Every time an atmosphere of peace starts developing in the sub-continent which revives hope for the settlement of the most vexed problem of Kashmir, something terrible happens without any warning bringing us back to square one! There is no other explanation than the fact that this unfortunate land and its people are “Jinxed”. Different people advance different reasons for this misfortune of Kashmiris. Some say that Kashmir is the most beautiful place on this planet and is popularly called Paradise on Earth. The beauty of this land has been its undoing. Everyone wants to own it! This rivalry among its neighbouring countries to somehow own this piece of God forsaken land has made the life of its people miserable. Others blame the people of this land themselves for all the mess surrounding them. It is said that the mass conversion of its inhabitants in the twelfth century has been their major sin for bringing all the suffering and misery on them. For thousands of years Kashmir had been a Hindu state with a glorious past. It was famous as a seat of learning throughout the world and some of the most important discourses on Hinduism and Buddhism have been held here. The Trika School of Saivite philosophy of Hinduism originated from here. Similarly the Mahayana School of Buddhism was formulated here and spread to many countries. With the advent of Islam the majority of the people peacefully accepted Islam as their new religion through the selfless preaching of saints like Bulbul Shah and Shah-I-Hamadan. Almost the entire population except the ruling class of Brahmins converted to Islam. Some people surmise that the Brahmins are taking revenge for this move by their former fellow religionists which had made them paupers overnight from the Kings they had been for centuries. Had there been no mass conversion, Kashmir would have remained a Hindu state and would have been truly the befitting crown of the Hindu India. The vast majority of Hindus in India are not still reconciled to the fact that Kashmir which was once a famous Hindu Kingdom is now a Muslim majority state. They always try to find some ancient connections from its history to keep this ancient land of the learned Brahmins and holy Sages with them at all costs. The only possible solution to overcome this handicap may be re-converting Kashmiri Muslims back to Hinduism! In contrast to this theory, some others blame Kashmiri Muslims themselves and say that the Kashmiris did not in reality convert to Islam but adopted Islam to their traditional way of life. They continued with idol worship of a different kind and even now continue to maintain and practically follow a number of Hindu customs and rituals only changing their nomenclature and style. They are Muslims in rituals but not in faith. Had Kashmiris accepted Islam honestly and followed its precepts truly, they would not have landed in the mess in which they find themselves at present. After centuries of subjugations, the Muslims of Kashmir had an opportunity for emancipation in 1947 but they disregarded God’s command as conveyed in Holy Quran. Verse 28 in Sura Al-I- Imran states, “Let not the Believers take for friends or helpers Unbelievers rather than Believers: if any do that, in nothing will there be help from Allah, except by way of precaution, that ye may Guard yourselves from them. But Allah cautions you (To remember) Himself; for the final goal is to Allah”. Allah had given by his will a beautiful choice to the people. Not only did Kashmiris spurn the choice between Believers and Unbelievers which they had in 1947 but they continue to do so even now! The school of thought propagating this action of the people to be the cause of Kashmir’s misfortune have themselves failed to show the right way to achieve the ultimate goal. Nor have they set an example of faith for the people to follow. There is lot of preaching but no practical way forward. Not withstanding these different view points and opinions about the cause of quagmire in which Kashmiris find themselves, one is constrained to admit that the primary cause for Kashmir getting jinxed and failing to find a solution to its problems is the disunity among its people. Kashmiri is fighting a Kashmiri. In every sphere of life and society one only witnesses Kashmiri versus Kashmiri. There is disunity among the leaders as well as their followers. Every organisation has (A) to (Z) factions. For mainstream parties it does not matter as they have no stake except themselves and are there at the sweet will of somebody far away holding their strings. But for the parties claiming to lead a popular movement it is suicidal. If the goal is same, then why do we have so many organisations and then additional factions in those organisations? Is it really a “Freedom Struggle” or it is a “Power Struggle”? People behave in such a way as if they are about to take over the so called state government with its deceptive power! The people in the state government are not able to even displace a single soldier or even withdraw his unlimited powers. The real power always resides somewhere else. The disunity is further compounded by our tendency to look to outsiders for a solution not realising that it is the outsiders who have been exploiting us for centuries. It is really pathetic that some of the outside politicians are pleading with and persuading Kashmiris to forge unity among them to strengthen their case for basic rights. It is rather humiliating. We have to look within for a solution and not be ridiculed by outsiders. The internecine warfare has always plagued Kashmiris throughout their long chequered history. However, those days it was war of succession in an independent sovereign state which happens in all nations. Now it is sheer infighting under external subjugation which is not only detrimental to the achieving of the goal but disastrous to the goal itself. It was a historic occasion when in early nineties all parties and groups struggling for Kashmir’s freedom had come together under one umbrella of Hurriyat Conference. The conglomerate had achieved global recognition as the sole representative organisation of Kashmiris. Unfortunately, the unity did not last long. The agencies from both the countries worked overtime to ensure that the organisation not only split in the middle but broke up into over a dozen other groups. It was a victory for them but a disaster for Kashmiris. In fact, such things had been happening right from the start of the movement in 1931. The Muslim Conference and the National Conference. There does not seem to be any disunity of the purpose or for that matter, the disunity of the followers but only a clash of egos of the leadership. Every Kashmiri leader, young or old, wants to lead the movement independently. They do not believe in collective leadership. Every potential leader has his own shop selling his own brand of “Azadi”. May be it is in our psyche because of the long period of monarchical rule with its attendant palace intrigues which we have undergone in the ancient past. We have an additional problem of jealousy in almost all facets of our life and are experts in pulling out rugs from under the feet of our rivals. There is only one solution to get over the jinx which is preventing our ultimate emancipation. We urgently need to have a single and clear goal instead of umpteen road maps with their individual solutions, and one organisation to lead us towards it. Last but not the least; we do not need a single charismatic leader but collective leadership. The indications coming from both within the sub-continent and outside are that the problem of Kashmir has had enough run and needs now to be solved. It is a very crucial rather critical time for Kashmiris. A historical juncture achieved after decades of struggle and enormous sacrifices against the centuries of external subjugation. If we do not understand the delicacy of the situation and come together, we may have to live in suffering and misery for a few centuries more and be cursed by our future generations!