Urmilesh’s Kashmir Book A Timely Intervention
A note on Book Launch
New Delhi. Oblivious to the war hysteria and the perception that the crisis in Kashmir was of Pakistan’s making, the consensus that emerged at a conference in Delhi yesterday was that India must acknowledge the people of the Valley are anguished and there was an urgent need for responding to their cries compassionately.
The conference, on the occasion of a book release on Kashmir, saw most speakers expressing graveapprehensions about Kashmir slipping out of India’s hand. Experts felt it was completely wrong to analyze our internal problem merely as Pakistani mischief and pleaded with the Central Government to address the concerns of Kashmiri people instead of diverting attention through war-mongering.
Most experts argued the situation this time was extremely serious and stressed the need for a compassionate hearing of the voices of the Kashmiri people instead of drowning their grievances in anti-Pakistan hysteria and jingoistic nationalistic sloganeering. They also suggested out-of-box solutions to satisfy the Kashmiri people and meaningful engagement with Pakistan to resolve the political dispute.
Expressing deep anguish over the war hysteria and the irrelevant noise over Kashmir in the media, documentary film maker from Kashmir Sanjay Kak said,

“I feel there is sannata (silence) on Kashmir despite so much noise. Nobody is willing to understand the nature of Kashmir problem. There is no attempt to listen to the Kashmiri people, to understand what feel. They are screaming for attention.”

Kak lamented that the mainstream media explained Kashmir as Indo-Pakistan problem; completely ignoring the humanitarian crisis in the state.

“We can see Islamabad from Delhi, not the people who are saying something to us in Kashmir. The verbal firecrackers in television studios lit up the borders; the lives of Kashmiri remain in the dark. India needs to listen to Kashmiris.”

Editor of Rising Kashmir Shujaat Bukhari echoed the sentiment, arguing the lack of correct information about Kashmiri life in the mainstream media.
He said,

“I recently went to a conference where very few people knew Kashmir was under curfew for 32 days in a row. One person said Kashmiris live on central doles, getting rice for Rs 3 per kg. We don’t know where from such information come. Kashmir of 2016 is in a very bad shape; it is not the Kashmir of 2008 or 2012.”

Though extremely restrained and cautious, Bukhari said,

“India has failed Kashmir, Kashmiris haven’t failed India.”

He described restoration of normalcy in the state as a big challenge but hoped the situation could still be salvaged. His praise of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s speech from Kozhikode, when he directly talked to the Pakistani people and appealed for a battle against poverty, illiteracy and disease indicated how much the Kashmiris detest the war hysteria.
Eminent journalist Prem Shakar Jha apprehended the state was slipping out of hand and felt only an out-of-box solution can salvage the situation.
He talked of autonomy to Kashmiris, arguing that it was fallacious to see Kashmir as a communal problem and wrong to presume that majority of the people are pro-Pakistan.

Kashmir problem is about true democracy, not religion
Prem Shakar Jha said,

“I met Hizbul boys and even they didn’t talk of Hindu-Muslim; they only pointed out what promises India didn’t fulfill. Kashmir problem is about true democracy, not religion.”

Jha, who worked with former Prime Minister VP Singh as advisor, said the Government could consider dividing Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh.
He also said an autonomous Kashmir would be mean it will have antagonistic relationship with India.
Another veteran journalist and Kashmir interlocutor Kuldeep Nayar too said the current problem was exceptional as the old separatist leaders had lost credibility and the completely alienated youth had come to the forefront of protest.

Nayar said these youth only want freedom.

“I told them nobody will accept this in India; Parliament will never even consider it. The best option is autonomy; strengthening the article 370. The dilution of article 370 had created all the problems. The terms on which J&K came to Inmdia in 1947 should be honoured.”

He also asked the intellectuals and the media to mount pressure on the Government to initiate dialogue and find immediate solution.

The book, Kashmir—Virasat aur Siyasat, authored by journalist Urmilesh
The book, Kashmir—Virasat aur Siyasat, authored by journalist Urmilesh also stresses on the vitality of article 370, arguing that the special provision of the Indian Constitution that facilitated Kashmir’s accession was irrevocable, no matter how badly it is diluted through political sleight of hand.
The book details four critical occasions when India and Pakistan looked like reaching a solution of the Kashmir dispute, with Manmohan Singh’s tenure being one of the critical phases.
The book also analyses the problematic perspective of the Hindu nationalists, their negative historical role and the dogmatic refusal to understand the importance of article 370.
It underlines the importance of healing touch, an agenda implemented by Congress-PDP government headed by Mufti Mohammed Sayeed that had calmed tempers and bolstered the process of psychological assimilation

Hastakshep