Does an Annual Day Ensure Solidarity?

On Wednes­day, Pak­istan cel­e­brat­ed Kash­mir Sol­i­dar­i­ty Day, express­ing their sup­port for the right to self-deter­mi­na­tion for the peo­ple of Kash­mir on the Indi­an side of the LoC. Ral­lies were held across the nation by right wing groups slam­ming India for human rights atroc­i­ties in the region, and Pak­istan’s Prime Min­is­ter recy­cled the old nar­ra­tive that his gov­ern­ment was com­mit­ted to a peace­ful res­o­lu­tion of the dis­pute.

Yet, this nation­al hol­i­day cel­e­brat­ed for 24 years bare­ly reg­is­tered in the Indi­an media space or even the social media in the coun­try. The nation is cur­rent­ly gripped with Gen­er­al Elec­tion fever, as the nation­al par­ties are engaged in a per­cep­tion bat­tle over cor­rup­tion and good gov­er­nance, with the vot­ers clear­ly yearn­ing for a change of guard at the Cen­tre.

But even beyond the elec­tions, what sig­nif­i­cance does Kash­mir Sol­i­dar­i­ty Day hold? It is one day in the year, which reit­er­ates the stan­dard nar­ra­tive of the Pak­istani state, which has gone nowhere beyond state­ments and protests. Pak­istan’s Kash­mir camp still believes that there is a major demand for seces­sion in the region. It is an argu­ment, which is ground­ed in an old and obso­lete sen­ti­ment, which
does not con­sid­er the cur­rent polit­i­cal real­i­ties in India and in Kash­mir.

In Jam­mu and Kash­mir, the peo­ple have the pow­er to exer­cise their vote, and the cit­i­zens have con­sis­tent­ly vot­ed for Kash­miri polit­i­cal par­ties as well as a Kash­miri Chief Min­is­ter. J&K has eco­nom­ic auton­o­my, where only state based firms can oper­ate, and the state gov­ern­ment is respon­si­ble for the deliv­ery of all major ser­vices and ameni­ties. There is a lack of devel­op­ment in the state, but that can­not be blamed on suc­ces­sive cen­tral gov­ern­ments. The respon­si­bil­i­ty lies with the state gov­ern­ments, as well as the con­sti­tu­tion­al­ly man­dat­ed eco­nom­ic auton­o­my of the region, which has in fact made it iso­lat­ed from the eco­nom­ic diver­si­ty enjoyed by the rest of India. The socio-polit­i­cal des­tiny of the Kash­miri peo­ple lies in their hands.

In their cam­paign for self-deter­mi­na­tion, Hur­riy­at sep­a­ratists in Jam­mu and Kash­mir reg­u­lar­ly attend pub­lic events in Pak­istan in an attempt to antag­o­nize the polit­i­cal cir­cles in India to re-start the
debate on seces­sion. Yet, that is all they can do. They have no polit­i­cal clout in the region. All polit­i­cal par­ties in India are against the sep­a­ra­tion of Kash­mir, yet the peo­ple of the state con­tin­ue to exer­cise their vote. The Hur­riy­at has failed to influ­ence or mobi­lize J&K cit­i­zens to boy­cott vot­ing for the state gov­ern­ment. They even lack the gump­tion to con­test elec­tions because they know the vot­ers will not sup­port their man­date.

Pak­istan needs to reassess their Kash­mir strat­e­gy. A stand that the peo­ple of Kash­mir have the right to self-deter­mi­na­tion looks good in the inter­na­tion­al media, but the deliv­ery of such a stand is unsup­port­ed by the dynam­ics on the ground. One-day demon­stra­tions, one-day state­ments do not ensure or even ini­ti­ate peace and the res­o­lu­tion of a long stand­ing dis­pute. The Pak­istan gov­ern­ment does not even seem to reflect on how they can gain greater diplo­mat­ic trac­tion for Kash­mir, because there is not even a con­sid­er­a­tion that the cam­paign for self-deter­mi­na­tion is wan­ing. In the shroud of
sup­port­ing the peo­ple of Kash­mir, com­mem­o­ra­tion of this day is noth­ing more than the Pak­istani state’s attempt to repeat­ed­ly press the hate and agi­tate but­ton against India. It is a reprisal of the trend to promise dia­logue on Kash­mir and yet take no respon­si­bil­i­ty to sin­cere­ly address cross bor­der ter­ror­ism, which always breaks down any progress made by the two sides.

Kash­mir Sol­i­dar­i­ty Day did not reg­is­ter in India because the Indi­an gov­ern­ment and the Indi­an peo­ple have heard it all before. The day is a mock­ery of the gen­uine sen­ti­ments of the peo­ple of Kash­mir, because his­to­ry is a wit­ness that there is no gen­uine attempt at res­o­lu­tion behind a cer­e­mo­ni­ous façade of express­ing sol­i­dar­i­ty. Protests and state­ments on Kash­mir Sol­i­dar­i­ty Day will not achieve any­thing.