Please put the present furies in Kashmir to rest (Concluding Part) – [ Read Part One and Part two of this serious ]
by Anwar A Khan
India’s government made a controversial move in last August to usurp power from the nation’s only Muslim-majority state, potentially igniting unrest in one of the world’s most dangerous nuclear flashpoints.
Kashmir, a majority-Muslim region in both India and Pakistan’s north, has been partitioned between the two countries since 1947. It’s been a major source of tension ever since, with both sides disputing one another’s control over the region; the two countries have already gone to war over it twice.
India’s Hindu nationalist government exacerbated the situation by revoking Article 370 of India’s Constitution, which had for decades afforded the Muslim-majority state of Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) — India’s side of Kashmir — substantial autonomy over its own affairs.
By revoking the article, the Indian government in New Delhi will now have far more control over J&K, and outsiders will be allowed to buy property there. That has sparked fears of ethnic cleansing that Hindus will flock to the region to push out the Muslims once and for all.
Those fears are fueled by the fact that Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Bharatiya Janata Party are pursuing a Hindu nationalist agenda that aims to reshape the country’s identity from a pluralistic democracy, where people of all religious faiths enjoy equal rights and status, to a country where the Hindu religion is given supremacy and infuses every aspect of politics and society.
The move has not only upset the residents of J&K but also infuriated neighboring Pakistan, which views itself as the protector of Kashmir’s Muslim population. And since the Indian government has taken steps to suppress unrest in the state — shutting off internet and phone service, putting prominent leaders under house arrest, and sending in thousands of additional troops — Pakistan’s government has taken up the fight on their behalf.
Pakistan announced it was downgrading diplomatic relations and cutting off bilateral trade with India, and said it would be referring the Kashmir issue to the United Nations Security Council.
Pakistan’s leaders are also warning that the situation could spiral out of control. Prime Minister Imran Khan noted that India and Pakistan have fought wars before over Kashmir and those incidents are bound to happen again. I can already predict this will happen.”
And General Qamar Javed Bajwa, Pakistan’s army chief, said that his country was prepared and shall go to any extent to fulfill our obligations to the people of Kashmir.
Those and other comments have led some to worry about the possibility that the dispute could eventually lead to war, a terrifying prospect considering both nations have nuclear weapons.
That dire outcome is still unlikely at this stage, but not impossible — in part because Modi is unlikely to back down. His party’s landslide victory in India’s May elections gave him what he sees as a clear mandate to pursue his agenda.
It’s possible the country’s Supreme Court could overturn the Article 370 decision, but many experts are doubtful given that Modi has taken steps to curb the court’s judicial independence over the past several years. Which means the India-Pakistan standoff is likely to get worse before it gets any better.
What good has come of all this killing and destruction? If there has been any, it is vastly overshadowed by the tragedy that this type of violence has produced in Kashmir Valley.
What India needs is a statesman with the strength to convince their people and their leaders that violence is counterproductive. If it is not yet possible for something like brotherly love to prevail, some cooperation and goodwill would be a vast improvement. This also would be true of many other aspects of their life.
Both countries find themselves more vulnerable than ever to extremism. But it has to come to an end peacefully, not through violence, angry words, war-mongering attitudes…
If we recognise unregulated anger as the problem, we may be able to help people who are likely to become violent.
All humans are born with a powerful wired-in fight-or-flight response—anyone who has held a screaming infant can attest to its intensity. Anger is an essential biological reaction to perceived danger, a physiological shift that allows us to stop thinking and take immediate action, to act as if our life depends on it. It is generated by our evolutionary survival response to threat, and we all carry it. We are wired by nature for rage. It is the impulse that has insured our survival as a species: kill or be killed. It is primitive, and it is very strong.
If that crying baby is soothed and cared for, the fight-or-flight response will calm. This strengthens the pathways that regulate the response and allows the child to learn to control anger. If a baby learns instead that needs won’t be met, because caregivers are unpredictable or violent or abusive or absent, the brain wiring will develop to fit his life. Rather than learning to soothe itself, the brain will remain in a more or less constant state of fight or flight, and emotional responses will be unfettered and impulses out of control. Trauma later in life can also disrupt the brain’s ability to modulate the intensity of reactions.
An adult who is able to effectively regulate anger uses it to alert himself to a problem situation. Managed well, it is an extraordinarily effective warning system. Unregulated, impulses are stronger, and thinking is less clear. The poorly regulated adult with enhanced reactivity, impulsivity, and a constant state of fight or flight sees in every interaction the potential for being harmed and the necessity to defend himself. The angrier he feels, the less clearly he will think. His reactions will often be out of proportion to the situation, and he will be prone to violence. Because he sees the world as a constant source of danger, he externalises blame, to his spouse, children, neighbours, government, and others in race, nationality, religion, or culture. Angry, blaming, aggressive, and unable to modulate his emotions, he can become a danger to others.
So, violence is the problem – not the solution. So many more solutions are possible when we reframe the Kashmir conflict. It is time that Indian government change the frame, expand the possibilities, and resolve to solve this. No people can continue to allow mass violence – killing so many precious human lives, destroying huge properties... People should not allow them to continue anywhere.
To address the problem of violence, proponents of nonviolence need to become more assertive. The current run-up to violence between the Kashmiri people and Indian right-wing government has seen a resurgence of the antiwar sentiment last seen during the American war in Vietnam. The Gulf War brought out some protest, though nothing like the Vietnam era. Yet even with this great increase in antiwar sentiment, the news media remains dominated by public calls from war advocates. Large antiwar protests are covered on the day they occur, but there is a daily drumbeat of pro-war news. Pouring out of newspapers and television is a constant barrage of anti-Kashmiris and pro-Modi government news releases.
Visionary people face the same problems everyone else faces; but rather than get paralysed by their problems, visionaries immediately commit themselves to finding a solution. And Narendra Modi of India’s government should walk through the path of a peaceful solution for the current Kashmir conflict.
We wish to remember the famous words of L.R. Knost, “You are raising a little human with thoughts, needs, ideas and a personality all their own. They aren’t perfect any more than you are and expecting perfection will only lead to conflict, not connection. When they make mistakes, choose understanding – not anger. When they make poor choices, choose guidance - not punishment. When they challenge your authority, choose peace – not warfare. Remember: You are growing a person, not a problem.”
-The End –
The writer is a senior citizen of Bangladesh, writes on politics, political and human-centred figures, current and international affairs.
 – [ Read Part One and Part two of this serious ] by Anwar A Khan ...){kind=link}
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