Kashmir, Kashmiris and all that
T.C.A. SRINIVASA-RAGHAVAN
Are the stone-pelting young men from the Valley willing to leave it in search of jobs?
In 1971, my brother married a Kashmiri Hindu. So after nearly 40 years of discussion and observation, I can claim to have a somewhat better insight into the so-called Kashmir problem than most other commentators. They don't have the home advantage, so to speak.
Undefinable thing
Net-net, without making the story too long and loaded with the Rajatarangini, Sufism and so on, all Kashmiris believe in something called Kashmiriyat. But no matter how hard they try, they can't define it.
But this undefinable thing, many of them believe (some strongly and some weakly) makes them sufficiently different to claim that they are not Indians. When you go to Kashmir, some even ask you if you have come from India.
Although I have stopped baiting them now, I often used to ask — both Hindus and Muslims — if Hindu Kashmiriyat and Muslim Kashmiriyat were the same. Asked singly, they said no; asked jointly they said yes.
Also, many Kashmiri Hindus from the Valley used to look down on the rest of us. There is absolutely no historical reason for this but they just felt superior. Maybe they still do. Jawaharlal Nehru's Kashmiri provenance and Indira Gandhi's preference for Kashmiri Pandit political advisors strengthened this sense of superiority.
Types of separatists
Until the early 1990s not many Muslims were separatists. That element gained strength only because Pakistan got active in the Valley after it had failed in Punjab in the 1980s. The ISI always needs something to do against India.
There are, I think, two types of separatists — weak and strong. The weak separatist wants more ‘autonomy' and the strong one wants ‘azaadi'.
The latter are in a minority but make up for it by making a lot of noise, aided by Pakistan. The former are confused because, as we shall see, they can't define autonomy.
There is also a strong sociological factor: The typical Kashmiri Muslim from the Valley takes a dim view of the non-Valley Muslim. It is a deep-rooted prejudice, not unlike the sectarian prejudices elsewhere in the world. That is why the soft border thing has so few takers in Kashmir. They prefer to keep the Mirpuris and such like out.
As to ‘autonomy', those who want more of it are basically political windbags who want the best of all worlds. I discovered this just before the 1996 election in J&K.
About autonomy
I had gone along with two of my colleagues (one of whom was a Kashmiri Muslim with a Ph D from an institute in Kerala!) to interview a former chief minister of Kashmir who was trying to become CM again. He grandly said he wanted autonomy.
We asked him to define it for our readers by spelling out what more J&K could have than it already did under Article 370 and the overall provisions for state autonomy under the Constitution, not to mention the things listed in the States and Concurrent Lists. He kept dodging and we kept insisting.
He then lost his temper. He said the chief minister of Kashmir should be called vazir-e-azam (prime minister) and have his own flag and that Kashmir should have its own currency.
India could look after everything else like defence, external affairs, communications etc and, naturally, backstop the currency.
In a sense he was asking for all costs to be borne by India, all benefits to accrue to J&K politicians. I asked if this was practical. He said nothing.
Jobs for the boys
Now, 14 years and three elections later, no one is seriously talking about this sort of frippery. The main issue has changed and become the same as elsewhere in the country: Jobs for the boys.
This is a fair demand but there is a problem: Very few Muslim Kashmiri boys are willing to come out of Kashmir in search of jobs. They come to trade, though only in winter. But they simply do not believe in migration like the rest of us Indians do. So let me reformulate the domestic component of the Kashmir ‘problem': It is to get the Kashmiri kids to come out and work here because the Valley, all of 320 or so square miles, can't provide full-time jobs to all of them, certainly not in the state government, even though that is a highly preferred option for the usual reasons.
So here is a practical suggestion: Let the UPA promise a quota to Muslim boys from the Valley in all public sector and Central Government jobs, say, 2 per cent. Let us see how many takers there are, both amongst the Kashmiri Muslim boys. I don't think there will be many.
Climate change?
Recently, when talk came around to it, I asked a middle-aged, highly educated Kashmiri Muslim if he really thought whether, given its limited natural endowments — it is 80 miles long and 40 miles wide — the Valley could find jobs for all of them. He said no, which is why independence is not a viable option. So why don't the lads come out of the state, I asked. Because, he said, they think it is too hot even in Jammu. It's possible he was joking. But if not, perhaps the solution to the Kashmir ‘problem' is climate change.
Very few Muslim Kashmiri boys are willing to come out of Kashmir in search of jobs.
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