{"id":1742,"date":"2014-04-06T18:58:51","date_gmt":"2014-04-06T13:28:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/peacewatchkashmir.com\/blog\/?p=1742"},"modified":"2014-04-06T19:07:57","modified_gmt":"2014-04-06T13:37:57","slug":"is-asking-for-collective-instrospection-blasphemous-in-kashmir","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/peacewatchkashmir.com\/blog\/editors-take\/is-asking-for-collective-instrospection-blasphemous-in-kashmir\/","title":{"rendered":"Is Asking For Collective Instrospection Blasphemous In Kashmir"},"content":{"rendered":"<\/fb:like>
<\/h6>\n

 <\/p>\n

Z.G. MUHAMMAD<\/h4>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"generals\"<\/a>\u2018I stumbled when I saw\u2019. On seeing\u00a0\u00a0 leaders committing faux pas of far- reaching implications, I often remember this quote from Shakespeare\u2019s drama King Lear. The past sixty-seven years history of Kashmir is replete with instances, when our leaders like Gloucester, one of the characters in King Lear despite eyes \u2018walked blindly into trouble.\u2019\u00a0 History threw many an opportunity for us for ending the political uncertainties but leadership stumbled to see them. And even if they saw these opportunities, they looked at them through opportunistic lens.\u00a0\u00a0 I see\u00a0\u00a0 indiscreet decisions taken by our leadership at important junctures of history as an important cause for what Alastair Lamb called as \u2018birth of a tragedy.\u2019
\nA week earlier, this quote once again resonated in my mind. When one of o the\u00a0 leaders either out of share naivety or \u2018under influence\u2019\u00a0\u00a0 provided grist to the BJP propaganda mill by reviving a forgotten clich\u00e9, – \u201cwithin the ambit of Insanyat\u201d. This intelligently coined phrase used by former Prime Minister, Vajpayee in a particular context some fifteen years back,\u00a0\u00a0 was reinvented not by the BJP spin-doctors but by one of the leaders. In last Monday column, I wrote about genesis of this word, which has now become an electoral \u2018mantra\u2019\u00a0\u00a0 for some Kashmir leaders.\u00a0 The NDA government, if it comes to power by all stretch of imagination is going to use the phrase to cover up the violations \u2013 as word \u2018zero tolerance\u2019 was\u00a0 used by Manmohan Singh or \u2018human touch\u2019 was use for beclouding the recognized Kashmir narrative at the international level.
\nMost amazing is wherefrom leaders picked up the hope that BJP prime ministerial candidate would depart from the established Hindutva policy towards Kashmir. If the conglomerate saw its statement as a stroke to win favors with the believed- to- be future dispensation in New Delhi, it is on a slippery wicket.\u00a0 In his December 1, 2013 speech in Jammu Modi by lauding Dogra Maharajas rule and stating that if Hari Singh had been in power the state would have been better, provide insight into his ideas about Kashmir. In this column, it may not be possible to explain the statement in detail. Nevertheless, Mirdu Rai in her book \u2018Hindu Rule Muslim Subjects\u2019 has ably explained that\u00a0\u00a0 Kashmir was a \u2018Hindu State during the Dogra rule.\u2019\u00a0\u00a0 While deviously, promoting sectarianism amongst Muslim by talking about dual policy towards Shias, Gujjars and Bakarwals he very subtly suggested trifurcation of the state by asking people of Jammu and Ladakh to raise their voices against \u201cinjustice\u201d.
\nPicking up\u00a0 leads provided by couple of leaders across the ideological divide in the state Modi reiterating\u00a0 the clich\u00e9s \u2018Insaniyat, Jamhuriyat and Kashmiriyat attributed to Vajpayee, in his public rally at Hiranagar on 26 March 2014 said that former NDA prime minister had created \u2018a hope amongst the people of Jammu and Kashmir\u2019. \u2018And Kashmiris during his rule had got a sigh of relief.\u2019 He was emboldened to make these false assertions that crumble under their own weight because of\u00a0\u00a0 political naivety of some of our leaders.\u00a0 In the same meeting by resurrecting Shyama Prasad Mookerjee\u2019s ideology, he very subtly explained his Kashmir policy. He also talked by Sardar Patel\u2019s ideology of Kashmir which he believes was different from that of Jawaharlal Nehru. For understanding Mookerjee\u2019s or Patel\u2019s ideas on Kashmir, that BJP leaders wants to follow one needs to revisit Kashmir history.
\nMore than a year before India got independence, according Colonel Web Nehru had framed a policy of making Kashmir into anti-Pakistan zone under the leadership of Sheikh Abdullah, whatever shape Pakistan might eventually assume. In 1946, Maharaja arrested Sheikh Abdullah and his party men for starting an agitation against him. \u2018Nehru never lost an opportunity after appointment of Mountbatten as Viceroy to expose him to arguments of an Indian Jammu and Kashmir- the eventual incorporation of Jammu and Kashmir became an underlying objective of Mountbatten and Nehru. This was not true about Patel.\u00a0 \u201cNehru always wanted Kashmir to be part of India,\u201d writes historian Ramachandra Guha, \u201cPatel was at one time inclined to allow the state to join Pakistan. His mind changed on 13 September, the day Pakistan government accepted the accession of Junagadh.\u201d The developments in Jungadah might have influenced Patel but primarily it was Nehru explaining him geo-strategic importance of Kashmir for planting\u00a0 that made him change his view. \u201cPatel had a cold geopolitical approach to the future of Jammu and Kashmir writes Alastair Lamb, \u201cKashmir in India\u2019s hands would severely curtail the future freedom of international action in Pakistan. More immediately, possession of Kashmir province would give India a direct access to the Pathan world and NWFP\u2026 he also saw possibility of using Kashmir for destruction of Pakistan\u201d (Incomplete Partition page 129). He also saw Kashmir \u201cas a lethal weapon against Pakistan.\u201d
\nMountbatten during his visit to Kashmir failed to persuade Maharaja to join India. His visit was followed by Mahatma Gandhi visit. In the meantime, Nehru told Patel about enlisting support of Abdullah for state joining India. \u2018On 27 September, Nehru wrote a long letter to Patel explaining \u2018need for making friends with National Conference so that there might be popular support against Pakistan. Releasing Abdullah and enlisting support of his followers would also bring about accession of Kashmir with Indian Union.\u201d (India After Gandhi page63). This largely refers to Patel\u2019s ideology about Kashmir that Modi referred to in Jammu.
\nThese developments were followed by landing of troops in Srinagar and \u201csigning of the instrument of accession\u201d by Maharaja. And Sheikh Abdullah coming to power. The accession was limited to three things foreign affairs, defence and communications subject to ratification by will of the people. This arrangement was not acceptable to Hindutva leadership and it wanted total merger of the State with India like any other state. Jawaharlal Nehru\u00a0\u00a0 had no extraordinary love for the autonomous character of the state. It were\u00a0 international compulsions that made Nehru to publicly to oppose Mookerjee for demanding full integration of the state. \u201cHe also wrote to him, \u201cWhat happens in J&K is not a local matter. It has the largest implications on Kashmir issue, on future of the state, on Pakistan, on the UN, etc.\u201d
\nNehru-Mookerjee- Correspondence of the period makes it amply clear what Mookerjee\u2019s ideology about Kashmir was to which Modi alluded to in his Jammu speech. This ideology in fact leaves no scope for expecting the new government taking a departure from the known policy of the Hindutva. This was clearly reiterated by\u00a0 BJP leader Jaitley.
\nThe way a section of Kashmir leaders responded to the rising tide of Modi speaks about their befuddled understanding of the contemporary situation and dilemmas they have been suffering after 2007, when the four-point formula met its waterloo. In fact, there is need for collective introspection for understanding the causes for failures of Kashmir political movement and ending political uncertainties in the state.<\/p>\n

