Kashmir and Democracy

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kashmir-india-siyasat.net
kashmir india siyasat.net

There is need of holistic and multidimensional approach to reduce the political alienation among the buds of the valley

As we know, the state of Jammu and Kashmir is one of the Himalayan states situated in the Indian Himalayan Region. The state especially the valley is famous for its natural beauty. Before 1947, then it was the princely state administered by the Dogra Rulers. During that time the Muslims of the state was in the pathetic condition they were excluded from the mainstream, and the development was selective. These Muslims were among the weaker sections of the society, there was low education among these Muslims of the Valley

. Therefore, the Sheikh Abdullah organized the reading room first party and starts the movement against the Dogra regime and then the party was famous by the name of Muslim conference and later on the opinion of Pt Jawahar Lal Nehru, the Sheikh Abdullah changed the name its organization from Muslim conference to National conference. The rationale behind in this name changing was to give to it secular character. At last, the state Jammu and Kashmir achieved independence, and at the same time, India got its independence from the long, cruel British Raj, at that time there were 556 princely states in India and most of them merged with India. Jammu and Kashmir was the state, which wants to remain independent.

However, the invasion of the tribals from Pakistan has changed the situation in the state. The Hari sing went for Help to India and after the vast deliberations between the Government of India and the Hari Singh an instrument of accession was signed solely on the three subjects these are Communication, Foreign Affairs, and defense, so by this way, the Indian troops landed in the Kashmir Valley.

The rest of the provisions were vested to the people of Jammu and Kashmir, and the state of Jammu and Kashmir was given the special status in the Indian union under the article 370 of the Indian constitution. The article restricts the Indian Parliament to formulate the law on the state of Jammu and Kashmir. However with the passage of time the article 370 were targeted by the undemocratic interventions especially after the post-1953, Prime Minister was changed into chef Minister, President (Sid Ra sat) was altered into Governor. When the people of the valley see such intentions of the country, they started the plebiscite movement in the state of Jammu and Kashmir the architect of this movement was the Sheikh Abdullah.

It was this movement which sows the seeds of hate among certain sections of the Kashmiri against India. Later on, the democratic institutions were undermined by the central Governmental to unite Jammu and Kashmir more strongly with the Indian union, but these interventions show strong resistance in the valley. The seeds which were sown during the plebiscite movement were blossom after the elections of 1987   when the armed violence took shape.  By the eruption of that armed struggle because of the democratic bankrupt in the state as the results of that election were manipulated.

Regrettably, there was lack of democratic environment since from 1947 in the valley the democratic Institutions of the state became the victim of political instability and conflict, which is going in the state. The popular perception among the natives of the Valley is that the Home ministry governs the state and the State Government is a puppet.

The central Government took the measures to curb the armed struggle in the valley, and among these measures, the Government used the Muscle Approach. And send a massive number of the security forces to the valley which results the state became one of the most significant military zones of the world. In this Muscle approach number of the innocent Kashmir who was not related to any rebel groups lost their lives and a number of the property was destroyed, extraordinary powers were given to the security forces to deal with the militancy in the state, and many times the civilians became the target of these draconian laws. Under these draconian laws, there was a surge of human right violations, which is continuing in the state

. The result of that the radical seed takes shape into the big tree and hate against India spread more and more among the natives of the Valley. The national media is also somehow responsible as the national media always portrait the negative image about the Kashmir in the country which results in sometimes the youth of the valley was thrashed by in different parts of the country outside the state.

Today what we see is the reaction against these human rights violations committed in the valley. Every day we hear from the social media and from the newspapers the educated youth is joining in the rebel groups. The political alienation is increasing day by day especially the buds of the valley are groining away from the democratic modes of governance and are influenced by the separatism school of thought.

Now the question then why the people of the state especially the natives of the valley participated in a massive number in the Panchayat election of 2011 the answer of this question is that the Panchayat election or any other election is the administrative processes and that has nothing to do the problem of the Jammu and Kashmir.

There is need of holistic and multidimensional approach to reduce the political alienation among the buds of the valley. The muscle approach is not  the suitable option for the solution of the Kashmir problem, as it should be solved through the dialogue.

Farooq Ahmad Bakloo Research Scholar Dept. Of  Political Science Kumaun University Nainital S.S.J Campus Almora Uttarakhand India.