Elections are not the cure for this problem, Kashmir needs someone to show it the mirror

Author: Rahul Pandita
Put yourself in the shoes of a Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorist who has spent months in a training camp in Nangarhar. After rigorous training, he/she crosses the international border and travels through a very difficult journey to reach Kashmir. During this, he/she crossed the river, hid in a truck for hours, hoping to reach a safe place before being caught by the Indian security forces. he/she risked his/her life to help those Kashmiris whom his/her trainers call Mazloom. A few days after reaching Kashmir, he/she comes out, clean-shaven, with a shaved head and Adidas shoes on his/her feet. In the market of Shopian, he/she sees people of his/her age riding on the roof of a car wearing PM Narendra Modi’s mask. This is the same city where even police officers were reluctant to go out after Burhan Wani was killed in 2016.

shadow of conspiracy
After the removal of Article 370, Kashmir is ready for its first assembly elections. The first phase of voting will be held on September 18. This opportunity has come after almost a decade. But one thing that has not changed during this time is the habit of believing conspiracy stories. This has been going on since the 1950s. For any crime that the Muslim majority population of Kashmir does not want to accept, it very cleverly says a phrase – Markaz’s move or the Center’s conspiracy. This conspiracy can be anything, removing a Chief Minister or young women celebrating their dog’s birthday in the posh area Rajbagh. Even the Center was held responsible for the devastating floods of 2014. Now the current conspiracy theory is about independent candidates contesting the elections.

Dual character
Truth be told, the Centre cannot claim to be completely blameless either. But, there is not a single instance when a Kashmiri looks inside himself and sees how many roles he/she is playing at the same time. At one time he/she demands cold storage for his/her apples in Delhi and at the same time on the other hand he/she is waving the flag of Pakistan. In one role he/she mourns the death of a terrorist, while on the previous evening he/she might have given information about that terrorist to the army.

lack of appreciation
Iqbal’s very famous lines are, ‘For thousands of years the narcissus cries for its blindness/With great difficulty a visionary is born in the garden’. This means that the narcissus flower growing in the valley keeps cursing itself for being blind for thousands of years, then with great difficulty a visionary is born in the garden. When Kashmiris stand in election rallies and repeat these lines lakhs of times, they force the narcissus to pass through the countless graveyards of the valley and say, ‘For God’s sake, let me remain blind. I don’t want a visionary among you people.’

not having a stand
The kind of arrogance that Kashmiris show when they do a U-turn is laughed at by those ‘outside’ who have been part of the system in Kashmir. A police officer remembers how a few days after Burhan Wani was killed, a man came to his/her office in South Kashmir. he/she was wearing a BJP gamchha over his/her kurta. The situation was very tense at that time. The man had come seeking police protection. The officer asked, ‘How will you go out of my office with a gamchha with the name of BJP wrapped around your neck?’ In response, he/she took off the gamchha, kept it in a secret pocket of his/her kurta and went away. It is quite possible that the man also recited ‘Fatiha’ for Burhan Wani.

Opportunism of leaders
This is the same magic that is currently being seen in all the political parties of Kashmir. Imagine, one leader is selling you the dream that Article 370 will be brought back as soon as he/she comes to power. Then imagine, another leader who was pleading with the intelligence agencies to give him/her a chance to engage with New Delhi while being arrested in August 2019, is suddenly talking about the aspirations of the people. And a third leader, who was flaunting his/her Indianness for a small political post in Srinagar, has suddenly started speaking more fervent religious language than even a Jamaat candidate.

The need of Kashmir
This assembly election will form a government in Kashmir, but it will not remove the blindfold from the eyes of the majority of Kashmiri society. Kashmiri society is currently torn apart by drug addiction. Domestic violence is on the rise. Kashmir today needs a modern leader who can show the mirror to the society, but before that he/she should also look in the mirror himself. Otherwise, one system will be replaced by another and nothing will change for those who want to live a respectable life without fear.