Published in Greater Kashmir on 31-3-14<\/p>\n<\/fb:like><\/span>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

 
\nZ.G. MUHAMMAD
\n 
\n\u2018I stumbled when I saw\u2019. On seeing\u00a0\u00a0 leaders committing faux pas of far- reaching implications, I often remember this quote from Shakespeare\u2019s drama King Lear. The past sixty-seven years history of Kashmir is replete with instances, when our leaders like Gloucester, one of the characters in King Lear despite eyes \u2018walked blindly into trouble.\u2019\u00a0 History threw many an opportunity for us for ending the political uncertainties but leadership stumbled to see them. And even if they saw these opportunities, they looked at them through opportunistic lens.\u00a0\u00a0 I see\u00a0\u00a0 indiscreet decisions taken by our leadership at important junctures of history as an important cause for what Alastair Lamb called as \u2018birth of a tragedy.\u2019
\nA week earlier, this quote once again resonated in my mind. When one of o the\u00a0 leaders either out of share naivety or \u2018under influence\u2019\u00a0\u00a0 provided grist to the BJP propaganda mill by reviving a forgotten clich\u00e9, …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1605,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1742","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-editors-take"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/peacewatchkashmir.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1742"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/peacewatchkashmir.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/peacewatchkashmir.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peacewatchkashmir.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peacewatchkashmir.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1742"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/peacewatchkashmir.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1742\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1745,"href":"https:\/\/peacewatchkashmir.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1742\/revisions\/1745"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peacewatchkashmir.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1605"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/peacewatchkashmir.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1742"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peacewatchkashmir.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1742"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peacewatchkashmir.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1742"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}