Jammu and Kashmir: Problems and Prospects

23 Jun, 2000    ·   372

Bhashyam Kasturi analyses three issues – territorial, political, and socio-economic – that need consideration in terms of policy inputs and long-term imperatives before India with regard to Kashmir.
Bhashyam Kasturi
The problem in Jammu and Kashmir poses an inter-linked internal-external challenge to Indian national security. The issue has three major aspects in terms of its impact on bilateral relations with Pakistan . There is the territorial, the political and finally socio-economic aspect that need attention to evolve a national policy. Every aspect of national policy has to be viewed from the perspective of the internal-external dynamic presented by the Kashmir issue.

 

 

The macro level issues relating to handling of Kashmir are well known; they present a dual challenge to Indian security. For instance, intelligence has to focus upon cross-border terrorism and internal insurgency. Both are separate but inter-linked. 

 

 

The three issues that need consideration in terms of policy inputs and long-term imperatives before India are:

 

 

Territorial

 

 

The status of the entire state of Jammu and Kashmir , including territories in Pakistani and Chinese possession, needs attention. In a sense, Kashmir is a trilateral issue not a bilateral one. China holds the Shaksgam valley ceded to it by Pakistan in the sixties. China also holds Aksai Chin and the Deosai plains which India claims. This reality has to be factored into any discussion on territory. Current Indian thought bifurcates the Pakistani from the Chinese problem, and treats the Line of Actual Control with China separately. Diplomatically, this makes sense, but not geo-strategically. 

 

 

The other question is that India has been pushing hard to get everybody to accept the “reality” of the Line of Control between India and Pakistan . The US has apparently accepted this formulation, for its own reasons. If this reality is to be transformed into fact, India and Pakistan will have to ponder over what happens to Siachen, i.e. the territory beyond Pt. NJ 9842, where there is no LOC but only what India calls the Actual Ground Position Line (AGPL).

 

 

This, of course, detracts attention from the fact that Pakistan committed aggression in Kashmir in1947 and was emboldened to do so again in 1999 in Kargil. 

 

 

Political

 

 

The bilateral aspect of Indo-Pak relations are currently focused on India ’s pre-conditions for resuming a dialogue with Pakistan on the latter ending cross-border terrorism. This is vital for any trust to be established, but is inexorably linked to internal violence ending. This is where a political dialogue between all political parties is required. Several forums have begun this process, but more needs to be done to end the cult of the gun. 

 

 

A political dialogue is also a dialogue with the people, people of all shades of opinion and religions. It is a dialogue that has to be constantly undertaken. It also involves people from the Northern Areas and Pakistan Occupied Kashmir, this much Pakistan has to accept. Without it the dialogue would be incomplete. In fact not enough has been done to focus world attention on conditions in the Northern Areas and POK; this is a challenge for Indian diplomacy. 

 

 

This is where also governance and coordination in counter-insurgency operations also become imperative. The key is realising that, in the long run, allowing the insurgency in the state to become a money spinning business like in India ’s North-East is detrimental to national interests. 

 

 

Socio-economic

 

 

The revival of the state, both socially and economically can happen only when violence ends. People will return, this applies to Kahmiris who have left the State and tourists, only when the atmosphere is calm. Too much should not be expected from those who left Kashmir in the early phases of the insurgency and have settled elsewhere. It is those who are living in refugee camps that the government must focus on. 

 

 

Provide incentives to return. Rebuild houses and villages ravaged by decades of insurgency. Take up road building on a large scale. Improve communications. And get people to participate. All this is premised on violence receding from the Kashmiri psyche. Once India is clear about the internal-external dynamic and seeks a solution on these lines, evolving a national consensus on Jammu and Kashmir may become easier.

 

 

 

 

 

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