Causes of Current Turmoil In Kashmir-CSS Pakistan Affairs
What is causing current Turmoil in Kashmir-CSS Pakistan Affairs
With spring yet more turmoil has come to significant parts of Indian-controlled Jammu and Kashmir. Widespread violence has resulted in several deaths and has left at least 200 injured. The trigger this time appears to have been elections for two vacant seats in the Indian Parliament. One seat, in the capital city of Srinagar, had been vacated after its holder, Tariq Hameed Karra, quit the Peoples Democratic Party in a dispute over the handling of political disturbances in the state last year. The other seat had been empty since the current chief minister, Mehbooba Mufti, left it last year to assume her present role after the death of her father, the veteran Kashmiri politician Mufti Mohammad Sayeed.(CSS Pakistan Affairs)
The protests quickly turned violent, with the agitators resorting to pelting security forces with stones and even storming police stations. Faced with the unprecedented fury, local and national police resorted to pellet guns to quell the violence after tear gas failed to disperse the protesters. Unfortunately, the guns were indiscriminate and, on occasion, quite lethal. Thousands of protesters were maimed, including a few who were blinded. Although Indian authorities maintained that their use of the guns was a matter of “second last resort,” anger against the security forces only mounted and led to further protests.
As winter blanketed the state, the protests gradually wore off. The damage, however, had been done. Far from cowing the demonstrators, the harsh tactics sowed further disaffection. Consequently, it should come as no surprise that these elections for the two parliamentary seats should again become a moment of opportunity to express discontent for those who have lost faith in the electoral process. The renewed protests exemplify the underlying problem that New Delhi confronts in Kashmir.
There is little question that, through sheer might, Indian security forces can impose order on the state. However, this kind of stability, unless accompanied by other measures such as addressing the issue of those who have disappeared over the years without a trace after being arrested or providing compensation to the wrongfully harassed young men, is bound to be fleeting. The real and critical task, which the regime of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and its predecessors have ducked, has been assuaging the grievances of a generation that has been continually treated with distrust and suspicion. Facile claims that assign the blame to Pakistan will do little to address what ails the state. If India can win back the loyalties of its estranged Kashmiri youth, however, no amount of Pakistani meddling will be of consequence. The question is whether anyone in New Delhi is inclined to try.
courtesy: Foreign Affairs
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