Pages

Tuesday, 6 September 2016

FORGOTTEN PROMISES & DEFUNCT DOGMAS: - IS KASHMIR BEING PUSHED TO AN ARMED STRUGGLE?

     “Absence of International Collective Conscience Is What Breeds Armed Struggles
                                                                                                                          Che Guevara

Popular Uprising, Public Revolt or National Mutiny, there many words found in the English Language for a phenomenon more commonly referred to as an Armed Struggle. Armed Struggle is a Movement Supplemented by Violence and undertaken by a National Entity for the achievement of defined Political Objectives. Though romanticized in pieces of fine literature, armed struggles have and will always continue to be a matter of grave concern for students of Peace and Conflict Studies. Armed struggles throughout the course of history and even in recent times have served as catalysts to chain of disorder, rampage and violence which have adequate potential of invoking prospects of a Civil War. Irish Republican Movement and or The Angola National Campaign are manifestations of how Justifiable movements turned in Mass Humanitarian Tragedies. Armed Struggles thus no matter how legitimate are discouraged by previews of Strategic Studies and the only productive measure that can be undertaken in this regard is the engagement of international community in general and power-players in particular with issues related to Self Determination and Identity Crisis. It is however appalling to see that the ultimate Preacher of Democracy and Justice has decided to shy away from a brewing crisis that is unfolding as we speak. Will this disengagement provide Raison D’être for an Armed Struggle?


Four Day Visit of the U.S Secretary of State Mr. John Forbes Kerry to India has just concluded on the 1st day of September 2016. The significance and impact of this visit was already anticipated and many in the region as well as in the rest of the world were looking forward to it. Many of these onlookers belonged either to the Defense Contractors Club who were high up on their heels peeking into the Money Mint this visit could have ignited or to the Diplomatic/Academic circles observing strategic alignment in South-Asia. Without doubt this is the audience that was catered the most by the press and held in high esteem. However as cigars were being smoked and wine glasses being toasted in these elitist circles, far away from the Lutyens of Delhi in a God Forsaken Valley called Kashmir, another group of onlookers was also anxious about this visit. Hundreds of Thousands of Assaulted, Abused, Oppressed and Subjugated Children of a Lesser God were also trying their best to look on to this visit with their Pellet Ridden Eyes. These misfortune Kashmiris as we know them have been subject of abhorrent state brutalities for the past 2 months. Dozens have fallen to Indiscriminate Firing by Indian Security Forces, Hundreds including children have suffered Permanent Visual Disabilities due to the use of Pellet Guns by LEAs and Thousands have suffered Harrowing Torture when they were found violating the terms curfew due to immediate needs. 

These people and many more that care for them had their Eyes Locked at the Secretary of State’s Visit as they hoped that the ultimate custodian of Human Rights and Civil Liberties in this unipolar world would care for them. If not in a position to Restrain India from its wrongdoings or even Reprimand it The Secretary of State was at least expected to pay a lip service by expressing regret over the Loss of Life in Kashmir. Expectations of the distressed were high as they hoped that even an expression of Sorrow and Regret would placate them and heal their wounds to some extent but all these hopes were in vain. The Secretary of State found enough time for Sightseeing in the Suburbs of Delhi as he Visited Temples and Collected Artifacts but he could not find enough time to acknowledge or comment upon the tyranny that exists in the valley. It is difficult as to say whether the Secretary of State found himself Short of Time or SHORT OF COURAGE but this visit has left deep scars in the valley. It seems as if human rights and fundamental liberties are Meant Not for the inhabitants of Kashmir, what await them is further Oppression, Torture, Enforced Disappearances and Mass Graves. Franklin Roosevelt the 32nd President of the United States had famously said “Never Again” while responding to the Holocaust, this promise has gained further significance in the post-cold war transformation of the world into a unipolar entity.

 Many today across the globe look up to This Promise but it seems as if Uncle Sam has either Forgotten these boastful words or Lost Some Calcium in His Back Bone. The United States of America either due to the Shine of the Indian Capital Market or due to Vested Interests has in the recent past began to shy away from its responsibilities as a Super-Power in the New World Order. Let alone stand for the millions of oppressed Kashmiris U.S has also restricted its self from Acknowledging the International Status of the Kashmir Dispute which is Supplemented by Several U.N Resolutions. Kashmiris have been watching these Shades of American Diplomacy quite minutely yet they thought that Hundreds of Deaths would awake the long Dozing American Conscience. This visit however seems to have out the Final Nail in the Coffin. It has certainly conveyed to the Kashmiris the message that their Policy of Political Struggle and Endurance of Oppression is yielding No Results as their Shrieks and Cries fall on Deaf Ears. Adaptation of an Alternate Path of Struggle is thus the call of the hour.

 Its seems as if Kashmiris have Reached the Bank of the ferocious River Slavery where they would either have to Jump into it and drown till eternity Without Any Hope of Rescue or build a Bridge of Armed Struggle and cross it by the strength of their backs and the sweat of their brows, to the other side where the every lovely Freedom awaits them. This struggle if undertaken will surely inflict unimaginable pain and sufferings as a Wave of Violence would inevitably erupt. The decision rests with Kashmiris alone regarding the path they chose. The Secretary of States and his office is however advised to refrain from issuing any statements condemning violence if Kashmiris adopt the later path because the United States of America has lost the Moral Authority to do so.

0 comments:

Post a Comment