The recent contradictory stances of common Kashmiris have totally confused not only Delhi and Srinagar but also the leaders of the popular movement. Almost all of them have been calling for introspection. On one hand we have seen more than a million people on the roads day after day demanding “Azadi” and on the other there have been mile long queues outside the polling booths waiting to cast their votes in an election held under the auspices of the Election Commission of India. The two stances seem totally incompatible. Which of the two stances represents the true feelings of a Kashmiri? In a way, the both do it! One is a long cherished goal involving the sentiments and emotions of the people and the other is the practical reality of day to day living. A person who has seen for generations nothing but the worst kind of suppression and tyranny loses all notions of self-respect and dignity. For him life is a monotonous and mechanical existence which has to be lived anyhow. It is only when a man is free of all wants and has a chance to breathe the air of freedom that he starts developing the sense of refinement to appreciate the idealistic goals. A Kashmiri exhibits a multi-faceted character. Many foreigners who have been visiting Kashmir from time to time have projected him to be of a demeaning character.

Greedy, timid, cowardly, jealous, and very undependable. Some have attributed these unhealthy traits of character to the centuries of oppression by outsiders which has never allowed a Kashmiri to develop the finer qualities of life. History is full of the worst instances of tyranny faced by our ancestors. During the Sikh occupation of Kashmir, the value of a Kashmiri was just 25 rupees. If a Sikh would kill a Kashmiri he would be fined 25 rupees. Out of these the next of kin of the killed person would get 16 rupees if a Hindu and 4 rupees if a Muslim! On the contrary if a Kashmiri would kill a Sikh, he would be hanged. How can one expect the finer qualities of character to suddenly develop in a person whose genes are full of these tyrannical memories? For him mere survival as a living person is a big achievement. During last half century, the Kashmiris have developed appreciable amount of resistance and it has been more pronounced during last couple of decades. This developing trait of their character has been given the name of alienation but is in fact a feeling of resistance and resentment which was virtually absent only half a century back. In a place teeming with heavily armed soldiers even token resistance is commendable. Chris Morris, the BBC’s South Asia Correspondent in his despatch from Srinagar on December 23, wrote, “In the run-up to polling day, Srinagar feels like an armed camp. Outside active war zones (and Srinagar doesn't fit that description any longer) the main city in Indian-administered Kashmir is one of the most heavily militarised places I've ever seen. Hardly a great advert for Indian democracy”.

There is no need to demean ourselves by what has been called by many writers as the unpredictable behaviour of the common Kashmiris. There is no cause for pessimism. A period of few years or even few decades is totally insignificant for a nation whose history goes back more than 5,000 years. Before 1990 people would say that Kashmiris want freedom but are not ready to die for it. However, after sacrificing almost a hundred thousand lives we still seem to be in the wilderness but in actual practice people appear to have become more intelligent and mature. A Kashmiri has always been an enigma! A foreign author has said that no outsider is able to know what is really in the heart of a Kashmiri. He never reveals his true feelings to any outsider. A kind word and a joke get the best out of him. The extremely difficult living conditions have made him into a natural guerrilla. The life’s tough struggle for survival has taught him that it is the end that matters and not the means to the end and because of this attitude he has failed to develop the sense of self-respect and dignity. In any Society, 90% of the people are like a flock of sheep. There are only 10% who act as shepherds and the sheep follow the best shepherd who leads them on the most safe and straight path. It has been Kashmir’s greatest misfortune that we have failed to produce a good shepherd in last 70 years or so.

Most of the shepherds have led the sheep astray by confusing them both about the goal and the path to reach it. After promising us a place of dignity and honour they have left us in the lurch by finding a place for themselves only! They have fulfilled their own aspirations while claiming to be fighting for the peoples’ aspirations. God had asked Moses to lead the Israelites to the promised land but once they sinned in the face of the Lord, Moses was decreed to take them round and round in the desert for 40 years till the generation that had committed sin was consumed. Unfortunately, in our case it was someone whom we took to be our Moses who committed the sin! We may have, therefore, to wander in the wilderness for 400 years. Kashmir’s present mess is a result of both the failure of the common masses to understand the nuances of a freedom movement and the bankruptcy of the leadership. Right from 1931 the so called popular leadership has demonstrated nothing but vacillation and a narrow vision limited to its own selfish ends. People have always been taken for a ride. The leadership has neither been itself very clear about the goal they intend to reach nor have they ever tried to concretise it for the common masses. There has been a one liner, “Place of dignity and honour” given out by all the leaders without defining how and where this place can be reached. The other one liner is the struggle to achieve our “Right of self-determination”.

There is no dispute about this right. It is an inherent right. We do not have to fight for the right but have only to decide where to go? There have been some leaders advocating complete merger with Pakistan while some others have proposed an independent state. The supporters of independence have failed to give definite contours of an independent state especially in view of the vast differences in the aspirations of the different regions of the erstwhile princely State of Jammu & Kashmir. Those asking for merger with Pakistan are not probably aware about what the people on the other side have gone through in last half century. The people in so called Northern Areas had joined Pakistan of their own free will but are now regretting it as their region is a virtual colony ruled by a Minister in Islamabad. Same has more or less been the fate of the Pakistan Administered Kashmir where a puppet regime after puppet regime at the mercy of the Pak Minister for Kashmir Affairs has been ruling. The leadership instead of leading the people on a straight path after weighing all options have only been confusing them and taking them round and round in circles. Last July and August witnessed a mass uprising of the people for “Azadi” but the movement petered out due to the absence of innovative and imaginative leadership. No one could channelize it towards a positive end. The existing leaders could not go beyond “Hartals” and “Chalos”. They could not substantiate “Azadi” nor outline a blueprint to achieve it. It is now claimed by some that the people of Kashmir have reconciled to the status quo. That is the greatest fallacy.

The people have neither rejected “Azadi” nor given up the movement for it. They have only rebuffed the leadership which has been preaching it without any substantive programme. Persons sitting in posh houses, driving luxury cars, wearing Rolex wrist watches, and staying in some of the best hotels while going for international jaunts can’t preach “Azadi” to people facing the brunt of a mighty power in the most difficult living conditions! To top it all, there are dozens of outfits with dozens of leaders preaching the same thing. They do not seem to be fighting for freedom but appear to be preparing for some sort of a ballot with separate symbols, flags, and manifestos. This must be the only place in the world where the “prominent” leaders of a freedom movement are being protected by the very power against whom they are supposed to be waging a fight! A fellow columnist recently observed that “Azadi” was possible to achieve only if we have one leader and one party. He may be right but that leader has to be like Mahatama Gandhi or Nelson Mandela; Omar Mukhtar or Mao Tse Tung; Kemal Atta Turk or Mohammad Ali Jinnah! We had produced a leader like Omar Mukhtar but he could not come up to his ideals and got confused en route. If we are not able to produce any leader like the ones mentioned above, it may be better to let the people take their own decisions. There is a lesson from the peoples’ recent attitude for all the leaders. They must introspect but first their own selves and then their goals and the route maps to it! “Azadi” needs to be substantiated in concrete terms and a path to reach that goal must be outlined in specific terms. The most appropriate way to do that is for the people of all the regions of the State on both sides of the divide to meet each other freely, exchange notes, and have a truly brain storming session to find out the most suitable way for all of us to move forward. If that is not done, the Kashmiris will keep on getting more and more confused and will go round and round in circles!