and panicky if any thing happens to his beloved valley. He can go to any length to save his land from outside usurpers. His only misfortune has been a perennial betrayal by his leaders.

During the recent history right from 1931 when Kashmiris started their present movement, they have been left in the lurch by their leaders. For this Kashmiris are themselves to blame to some extent. This is because of the personality cult, which persists even now! Instead of a collective leadership there has always been a tendency for nepotism and family leadership. The present upsurge is a rejection of all traditional leaders. The upheaval of 1990 had forced the so called mainstream leaders of all hues and shades to completely vanish from the scene. They had in fact given in writing in early nineties that they had nothing to do with politics. Every day one would see dozens of advertisements on the subject in local newspapers. However, they slowly emerged again from hibernation and started their business of selling and reselling Kashmiris.

This year they were all set for another round at capturing the power. For this they had been trying all gimmicks and coining all sorts of slogans many times contradictory. On one hand they had been trying to side with peoples’ suffering while on the other they were showing their loyalty to the mainstream. They had been presuming that as usual people could be taken for a ride. However, once the people sensed that the gravity of the situation had become critical, they came out on the roads en masse. Their resentment and alienation which had been slowly growing over the years had become totally unbearable. The Amarnath land controversy acted as a fuse to blow up the pent up emotions and the fuse was lit up by the arrogant declarations of the Chief Executive Officer of the Shrine Board. It is ironic that the parties which had initiated and propped up the Board and ensured transfer of the land were crying hoarse and trying to douse the flames. The dithering by Congress because of its vote bank politics has blown the controversy out of proportions and they have set not only the State but entire India on fire. The very voting process seems to have become a casualty. By their attitude they may have burnt their boats on both sides of Pir Panjal. Omar Abdullah in a recent interview to a local TV channel frankly admitted that it will be very difficult for them to get back into the election mode. According to him peoples’ emotions and sentiments have been badly hurt and they will have to work hard to bring people back into the election process.

On the contrary the sudden upheaval of emotions and sentiments may have made the task of Hurriyat easier in ensuring the implementation of their call for an election boycott. The recent outburst is also an answer to the new Pakistani leadership which had been rather too keen to put Kashmir on the back burner. Kashmiris are virtually saying that Pakistan or no Pakistan, we have our own movement and we know how to take it forward. Pakistanis must be feeling embarrassed as they have been playing down the happenings here compared to their earlier massive worldwide coverage of Kashmir’s Freedom Movement. Kashmiris’ association and weakness for Pakistan has not been because of the two nation theory but due to the whole hearted and unconditional support which Pakistan had been extending to the movement in Kashmir in the past. The present leaders of that country have come down appreciably from the historical declaration of Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto swearing to wage a thousand year war for the liberation of Kashmiris. At one time there was no compromise on UN resolutions and the right of self-determination.

Then it diluted to self-governance and joint control, and recently it had come down to leaving the resolution of the problem to the future generations. The Indian leadership seems to have realised the gravity of situation better than Pakistanis as they removed the cause of action even at the risk of alienating the entire Hindu majority population of India. They must have assessed that the dispute about the ownership of a piece of land is driving the Muslim majority back to 1990 and the movement for “Azadi” is getting fully rejuvenated. Even though the revocation of the order of land transfer has cooled down tempers, it has also given a sense of victory to the people. In a way it may be a good beginning. People at large have realised that a peaceful mass movement is more effective than a violent one against a mighty super power! Security forces can always isolate, cordon, and eliminate a few armed men but they cannot wipe out an entire protesting nation. Even the infamous holocaust of Hitler could not wipe out the Jewish race completely. The concerned authorities need to realise that the massive disinformation campaign attempting to turn common Kashmiris totally pessimistic about the goal of Azadi has miserably failed.

Kashmiris have been lying low but have never given up. Moreover, the vehemence of the protests demonstrated that the youth which constitutes the new generation in Kashmir are bolder and more determined than their predecessors. After all they have been brought up in the raging fire of the last two decades which has hardened and virtually steeled them. An interesting aftermath of the recent upsurge has been the anti-climax of the prevailing situation in Kashmir and Jammu as well as in rest of India. While all the Indian Hindutva organisations are up in arms against Kashmiris, Kashmir itself is calm and quiet. This itself demonstrates the contrast which exists between the too. Omar Abdullah may have spoken the truth while admitting the fact that the prevalent hostile sentiment generated by the recent upheaval has made the restarting of the election process quite difficult. Delhi needs to see the “Bold” writing on the wall. It may be worthwhile for them to close their puppet show for a while and send their mainstream Johnnies on a break. A short spell of direct rule from Delhi may help clear the mess created by the six year rule of the rag-tag coalition which had been pulling in all directions. The first task is to initiate some genuine people centric CBMs including the relocating of security forces from civilian areas, repealing of draconian legislations, and halting the human rights violations. The new Governor who has been acting as an interlocutor on Kashmir is capable of undertaking the task. He may also have a chance to open up communication channels to the genuine representative of Kashmiris to initiate an eventual tri-partite dialogue for the ultimate resolution of the vexed problem of Kashmir. Food for thought for the honest peace brokers of the sub-continent!