|
|
|
Kashmir - An Insight
Kashmir. The name evokes images of alpine vistas and rushing rivers, gondolas floating on lotus-filled lakes, horse carts loaded with fresh apples and mountains covered with snow This tiny, isolated corner of South Asia seems neither southern nor Asian; its terrain, culture and spiritual traditions are unique.
But in the past decade, the name Kashmir has come to evoke very different images: sand-bagged army bunkers dominating every street corner in Srinagar, the summer capital; soldiers in camouflage gear patrolling every road; guerrillas detonating landmines and throwing grenades, women in kerchiefs wailing over dead bodies.
For centuries, Kashmir has struggled against oppressive rule in one form or another. First the Mughal King Akbar invaded the region in the 16th century, ending its era as a sovereign state. The Mughals were followed by the Pathans, the Sikhs and then the British, who sold the land, lakes and populace to Dogra rulers for a nominal sum in the mid-19th century.
The seeds of the current tragedy were sown half a century ago. The iron-fisted Dogras were forced out, but Kashmir was battered anew by the bloody and confusing events that accompanied the 1947 partition of India and Pakistan and the abrupt withdrawal of Great Britain's colonial rule over the subcontinent.
Kashmir, claimed by both India and Pakistan, was split into two portions separated by a "temporary" cease-fire line, while the United Nations resolved that a plebiscite should be held to determine the political future of the Kashmir. But the plebiscite was never allowed to take place. One portion of the divided and injured Kashmir was occupied by India and other by Pakistan. Pakistan further divided her held part of Kashmir in 1949, one is called Azad Kashmir and the other Gilgit Baltistan. During the Indo-China war of 1962, China captured some of the part of Kashmir and in 1963 Pakistan gave an important part of northern Kashmir to China in an agreement called Pak- China frontier agreement.
Instead, the northern portion of Kashmir remained directly controlled by Pakistan for a long time but for the last few years Northern Areas Council which is directly controlled from Islamabad is imposed upon the people of Gilgit Baltistan. Azad(free)Kashmir is also no more than a colony of Pakistan. It is ruled by a government that is directed and controlled by Ministry of Kashmir affairs from Islamabad, while the southern portion was ruled by India through proxies, with a state legislature and chief minister periodically elected --but real control exercised by over half a million Indian troops and police.
In 1989, a violent uprising of young Kashmiris demanding self-determination erupted and a frenzy of political assassinations shattered the bucolic serenity and the thriving economy of the region. Once a romantic tourist attraction where crime had been almost negligible, Kashmir became a grim battleground where no one dared venture out after dark.
During the 1990s, at least 50,000 people died in the seesawing guerrilla war between Indian security forces and separatist guerrilla groups. Both sides committed frequent brutalities: Indian troops tortured and killed suspected insurgents in custody and burned down villages that harbored them; guerrillas attacked military and civilian targets with grenades, explosives and automatic weapons. The temporary cease fire line later became Line of Control(LOC) according to Simla Agreement. Thousands of human beings have been killed in cross-firing between Indian and Paki troops on both sides of LOC.
Pakistan, eager to foment unrest inside India, trained and armed a number of Kashmiri guerrilla groups. When their resolve and numbers dwindled under India's aggressive counter-insurgency campaign, armed Islamic groups in Pakistan took their place.
Increasingly, an indigenous freedom struggle was overshadowed by fundamentalist, pan-Islamic groups whose agenda had little to do with Kashmiris' political rights.
Meanwhile, in 1998, both India and Pakistan tested nuclear weapons, and their festering dispute over Kashmir became known as a "nuclear flashpoint" in the post-Cold War world. An effort at bilateral rapprochement by India's and Pakistan's prime ministers in early 1999 collapsed when Pakistan-based fighters invaded India's Kargil mountains. The fiasco ended most hopes of bilateral negotiations and left Kashmiris trapped between the belligerent egos of two nuclear neighbors.
In mid-2000, as another Kashmir summer opened the lotus blossoms blanketed Srinagar's Dal Lake and the hills of Sonamarg turned brilliant green. But with grenade blasts and rifle fire shattering the air almost daily, the tourist gondolas were empty once again, and the souvenir shops remained full of unsold shawls and trinkets. As a new cycle of beauty and violence began, the tragedy of Kashmir seemed as poignant --and permanent -- as ever.
|
|
|
