Daily Times

Sometime back I raised the question, “Was justice really delivered?” I ask again; of the election commission, the supervising judiciary, and those overseeing election matters, has justice been delivered? For I fear these are the haystack wherein justice, the needle has been lost. And, I bemoan that fact. I have long contended that prevalent injustice is the mother of all ills. I mention this in passing, since the subject I wish to address today is another haystack; another needle.

A brief recap for perspective; in 1989 when Kashmiris first rose against Indian rule, they took the entire world by surprise. India was totally unprepared for the intensity of hate the Kashmiris had accumulated over the years. While claiming only diplomatic and moral support to the Kashmiri cause, Pakistan provided every possible form of assistance, to the uprising. I was to witness this Pakistani support, and the unbelievable commitment of the Kashmiris, to the insurgency first hand, a couple of years after it began.

India responded with ever increasing force, which was expected. Over the years this recourse to force, by Indian state forces, to repress the Kashmiri insurgency was to increase manifold in numbers and intensity to commit untold and unspeakable horrors on Kashmiris; insurrectionists and non-insurrectionists alike. On many occasions making fathers, brothers, husbands and children witness the murder and the rape of their women, old and young, including children. Kashmiris amongst the longest lasting insurgencies and the Kashmiris are, probably, the ones who have suffered the most.

However, this first uprising was led by the Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front(JKLF); which sought an independent Kashmir. In the myopic view of the powers-that-were at the time, an eternally grateful but independent Kashmir was not the end Pakistan sought. Consequently, even as Pakistan provided every possible form of assistance, it undermined the JKLF, and, in doing so, created the pro-secession to Pakistan’s All Party Hurriyet Conference(APHC). But, to serve this end, Pakistan, in addition to Pakistani volunteers, also encouraged Islamist freedom fighters from all corners of the world to enter the affray; fighters who, originally came to fight Soviets in Afghanistan also turned towards Kashmir. This was a disastrous move.

A brief recap for perspective; in 1989 when Kashmiris first rose against Indian rule, they took the entire world by surprise. India was totally unprepared for the intensity of hate the Kashmiris had accumulated over the years

Islamist foreign fighters held the belief that they were doing the Kashmiris a favor, the Kashmiris who had neither sought nor wanted their help. Since these ‘outsiders’ felt they were doing the Kashmiris a favor, they expected them to be grateful and help and provide succor to them whenever required.

Those Kashmiris that failed to help them, also suffered at the hands of the outsiders. Quite understandably, they then held Pakistan responsible for these atrocities.

Consequently, many a Kashmiri turned away from Pakistan, but were even more determined to seek their freedom from oppression. For a brief period, the Kashmiri insurgency seemed to have ebbed.

Sometime after 2010, Kashmiris rose again. This time it was almost entirely the youth; and they were pelting Indian Security Forces with stones or using lathis; non-lethal weapons. By that time, Indian forces were used to retaliating in forms worse than terrorists; and did so again. This time Pakistani help was so unwelcome that, I wrote, “Had we offered help, these youngsters might have pelted us as well”.

It is against this intifada that Indian forces are again failing; though they continue doing their worst and make every possible attempt to hold Pakistan responsible but, they fail to find buyers for this accusation. This time, it seems that the Kashmiri may find his needle of freedom; he has, finally, caught the world’s attention. The question for Delhi then is: how to prevent it. Perhaps enlarging the haystack might help?

In recent times, the most threatening Islamist movement that has emerged is the Islamic State (IS), or Daesh. While this hasn’t yet found much of a foothold in Pakistan, its footprint in Afghanistan is growing by the day. So much that it brought about a meeting between intelligence chiefs of four concerned countries. One fairly reliable rumor emanating from Afghanistan is that India is seeking to import the IS from Afghanistan into Kashmir.

On first thought, it seems entirely idiotic; so ridiculous as to be laughable. The IS? If granted entry to any part of India, it will spread and can only grow and, with about 175 million Muslims in India, the last thing Delhi should want is committed Islamic terrorists, who might find a following within.

But if, under some delusion, Delhi felt that it could confine the IS presence within the confines of the vales of Kashmir and, if it felt that the immediate threat posed by the insurgency was not merely imminent, but also inevitable unless something was done about it, what then? Could IS enlarge the haystack enough to hide the needle of freedom? Maybe; maybe not, But it would certainly make it exceedingly difficult to find.

If I were an ill-wisher of India, I would welcome the move. But, if I don’t wish it well, I don’t wish India ill either. More importantly, I wish Kashmiris well. I would not wish more ill on them. Nor would I wish IS to gain entrée to Pakistan through the rear doors of Kashmir, to strengthen the meager presence it already has.

So, I say to Delhi, if you are seriously contemplating such a venture, think it over, many times, but say it nay, to Kashmir and Pakistan; beware.

The writer is a retired brigadier. He is also former vice president and founder of the Islamabad Policy Research Institute (IPRI)

Published in Daily Times, August 5^th 2018.