Tariq Ahmed
FOR decades, Articles 370 and 35A of the Indian Constitution have been the only remaining signifiers of Kashmir’s occupation by India. For decades, these constitutional guarantees tethered a dangling Kashmir to India through corruptible proxies. Together these two legal provisions granted the people of the occupied state an autonomous status, which allowed for a separate constitution, a distinct flag and political autonomy in citizenship and legislative matters. Since the beginning, however, the provisions have been an eyesore to Hindutva forces. During their decades in opposition, they had been clamouring to dissolve these agreements to complete Kashmir’s annexation. Meanwhile, for decades, the ruling elite of the Congress Party had preferred a more devious path to render these covenants toothless through slow erosion without formally declaring them void. On August 5, 2019, the Indian state finally blew the lid off its pretensions on Kashmir, putting an end to these shenanigans, and leaving Indian intentions exposed. With troops marching into Kashmir with warlike ferocity, hinting their thirst for blood, India abrogated these articles through abrupt constitutional changes under the shadow of the gun.
Since then, the Indian state has been unfolding a continuum of the three steps in the colonial settler project: changes in the domicile laws, demographic alterations by settling the Indians in the state, and re-adjustment of the electoral boundaries. The purpose of these changes is to systematically reduce Kashmiris to nothingness and erase their reality, identity, ethos, and culture. And, in doing so, denying them agency in their own social, cultural and political matters. The policy gurus in New Delhi had believed that Kashmir could be quickly subdued, and Pakistan just ignored. The elephant even dared the dragon in the freezing mountains of Ladakh. It turns out that the Chinese had some ideas of their own.
A year after that day of epiphany, India finds itself in the middle of a mess of its creation. India’s domestic and foreign policy nightmare is palpable. Kashmir is still burning and Kashmiris have shown no signs of the hoped for surrender. The standoff with Pakistan continues. Chinese have crossed the Rubicon and positioned their forces across the Galwan River. Add to these self-inflicted wounds the total alienation of India’s fearful and angry 200-million strong Muslim population.
The overall situation in South Asia is fragile and fraught. In an unexpected turn of events, some of India’s usually pliant neighbours have had a sudden transformation. They have grown increasingly suspicious and started looking toward China. Nepal, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka are distrustful. For Russia, Pakistan is no longer a pariah. Afghan policy is in the doldrums. The Iranians have finally figured what serves their national interest better. And, the much-desired strategic encirclement of Pakistan has come asunder. Instead, New Delhi finds itself surrounded by suspicious and resentful neighbours. While currently there is a strong appetite in Washington to use India as a proxy against China, the self-serving and isolationist America has lost its erstwhile trustworthiness as a reliable partner. It is India’s ‘neighborhood first’ cliché unravelling at supersonic speed.
Meanwhile, owing to BJP’s domestic belligerence, Kashmir and its inhabitants continue to bleed literally and figuratively. With their daily life in jeopardy, economic wellbeing and prosperity ruined, culture and ethos under threat, and, their very existence fragile, Kashmir is a pressure cooker. Kashmiri people have always viewed Indian occupation of their land as illegal and worthy of resistance. And, resist they do with their limbs and lives! The alienation from the Indian rule is complete. The intensity of the resistance has recently increased even under the most unprecedented repression. Even those who have been fence-sitting have felt dishonoured and dehumanized because of what they perceive as existential threats. Masses have taken to streets to voice their anger and courageously defied curfew and restrictions. Internationally the Kashmiri Diaspora is galvanized.
Given the widespread international condemnations, the flow of information in and out of Kashmir has been curtailed through internet communication blockade, digital surveillance, and unprecedented media gags. The brutal shutdowns, marked by crippling curfew and ruthless crackdown on business activities, have resulted in an estimated USD 5.3 billion loss to the trading communities. Under the Covid-19 emergency, the scale of military action against civilians has been intensified away from the international media’s glare. Under the garb of the pandemic’s shutdown, the state has found a new reason to derogate from civilized behaviour, creating a more harrowing lived experience in what is already a garrison state. Free assembly is proscribed and the regular movement restricted. Thousands have been incarcerated. This regimen of harsh treatment does not even begin to capture the daily inconvenience and indignity faced by the citizens in the police state.—To be continued.
—The writer is freelance columnist, based in North America.
