The Mumbai Attacks: Implications for Kashmir

I recall being in Kashmir during the winter of the Lashkar-e-Taiba militant's attack on the Indian parliament in 2001. Fighter jets ripped through the crisp sky towards the Line of Control, LoC, separating Indian and Pakistan. Soldiers on the streets gripped their guns, eyes red with fear. Kashmiris waited, helplessly. It seemed the valley was bracing itself for its final breath, at the hands of its neighbors. Today, in the wake of the Mumbai attacks, India and Pakistan are right back where they were in 2001 and Kashmir is again bracing herself. It is alleged the terrorists were trained in Pakistan and member to the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba militant group, which has staged operations against Indian forces in disputed Kashmir. These allegations, if true, may result in retaliatory measures by India, resulting in further militarization of the Line of Control in Kashmir thereby jeopardizing the security of Kashmiris helplessly sandwiched between the two rival nuclear powers, Indian and Pakistan.

As a Muslim, as a Kashmiri-American, as a human being, I am outraged at the actions of the terrorists who have killed more than a 150 innocent people and injured hundreds. I ask the extremists and their supporters reading this, what have your cowardly actions achieved? The terrorists' actions have again claimed innocent lives under the name of Islam. Their irrational behavior and inhumanity have marginalized the grievances of the very victims they claim to be acting on behalf of, such as those in Kashmir and Iraq. Terrorists have again contaminated the world's image of the religion they claim to surrender to, and the militants again exacerbate the political situation of the Muslim victims they claim to help. To the militants and their supporters I say, you have again worked against the very peace and stability Kashmiris in Indian-administered Kashmir yearn for, and have died for.

International media reports have sprinkled Kashmir within the coverage of the Mumbai attacks, claiming the terrorist's sympathy for the conflict in the embattled Muslim dominated region of Kashmir, where 70,000 Kashmiris have been killed, and over 8,000 Kashmiris have disappeared since 1989. We, as a Kashmiri community must make clear that Kashmiris are against violence on innocents, and we condemn the attacks in Mumbai. Kashmiris and the civil society of Kashmir have endured crimes against humanity and attacks like today's from both Indian, Pakistani, and Kashmiri militant groups, since 1989. Kashmiris, and the Kashmiri civil society seek justice and accountability and peace for Kashmir, all of India, and the region. An example of Kashmiri civil society's resolve for peace and justice can be seen from the mass civil demonstrations last August, in which over 50 unarmed Kashmiri protesters were killed by state security forces during non-violent demonstrations. Despite the beatings and shootings, Kashmiris marched on and the maintained non-violent protest in the face of bullets and batons. The actions of those brave marchers made manifest Kashmiris' desire for a peaceful, political solution to the conflict. In addition, since President Elect Obama's recent statements that he is looking to resolve the political roots of the Kashmir conflict, Kashmiris all over have been given hope for peace and justice. Kashmiris, therefore, see militant attacks, like the one witnessed in Mumbai, as jeopardizing the political efforts of Kashmiris and the international community.

What I hope the world understands is that Kashmiris are against terrorism being that Kashmiris are themselves victims of terror on a daily basis. The terrorists seek to skew the lines of religion and national identity, and humanity and their deplorable actions end up creating more enemies for the causes they to claim to die to for. And now, fear of an Indo-Pak war has returned.

I am reminded of the nature of India and Pakistan's relationship in a line from Inheritance of Loss, by acclaimed South Asian writer Kiran Desai: "This war was not, after all, satisfying; it could never go deep enough, the crick was never cracked, the itch was never scratched; the irritation built on itself, and the combatants itched all the more."

India and Pakistan may revisit talk of war and further endanger the region with tit-for-tat violence. Or, they may both realize that they battle the same forces of extremism and terrorism. First, Pakistan should take swift action to hunt down those involved with the Mumbai attacks. Second, India and Pakistan must work towards combating terrorist hideouts. Both nations, above all else, must not yield in their efforts for peace, a peace that should incorporate the views and wishes of the Kashmiri people whose lives will undoubtedly be affected by the decisions India and Pakistan will take henceforth.

Be they Muslim, Hindu, Jew, Christian; American, British, Indian, or Pakistani, we Kashmiris pray for what every man and woman desires: a collective humanity, living under peace, justice, and accountability.

