Yet more protests in Kashmir

THE wave of protests and violence in Indian administered Jammu and Kashmir continues unabated. For a region that has been racked by violence for two decades, the magnitude of the latest problems can be gauged by the fact that observers are readily describing the protests as unprecedented. On Sunday, Indian authorities imposed a curfew in all 10 districts of the Kashmir Valley to prevent a massive pro-separatist rally in Srinagar. The rally was meant to be the culmination of a three day strike called by separatist leaders, who are demanding a referendum on the future of Kashmir. Some of those leaders, including Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and Syed Ali Shah Gillani, leaders of the All Parties Hurriyat Conference, and Yasin Malik, chief of the Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front, have been arrested. At least six protesters defying the curfew in the valley have been killed by Indian security forces. Meanwhile, Hindu protests in the Jammu region are also continuing. The region has been repeatedly shutdown and scores of protesters have been injured in clashes with security forces. The catalyst for the violence in Jammu and Kashmir was a decision by the state government to hand over 100 acres of forest land in the Kashmir valley to the Amarnath Shrine Board. Muslim protests forced the government to revoke the transfer but this only angered Hindu groups, who launched protests of their own.

Most immediately the Indian security forces need to show restraint. The enormous crowds that have gathered in the Kashmir valley on several occasions in recent weeks have for the most part been peaceful and non-violent. The Kashmiris have a right to protest peacefully. Fundamental issues that have lain dormant and not been addressed by the desultory peace process between India and Pakistan must now be taken up in earnest. Muslims in the Kashmir valley feel their homeland is occupied by foreign, Hindu elements and believe they have long been oppressed by Indian governments. Land and its ownership is therefore a particularly sensitive issue, which is exactly what lit the fuse of the present crisis. On the other hand, the Hindu majority in the Jammu region feels it is a victim of neglect and believes successive governments have been keen to placate Muslims at the expense of Hindus. So the cancellation of the land transfer was yet more ‘proof’ of government bias.

There are no easy answers to these problems. What is clear though is that the people of Jammu and Kashmir are desperately seeking change. Moreover, what happens in Kashmir — especially if it takes the form of repression by Indian security forces at this point — will determine the future of India-Pakistan relations. With cross border violence having subsided for the moment, the unrest in the Valley is of a purely indigenous character. If New Delhi fails to placate the Kashmiris and the turbulence escalates it will destabilise the region, drawing India and Pakistan into renewed confrontation over the state.