Representational picture, Image credit: India Ink
 
Although the curfew – that was imposed in the valley on August 13 following the killing of militant Burhan Wani, has been lifted from Srinagar and rest of the Kashmir, there is no sign of life in the valley returning to relative normalcy in near future.  The schools that have been shut since their summer break in July are not likely to reopen or resume functioning any soon. 
 
In the last three and a half months, at least 20 schools have been burnt down, coaching centres have been targeted with stone-pelting and the Hurriyat Conference has refused to exempt schools from its protest calendar. 
 
A Hindustan Times report elaborated on this aspect of the crisis, claiming that at least one school in all the 10 districts of Kashmir was burnt and eight of the total 20 have been reduced to ashes. Police have managed to arrest none of the ‘miscreants’ in these cases and it has become extremely difficult to run the schools in the valley.
 
A senior retired official from the education department of Jammu and Kashmir state government told SabrangIndia, “This place is filled with so much uncertainty. The situation is extremely serious and it’s difficult to ensure safety of the students. To gradually move towards normalcy and regular functioning of the schools, first confidence has to be built. Many children have got injured and have suffered from the violence, and their parents won’t be willing to risk their lives by sending them to the schools.” 
 
He asserted that the schools won’t be reopened until the trust deficit is filled, among the people, but most importantly between the people of Kashmir, its state government and the government of India. It has also been reported that some of the parents from the valley have sent their children to Jammu or Delhi so that their schooling doesn’t get obstructed because of the unrest. “How many people can afford to that? Very few. Their number must be in the range of 0.0 –something. Kids of the rest of the people are all just sitting and home and are not studying,” he claimed. “Even the administrations of the private schools are not willing to take that risk. A meeting was conducted when they were asked to resume the schools, they asked us to communicate with Hurriyat, ensure safety of the students, then only they will consider reopening the schools,” he added.
 
Another retired bureaucrat from the valley told SabrangIndia, “Hurriyat first wants the release of hundreds of arrested students, as a pre-condition to the schools being re-opened. Only after there can be any talk of reopening the schools.”  SabrangIndia had earlier reported that there have been an inordinate number of arrests by the police and para-military in the state.
 
However, according to the news reports, exams for the students of Delhi Public School were conducted last week, following the state government’s decision to announce exams in a bid to get kids back to the school. The Indian Express had reported that even though the Hurriyat Conference leader, Syed Ali Shah Geelani has called for total shutdown of the schools, his grandchild was one of the students, who appeared for the exams conducted.
 
 

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Last week I visited about 15 villages and towns of rural Srinagar, Pulwama, Anantnag and Baramulla districts. The two–day visits were aimed at meeting the Kashmiri Pandits living in far–flung areas and gathering first hand information about their local situation. Accompanying me was a young Kashmiri Pandit in his early thirties whose outlook regarding Kashmir and the world was very refreshing. He kept saying that men who had narrow visions have created the problems in Kashmir. I learnt a lot about the views of his generation living in Kashmir and how deeply rooted they feel in the soil. Listening to him was both a challenging and a refreshing experience.

After the Nadimarg massacre, uncertainty has gripped the Pandit community, especially women. People complained that the government was yet to take any concrete steps in respect of their demands. Those we met told us that the earlier massacres had not frightened them so much but the brutality displayed in the Nadimarg killings has shaken them. They are asking questions about their future and trying to decide what they should do next.

The Hindu Welfare Society of Kashmir had organised a meeting in Srinagar on Sunday, May 4. Pandits from all over the valley were invited. They wanted to take a collective decision about their future rather than each family deciding on its own. Among the issues discussed at the Sunday meeting in Srinagar were –

• To stay or to migrate?
• Resettlement of families in clusters where security could be better managed.
• Economic and employment security.

Some young men were very emotional when they told me, "If we are forced to leave, we would not go to Delhi or Jammu or Mumbai. India has done very little to safeguard us and we are very disappointed. We would ask for refugee status in one of the foreign countries and migrate there."

Many of those we met were present at Nadimarg for the funeral of the victims. I give below the account of what they told me about Nadimarg. About two years ago, some of the Pandits had informed the authorities about the particular belt in which Nadimarg lies. A large number of Pandit families live in isolated villages in that belt and are very vulnerable. The village head of Nadimarg, Avtar Krishen and his wife had seen some people moving around in the village two nights before the massacre. When the villagers got suspicious, two of them, Deep Kumar and Chandji, went to the deputy commissioner and asked for his help. He was callous enough to ask for a written complaint.

