Kashmir’s June Revolution

‘To sin by silence when they should protest makes cowards of men.’
(Abraham Lincoln).
Kashmiris were not silent as the first attempts to sell Kashmir were made. They protested in large numbers against a scheme which would have legalised land for permanent use by pilgrims en route to the Amarnath Cave. The communal chants of the pilgrims en route to the Cave have often tore at the very hearts of many Kashmiris, what with the Indian armed forces, and Kashmiri authorities with them, bending over backwards to please the pilgrims, at extreme economic and social cost to the people living along the route to the shrine. No doubt many Kashmiris involved in the hospitality industry have much to gain from the pilgrimage, but the loss of self-respect and dignity at the hands of supposedly religious and God-fearing Hindus going through great travails to perform a religious duty was a price too much to bear.
Time and again, Kashmiris have made the point that they have nothing against the pilgrimage or pilgrims, but these statements have fallen on deaf ears. The hijacking of the land transfer issue by the communal BJP throughout India has left a trail of destruction, loss of life, and breakdown of law and order that reminds one of the tumultuous days of the ill-fated ‘Rath Yatra’ led by LK Advani in 1990. It is unfortunate that a party that aims to rule more than a billion people through democracy, should lie to, cheat, and fool the very people it claims to represent, just to garner the communal votes. Power corrupts.
So what happened in Kashmir?
Analysis of such nation-wide street protests in the recent past throughout the world reveals a pattern of the so-called ‘Coloured Revolutions.’ These were non-violent street protests led by young, charismatic student leaders, labour union leaders, and a host of other bodies of intellectuals, that sought to effect peaceful ‘regime change’ in the former communist countries of Serbia in 2000, Georgia in 2003, Ukraine in 2004, and Kyrgyzstan in 2005. There was also the ‘Cedar Revolution’ of Lebanon in 2005 following the assassination of Rafiq Hariri, and the ‘Blue Revolution’ of Kuwait in 2005 that argued for suffrage for women, and ultimately led to it. The genesis of such movements lay in the ‘Carnation Revolution’ of Portugal in 1975 which saw a popular military coup against a dictatorship, ultimately leading to the establishment of democracy after a two-year transition period. So was this Kashmir’s Coloured Revolution? Maybe. The protests were widespread, in all cities, towns and villages, involved people from all walks of life, were largely peaceful, and with a single-point aim: revoke the land transfer order. It was successful. The land order was revoked, and people returned to their normal life the very next day. Few could doubt one thing: Kashmiri sentiment against the land order was universal.
But was this sentiment restricted to simply the ‘land transfer order’? Apparently not. Although the protests were led by the mainstream pro-India parties in Kashmir initially, they were gradually replaced on the streets by chants of ‘Azadi’ and cries for the end to ‘Indian rule,’ and the end to occupation of land by the Indian forces. Towards the end of the protests, it was evident which way the wind was blowing on the streets in Kashmir: the pro-freedom parties had been gifted another opportunity to achieve their goals by sheer providence. It remains to be seen how this opportunity is used. The conclusion: stop killing protestors, do not use excessive force, and see what the Kashmiris really want. It does not matter what the issue is, Kashmiris have only one pressing problem: the continuing interference of Indian authorities in their daily lives, through the presence of Indian troops, intelligence agents, or stooges in places of power. It is THE problem. And the June Revolution of 2008 has amply shown this fact. No matter how much money, jobs, schemes, and rock concerts the Indian authorities pump in to Kashmir, the Kashmiri on the street will never be Indian. India cannot buy Kashmiri loyalty. Of course, for a small price, Kashmiri leaders, under duress or for their own selfish reasons, have, in the past, compromised on positions of great importance, but no matter what has happened, the Kashmiri has remained loyal to the concept of ‘Azadi.’
For 60 years, the Indian authorities have tried every imaginable scheme to win over Kashmiris. There are symbols of the attempts everywhere…there are graves, there are large buildings and bridges, there are railways and there are tanks waiting to transported over them, there are burned out homes and brand new ones, there are lists of people never seen again after their arrest, there are people never seen before, now moving around in large cars with a large security apparatus around them… Imagine!
The American President during the First World War, Woodrow Wilson remarked, “The seed of all revolutions is repression.” The Kashmiri has felt constantly repressed by the rule of India over Kashmir. As long as Indian rule, characterised by violent repression of the genuine aspirations of the people of Kashmir continues, the revolution will continue. So what was achieved by the June Revolution?
First, it brought back the spotlight on the concept of ‘Azadi.’ Throughout Kashmir, as the elections neared, Kashmiris were talking about the number of seats parties would win, and who would form the next government, as though the ground beneath their feet was never covered with blood. Now the focus is back on a rejuvenated, reunited, Hurriyat, which has regained massive political space, space which it had lost.
Second, it made the issue of Kashmir an issue of religious aspiration. When the flames in Srinagar were doused, Jammu ignited, with calls for the end to food and fuel supplies to the Valley reverberating. Why? Because Muslims had succeeded in preventing a land transfer to Hindus. History has rarely witnessed such calamitous lies. If exploited by vested interests carefully, this could be the beginning of the partition of the state of Jammu and Kashmir, and the first step in the ultimate solution of the issue of Kashmir. It could also be the death knell to the concept of ‘Indian secularism.’
Third, it has handed the BJP another issue on a platter, which the BJP has successfully exploited. Communal incidents have been seen throughout India, especially in Indore, with the VHP and RSS using their well-oiled machinery to rake up the issue as another attempt by a Congress-led government to appease the ‘minorities.’ There have been incredibly ludicrous chants of, ‘Amarnath Yatra nahin, to Haj nahin (If there is no Amarnath Yatra, there will be no Haj).”
Fourth, the silence of Pakistan on the issue, with neither the media nor the leaders of Pakistan commenting much over the tumultuous nine days, has left the Indian establishment groping in the dark, searching for the genesis of such widespread protests. The 1990s were characterised by a popular armed insurgency supposedly supported by the Pakistani establishment. Where was Pakistan during the June Revolution? Taking a backseat and watching with thinly-veiled glee. Shouting on the streets costs nothing, throwing rocks costs nothing, and a popular revolution costs nothing. The Kashmiris were again on the streets, showing their resentment over the issue, demanding ‘Azadi’ again…The unresolved issue of Partition of India is never forgotten. Fifth, and most importantly, it has handed the issue of ‘Azadi’ to a new generation. A mobile-using, internet-savvy, well-educated, worldly-wise generation of young Kashmiri Muslims, well aware of their personal and community goals, has taken over the task of leading the movement to its intended conclusion. The stone-throwing boys, too young to have seen the protests of 1990, too young to have voted in the flawed election of 1987, too young to have been killed by Indian troops during the targeted massacres of the 1990s, were out on the streets, carrying forward the unfinished business of their forefathers. It is said that revolutions never move backward. It remains to be seen how this new generation can peacefully negotiate, on its own terms, the future of Kashmir with India.
As a commentator in an Indian newspaper wrote recently that “it has only increased the fault-lines between Kashmir and India.” Whether by typographical error, or by realistic assertion, this Indian writer did not use the term ‘the rest of India.’