Daily Times

In a series of statements and counter statements by Pakistani and Indian officials, Pakistan’s Minister of Defence Khawaja Asif has said that dialogue with India is not possible given the present heightened animosity between the two states. Precluding the possibility of dialogue is hardly the constructive thing to do, as the only way to resolve the present tensions is to come to the negotiating table and work things out. Moreover, the violence and unrest in Kashmir, while being extremely unfortunate and tragic, has drawn the world’s attention towards the issue as the international media is finally paying attention to the Kashmir dispute. This can be gauged by the fact that New York Times wrote an editorial on the issue on July 21, and this is indeed a rare occurrence for Kashmir.

In light of this it would be reasonable to conclude that the window of opportunity to bring Kashmir onto centre stage has finally presented itself, and Pakistan must use it to force India to initiate a dialogue on the matter. This would require steering clear of sensationalist statements in media, and making a commitment to engage with each other to resolve the issue.

Intransigent positions and jingoism has for the most part dominated the discourse on the Kashmir dispute in both Pakistan and India. This has prevented meaningful developments on the issue in turn dooming it to a fate of perpetual conflict. The biggest losers of this unfortunate state of affairs are the people of Kashmir, for whom their struggle for ‘azadi’ (freedom) has been going on since the Dogra rule. However, the voice of Kashmiris has been notably absent from all of the political wrangling from Pakistani and Indian camps, while it is their voice that must be paid due attention so that a settlement is reached that is acceptable to the people of Kashmir.

One way of looking at the instability and violence in Kashmir is through the lens of a postcolonial state using its security apparatus to forcefully keep its hold over a disgruntled population. For the people of Kashmir, India is like a colonial power that exercises a façade democracy in the valley and punishes those who dare to challenge the central government in Delhi. Even the heavy handed treatment of Kashmiris at the hands of the police force and the notorious paramilitary force, the Central Reserve Police Force (CPRF), is eerily reminiscent of the disdain that colonial security forces had for locals who dared to resist the powers that be. Moreover, the violence in Kashmir is also a failure on the part of Indian security agencies to contain protests. It is extremely tragic that not only protesters but also even those in their homes have been wounded by pellet guns used by the Indian forces.

The recent campaign on social media in which images of well-known people such as the founder of Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg, and Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi, have been photoshopped to show pellet gun wounds has gained a lot of audience, and despite its melodramatic overtone, it has been effective in humanising the victims of Indian excesses in Kashmir. All of this points to the state of persecution of Kashmiris, and unless the issue is not resolved and Indian forces continue to mishandle the situation, Kashmiris will continue to suffer. *