NAME

Siddharth Mohanty
ROLL NUMBER
119CH0073

NCC
ASSIGNMENT
NCC ASSIGNMENT
SOLUTION OF KASHMIR ISSUE

In the movie THOR:RAGNAROK Thor fails to save Asgard yet he saves the
Asgardians from Ragnarok and Helena. The movie more than once focuses on
the theme that a country is its people, not the land. Despite being a frivolous
superhero, CGI heavy movie it puts forth an idea that can most aptly be applied
to Kashmir because the Kashmiris at the heart of the greatest blackout in the
valley are the ones who are the most troubled and the least heard.
The current measures to solve the Kashmir issue looks more like a stunt to
appease the non-Kashmiri Indians by putting across the image of a military
aggressive India, here no problem is solved but the sentiment of the country as a
whole is lifted and optimistic. It's like a large scale placebo effect taking place.
The countrymen are happy on the abrogation of Article 35A, not many are
interested in how this affects the situation but are happy that something is being
done about the issue. Internet is a great place to measure the sentiment of the
public. The great number of memes about buying land in Kashmir corroborate
this theory that people are most frivolously interested in solving the issue. BJP
MLA Vikaram Saini saying that his party workers are excited to marry ‘gori’
Kashmiri girls shows exactly how well they have caught the public imagination.
Meanwhile the Kashmiris had no means to be heard for an entire month
following the abrogation of article 370, with the blackout being eased out just
now.
India as a country is very unique, every 100 kilometres the language changes
the food changes and so does the clothes people wear. We have people
practicing multiple religions. This is the india that our founding fathers
envisioned so it is injustice to their memory to give least importance to the
people.
The kashmiris themselves are the solution to the kashmir problem. Like
mentioned earlier Kashmir is it’s people. Why do we have so many stone pelters
in Kashmir, why are kashmiris themselves becoming suicide bombers and
attacking Indian forces. Why is there such anti-national sentiment in Kashmir?
The people there don’t recognise themselves as Indians. Why would they? The
kashmiris have never been wraped into the national fold. It does not justify there
actions ,the videos of stone pelting from the valley shows the anti-nationalistic
sentiment in the valley. The solution to this is trying to appease the kashmiris,
bring them within the nationalistic fold. Scrapping their special status is just
going to antagonise them more, shutting them down from the rest of the world
is just going to hurt them more. After the terrorist attacks there were many
reports of Kashmiri students being harassed in other parts of india, people have
started seeing the kashmiris as the problem, for them Kashmir is a trophy to be
won from our arch nemesis Pakistan, for them Kashmir is a piece of land, for
them KASHMIR IS NOT IT’S PEOPLE.

The full meaning of what we have done in Kashmir will unfold in time.

At the moment the narrative we have been given in the rest of India is that it has
been a good thing for all of us, including Kashmiris.

Those who chafed at the idea of special status are satisfied that the only Muslim
majority state of India is now a Union territory ruled directly by Delhi. Of
course, other states also have special status, but Kashmir was viewed in a
particular way because of religion.

Not many of us thought it was a good thing for Kashmir to have special status
for this reason. Those of us who think that it was correct and proper to retain
Article 370 faithfully in its original form, granting true autonomy to Jammu and
Kashmir, are very few.

Then there is the economic aspect. Kashmir, and particularly Srinagar, does not
have the levels of poverty, illiteracy and other human development indicators
that other states have.

Kashmiris are highly enterprising and can be found in trade, not only in the rest
of India but globally. So it was never the case that it was a state economically
backward.

The rest of India has not given much thought to Kashmiris who have remained
under curfew and have had their communications cut off.

This is not new for them. One reason that India is at the bottom of the world’s
media freedom index (it is ranked at No 140 and fell two places in the last year)
is that Kashmiris regularly have their phones and Internet cut off for long
periods of time.

We have not yet heard from Kashmiris what they think of our grand move to
remove their special status and to remove their statehood.
Right now we are getting to hear on social media voices from Kashmir that are
not authentic because there is no access to the Internet for those locked inside
Srinagar and other towns and cities.

When and if the curfew is lifted and the communications opened, India and the
world will know what the reaction of Kashmiris really is.

Again, in India what is said will not matter because it is has not mattered for
three decades. They see themselves as fighting for their legitimate rights. We
see them as stone-pelters and terrorists.

