People's Democracy

JAMMU & KASHMIR

 Is South Block Listening?

Nachiketa

 GIVEN million stories there, they say Kashmir is a reporter’s dream. But it may well remain a citizen’s nightmare, even after the electronic voting machines (EVMs) are checked for results and the new government is sworn in. Do there elections in Kashmir really offer any hope to the troubled minds of the average young Kashmiri? Where do they go after the votes have been counted and the result declared?

 Obviously, they don’t get back to ‘business as usual’ or to their jobs, because there aren’t any. Polling day, especially in the troubled districts of Anantnag and Pulwama, apart form virtually no turnout, saw a very emphatic display of anti-establishment sentiment. Crowds of 20, 30, sometimes even a 100 young men would wait on the highway to the capital Srinagar, for cameras and microphones to eagerly lap up the vitriol they went on to pour. Anger against the security forces, the local government, New Delhi, the Abdullahs, and almost everything around them. With no employment and consequently no hope for them, polling day was virtually a mela, a grand opportunity to articulate their woes, with a hope that protest at the “way we are treated” would be registered. This was their Buzzer Round where it was a quick and loud NO to the entire process.

 “We cannot stand the National Conference administration,” say the majority of the vocal youngsters you encounter in the valley. They have only furthered their interests, made money,” alleged a crowd of about 20 Kashmiri youngsters in Anantnag on polling day last week. There is a huge wave of resentment against those who wield power in the state. A majority of youngsters have a grouse against the ruling National Conference. They say that vote-chori (rigging) is the order of the day. “Our vote is meaningless, the system doesn’t need our vote. Irrespective of how we feel, the NC-wallahs would come to power.” The tragedy this time is that this logic has the power of a self-fulfilling prophecy. The Election Commission has been at pains to emphasise the fairness of the exercise, yet this hasn’t been enough to urge the youngsters to come out and exercise the power of the vote. There are no doubt some in the valley who did go out to vote, if only to make sure that “this hukumat is defeated,” but their numbers are far too few to compensate for those who stayed away.

 So with all the hype about this election being fair (if not entirely free) and being possibly a path-breaking one so far as the so-called final settlement of Kashmir is concerned, will things in the valley change after the results are done and dusted? Probably not. The ruling National Conference says that should it come back to power, it would stick to the autonomy resolution and demand talks, as per the PM’s statement (on Independence Day) with elected representatives only. The PDP, the other strong regional party in this election, is at the moment in the business of selling a dream – of speaking to the separatists, the militants, everyone, and making sure that the Kashmiris, in their words, are not forced into a surrender-type situation, but are allowed to negotiate a “respectable peace.” While it all sounds very rosy, how is it to be achieved? Will even any non-NC coalition, should it come to power (as is being predicted by some) be able to change anything at all?

 The problem with the entire politics of Kashmir is that it has become a prisoner of jargon. Consider azaadi (a phrase now rather tired by its own weight), ‘autonomy’, the ‘final settlement’ and ‘geo-strategy’ among others. The intelligent Kashmiri mind very cogently makes its case in the most sophisticated of phrases. So sophisticated that many of the real issues are completely missed. While not trivialising the sentiment amongst Kashmiris of the so-called ‘political problem’ being central to their lives, one thing that gets ignored in the business of talking about ‘the problem,’ is the deep sense of anger about the state of the very basics of human or just civic existence there.

 It seems that people in the valley, be it mainstream political groups or separatist ones, while talking big on accession, 1952 and autonomy and the need for ‘tripartite talks’ have actually all forgotten about the average Kashmiri. As an eminent sociologist in the valley has researched, over the past two years suicide rates amongst the youth in Kashmir are now among the highest in the world. They are tired, and filled with despair about thoughts on their future and about the state of affairs in this ‘beautiful hell.’ The real concerns, slack or no business, jobs, the primary health-care, the education system and basic infrastructure --- all have been pushed under the carpet. Even us reporters have been tempted to often dismiss them as ‘local concerns,’ municipality-level issues, etc. But perhaps trying to put these things on the agenda, instead of just going on about the so-called bigger/larger issues may ease the lives of the average Kashmiri.

 And if an attempt is made to put things like water supply and electricity on the agenda, it may just make a little more sense to talk about big things then, to talk about talks, who to talk with, or to discuss whether talks should be within the constitution or Insaaniyat. And that may just be the answer. Insaaniyat, a basic feature of the constitution, isn’t it? But is anybody listening? South Block or even uptown in Srinagar?

 (This report was sent from Anantnag soon after the third round of polling held on October 1, 2002).