This week two important media personalities have mentioned the unthinkable. well, atleast the unspeakable if not unthinkable.
Barkha dutt implies that secession of Kashmir is an inevibility and Vir Sangvi puts forward very pursuasive arguements for the necessity of the same. For a very long time i have been seized by such a solution but my political correctness suppressed these thoughts. Ignoring all ground realities i was a compulsive optimist as far as Kashmir is concerned and always thought that my theories on this state were always wrong and peculiar to me.but now, i am sad that the cat is out of the bag.
Kashmir comprises of two regions ,namely the kashmir valley and Ladakh. The valley area has been a festering wound since partition. This state gets more central government grants than U.P ,Bihar ,M.P, Rajasthan and west bengal combined.This is an INDIAN state where non state Indians cannot buy land for residences and factories,but needless to say this special state people can live and put up factories anywhere in India and in return want the rest of India to feel privileged when they do so. And what could be the reason for this? This special ,6-8 million chosen people ,living in the valley have a godgifted commodity called KASHMIRIYAT which they fear will be in peril if other indians come too close to them. Can this state be called an Indian state? A state which gobbles up hard earned taxpayers money and gives bombs in return. A totally hopeless,hilly area with no potential and assets other than apples and kashmiriyat.Doesnt this area does nothing constructive apart from manufacturing trouble but still enjoys one of the highest standards of living in India !!
A state which first takes an inordinate share of money from a meagre bundle and then uses this money to buy food,clothing and shelter articles from rest of India and then calls this subterfuge a TRADE! How very akin to drinking ones own piss when thirsty .
In all fairness one may also remember that kashmir valley people never wanted to be a part of India. Kashmir became a supposed part of india because there was a hindu ruler in kashmir at the time of partition ,which was a happenstance on which india pounced. We conjectured that we will win them over by good samaritan deeds.We begged and borrowed and rest of india toiled to fulfill our great kashmiri pundit leaders tryst with destiny and so gave his homeplace a good deal.Inspite of more than enoying all the fruits of democracy,i,e freedom of religion,freedom of speech,freedom of abuse and a highest standard of living since their civilisation begun,and all this for free, They still feel they are living in some kind of low security well maintained prison. They feel they are paying with the currency of Kashmiriyat for the largesse they are receiving and feel it is a poor bargain. Folks,let them have their Kashmiriyat and for a change lets have a peaceful India. Nehru saved his homeplace for himself but at what cost to us? Is it worth the while to let our economy bleed because of fake currency notes that finance the kashmir separatist movement? But for Kashmir we would have no Indo-Pak conflict and all the monies saved can go into much needed infrastructure works for nation building. Is the kashmir valley worth our jawans blood and their widows cries? Is that Area worth suffering bombing and riots in our cities? Are the people of the valley our people when they have always disowned us? Maybe its time to let it loose and let it bounce out into its ether of Kashmiriyat. Let it take away its stench of gunpowder and for once let india breath fresh air.
Let us now retreat from Kashmir both physically and mentally. And in the memories of all the indians killed let us retreat lock,stock and barrel. Let us retreat by withdrawing all our institutions of democracy. Let us retreat taking away all our indianess which is anyways unwanted there. Let us retreat not bringing back one rotten apple from the valley to consume during the journey. Let us retreat and not even piss till the valley is past,in this way registering our protest for the disdain shown to us. Let us retreat and leave nothing behind but a moral,political,philosphical scorched earth.
What happens if we leave? Kashmir valley declares independence and lasts 15 minutes, as Vir Sanghvi predicts? Not necessarily, I would say.If Pakistan keeps its promise of AZAAD KASHMIR, and is satisfied and content enough with breaking India and thus its apetite for revenge(for Bangladesh) is satiated, it might not meddle with the new nation. Further, on an immediate basis, Pakistan would be wary to annexe the new nation as its leadership may not have the inclination to fight with people of their own muslim community,specially when people of the valley are warmed up enough and are in fighting form for some years past now. Moreover it will be seen as a totally political and opportunistic fight as the muslim and jehadi cocktail will be missing making the annexation impossible to endorse for pakistan in the muslim comity. Indeed it could even backfire on pakistan as jehadi terrorism may turn its face on pakistan.
Pakistan will be loath to see itself fighting agaist fellow muslims and pakistan is not a fool. With the romanticism of India baiting gone ,no way it will venture into the unknown for a few tonnes of apples and walnuts and bombs(what else does the valley have?) At a future date ,some decades down the line,with the cause celebre of Kashmir removed and forgotten from the agenda,Both India and Pakistan will not have any locus standi to remain in conflict and peace may prevail. The new Generation then aseptic to the turmoil of these agonising years and oblivious to the horrors of partition and with the new peace prevailing may well be fruitfully engaged in their respective nation building efforts,and might actually thank Kashmir for acting as a natural buffer between India and Pakistan and therein will lie Kashmirs gaurantee of existence.
But how may Kashmir survive economically? Kashmir has some agro potential but the world is moving from such economies and these kind of industries cannot gaurantee anything more than sustenance living.Same is the case with handicrafts.Tourism which sustains countries like Thailand has to be factored out for some years or decades,as the tag of being a danger and unstable zone will not be very easy to remove and will take considerable time. Maybe in some decades time kashmir may become a budget holidayers Swiitzerland, but till then what?
The answer may be entrepot trade. We in India are accustomed to thinking of Pakistan as a small nation,but it is not so.Pakistan is a reasonably large country and quite populous for its area like India.Looking at a scaled map, one may say it comprises of 8-10 mid sized indian states. At the moment very little trade happens between India and Pakistan because the bone of conflict is Kashmir valley. With this problem solved trade between the two nations may be rejuvenated and kashmir valley can become the nodal point. As the suspisions between the two sides will take time to heal kashmir can become the terminating point for indian goods and starting point for pakistan and vice versa.Maybe kashmir may survive and Kashmiriyat will thrive.
All this may be acheived but it will take some time.Till that time Kashmiris in their kashmiristan will have to make use of Kashmiriyat to survive. They will have ample time to do nothing now and maybe they will find time now to ponder, what a paradise they have lost.