The world has long lost interest in the Kashmir issue after a few scattered
observations and resolutions from the United Nations, none of which are
implementable.

India does not face a source of worry globally today concerning its internal
actions. It has good relations with most UN Security Council members and does
not need to rely on the Russian veto.

The world will take little notice of our curfew and communications blackout in
Kashmir because it has ignored it for three decades.

the bigger challenge for Indian diplomats would be to counter concerted efforts
to undo India’s new Kashmir policy. It would not be easy to neutralise these
propaganda efforts without ensuring that the situation in the Kashmir Valley is
normalised as early as possible while simultaneously preventing elements from
instigating violence on the streets.Given the imposition of curfew and the
detention of mainstream Kashmiri politicians, there are growing concerns
regarding human rights of the Kashmiri people. However, this is also a
regrettable reality of our times that human rights violations have lost their
salience as triggers of international pressure.

India has promised that life will soon return to normal in the Kashmir Valley,
and the forfeited statehood would also be restored in future. Nevertheless, if
there is substantial spike in street protests and violence in coming weeks and
months, the Indian government would be tempted to control them with a heavy
hand. This may result in some pressure on India to reverse its new policy path in
Kashmir. In such a scenario, Pakistan and China would be more than happy to
fish in troubled waters; they will step up their efforts to delegitimiseIndia’s
sovereignty over Kashmir.

The fact that Pakistan recently made China to call for a UN Security Council
meeting to hold consultations on Kashmir is important. It is another matter that
China was isolated at the UN Security Council meeting, and Pakistan’s efforts
to internationalise the issue was defeated 4-1. But it will continue to knock at
the doors of the UN Security Council and other international forums. Islamabad
has tried to reach out to major capitals including the Muslim world for support
on its Kashmir policy. But most of the Muslim world has either given a muted
response or at best advised both the South Asian adversaries to resolve the issue
bilaterally. To Pakistan’s utter shock, the UAE declared India’s revocation of
Kashmir’s special status as its internal issue. Bahrain went a step further by
conferring its highest civilian award on Modi.

For more than seven decades, Pakistan has been trying to internationalise the
Kashmir issue, hoping that it could alter the territorial status-quo over the
erstwhile princely state. Pakistani rulers have consistently fed the domestic
public opinion on Kashmir-related rhetoric since the creation of their state on
the basis of religion. Having failed to achieve its objective through conventional
military means, Pakistan has tried since 1989 using terrorism as leverage to
force India’s hand. Pakistan has so far had an upper hand in perception
management, which has led to circulation of false propagandaand fake news
about Kashmir. Will it change now?

By repealing Article 370 of Indian Constitution, and integrating Jammu and

Kashmir more closely into the Indian Union, the Modi government wants to
make Kashmir an internal issue for India, leaving no role for Pakistan. As
claimed by Indian policy-makers, if there is anything India seeks to discuss with
Pakistan, it is the terrorism infrastructure that Pakistan’s security establishment
maintains. But it is easier said than done as the Pakistani government would not
easily change its inflexible position that Kashmir is the unfinished business of
British India’s partition, and India is a permanent enemy of Pakistan. At present
juncture, New Delhi has less to worry about what Washington might say
regarding Kashmir, but it should care more about how to make the larger
international community to accept the new reality in Kashmir.

Nothing pleases Trump better than favourable trade terms; he is not really
interested in Kashmir. And the positive outcome of Modi-Trump meeting at
Biarritz, France is a counterpoint to the growing perception that India is not
capable enough to help the US counter China’s rising assertiveness in the Indo-
Pacific region. But the American efforts to bring the Taliban into Afghanistan’s
governing structures, which are set to lead to eventual Taliban takeover of the
Kabul regime, would negatively affect India’s security interests as a revengeful
Pakistan is expected to redouble its efforts to create troubles for India.

Despite initial setbacks, Islamabad will continue to appeal to the Muslim world
and sections of western liberal media against India’s policies in Kashmir. In
order to divert global attention from its sponsorship of terrorism, Pakistan will
do its best to create a narrative about India as an aggressive, illiberal and
dangerous regional power. Thus, the real challenge for the Modi government is
two-fold: to make its new Kashmir policy deliver without bloodshed and to
maintain its image as liberal and plural democracy.

Siddharth Mohanty

Roll-119ch0073