"You have lived here for 13 years and nothing has happened. What can happen now?" he asked them. This has been quoted in several newspapers. Some journalists in Srinagar told me that they heard some of the survivors relate this to the DC concerned in the presence of home minister, LK Advani. There are conflicting versions about which DC the villagers actually met and who made the above statement. Some say that these people also went to the deputy commissioner of Pulwama who has since been transferred. (As all the Nadimarg people have now left, it was not possible to verify the facts with them.) Nadimarg, however, lies in two districts and the Pandit hamlet is in Anantnag district. Why, then, was the Pulwama DC transferred?

The villagers had also met the DIG. On the day of the massacre the SHO visited the village and told the policemen posted there to be alert. Instructions were given for a signal to be sent so that help could be rushed in. Twenty–five policemen were supposed to be posted as security for the Nadimarg hamlet. On the fateful night just nine were on duty and they did nothing.

A young man called Ramesh who managed to escape the killers ran several kilometres to seek help from the Zainpora police station. He was at the police station within 30 minutes of the intruders entering the village. At the police station he was asked to stay put. In The Indian Express of March 30, SSP Pulwama, Vipul Kumar, is quoted as saying, "I received the information around 12.30–12.35 a.m. and alerted all the forces including the camp of 1 Rashtriya Rifles that lies a few km from Nadimarg. The first police team arrived in the village at 3.30 a.m. from Shopian. The Zainpora police station doesn’t have enough strength to react to such a carnage, so we sent our people from Shopian."

A senior army officer says the army does take some time to react. The army troops arrived in the village at the same time as the police. Kashmiris want to know: why this delay?

“Where is this army of one lakh that Bal Thackeray talks about? If he or Togadia really have courage let them come and stay with us. I would like to meet them and have a public debate in front of the media. I do not like their politics.”

Some have alleged that for three days — Friday, Saturday, and Sunday — the militants lived in the hamlet with the policemen. They even ate there and watched an India–Pakistan cricket match. At night the local policemen on duty went and knocked on the doors of people’s houses and told them to come out because the army had come and there was a crackdown. People came out because of this. They were asked to sit in a group. Some of the survivors say that the killers were clad in army fatigues and also wore helmets and bulletproof jackets.

It is alleged that a group photo was taken of the people who only a few minutes later were to be sprayed with bullets. Many people were shot in the face, faces that were blown apart completely. The bodies were badly mutilated. Some of the women’s ears were cut off for the gold earrings they wore. The houses, too, were looted, and the culprits knew exactly which box or cupboard to open. It is also alleged that three of the killers were present amongst the hundreds of people who had turned up for the funeral in Nadimarg.

A member of the Hindu Welfare Society had to request the authorities to bandage the faces of the victims as they were far too disfigured. The member concerned had himself put Gangajal on the lips of every victim and put tikka on their foreheads before the last rites were performed. The carnage has left a deep scar, yet he has maintained his objectivity. The members of the Hindu Welfare Society had successfully thwarted attempts by some people from Jammu who wanted to take the bodies to Jammu for cremation.

Nadimarg has left far too many questions unanswered. The Kashmiris, Pandits as well as Muslims, want answers to the following questions:

• Despite a warning given by the villagers three days earlier, why did law enforcement and civil administration fail to evaluate the imminent danger to Nadimarg?
• Does it not mean complete intelligence failure?
• Even on the night of the massacre, the police and the security agencies took almost three hours to swing into action. Is this the response time to be expected of them even after an alarm has been sounded?
• The allegation by some of the villagers that the militants had camped out in the village for three days prior to the massacre is also alarming. How is it possible that the SHO or other higher-ups were unaware of what their colleagues were up to in Nadimarg?

A group of concerned citizens working for peace have sent a letter to the chief minister stating that they have a right to information regarding what action the government has taken against the erring civil and police officials. The transfer of the deputy commissioner of Pulwama and the arrest of the policemen who are in the interrogation centre do not satisfy them. They would like the process to be transparent and officials to be accountable.

One of the villages I visited was Zainpora, the village to which Ramesh from Nadimarg had rushed for help from the police and to report that intruders had entered the village. This was the largest conclave of Pandits. Over 100 Pandit families used to live in Zainpora till they migrated in the early 1990s. Today there are just five families living there. On seeing a telephone in one home, I asked about it, and was informed that two months earlier the local exchange had been blown up in a blast and had not been repaired since. Some simple issues such as restoring telephone lines in remote areas could help restore some confidence amongst the people.

