CROSSING THE LINES: KASHMIR, PAKISTAN, INDIA

Jammu &Kashmir Map (Copyright MSNBC)

Ironically, Kashmir was once called the Crown of India. As you can see the Crown is no more, on the right side China took a bite and on the left Pakistan took a share..And now the fight continues as Pakistan is vying for the India controlled Kashmir...

Last Saturday evening, I went to watch the screening of this documentary on Kashmir -CROSSING THE LINES: KASHMIR, PAKISTAN, INDIA at Stanford. The movie is made by a Pakistani physicist and tries to potray the story from both sides: India and Pakistan.

Before the film was screened some people gave talks on the Kashmir situation including an international security analyst who shared his ideas on why the West had easily ignored the Kashmir issue for years and how nuclear proliferation in South Asia had increased violence in the valley and led to the Kargil war. Then there was this Muslim female from Kashmir now settled in the US who talked about her first hand horrendous experiences during terrorism. I completely sympathized with her when she talked about the uncertain life and the Indian Army's acts against human rights. However, I found it hard to maintain objectivity when she said that the then J&K Governor Jagmohan had on purpose shipped out all Kashmiri Hindus (aka Pandits) out of the Kashmir Valley to Jammu so that the Army could backlash on the Muslims.

Here again I must state I might be wrong and might be losing my sense of objectivity as this is a topic that cuts straight to my heart. As a Kashmiri Hindu who never permanently lived in Kashmir I try not to make claims of first hand experience. Yet I am often reminded of personal losses on the same account and it is difficult to digest others' claims when facts are strangled conveniently.

To modestly say that militancy broke out and the very next day we saw all our Hindu friends and teachers at school were gone..they had fled from Kashmir and then in the same vein to say that this was done to ease the Army's lashing on the Muslims---is a gross mistake. One who is pained by experiencing violence must also realize that to leave one'e luxurious home, friends, relatives, businesses and fleeing away in a single night with only 1 pair of clothes and to start living from the next day in a shady camp with no access to bank accounts/money, food, clothing as well as basic amenities such as bathrooms, electricity is by no means a joke and 50,000+ Kashmiri Hindus would not accept this kind of fate if they had any other option. Most Kashmiri Pandits (henceforth KPs) fled Kashmir during a span of 1 week in trucks that left Srinagar at night and reached Jammu by morning and they did so because they had seen enough of their family and friends die and the then Indian Government was doing a pretty good job of neglecting their plight.

Anyways, coming back to the movie...The documentary had a lot of footage on the Pakistani side arguably, it was more accessible..The views portayed in the movie went from fundamentalist to moderate to liberal depending on the people interviewed....Various chronological events that brought us to Kashmir today were brought up....

A little debate can be facilitated on this issue yet, opening a Pandora's box is not a sound thing to do...The movie explained especially to the viewers of non South-Asian origin or otherwise ignorant that the Kashmir conflicted started because once Kashmir was incorporated as an Indian State the more educated KPs who also had higher economic stature dominated the state and oppressed the Muslims. This is in fact considered to be a major cause of the resentment borne by Kashmiri Muslims that later took on stronger names such as Jihadis and Revolutionaries. This in it self can be questioned ?? Starting with 1970s, there were widespread reservation policies setup for facilitating the education and employment of the Muslims in Kashmir. By this time although Muslims were protected by these reservation policies for a so called minority, the Muslims were in fact the majority in the region....Why these policies did not help? Because Kashmir due to its geography offered more business opportunities in the area of tourism and horticulture and far less academic and other jobs...While the KPs historically more inclined towards education (even the word Pandit means "one who is scholarly") fairly migrated to other parts of India for education and jobs the Muslims preferred to stay back in the Valley and pursue businesses....Many of the Muslims still were in the lower economic bracket as they continued to strive away from the Goverment's family planning initiatives and had larger families to support...Yet there wasn't much terrorism in the Valley then.....Most of the pro-Paksitani sentiment and the resentment feelings were inculcated in the Muslims in the late 1980s by the so called political activists turned terrorists who in the name of "Allah" started a bitter cycle of violence targeted towards the KPs...

In my mind again the movie does a poor job of explaining how Jihadis turned up in such large numbers all of a sudden...The ISI backed activities are considered a thing of the past..It is an important fact of the history of Kashmir that initially many Muslim youth were forced to become terrorists once they were kidnapped and taken across the border to traning camps in Pakistan....

Despite the bi-partisan view that the movie tries to present it was hard for me not to cry on watching the gut wrenching footage..At the same time I was disgusted by the taste of the people watching the movie who clapped at various instances at the mass blood bath footage shown..Appreciating a director is something but how people can laugh and clap at real people dying is beyond me..

At the end there was a long Q&A session which I sat through completely...As well known and insightful Mr. Hoodbhoy maybe his answers were less than satisfactory in many cases...For instance, a US based Pakistani gentleman asked him why when suggesting resolutions to the Kashmir problem everybody looked at it from a religious point of view..Why not a nationalistic point view, implying that if India were to grant Kashmir independence as a country India would be faced by similar circumstances in Assam, Punjab and ....Mr. Hoodbhoy answered that living in Kashmir it was impossible not to be religious minded- you had to take a side in order to exist..and saying that religion should not be a part of the equation would be unrealistic..while that maybe true it is also a fact that if India were to make an exception and give up Kashmir the entire political system in India would collapse....As incorrigible and incompetent our Government might be, its no simple feat to manage a country this diverse in religion, culture, language, what not...

While as an ex-Kashmiri inhabitant I wish that peace would prevail and normalcy were to come back in the state of Jammu & Kashmir, in the near future that does not seem to be happenning...
I still miss Srinagar, Dal Lake, Habbakadal, Gulmarg, Pahelgam, Patnitop and pray that my Dad's wish of retiring back in the solace of his home in Srinagar comes true. Sometimes I wonder at what cost ?? Just in terms of human life so much has been lost in Kashmir and that includes civilians, Jihadis and the Indian Army...Then there is also billions of money burnt on the defence action forces in the Valley since the last 15 years and after all this what is left...A blood stained region, with the economy worth zero, the natural treasures destroyed and nobody wanting to live there....

To the common Indian, Pakistani or world citizen Kashmir is a forgotten story! To some its a daily keyword in the Indian newspapers with the just the number of deaths changing everyday....To some its the World...Hopefully the glory of Maij (Kashmiri for 'Mother') Kashmir will be restored someday...God Bless the people of Kashmir!

Background on the film & director:
http://www.ektaonline.org/~friendso/
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4201688/

Some Other Reviews:
http://www.jammu-kashmir.com/archives/archives2004/kashmir20040511b.html
http://hasbrouck.org/blog/archives/000312.html

Some sites with information and insights on the Kashmir issue:
Disclaimer: I have not read all the articles on these sites and do not endorse any/all of the information published.
http://ikashmir.org/Refugees/index.html
http://www.panunkashmir.org/index.html http://www.zackvision.com/weblog/archives/kashmir/index.html
http://www.indianet.nl/indpak51.html
http://www.mindspring.com/~akhila_raman/