Beyond the burning Chinar

Neither I am a native of Kashmir, nor have I ever been there in my life. I may not be affected directly by the problems in Kashmir; still my emotions get stirred up when I see thousands of uncontrolled youth slinging stones on armed forces; not because, I share some kind of affinity to them, but the "sense of Nationalism" and "realization of belonging to a nation" prompt me to think about Kashmir.
History has witnessed these countless slinging stones since Indian Independence. Solutions given to combat situations were far from the reality, never leading to reconciliation with Kashmiris. The only thing that remained intact in last 60 years, were the opinions expressed through the years intermittently and fiascoes ensuing them. Opinions are bound to appear frivolous in democratic context unless they are free from any personal hidden interest , (no matter who proposed it) and the summit conference held at the beautiful hill station of Murree on September 21, 1960, can be held as one of the candid examples. Though, it failed with sad consequences, but successfully revealed some hidden interests. Ayub Khan, then-President of Pakistan, proposed his opinions at a certain node in which all he expected at that stage was that the process of discussion on Kashmir be initiated without preconditions and advocated a solution that would be satisfactory with the point of view of the people of Jammu and Kashmir. Nehru on the other hand, was fully aware of the claustrophobic disaster involved in accomplishment of any of these steps, which certainly was not in favor of his popularity in India. He accurately envisaged the end of Congress in Indian politics if any one of these steps were mandated. However, Nehru’s decision is self explanatory because losing control over a territory, which belongs to you legally but not ethically, may be the most flaking thing ever for a country and could possibly have thought of bridging the chasm in between by providing better infrastructure, roads, educations, employments.
India’s failure is clear in an attempt to blossom the sense of Indian nationality in Kashmiri youth, even having strong hold on Kashmir over last 60 years, although, it is not the case with Hyderabad and Junagadh where their acceptances of Indian sovereignty are similar to that of Kashmir. Ideologies can never be altered just by building good roads and bridges, if this is the case, India wouldn’t have got freedom and possibly Nehru wouldn’t have made any tryst with destiny.
Kashmiris have grown up with an inherent contempt and betrayal. Curfews, high alerts, military marches are the integral parts of their daily life. Their own army, that is supposed to protect them, has become their biggest enemy. At any moment, they are not sure which bullet would shatter their life, whether it is from their own army or from militants. Many cases have been filed in last decades against army men, in which they were found guilty of raping Kashmiri girls. Martyrdom is a romantic subject and can easily allure young blood to rebel against system. It is justifiable on their perspective when they join militants. A TV channel aired a debate on the stone-pelting recently, in which they tried to capture young and highly educated Kashmiri’s views on riots. None left an impression of being mislead or spelled by any clergy. One of them disguised himself as a die-hard fan of John Lennon, dressed himself exactly the same as we see Lennon in his song -Imagine, from round shape spec to his hair style. When he got a chance to speak, he sneered contemptuously," They call it Democracy, we call it Hippocracy."