Right from the birth of the tragedy of Kashmir, most of the wrongs perpetrated on the people of this beautiful but tragic valley for some inexplicable reasons, appear to have their origin in Delhi. In 1947 itself when Kashmiris were about to achieve their cherished goal of freedom after four centuries of slavery, the prize was snatched from them by the alleged machinations of Delhi. No doubt as delineated in detail by Josef Korbel in his book, “Danger in Kashmir”, India was manipulating Kashmir’s accession, the coup the grace was delivered by over eager Pakistanis by sending hoards of tribesmen. Pandit Nehru was fond of his ancestral land and did not want to let go of it. However, after having motivated the then charismatic lion of Kashmir to stay with him against the popular wish instead of going for the total independence, he dumped him in 1953. Since that time, Delhi has committed blunder after blunder. Had Pandit Nehru not betrayed Sheikh Abdullah and allowed him to retain Bhutan like status for Kashmir, the history may have taken a different course altogether. Unfortunately, his extremist colleagues like Sardar Patel had the last laugh in the whole affair. They somehow by hook or crook wanted Kashmir fully integrated into Indian Union. Last 63 years are a story of continuous betrayals facilitated by local collaborators. Delhi never tried to win over the common people genuinely but always tried to keep a lid over the simmering pot of Kashmir which off and on has been boiling over. Tolerance is a virtue among Kashmiris which has over the centuries been ingrained into their psyche. However, human tolerance has also a limit and when oppression goes beyond the limit, there is always an explosion. Since 1947 Kashmir has been a witness to many such explosions and the most dangerous one occurred in 1990. Delhi instead of understanding the basic problem and addressing it, again tried to put a heavier and a stronger lid over it. Till 1990, attempts were made to win over people by dangling the carrot of economic benefits. However, after 1990, it appears that the think tanks managing the ruling elite in Delhi completely wrote off the winning over of Kashmiris. The strategy adopted was to keep the territory of Kashmir at all costs and by all means regardless of the people. India was able to fully integrate Kashmir physically with the help of some local collaborators but in the process it emotionally lost the bulk of the population. The result was deep alienation which reached an extreme level during last two decades.

There were many opportunities to bridge the gulf which had occurred between India and Kashmiris. Unfortunately, Delhi as usual dithered and let the opportunities disappear one by one. Last two decades in addition to distancing the local population from the Indian mainland due to the oppressive policies both within the state and outside also amply exposed the Pakistani attitude which in the final analysis was no better than the Indian one. This again afforded many chances for an honest rapprochement with Kashmiris but this too fell victim to the perennial dithering of Delhi. Somehow a mindset seems to have developed in policy planners at Delhi that all Kashmiris are pro-Pak militants and terrorists. Everything is seen to be instigated and manoeuvred from across the border. A living example of this mindset is the attitude of responsible authorities in Delhi to the current crisis in Kashmir. During last couple of weeks about 11 young men have been killed in firing and tear gas shelling by the security forces. Entire focus is being laid on stone pelting by the youth. No one comes forward to say why the stone pelting is taking place. The instigation is not from the crowds and mobs but from the law and order authorities. Why have the authorities made it a policy not to allow any non-violent and peaceful protests? Are these peaceful protests going to physically take away Kashmir from India? Probably the authorities have a nightmarish apprehension that in view of the extreme alienation of the common people, these peaceful protests may snowball into millions on the roads of Kashmir demanding “Azadi”! No one is convinced that all the massive security deployment with unbridled powers is just to contain 600 militants. One would have conceded such a heavy deployment if the security forces were facing 600 Taliban who have made a super power like America to sue for peace! In Kashmir keeping in view the history of local militancy and the capability of militants, it amounts to killing a house fly with a sledge hammer.

The most tragic aspect of the present situation is the continued dithering on the part of Delhi by refusing to accept the ground reality. Even the Union Home Secretary appeared to speak on TV like an ignorant person. He seemed to have based his assessment purely on agency briefs which are mostly one sided and not realistic. Or in the alternative as alleged by one of the commentators he was behaving like a “Rambo”! He appeared so arrogant as if he was speaking on behalf of the RSS as their spokesman rather than as a Home Secretary! Incidentally, Tarun Vijay, the mouthpiece of RSS almost spoke the same language. As usual all ills in Kashmir were blamed on instigators from across the border. Home Minister put all the blame on LET. This forces one to admit that LET has very extensive and long reach! Keeping in view the massive protests all over the valley, the Home Minister is conceding that they are enjoying popular support. The cross border angle was highlighted by the biased electronic media very fond of conducting media trials before unearthing any evidence. No one has the courage to admit that there is something grossly wrong in Kashmir. In which part of India “undeclared” curfew is imposed and strict “restrictions” are applied to imprison people in their homes simply because they want to peacefully protest against the excesses of the forces? In which part of India mobile phone networks are ordered to suspend operations and SMS service is banned for so called “security reasons”! Home Secretary did not have the courage to admit that there is a massive credibility gap between the common people in Kashmir and his police and security forces. There is absolutely no accountability and transparency of the operations conducted by the police and security forces. People have totally lost faith in these organisations primarily meant to protect them and safeguard their right to life. Delhi is as usual going for fire fighting to douse the uncontrollable flames which have engulfed the whole valley. They may even go for a change of guard after finding a scapegoat. This has been their last resort whenever the situation goes out of control. However, that is not going to solve the problem. The situation needs to be faced head on by honestly understanding the basic problems of the people and remedying these at the earliest. Kashmir will go on burning as long as Delhi goes on dithering. The way the things have been snowballing for last few weeks, it may not be possible to douse the flames temporarily by mere fire fighting. Something more substantial is needed to cool the tempers and pave the way for ultimate peace. Will Delhi do it or continue to dither as ever only time will tell!