The topography of Zainpora is similar to Nadimarg. The five Pandit families living there are scattered on a steep slope. Everywhere, I made it a point to talk to the women. I asked them how they felt and what they wanted to do? None of the women wanted to stay on. They found sleeping difficult and suffered from severe palpitation. Given the the location of their homes, I found it difficult to tell them to have courage and stay on there. All I could do was embrace them and hold them close for a long time. How brave they have been and how alone.

In most places the women told me that although they were absolutely terrified, if they had better security and jobs for their children they would never leave. Not a single Pandit I talked to has any faith in the Kashmir police and Nadimarg has made them very jittery. They all demanded security, either from the CRPF or the BSF. When I mentioned this to some of my Muslim friends in Srinagar they countered, "Does anyone trust the local police? If they were efficient and alert would Kashmir have come to such a pass?" Therein lies, I believe, a very critical challenge regarding the Kashmir conflict. The police and the security agencies are far from restoring confidence in the local population.

Today there are 1,765 Pandit families in the valley making up a population of around 8,000. Out of these, between 2–300 families spend six months in the valley and six months outside it. Not all of those who have stayed behind have land from which they make a living. Many of them have been in government jobs and are about to retire or have already retired. Their children, though qualified for certain posts, are having a tough time getting government jobs. According to some of those I met, there has not been a single fresh recruitment in government jobs from among the Kashmiri Pandit community over the past 14 years. There are 500 educated jobless youth in the community. About 150 among them are now over the stipulated age requirement necessary for government jobs.

A large number of those I met during our two day visits are determined to stay on and would not allow the gun to dictate their future. Says Sanjay, "Why should we leave? This is our home and we belong here. Those who ask for a separate homeland for the Kashmiri Pandits are doing a disservice to us. If one were to continue with this logic we would need to accept the demand of the majority community of Kashmir for the right to a separate homeland. Kashmiri Hindus and Muslims must build their future together as they are part of the same heritage."

He is also angry with Togadia and Bal Thackeray. He asked me, "You come from Bombay, where is this army of one lakh that Bal Thackeray talks about? If he or Togadia really have courage let them come and stay with us. I would like to meet them and have a public debate in front of the media. I do not like their politics. It is harmful."

There is also a lot of anger and bitterness against those who migrated in the ’90s. Both sides have their grievances. They have made allegations against one another from time to time. This does not help the cause of the migrant Pandits outside the valley nor those who have chosen to stay on. Those who have stayed in the valley want to know why the media does not ask those who have stayed behind for comments when incidents like Nadimarg happen. They feel unhappy that the Pandit migrants in Delhi or Jammu are asked to speak on behalf of those who live in the valley as if the valley Pandits have no voice. The media and those who work for peace and reconciliation need to understand the complexities in relations among the communities involved.

Some of the Pandits say that when Indian leaders talk about Kashmir as an ‘atut ang (indivisible part) of India’ they say so because of the Kashmiri Pandits still living in Kashmir. If the remaining ones leave the valley, would India have any moral position to hold on to that piece of land? Though we are so vital, for India to hold on to Kashmir, what has India done to safeguard our position? The Pandits in the valley are aware of the regional issues and feel trapped in the larger game. They feel ill–prepared to defend themselves and bitter that the government of India is not doing enough to help them apart from few well–meaning promises that have yet to materialise. One young man angrily told me, "Did the others in desperation not take up the gun? What option do we have before us? If we have to die in any case then it is better that we die fighting rather than be sitting ducks."

He reminded me of the solidarity shown by the Sikh community after the Chittisingpura massacre. Hindus and Indians are hardly bothered about the plight of this small minority. Hundreds of Sikhs from outside Kashmir came to be with the victims as well as others of their community. Aid and relief for the Chittisingpura victim families poured in from all over India and the world. Such gestures are missing for the Nadimarg victims or for the Pandit community who desperately need support from outside, according to the young man.

As the news of the Nadimarg massacre spread, villagers from surrounding areas poured into Nadimarg. They were angry and upset. In downtown Srinagar, hundreds of people poured out on to the streets to protest the carnage the same afternoon. No leader had prompted this demonstration. The protesters came from areas that were traditional strongholds of the Pandits. This was spontaneous. Apart from other national and local politicians, several Hurriyat leaders also went to Nadimarg on hearing the news and stayed until the victims were cremated. A total hartal was observed the next day, called by all the political parties, including Hurriyat.

