CORE ISSUE AND THE CORE OF INDIA’S

NATIONHOOD

The achilles’ heel of the present day politics is its unwillingness to comprehend reality

in full force and devise strategies ex consequenti. It may often be an intentional demarche en

face an impossible situation to defer impending disasters or etourderie tout court in

comprehending the intricacies of the reality. In either case, the dimensions of an issue further

entoil to an issue of higher complexities. It is what happened about Kashmir in the last fifty-

five years and continues to happen now.

IRRELEVANT ISSUES:

The reality is that neither the history nor the religion nor the constitutional provisions

nor the will of the majority constitute a right to a region to be a part of this or that country in

politics either now or at any time in the past in any part of the world. Neither it can be now

for obvious reasons. History is a matter of flux en train. No point of time can be selected as a

reference point in the continuum of the sempiternal timeframe to decide the future of that

significance. Religion never gained currency anywhere in the world as a factor of nationhood.

It is more so in the present enlightened world where religion as a factional entity is démodé in

public life. Constitutional provisions are temporal and subject to amendments. The will of the

people of a region in the vast tapestry of the nation is just irrelevant even in a democracy as

far as deciding the nationhood is concerned as otherwise every village in a country will turn

to an independent nation and sink the human race in a maelstrom of disorganisation.

KASHMIR AND THE PAST:

India as a nation is a new concept. The concept has no root in history. Maurya, Gupta

and Moghal emperors inter alios ruled vast parts of the present India and regions
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outstretching up to Central Asia and present day Iran at various times before the advent of the

British. Kashmir was part of the empires and of smaller kingdoms under Punjab rulers at

different times. Pakistan was carved out of India as a political compulsion. The history does

not support either the claim of India or of Pakistan on Kashmir or the claim of some for the

independence of Kashmir.

RELIGION IS PASSE:

India as a secular country is d’accord with the zeitgeist of the present enlightened

world with the people of all religions in symbiosis here. Seeing any issue through the glass of

religion is tout au contraire to the very spirit India stands for. Islam being the raison d’etre of

Pakistan is its own albatross and does not give it any special claim on regions anywhere in

the world eo nomine. Further, religion being a factor of politics goes e contrario to the extant

international spirit and rationale. It is so also about Kashmir.

NATIONHOOD:

Nor Kashmir being incorporated in Indian constitution as a part of India gives India

any special claim on Kashmir for the simple reason that any constitution is the product of the

nationhood and not vice versa. India basing its claims on Kashmir on its constitutional

provisions is misleading. On the other hand, if the will of the people of a region is given

liberty in deciding the nationality, neither India nor Pakistan nor any other country in the

world survive as a nation for long. Such a will has no sanctity in a nationhood. Ergo, it is

neither the cover of the constitutional provisions nor the ruse of the will of the people that

provide the justification for the claims on Kashmir with certitude.

NATIONAL INTERESTS:

There are myriad talks about the Maharaja of Kashmir signing the instrumentation of

annexation with India with a provision for plebiscite while invaded by the Pakistan army a la

derobee as tribals in 1947 and India under Jawaharlal Nehru referring Kashmir dispute to the

UNO and the consectaneous UNO resolution going against the interests of India. Real polity
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has no place for idealism. Idealism goes idle en face national interests. The instrumentation of

annexation or plebiscite or UNO resolution has relevance in real polity only until they serve

national objectives. It is true of both India and Pakistan. They truly are meant to serve only as

tools to score points in official talks en pure perte and as propaganda means. There is no way

these factors ectogenous to the national interests have any say in determining the future of

Kashmir.

REALITY OF KASHMIR:

It is an established fact that India was not really interested about Kashmir in the initial

stages. Recorded history shows how India a travers its iron man and the then Union Home

Minister Sardar Vallabhai Patel offered to Pakistan bartering Kashmir for Hyderabad. India

thought that Kashmir was expendable to its interests. India ignored Kashmir altogether until

the Maharaja of Kashmir signed the instrumentation of annexation with India and Kashmir

became an integral part of India. In real polity stripped of all clichés and polished phrases,

plebiscite or no plebiscite, the only reality in the process is that Kashmir had become a part of

India and the only factor acceptable to the real polity that can reverse the process is use of

force. Real polity nowhere in the world understands any other language even in a civilised

world. The process of annexation alone made India’s claim on Kashmir absolute and res

judicata. It is a fait accompli in real polity until it is forced away from the Indian Union.

