Jammu and Kashmir can’t be governed on Sectarian/Communal basis: Lalit K Kaul

 

Jammu and Kashmir can’t be governed on Sectarian/Communal basis

Lalit K Kaul

This is an attempt to understand the fabric of J&K society and how possibly different societies might have evolved to graduate from being disjoint tribal groups to kingdoms and then on to Nation States. What has been ailing J&K society is also explained, as per author’s perception and how possibly the State needs to be governed is also suggested.

Ethnic Diversity:

Ethnic diversity (plurality) seem to stem from the historical fact that every region had multiple tribal (aboriginals) groups separated from each other and distributed over vast stretches of available forest lands. Each such group independent of the other developed their own means of interacting with Mother Nature (that surrounded them) based on their ever growing understanding and knowledge of the forests around them. This interaction between Man and Nature is the essence of the Culture that is also manifest in human to human interactions within a social group. With the growth of such tribal civilizations came into being the art of painting Mother Nature around them and so on and so forth. Thus as the understanding of Mother Nature around them and the conduct of social relationships within their society grew, the sphere of Culture also grew.

Evolution of the concept of God:

Religion essentially is a concept of worshipping (holding in awe) someone – animate or inanimate- who people think they are dependent upon or is their protector. So in tribal societies God could be a weapon (e.g. spear) that not only protected them from wild animals, but also helped in hunting for such species or, it could be a totem (favourite food) on which they survived, or even a physically and mentally more powerful person from their own tribe who helped them in removing or breaking certain physical barriers as found in the Nature around them, etcetera. Every tribal society had their own Gods and one finds them being worshipped in temples of tribals even today in our country.

Parameters defining an Ethnic group:

Language is one singular parameter that separates one society/group from the other, while the religion could be the same. The language and culture could be the same, but religion could be different (Kashmiri Pandits and Muslims). While societies might have adopted different religions- for reasons particular to them- over a period of time, the culture and language remained immutable; e.g. Afghanistan and Iran. Thus one may say that culture and language are two most important parameters that differentiate one social group from the other.

Thus each social group identifiable by its unique culture, religion and language and associated with a marked geographical area is designated as an ethnic group. As the civilizations advanced each ethnic group became also identifiable by its literature, art, common descent, race; etcetera. They came to be identified as belonging to a distinctive group.

Thus it is that in J&K there are one hundred eleven ethnic groups. The major ethnic groups in Jammu and Kashmir are Bakarwal, Balti, Brokpa, Chibalis, Dogras, Gujjars and Hanjis. Moreover there are numerous small ethnic groups like Argon, Afghan, etc. which have significant concentration in isolated pockets of the State. Kashmiri language is spoken by the majority of the people in the region and under this caption there are forty one ethnic groups (Islamic faith) and there is a separate small ethnic group known as Kashmiri Pandit (Hindu faith). One can say that in pre Islamic times the entire ethnic group was Kashmiri (Hindu faith).

 Evolution of Nation States/Kingdoms:

Over a period of time – long enough historically- by some reason, choice or domination some of the various tribes (ethnicities) came under one administrative umbrella to yield a bigger socio-political set up that not only comprised different (distinct) social (ethnic) groups, but also entailed a larger geographical area and hence that much more natural and human resources. Slowly but surely bigger and bigger kingdoms came into existence and which conquered other smaller kingdoms to further enhance their area of influence and governance, but essentially all of them were multi ethnic empires. For example, a recent one in the history of mankind, Maharaja Gulab Singh purchased territory of Kashmir including Gilgit Baltistan from British East India Company for Rs. 75 lakhs (Treaty of Lahore, 9^th March 1846) to bring into existence a princely state of Jammu and Kashmir. So came into existence a bigger multi ethnic state.

People to People Interactions within Princely State of J&K:

Since long the multi ethnic society of J&K has had basically two major religions Islam and Hindu because of the percentage of the total population following the two. In addition to these Sikhs are more visible than others because of their attire. The rest belonging to Jain, Bodh, Christian and Judaism are/were not in significant numbers to be noticeable on a day to day basis. Even though belonging to different ethnic groups, they were bound together by day to day inter community, inter and intra district transactions related to trade and business. They also voluntarily became part of the socio – religious functions of other religious communities. This bonhomie between the various communities – irrespective of their language, religion and region- continued to be until the year 1947 because no community had any political aspirations other than acceptance of the fact that they were all subjects of a kingdom ruled by a  Maharaja; the agitations of the National Conference against the rule of Maharaja Hari Singh, notwithstanding. All this was to change, however.