Two Srinagar women (both Muslim) made a difficult journey to Nadimarg on the third day of the massacre. They pleaded with the survivors, like many others before and after them, not to leave. They were giving expression to the sentiments of scores of Kashmiris, that Kashmir would be incomplete without the Pandits. These women are part of a group that is working for peace. For nearly two years they have been engaged in a dialogue with their counterparts — the Kashmiri Pandit women — in a dialogue of understanding and trust building. It was these interactions that prompted Zubaida and Daisy to make their way to Nadimarg. One has to be in the valley and talk to the general public to realise how deeply the Nadimarg massacre has upset them. Kashmiri Muslims are dismayed and angry that once again peace may elude them.

A small group of Kashmiri Pandits met the Prime Minister and given him a memorandum during his visit to Srinagar in April. The Prime Minister is said to have admitted that many mistakes were made with regard to the Kashmiri Pandit community. Basically,the Pandits are asking for the assurance of physical and economic security, imperative to their survival. Although foolproof security may not be possible for every household, some other arrangements are possible and must be looked at on a priority basis.

Several suggestions regarding this are already before the government. The demand for jobs for the 500 unemployed youth is not impossible to fulfil. Many Kashmiri Muslims have personally told me that they would like the Mufti government to provide jobs for the Kashmiri Pandits just as they are being provided to members of victim families. Unless the government takes quick policy decisions and concrete steps, the trickle that is quietly leaving the valley may well turn into a large exodus before we know it.

As Nadimarg fades from public memory and new events overtake us, let us not forget this tiny minority hanging on to a slender thread in the complex conflict zone that is Kashmir today. As this minority’s future hangs in the balance, it may well decide the larger political future of India.

Archived from Communalism Combat, May 2003 Year 9  No. 87, Special Report 1

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— Pervez Hoodbhoy 
(Professor of physics at Quaid–e–Azam University, Islamabad)

There are many Kargils to come, I fear. Nuclear weapons have made brinksmanship possible, meaning that one hopes to get as close to war as possible without actually having war. India and Pakistan shall keep playing this game indefinitely until such time as a tragic error or miscalculation rules out further play. Pakistan is totally serious about Kashmir. Call it an obsession if you will, but facts are facts, and all indications are that its support for the militants will increase in times to come. This was the essential content of the speech by the chief of army staff, General Pervez Musharraf, in Karachi on April 10 this year. 

Presently there is much jubilation here in Pakistan about Indian planes and helicopters being downed. Sadly, most people don’t realise how close this pushes us to the brink, and have no idea of how total and final a fall would be. They also do not understand the immense cost which Pakistani civil society has paid for supporting insurgency in Kashmir. 

One should never have had illusions about the Lahore Declaration; it was a mere consequence of international pressure, particularly from the US, for the two prime ministers to look as if they are serious about peace. Even so, it was a good thing and every attempt to reduce enmity and tensions is to be welcomed. The bus service is still doing well, after all. I feel that we must welcome negotiations at all levels even if the results are marginal.

We must, however, also recognise that the basics have not changed, and probably will not change unless something very major happens. If that “something” is less than war, we shall be very fortunate. India and Pakistan are likely to make it past Kargil this time, and to the end of this millenium, with high probability. But unless there is a radical departure from past behaviour, I doubt that we will make it past the next few decades ahead. 

Adopt a dual strategy
— Praful Bidwai 
(A senior journalist and founder member of Movement in India  on Nuclear Disarmament)

The peace movement in both countries should not assume it knows the answer.  Rather, it should adopt a dual strategy: advocate normalisation and progress in all areas,  independently of Kashmir; and call for a  modest beginning at coming to  grips with the Kashmir issue while the general relationship improves.

The first strategy is minimalist and worth pursuing regardless of the second. There is simply no reason why the grotesque conflict at Siachen, which has killed 10,000 and costs Rs. 3 crores a day, should  not be resolved or the Wular, Sir Creek and  trade  issues should remain undecided even though Kashmir is not settled. But this needs a much deeper commitment than was shown at Lahore. “Bus diplomacy” was symbolically welcome, but substantively very thin. The Lahore accords were not even about arms control, only about limited transparency.  India and Pakistan didn’t even agree to slow down  nuclear and missile development or to  stop  testing. Lahore didn’t mark a real breakthrough. We still need one.