THE GLITCHES GALORE:

The cause of the failure of India in Kashmir non obstante the annexation lies in its

glitches galore en suite in the last fifty five years en face the commitment of Pakistan and its

immaculate works to the cause beyond its abilities and resources that brought it almost on par

with India as far as Kashmir and military might are concerned. India’s glitches galore begin

with the greed of its aging political leaders agreeing in hurry to divide the country on

communal basis lest they may lose the opportunity of ruling the country in their lifetime. The

ceasefire in Kashmir on the call of the UNO while the Indian army was on a winning spree

patently betrays the inexperience and lack of toughness in our political leadership of the time
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and all of India’s troubles in Kashmir can be traced to this single bevue. India’s response to

Pakistan’s challenges in Kashmir throughout sinsyne was casual and disorganised and

diplomatic a fond unlike Pakistan’s concerted efforts beyond its means covering all strategic

needs required to stand up to India about Kashmir. Even its Afghan policy was Kashmir and

India-centric. Its prime intelligence behemoth, the ISI with its committed cadres, was created

basically to counter India. India’s response to the ISI in form of the RAW with much larger

resources at disposal is yet to stand up to its counterpart in Pakistan either in efficiency,

commitment or sheer performance. Kargil intrusion of 1999 is a clear indicator of the

strengths and efficiency of the ISI. The extent of the penetration of the ISI in India is yet to be

matched by the RAW in Pakistan. The single target of the Pakistan military build-up

including nuclear arsenal and missile technology is India. The commitment and spirit of the

Pakistan army against India is in no way amated by the fighting spirit of the Indian army.

This is how Pakistan prepared itself against India in the last fifty-five years for the cause of

Kashmir. It left nothing to chance and succeeded in breeding and feeding anti-India campaign

in the valley of Kashmir. The repeated military takeovers in Pakistan represent the passion of

the Pakistan army to stall any compromise by its political leadership with India on the

Kashmir issue. It is how Pakistan prepared itself for the cause of Kashmir.

CORE OF NATIONHOOD:

Pakistan believes that the agenda of the birth of its nationhood is incomplete without

Kashmir. Its military forces are fully en arriere of the cause. Unless Pakistan’s military might

is brought to the knees a toute force, its Kashmir adventures are unlikely to abate. Pakistan by

no stretch of imagination will settle for anything less than Kashmir tout a fait at its control as

it has become a matter of national pride to the country en face India’s superior prowess. India

in its part condescend to anything less than as of now only at its own peril as yielding to

Pakistan in anyway about Kashmir now is nothing short of surrender in real polity. It will be

nothing short of the surrender of Pakistan in Bangladesh war. In this sense, Kashmir has

become the core of India’s nationhood while it certainly is a core issue to Pakistan.
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CAUGHT IN A LOGJAM:

With the ultimate positions of both India and Pakistan being defined with perspicacity

and certitude, what latitude can there be for any rapprochement between the two warring

neighbours? All the talks of settlements and summits are mere diplomatic platitudes meant to

satisfy the inner and outer constituencies of the respective countries. Both the countries know

fully well that nothing other than the present situation is possible except for minor

adjustments along the line of control as in Siachin glacier and such strategic points. In the

circumstances, Pakistan is trying its luck by appealing to the religious sentiments of the

Kashmiris to lure them away from India in one hand and resorting to terrorism in Kashmir by

supporting jehadi groups on the other hand in the hope that one day Kashmir perchance may

fall on its lap. It perforce will continue with the strategy unless it is mortally brought to its

knees and good senses.

The only solution to a problem of the nature of Kashmir’s in real polity is the use of

force. Pakistan knows it. India knows it. Pakistan also knows that it can never subdue India

militarily. India knows that a nuclear Pakistan is a dangerous adversary and it is now too late

to bring the country to its knees. India has to choose between tolerating its mischief in

Kashmir and inducing mortal fear of India pro rata to its size and resources a tout prix. There

is no third option open. This is the hard truth. India can’t afford the luxury of the wishful

thinking that it can fool Pakistan from its stance and bring it around to the fact that Kashmir

from the day of its annexation to India is the core of its nationhood or economic and other

compulsions ab intra or foreign pressures force Pakistan to shy away from its commitment to

the Kashmir issue. No talks and summits can really make any difference to the issue in the

circumstances. It is true until Pakistan learns by hard way to recognise the reality that

Kashmir is an Indian territory and it can do nothing about it until the unlikely event of it

outgrowing India in military might and physically snatching Kashmir out of India. The army

and fundamentalists are too pollent a force in Pakistan to let sensible voices surface. This is

the single most damaging factor in the life of Pakistan.

PRAVEEN KUMAR