I would like to extend my condolences and prayers to the victims and the families of those affected by the heinous terrorist acts in Mumbai this week.

Comments

[Allisonfisher]

A well written piece.. It is unfortunate that both Indian and Pakistani attempts at "resolving" the kashmir dispute have been nothing but a farce, just feeble attempts to one-up each other rather than truly come up with an amicable solution.. Worse, it appears that no one really cares about what the people of Kashmir want. Why not have free and fair elections in Kashmir and go by the people's mandate rather than fight over the lines that the Brits drew up over 60 years ago?

[Indubio]

You propose a fine idea but elections can't solve every issue. Election work only when the various sides agree to accept a decision of the voters. Elections never worked in North Ireland because Catholics refused to live in a country as second class citizens ruled by Protestants. Do you honestly believe Muslim's will ever agree to live in India? I doubt that they would. Even creating a separate Kashmiri state wouldn't help because the various sides couldn't agree on whether it would be Muslim, Hindu, secular, or multi religious. Sadly, in such cases, the killing will continue until the sides tire of the blood letting, which is by and large what occurred in Northern Ireland. Since the various sides of the Kashmiri dispute appear to place little value on human life, I see little chance of a negotiated settlement any time soon. I wish this weren't the case because not all Kashmiris are lunatics. As long as lunatics run the asylum, until Kashmiris tired of killing, eliminate militants, the innocents will suffer.

[mergina]

What we witnessed over the past few days in mumbai is the direction the entire region is going. Terror, which has itself deeply entrenched in Pakistan, has its eyes on two nuclear prizes, Pakistan and India. Pakistan is all but ready for the taking. If you think these attacks were just to cause terror, think again. The claim is that a mere 10 attackers held a city hostage, held commandos and the Indian army at bay for nearly 3 days. It is not too hard to imagine a scenario whereby hundreds, or even thousands of attackers overwhelming the nuclear arsenal of Pakistan. This was practice for larger scale attacks. Practice that served the purpose of creating mass levels of terror and horror in the process. Pakistan should disarm its nuclear arsenal NOW, since it is simply a matter of time before terror is in possesion of it.

[Indubio]

You're probably right (unfortunately) but India's nuclear arsenal is aimed and my guess is that before militants get anywhere near Pakistan's nuclear weapons, Pakistan would cease to exist as a nation state and most of its major population centers along with most of its military would be a smoking burned out hole. I've read enough about the Indian government's attitude to understand they would be more than willing to lose a million even a few tens of million people in a fight with Pakistan if it meant saving many more millions of people and their country. I wouldn't be at all surprised in fact if this hasn't already been discussed with Israel, the US and probably UK. The Chinese and Russians may have also been notified what could happen in the event of an Islamicist revolution in Pakistan. South Asia is a powder keg just waiting for a lit fuse. There is so much bad blood dating back centuries; that's why Britain forced partition in 1948. Pakistan's government can't disarm its nuclear weapons because I seriously doubt they actually control them. These weapons are likely under the control of the army and the army isn't about to disarm itself. It is possible that we might see yet another military coups because the generals aren't totally insane; they would rather kill a bunch of pissed off militants then see the country destroyed in a war with Indian that would likely also include other nations. Whatever happens it's bound to be ugly.

[enry straker]

This is so wrong - at so many levels i don't know where to begin.

I understand that people see only what they want to see - and doomsday scenarios are quite popular - in the hollywood-fueled world of the west.

INDIA, in it's entire history, going back over many thousands of years, has never attacked a neighboring country ( True, we were too busy fighting among ourselves ). India, has defended itself against pakistan and bangladesh and china - but never provoked a conflict. I just don't see INDIA using this attack to justify war with pakistan. We are a major and mature democracy with enough problems of our own to keep us busy.

Pakistanis, in spite of our history, are our brothers and sisters. They are a nation only for the last 60 years but were our brothers and sisters over thousands of years.

The Pakistani military is SECULAR - and are against religious fundamentalism - not that they don't take advantage of it. They do - but i don't believe that the terrorists will ever take control of their nuclear arsenal - Neither INDIA, nor ISRAEL nor the US would sit still and allow such a scenario to develop - but that would not come about through war.

[wadenelson1]

Bravo my friend. Beautiful piece.