Kashmir on the edge

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PROTESTS and violence in Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir are threatening a wider conflagration. This is most disturbing as it has serious implications for the Kashmiris’ human rights as well as for India-Pakistan relations. On Monday, a leader of the pro-independence All Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC), Sheikh Aziz, was killed by Indian security forces while leading protesters headed for the LoC who were supporting fruit growers in the Muslim-dominated Kashmir valley. The growers’ produce has been rotting as Hindus in the Jammu region have blockaded a highway that links the valley with the rest of India. This is an escalation of Hindu protests in the region that have gone on for weeks since the Amarnath Shrine land issue strained ties between Muslims and Hindus in Indian-administered Kashmir. The catalyst for the protests was a decision in May by the Congress-led state government to transfer 100 acres of land in the Kashmir valley to the Amarnath Shrine Board, which oversees a yearly pilgrimage by Hindus. Nine days of protests by Muslims led to the fall of the state government and the revocation of the land transfer. But this only triggered counter-protests by Hindus in the Jammu region.The protests have been a huge set-back for Congress which was touting an improved security situation in Indian-administered Kashmir as one of its successes in the run-up to state elections later this year. Indeed violence was on the decline, tourists had returned to the Kashmir valley and there was hope that the elections would be a turning point for stability in the region. But those gains have quickly evaporated and the Muslim protests, some of the largest seen in two decades, have widened to become pro-independence rallies and brought together fractious leaders of the APHC. Indeed New Delhi is so alarmed by the situation that the prime minister has called an all-party meeting to discuss the issue today.What the meeting will have to confront are the sensitive issues of land ownership, communal identity and relative population strengths of Muslims and Hindus in different parts of Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir that have been laid bare by recent events. In July, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, leader of his faction of the APHC, said: “The fact is that unless and until India addresses the sentiment for the resolution of the Kashmir issue I don’t think you can have permanent peace in Kashmir.” The political process must succeed if the region is to be spared another Kashmir meltdown.As India struggles with its Kashmir woes, the Pakistan government has remained remarkably quiet on this front. This despite the fact that New Delhi has accused Pakistan of LoC violations and warned that the composite dialogue is on shaky ground. In light of this, the statement by a spokesman of the Jammu and Kashmir government predicting cross-LoC trade by October should be welcomed. In fraught times, every small gain in CBMs, that help to ease tensions, should be appreciated.