Why Pak flags are still waved in Indian Kashmir?

Sunday 5 June 2016

Why Pak flags are still waved in Indian Kashmir?

Pakistan flags are still waved in Kashmir:

In the winter of 2014, I visited the state of Jammu and Kashmir as a part of a package tour. As soon as we stepped out of our flight at the Srinagar airport, we could already see the difference. While in all other airports, I had seen that there would be a civilian-armed personnel ratio of 4:1, here it was the other way round. My knowledge about the state told me to expect nothing different in my next 3 days of stay in this state, which has always been in the news, for violence and terrorism, unfortunately.

When we came out of the airport, a young man in his thirties was shouting the name of the company who had arranged our package tour, and when he found us, he greeted us with anamaste, grinned and guided us to our tour van. He would be our driver for our entire stay in the valley.

I was sitting beside him in the front of the van, and keenly observing everything that we drove past in amazement, already feeling the cold of Kashmir. Oh god, I was very excited about being in the state which has always interested me a lot, and I couldn't wait to explore it, meet the people of the state and interact with them and find out if everything that had been said about them is true.

Midway, I asked him out of the blue, whether he supports the National Conference or the P.D.P, and he laughed for 10 seconds straight after I asked him that. Yet again, my childlike enthusiasm towards anything related to politics, had successfully embarrassed me. He told me that he doesn't believe in any political party of the state and that they were all liars. I thought that this is nothing but the general perception most common men in India have about politicians, and pressed him to answer my question. He said, with hesitation, that he finds P.D.P better among the parties, but would not call himself their supporter. All in all, it was clear that he had least interest towards the mainstream political parties. Point noted. Should subtly and not out-rightly get to know the political inclinations.

When we reached the hotel where we would stay, we were greeted by two young men in their late teens, who said they had just come back from college to presume their work as part time employees of the hotel. They were very hospitable and were all smiles while making sure we were settled and were provided with all the facilities available. With all the ladies busy in getting dressed and the elders finding it difficult to adjust to the severe cold, I and two others of my age group were the first ones to get ready and settled. We had to eat our lunch there and so, we went to the dining room. There was a TV screen in the dining hall and the two young guys were passionately watching PTV as Pakistan was playing an international match in Dubai. Yet another surprise, if not a shock!

We sat on our chairs, and joined them in watching the match, and the cricket conversations began. They both said they love Afridi, and that their favorite batsman was Misbah and their favorite bowler Umar Gul. We expected them to mention Sehwag or Sachin or Dhoni or Kohli and laugh at us when we asked them about the bowlers, but their answers again surprised me and my friend. On asking explicitly if they don't like the Indian team, they said hesitantly that they follow the team's matches and that they think Kohli is a promising player, but their body language was enough to convince us that they were clearly not in love with Indian cricket. They were all friendly never the less, and were helpful and kind throughout the trip, all of them whom we met. Another point noted.

On all the journeys between various places that we visited (Baramulla, Sonamarg, Gulmarg, Pahalgam, Srinagar), we could see 2-3 armed personnel of various Indian security organizations such as CRPF, BSF, Indian Army and their trucks every kilometer or so. All of us, out of instinct, saluted to these groups of men, but we could sense the way the locals acted, as though the armed personnel were invisible to them, and were visible only to us. One more point noted. Army is not respected by the general public. Even if it is, it may be the exception, but this is the norm.

Throughout all the highways we traveled through, there were continuous stretches of hundreds of shops making and selling cricket bats (Kashmir willow bats are made here), and all these shops had pictures of Inzamam, Afridi, Akthar, Misbah and other Pakistani greats. I even saw a picture of Hashim Amla in one of the shops, but still couldn't find even a single picture of any Indian cricketer. Yet another surprise! The only place where I saw the picture of an Indian cricketer was Virat Kohli wearing an army uniform, being the brand ambassador of the Army. No where else!

But wherever we went, we never faced any issues and were helped by all the locals. Why is it, that the same people who treated us with kindness, politeness and were hospitable, don't relate to us and regard us as their compatriots, and like to relate to Pakistan and regard Pakistan as more friendly among the two? This question was haunting me. It still haunts me. I always wonder if this kindness was only because they would lose out on tourism if they show hostility towards us, especially when I come across abuse after abuse on the comment threads under the various Kashmir based news pages that I follow on facebook.

On the last day of our stay at Srinagar, while having an early dinner, I sensitively and subtly started asking them about what they felt about the Kashmir issue, and what their stance is. They told me that they don't like the way India treats them and that they don't feel that pride to call themselves Indians. They told me they like to call themselves Kashmiris and said that they think Pakistan is their well-wisher and a better friend to Kashmir than India.

I was disappointed at the answer, but still I knew that I shouldn't lose my cool and let the discussion become an unhealthy one. I asked them to substantiate their views and they told us about how many were treated and are continued to be treated by the Army etc. (basically, the way Army allegedly 'misused' AFSPA was their main reason for hatred). I listened politely, and after that, asked them why they consider Pakistan to be their good friends and told them even more nicely to substantiate why they think so. They continued to talk about how India ill-treated and continues to ill-treat them.

