Recently, Kashmir was highlighted by three events. OIC appointed a special envoy for Kashmir. Colonel Gaddafi made a fervent plea in UN for granting Independence to Kashmir. China refused to recognise Indian Passports issued to Kashmiris by stamping visas on separate sheets. In spite of these moves which brought Kashmir into global focus, there was no interest shown by the western countries. West’s attitude to Kashmir has an interesting history. After the first Indo-Pak conflict of 1947-48, the Kashmiris struggling for freedom had become the darling of the western powers including USA. In contrast, the Russians whose newspapers had been prominently projecting the Kashmir’s peasant revolution of 1931 opposed the movement just because west was supporting it and India, their ally was involved in suppressing it. The number of western media personnel, the diplomats, and others who visited Kashmir in those early days was phenomenal. In fact, a large number of books were written about this conflict specially highlighting the Kashmiris’ struggle for freedom. The two of the most read are the “Two Nations and Kashmir” by Lord Birdwood and the “Danger in Kashmir” by Josef Korbel. After the deposition of Sheikh Abdullah in 1953, the entire western press turned against India and the Kashmir cause received a tremendous boost. Kashmir’s freedom movement was depicted as a true nationalist movement without any trace of fundamentalism or religion. This had been made possible by the refusal of the then Kashmiri leadership to accept Pakistan’s claim on Kashmir because of religion. The leadership had projected Kashmiris’ struggle as a freedom movement dating back to its first annexation by the Mughals in 1586. It was the first national awakening of Kashmiris after four centuries. The movement was expected to culminate in the creation of an Independent and Sovereign State of Kashmir had there been no partition of the sub-continent. However, it turned into a tragedy for Kashmir. After having rejected the religious fanaticism and gone in favour of secularism and nationalism, they got the shock of their lives on discovering that the Indian secularism was hollow and did not live up to the loud proclamations of its leaders. Once the original nationalist leadership of Kashmir’s revolution was deposed and incarcerated by India, the western sympathies for Kashmiris grew rapidly. At the same time due to the cold war, the opposition of communist block against the movement also increased sharply especially once the Pakistan establishment opted to join the western military alliances of SEATO and CENTO. Bakshi Ghulam Mohammad who was installed as the Prime Minister after the removal of Sheikh Abdullah in 1953 ruthlessly and brutally suppressed the movement. However, the suppression blew up like a volcano during the holy relic agitation of 1963 which again culminated into a strong movement for freedom. The Government of India was forced to release Sheikh Abdullah and other leaders in 1964 after 11 years of incarceration. Kashmir once again became the focus of western media and dozens of journalists and diplomats descended on Srinagar.

The first setback to this western support came in 1975 with the capitulation of the Kashmiri leadership. It was a stunning shock for the freedom loving people in the west. They could not believe that the leadership of a movement would abandon their people and join hands with the power which had suppressed and incarcerated them for decades. All became quiet on the western front! Kashmiris seemed (deceptively) to have settled for the status quo and forgotten all their suffering and pains of half a century starting from 1931! However, the quiet did not last long and the simmering volcano had another violent eruption in 1990 which was triggered by the rigged elections of 1987. This put Kashmir once more on the top in the western media as well as diplomatic circles. With the violence accompanying this uprising it was thought to be the final outburst before Kashmir would be free. However, the things did not turn that way. The 1990 uprising had been extensively projected in the west as the struggle of Kashmiri people for freedom. In fact American diplomats were bold enough to travel through violence ridden Kashmir without any fear. Robin Raphael strolled freely through the lanes of Srinagar. Pakistan’s apprehension of losing space by the struggle turning totally nationalistic made them activate the Islamic fighters for Jihad in Kashmir. This allowed India to paint the whole movement as a fundamentalist uprising of fanatic Muslims against secular India. In spite of the religious overtones which were primarily a Kashmiri attempt to put the secular India at discomfort, the western powers still sympathised with Kashmiris still considering it a nationalist struggle. This was because of the fact that Kashmiris were never known in their history as religious fanatics or fundamentalists. Kashmir has always been known as the cradle of Sufism and Spirituality. It is still known in local parlance as the “Bowl of Saints”. Transition of Kashmiris from Hinduism to Buddhism, then back to Hinduism, and finally to Islam has been totally peaceful and voluntary. The religious tolerance of Kashmiris has been proverbial and even the father of the Indian nation, Mahatma Gandhi had seen a ray of hope only in Kashmir when the entire sub-continent was engulfed in the worst ever religious violence and fanaticism! However, the events of 9/11 changed all that. The tragedy of New York owned by the Al Qaida made America declare a total war on Islam and Muslims all over the world. Anything connected with Muslims and Islam became anathema to the west. Kashmir’s struggle for freedom which had earlier received tremendous support from the west got bracketed with the so called “Islamic Terrorism”. This was a God sent opportunity for the Hindutva lobby who painted the Kashmir’s movement as the uprising of “Muslim Fundamentalists” aided by Pakistan. The term “Cross Border Terrorism” was given maximum hype and further qualified into “Muslim Terrorism”. Pakistanis because of their own selfish attitude and utter clumsiness helped them in furthering this line of propaganda universally. Kashmir once again went on to the back burner.

Then came the upheaval of last year triggered by the land transfer. Millions were on the roads asking for freedom. For the first time violence had been shunned in favour of peaceful marches. Again this peaceful expression was brutally suppressed. Normally, having known the history of Kashmir, the West should have raised tremendous hue and cry on the violation of human rights but the Islamic tinge has converted Kashmir into the West’s blind spot. They do see it as “The Nuclear Flashpoint” or “The most dangerous place on Earth” or even as the “South Asia’s Hot Spot” but they fail to see it as a human problem involving Kashmiri peoples’ basic rights. They some how refuse to see this part of its basic reality because of the Muslim character. Had Kashmiris been Jews or Christians the things may have been altogether different. Kashmiris may feel that they can make the west take the same interest in their cause as they used to do earlier, by practically demonstrating that they are not the “Islamic Terrorists” but genuine Kashmiris struggling for their basic rights! Even then the West will not change its attitude. It seems in the present world scenario of Islam versus the West triggered by the Bush’s American misadventures in Iraq and Afghanistan; Kashmir will continue to be the West’s “Blind Spot”. In fact, declassification of some past documents has revealed that the partition as well as Kashmir conflict were the creation of the west to main their hold on the sub-continent. In order to maintain their global hegemony, the west is not only interested in continuing existing conflict spots but is creating new ones! In these circumstances, it may be better not to look towards the west led by America as our saviour. The solution to our problems could very well be found within our own sub-continent by mutual reconciliation and dialogue!