Is the average Kashmiri Muslim insecure?
After a lull of more than eight months, I travelled to Kashmir this August around the 70th Independence Day. Needless to say, a lot has changed in Jammu and Kashmir’s narrative in the recent months. And what I sensed were ripples of repercussions – some encouraging, others disturbing.
The first impression during transit from the Srinagar airport was that average Kashmiris are living in the fear of insecurity – about their business and their lives in general. This feeling only got accentuated by the end of the visit.
The Centre’s multi-pronged action on standing by the forces and giving them a free hand in neutralising terrorists, exposing terror funding; its diplomatic pressures on Pakistan, and the non-state pressures of the Hindu fringe reclaiming ground - all this seems to have shaken the apple cart for Kashmir.
Truth be told, for me it was déjà vu. At the cost of being reprimanded for my thoughts, may I take the liberty of saying that it is almost as if the insecurities articulated by Kashmir Pandits three decades ago are playing out all over again. This time voiced by the Muslims of the Valley. The fear for life, property, livelihood and much more is plaguing the Kashmiri Muslim.
The most-telling sentiment that flows through conversations with locals is that of acute insecurity about their future.
“I had told myself, I will keep my kids away from all this nonsense and send them outside Kashmir, post their schooling. That was my comfort level with the inclusive India. But looking at the targeting of Muslims in the rest of India now, I feel desperate. If they will be singled out for being Muslim in rest of India, then their future is doomed. Where do I send them now?” asks my next-door neighbour who works for a bank and has two school-going boys.
One would tend to understand the desperation of the parent but there is also the other side to the story. When Kashmiri youth in Hyderabad refuse to stand for the national anthem in a theatre and grab news headlines, they are not helping anybody’s cause but alienating themselves further. This is as divisive and damaging as the lynching carried out by the Hindu fringe. It takes two hands to clap.
The fear factor in the mind of a Kashmiri Muslim is not restricted to social and cultural alienation. With the noise around Article 35A, there is much more to it that must be read between the lines.
Insecurity speaks loud in the business community too. The faces of the shop owners in Polo View, across Residency Road and Lal Chowk, are dark with pessimism. “With the government reviewing 35A, we may finally have to sell our businesses to outsiders. Kashmir’s economy is hollowing out. No Kashmiri businessman is left with any money given that tourism has come to a naught and there is no opportunity opening up for us,” says the gentleman who has headed multiple trade councils and business associations over the years.
Businesses are already working on plans to give only 15 days' salary as most of the workforce is non-productive and sits idle on most days.
On the business of terror money, there is a strange and pregnant silence around India Today’s exposé on Hurriyat links. The reactions are fraught with caution.
Most people want to see what comes out of the investigations. The common sentiment is “They stay who they are unless proven guilty”.
Interestingly, on terror money, the flow of information on the case is understandably skewed. The local media, which caters to the last citizen on the street is filtering information to the benefit of local interests. The whole exposé is dished out as a political manoeuvre to bring disrepute to local leading lights and leaders. The other side of the story, which would call out the evidence, is conveniently shouted out of the local narrative.
Naturally, while in Kashmir, one would also try to do a dipstick and sense the impact of terrorists being neutralised like a falling pack of cards. There too, reactions are mixed. Locals feel that cleansing the terrorists is not the same as cleansing the terror supply chain.
They fear that a new crop will replace the exterminated one so lauding these efforts can be indiscrimination.
They obviously choose caution for more than one reason. When a local Kashmiri Hizbul Mujahideen terrorist guns down another local, it is again bad news. Three locals killed in a span of 24 hours is a signal towards silence.
Simply put, the concerns are on many fronts. Can the Modi government ensure that a new crop of terror will not mushroom once this wave is over? Will Delhi’s strategy be only offensive? Will there be any comfort messaging from Delhi to reassure the locals that all is not lost?
This and more is being expected from the Modi government.
So when the sound of PM Modi’s Independence Day address at Red Fort floated in the air of the Valley's Zabarwan neighbourhood, people had their ears tuned to any message of goodwill for Kashmir.
When Modi touched upon Kashmir saying, “The problem will be solved neither by abuse nor bullets - it will be solved by embracing all Kashmiris... And we are moving forward with this resolve,” it must have sounded like music to the average peace-loving Kashmiri Muslim.
Also read: Why I think Hindutva 2.0 has way too many bugs