Kashmir: the Switzerland of South Asia. (Guest Column).

As I sit here in Caux I think of the troubled world I left behind in India only two days ago. Looking at the magnificent Lake Geneva below my balcony I feel a divine presence inside my heart. I feel this is what he must have meant the world to be. The Mughal Princess Jahanara when she entered the newly built Red Fort spoke two lines which have become a famous Persian couplet:

   Agar Firdaus ba roo-e-zamin ast Hameem ast-o-hameen at-o-hameen ast (If on
   earth a Paradise there be It is here it is here it is here.)

If there is one place in the world today that these lines describe, it is Caux.

Caux has already placed a balm on my heart. Surah 55 of the Qur'an is called Al Rahman, which means The Merciful. Merciful is one of the 99 names of Allah. The passage extols the good things of life given to human beings; then it asks the question, `Which of God's gifts will you deny?' Again and again we human beings not only deny the gifts of God but hurt, harm and mutilate them.

Bone of contention

My mind wanders to Kashmir, which has often been called the Switzerland of Asia but has in the last 12 years become the killing fields of Asia. So like Switzerland yet so unlike. The lakes, mountains, tree cover, streams of Kashmir and its strategic position have made it the bone of contention between India and Pakistan. There have been three wars between these neighbours and many stand-offs at the borders over the last 54 years.

Sharing its borders with China and Afghanistan, Kashmir has a 70 per cent Muslim population. In 1947, when the subcontinent was partitioned into Pakistan and India, Kashmir remained its unfinished agenda. With its predominantly Muslim population, it was ruled by a Hindu dynasty called the Dogras. Maharajah Gulab Singh had bought this jewel of India's crown from the British for Rs70,000 (US$1,400). At the time of partition, by agreement with the British, the princely states were free to accede to Pakistan or India, or if they wished they could postpone the decision to a future date.

Kashmir always enjoyed an eclectic and pluralistic tradition. During the Partition, when the entire country was burning, Kashmir was one state that did not experience any communal tension. The famous words of Mahatma Gandhi when he visited Kashmir at the time were: `I can see the glimmer of light only from Kashmir.' The Sufi tradition was followed by all Kashmiris, regardless of their religion. Hindus and Muslims alike revered the great Sufi saints, Shaikh Nuruddin Wali and Lal Ded or Lalleshwari. It was this eclectic tradition that received a severe jolt when the newly created state of Pakistan sent tribal raiders to attack the valley. The ruler Raja Hari Singh panicked and signed the Instrument of Accession with India. The Indian army was sent to Kashmir, the raiders were driven away. The only party not consulted was the people of Kashmir.

India's first Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, a Kashmiri himself, made a pact with the then Prime Minister of Kashmir, that when conditions became normal a plebiscite would be held to determine the will of the Kashmiri people. This agreement was taken by Nehru to the United Nations and became part of the UN resolutions. Meanwhile a Line of Control was demarcated; India and Pakistan were to adhere to it until the will of the people was determined. This happened in 1948. Today, 54 years later, the problem still remains one of the most complex and vexed in the world.

India holds the Kashmir valley, which with Jammu and Ladakh comprise the State of Jammu and Kashmir. Pakistan holds an area, euphemistically called Azad Kashmir (liberated Kashmir), plus two other areas called Gilgit and Baltistan. Families have been separated, never to meet. People of Kashmir say that the Line of Control was not drawn on the land, it was drawn across their hearts.

Kashmiri alienation with India grew with the imposition of governments by New Delhi rather than through the popular will of the people. The rigging of elections in 1987 made the Kashmiri people pick up their guns. In 1990 began a 12-year spell of what India calls insurgency and Kashmiris call a freedom struggle. The initial fervour of the freedom struggle gave way to cross border terrorism, with Pakistan supporting the movement.

More graveyards than gardens

Kashmir became a garrison state. Military presence was everywhere. For every four Kashmiris there was one security person. Between 30,000 and 60,000, a majority of them Kashmiri youth, have been killed in the conflict in the last 12 years. Today, the valley has more graveyards than gardens.

Who has suffered? The people of Kashmir--men and women who were the most peace-loving and gentle human beings. There is not a single family which has not lost one or more members. Kashmiris are literally caught between two guns; those of the militants and those of the state. If a simple villager offers food to the militants, he is caught by the security forces for `sheltering' militancy. If he refuses to feed the militant he faces the nozzle of the other gun. Women suffer the loss of young sons who are picked up for training camps across the border, then killed by the military for insurgency. Children disappear and mothers wait night after night never finding out if they are alive or dead.

Surah 55 Al Rahman of the Qur'an says:

   It is he who has spread out the earth for his creatures

   Therein fruit and date palms, producing spathes (enclosing dates)

   Also corn with its leaves and stalk for fodder,

   And sweet smelling plants Then which of the favours Of your Lord will you
   deny?

Looking at ravaged Kashmir I pray for the wisdom to stop destroying God's good earth and denying his favours.

Dr Syeda Hameed is a historian and former member of the National Women's Commission, New Delhi.