As for Kashmir, it is vitally important that a process of discussion begins. But this must be defined and enunciated, first and foremost, by the Kashmiri people themselves.

Fortunately, a beginning seems to have been made. At the Hague Appeal for Peace conference last month, a cross–border dialogue took place among Kashmiris from different political tendencies, from the JKLF and the Hurriyat to Pannun Kashmir. This needs to be built upon.

Durable peace requires Kashmir solution and more
— Zia Mian
(Scientist of Pakistani origin teaching at MIT, USA)

There can be no doubt that both Indians and Pakistanis, must talk about Kashmir, with the Kashmiris, and find a solution. Unless there is a settlement over Kashmir, that the Kashmiris feel reflects their aspirations, any peace between India and Pakistan may not thrive or survive. Until it is erased from the maps and from people’s minds, the Line of Control will always be a place for Lack of Control, especially for demagogues and would be heroes. 
At the same time, it may be un–reasonable to assume that a settlement of the Kashmir issue would in itself create lasting peace. One of the lessons of the end of the Cold War was that even though the Soviet Union is no more, its nuclear weapons remain (about 10,000 are operational), as do those of the United States (about 8,000 are operational). Both are still prepared to fight a thermonuclear war against each other, and in the process obliterate themselves and the rest of us. The Cold War has led to a bitter, resentful, grudging, nuclear armed Cold Peace. At times it is hard to tell the difference between the two. 

Both these aspects must be kept in mind. A durable peace in the region needs a solution to Kashmir, but it requires far more. This requires that we rid ourselves of nuclear weapons. We must overcome nationalism as an ideology, transform the state as a political institution, and bring justice within society. 

In the situation we are now in, with fighting along the Line of Control and nuclear weapons casting their terrible shadow over the region, there has to be movement towards peace no matter what. If nothing else, it can be narrow and focussed on tiny steps forward, for example restraining nuclear weapons development and deployment, loosening the restrictions on people’s travel across the border, increasing trade and so on. But unless Kashmir is addressed there is always the danger that it will be the kind of movement where for every one step forward there shall be two steps backward. 

This is what seems to have happened with the Lahore Declaration. 
There should however not be too many illusions about the Lahore Declaration. It was the same two leaders who talked peace in Lahore who earlier had ordered the nuclear weapons tests. It was expedient, given international opinion, for them to stop fighting (at least for a while) and make up. Once the world moved on to other issues,  the battle was resumed. 
 

Track two has a limited objective
— J.N. Dixit
(Former Indian foreign secretary)

The thing to remember is that track–two diplomacy has been going on, through various initiatives, for the last ten years. What has been most significantly observed about such intiatives is that they have no impact on government policy at all. On either side, in Pakistan or in India, the power structures of the two governments do not take into account either what is discussed at these fora or the recommendations made. So while track–two diplomacy may be broadly useful, the immediate impact is not noticeable.

What happens at a time when we are faced with a situation like we presently are in at Kargil? Even those individuals who are committed to peace and rational thinking on such issues get disappointed and wonder how to carry on because, when a territorial dispute arises, popular resentment and national feelings are aroused. Even the people who are committed to the improvement of relations between the two neighbours are faced with a wider public opinion that becomes antagonistic. 

In Pakistan, newspapers, television and radio report news of the bombing of “our schools and the killing of our children”. In India, the heavy casualties, the violation of the sanctity of an international agreement — the incursion beyond the LOC seven–ten miles into our territory — all in the face of Pakistan claiming not to have made any mistake raises temperatures.

I do believe that for at least one year, even government–level talks are not going to make serious headway. The foreign ministers may meet several times over — so that the world cannot tell us that we are being unreasonable — but the inner impulses on either side will not contribute to coming to any reasonable compromises on either side.

Track one diplomacy gets vitiated by such developments such as the current situation in Kargil. And track two efforts serve a limited objective: they keep alive trends in public opinion and are important at that level but are limited in their impact and reach. Unfortunately, what is a forgone conclusion today is that even if there was earlier some possibility of imminent solutions, these have been irretrievably delayed further. 
 