One thing that I was sure of, was that even they could not satisfactorily defend why Pakistan is their 'well-wisher' and substantiate it, but the only thing that kept them tilted towards Pakistan in this see-saw that they are always forced to play, is their dislike towards the way the Indian establishment has treated them. I asked them if Pakistan has done anything bad to them, answer to which I already knew. But they confidently answered NO. I proceeded to narrate to them, sensitively the entire Kashmir story briefly, and how an INDEPENDENT Kashmir state was attacked by the Pakistanis first, and that is why Kashmir was forced to take help of India and merge with the India.

I wanted to say in detail how the Pakistani tribals were lured with riches and women by the Pakistan military establishment, and made to invade Kashmir, I wanted to say how the tribals had looted the rich Kashmiri markets, butchered the people, raped the women and torched cities on a whole, on how the massacre at Baramulla sent shivers down the spine of Hari Singh and Sheikh Abdullah, which made them decide that they had to take help of India to ensure their existence on the face of this earth. But I knew that this might lead to heated arguments and possibly create unnecessary troubles for not just me, but for all of us. So, I just told them that they haven't learnt the complete story and that they should find out a little more which will help them understand how Pakistan is the root cause behind their continued misery.

They obviously did not (want to) believe it, and denied it. I was confident throughout, while being soft and polite, and I told them that I can back my entire story and show the official pages of UN Security Council where the UN resolutions have clearly mentioned how it was for the Pakistani tribals to vacate the occupied regions, to see to it that there would be a referendum on the issue, but they had never done so, which showed they never really wanted the referendum to happen, opposed to how they cry crocodile tears over violation of UN resolutions by India.

They clearly did not have any such things to defend it, and came to the diplomacy track, and conceded that there was a mistake of both India and Pakistan

(I am not saying that this was an equal battle and I am not claiming a victory in argument with them, since I had read and learnt about the issue, while they were just locals who might not have had the same interest to learn about the issue. So, this was not an equal battle, and therefore I am not claiming any victory).

I also joined them in their diplomacy track, and told them that I empathize with the way they have suffered under the AFSPA and that I also believe that there should be zero tolerance towards the misuse of AFSPA (which I definitely think is not a great law to have, but definitely needed at least for the time being because of the difficulties the Army might face. But I am for severe punishment of armed men who indulge in misuse of the law and torture innocent men, women and children of my country).

They were satisfied with it, and told me that it was nice talking to me and called me their brother. And when we were ready and seated in the tour van to proceed to the Srinagar Airport to go to Jammu where we had planned to visit Mata Vaishnodevi Temple, the driver (who was a member in this discussion) came near us and told me how they really did not mean that they don't like India, screamed Jai Hind, smiled and went to take his driving seat. It was not a hearty chant, I was sure, but I still am confused why exactly he did that. I have come to believe he said that because he was afraid if I inform about his not necessarily a pro-India stance to one of the armed men I was constantly saluting to and interacting with throughout my stay, since I would be leaving Kashmir and would no longer be afraid to inform authorities. They may show disregard and ignore the armed men, but they are scared, at least scared of them individually. I have come to believe that this is the reason why they often vent out their anger in large groups.

This is my story about interacting with Kashmiris and visiting the famous, controversial and beautiful Kashmir valley. There is a high probability that any random Kashmiri would have a certain amount ofdisregard for the way some army men have misused the powers that AFSPA has granted them and that this is the main reason why they would claim they don't like calling themselves or considering themselves as Indians at all.

Any random Kashmiri would have very little knowledge about how it was Pakistan which is the root-cause behind this whole Kashmir issue since very few of the younger generations have heard or seen Pakistan literally screwing the valley. The separatist politics and propaganda of the valley might have played a huge part in brainwashing these young minds about how Pakistan has always been their "friend" as well.

Their lack of knowledge on the past misdeeds by Pakistan and their experience and stories of misdeeds by the Indians, the separatist propaganda possibly funded by Pakistan, all these have possibly added up to create a general opinion that Pakistan is a well-wisher of Kashmir and their dear friend, while India is a country that has ill-treated them for decadesand a primary reason for their struggles.

I hope that the Indian Army treats miscreants within it with zero tolerance, treats the innocent Kashmiris well while continuing to be a nightmare for militants, that the people of Kashmir will learn about the way Pakistan has treated them and screwed them in the past, that the farce propaganda of the separatists and the funding of these separatists by Pakistan are exposed, that the people of Kashmir realize that these guys are not genuine and not fall for their hypocrisy and give up militancy completely paving the way for the gradual removal of AFSPA, and finally that the people of Kashmir after all these changes, will realize that India is the best option for them and will start blending in with the rest of the country and relate themselves to their fellow Indian brothers and sisters.

I hope I have answered your question, somewhere in between my long story and analysis of what happened during my trip to this heaven on earth. :)

Edit: Yesterday, I happened to have a long conversation on Facebook with a Kashmiri from North Kashmir. Quite obviously, even though the conversation started as an extension of a cricket discussion, Kashmir issue came into discussion and he told me some interesting things. The following things are mainly his opinions and not mine.

He said that the separatists have a lot of impact and support throughout Kashmir except in his region of Kashmir. In his town, almost 75% want Kashmir to be free, and the remaining 25% are equally divided between pro-Pakistan and pro-India sentiments. He was one of those who was okay with Kashmir being a part of India.

Unfortunately, it was late in the night and both had to sleep. Whenever we talk next, looking forward to ask more about the ground reality and update it here.