Seeds of mistrust: Post 1947 phenomenon

Post Indian independence, for some historical reasons Maharaja Hari Singh was replaced by the then President of the National Conference, Sri Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah designated as Prime Minister of J&K state. Thus a princely state was transformed into a democratically ruled state and its relationship with India was governed by Article 370. So politicking became an essential part of people’s day to day life as is the character of a democratic dispensation wherein the ruler is not by heredity, but elected by the people. Over a period of time, the state witnessed the birth of a number of political parties each claiming to have its own ideology which again is the hallmark of a democratic set up. Political parties are supposed to articulate aspirations of a section of people that are different from others or articulate an ideology for better governance. Hitherto the communities had existed as one complete Whole (heterogeneous society), but now with the emergence of multiple political ideologies the society was bound to get polarized in many different ways raising a possibility of inter communities conflict and possibly mistrust. That’s what exactly happened due to dishonest intent of those who claimed to be benefactors of the masses and the net result was a 30 years of turmoil and destruction leaving behind a fragmented multi ethnic society that had been like a monolith for centuries.  

The Complexities of a Multi Ethnic State: It’s Governance

It is easier to politically administer a unitary ethnic (single / uniform entity) state like Saudi Arabia or any other Muslim nation than an erstwhile state like J&K which was a multi ethnic state and now a multi ethnic union territory, or the Union of India (ethnic pluralism) because an obtained political dispensation should have inbuilt safeguards and mechanisms to address to the socio-political, socio-religious and socio-economic aspirations of each and every ethnic group because they were brought under one umbrella either by mutual consent (rare occurrence) or for reasons beyond their control.

Communal or sectarian agenda does not serve the cause of a heterogeneous (multi ethnic) society, be it in the domain of administration or politics. That such an erstwhile state was thoroughly mismanaged politically, socially and economically is evident from the fact that the majority population (Muslims)- more sensitive to the relationship between India and the erstwhile state-  were always misinformed on the ever evolving relationship between the local political leadership and the National leadership insofar as centre state relationship was concerned (most importantly the ever changing/diluting character/content of the Article 370) and were by design kept in a state of political ambivalence; the regions of Jammu and Ladakh were always discriminated against insofar as utilization of centrally allocated funds for their economic development was concerned; the Jammu region that comprises all the religious groups unequivocally felt and experienced this discrimination vis-à-vis economic development; the Pandit community that had experienced large scale out migration to other parts of India post implementation of the ‘land to the tiller’  program without offering any compensation to them as  land lords and which was a blatantly irrational act not to be found anywhere in the history of the civilized societies; the residual population felt the ever increasing squeeze on their access to avenues of higher education and jobs and it alone led to continuous little trickle of out migration from J&K to other parts of India.

Dishonest Politics & bad Governance led to mutually exclusive Perceptions:

The aforesaid mismanagement created following perceptions amongst the people of the erstwhile state of J&K/ the newly formed UTs of J&K and Ladakh:

Despite being part of the largest religious group of the State, the Kashmiri Muslims perceive themselves as a minority in the context of the larger reality of India. Their perception of marginalization emanated in the context of their perception of the political relationship of the erstwhile State of J&K with Indian Union. The Hindus of Jammu and Buddhist of Ladakh, though majority in their respective regions, perceived themselves as minority not only in the context of the Muslim majority character of the State but also in the Kashmir-centric socio-political, socio-economic and socio-religious initiatives of the State; the reason why Ladakh celebrated separation from the erstwhile J&K State and Jammu welcomed formation of UT. The sense of deprivation and discrimination lay deep in many other ways like, the Kashmiri Pandits perceived their minority status vis-à-vis the Kashmiri Muslims with an ingrained sense of continued marginalisation as experienced by them, the Muslims of Jammu perceived their deprivation both vis-à-vis the Hindus of Jammu as well as Muslims of Kashmir. Similarly one could describe the psyche of the Muslims of Kargil who perceived their marginalization both in the immediate context of the Buddhist domination in Ladakh as well as the power centre in Kashmir. So a situation where political ambivalence of local leadership combined with skewed (favouring one particular community in a particular region) economic development ensured discontent amongst all the ethnic groups of the region.   

Kashmiri Muslims nurtured political aspirations (because of political ambivalence created by the local leadership) inimical to the cause of a sovereign State and chose to go against the Indian state without caring to carry other ethnic groups with it (to create a consensus) and it resulted in transforming their movement in to a sectarian/communal movement and thus minimizing the chances of realizing political goals and maximizing the emergence of a scenario wherein the entire society becomes traumatized by senseless violence leading to loss of lives, properties and honour and, indeed, the Kashmiri society is traumatized.

The Lessons:

Therefore, for the prosperity, happiness and peaceful existence of the people, the governance of the UT of J&K should be consensus based which encompasses the socio-economic, socio-political and socio-religious needs of all the communities irrespective of their representative strengths in the UT Assembly; no scope should be given to political ambivalence; people need to be educated about the historical facts that a multi ethnic society cannot be governed by the principle of preponderance of a particular religion and therefore religion cannot be the basis of its existence. That the politics that ushers in Hope/ Prosperity and not despair/destitution is the imperative, every single politician and political party needs to appreciate.