The situation will defuse soon
— Dr. Mubashir Hasan
 (Former finance minister, Pakistan)

The process started by both the prime ministers, Nawaz Sharif and Atal Behari Vajpayee envisaged clearly talking on all issues including Kashmir. Unfortunately this unique intitiative, the first of its kind in fifty years, was first put off, or delayed by the dissolution of the Indian Lok Sabha and has now been stalled by the recent operations in Kargil. I foresee that grim though the situation in Kargil today seems, it will defuse within ten–fifteen days time. 

We must also remember that whenever the two governments come close to resolving issues or making a beginning even, something occurs to put a spoke in the wheel. It could be much–publicised news of USA supplying F16s to Pakistan that makes the Indians angry or it could be the news of a big explosion on Pakistani soil that makes the Pakistanis angry! These are the considered machinations of those international powers who do not want regional peace in South Asia. The Sharif–Vajpayee governments were for the first time in the process of co–relating their nuclear policies. An identical nuclear policy is in the interest of both Pakistan and India. This is not what vested international powers want.
 

Await more stable governments
— Nirmal Mukherjee 
(Former Indian cabinet secretary and governor, Punjab)

I don’t believe that the doings of peace groups are undone. I believe the urge for peace remains unchanged. The current situation in Kargil is illustrative of the games regimes play. My own view is that India is going through a situation of political flux (as our former prime minister, V.P. Singh has been saying) except that I feel that the results of the next election will be another pre–final. Until the voice of the oppressed, the vast majority, gets finally heard. In the midst of this flux, with weak governments at the helm, peace activists cannot do too much. They must hold their fire, conserve their energy, remain in touch, gather as many facts, and as much information about each other, as possible. And await a political climax over the next decade when the moves for peace find receptive listeners in government.
 

Peace pressure must continue
— B.M. Kutty
(Convenor, Pakistan Peace Coalition; also secretary, Sind province committee of Pak–India People’s Forum for Peace and Democracy)

It is true that the situation  presently looks very bleak and  frustrating. Something like the recent developments in Kargil appear to undermine by months and years the efforts put in by pro–peace organisations and individuals on both sides. But peace groups cannot afford to give up in either country. The argument for people to people contact, the need for increased interaction, remains as valid today as it was before. So, irrespective of what happens at the government level, we should go on pressing for further contacts.

Also peace groups cannot close their eyes to the fact that Kashmir remains a very sensitive issue between the two countries and a resolution of this issue is essential for durable peace. It has acquired a hydra–headed character that cannot be pushed under the carpet. We, therefore, will have to evolve perspectives for a resolution of the problem and thereafter mount pressure on the government on both sides to act on them. 

To begin with, a few things are very clear. The Kashmir problem cannot be solved militarily — neither by India’s military action nor by Pakistan’s intervention through support to this or that group. Both the governments have to agree that the people of Kashmir also count — no agreement will work unless it enjoys the confidence of the Kashmiri people. 

I personally believe that unless people of Kashmir on both sides are given an absolutely free choice, with no Indian troops present and without any Pakistani involvement, there will be no solution possible.
 

Kashmir’s accession to India is final
— Vishnu Bhagwat
(Former Chief of the Indian Navy)

In my mind, there can be no question of any moves towards lasting peace within the region being at all feasible with Pakistan insisting on intervention in Kashmir. This is true not only in the context of the recent infiltration in Kargil but in the context of Jammu and Kashmir as a whole. For India and for me, the question of Kashmir and its accession are final through the instrument of accession and no Indian government has any right to indulge in any kind of bargaining so far as the question of the status of Jammu and Kashmir within the Indian union is concerned. This is because, in more ways than one, Kashmir is not only the symbol of Indian secularism but the sine qua non of both the secular Indian constitution and the secular India state. It is literally the head of the body that is India. The will of the people of Kashmir was behind the accession of Kashmir to India as opposed to the rulers of not just Kashmir but Hyderabad, Junagadh and Jaipur who wanted independent status, their treaties with the British having lapsed. Under no circumstances can any state of the Indian union, be it Punjab, Kashmir or a government at the centre be encouraged or permitted to take on a non–secular, theocratic garb. 

On all other issues like trade and business, people–to–people links, cultural exchanges these are welcome since we are basically the same people. But I strongly feel that Kashmir cannot be a part of these levels of exchanges. Here I would like to quote the example of Abraham Lincoln who held the American union together at the cost of a civil war knowing full well the implications of such a war. Secession was something that was never entertained as a possibility let alone an eventuality. 

Archived from Communalism Combat, June 1999, Year 6  No. 54, Cover Story 2

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