By Promod Puri
The division of the Indian sub-continent in 1947 generated a
persistent hostility between India and Pakistan, a hostility dominated
by clashing territorial claims over the Kashmir region.
On the international stage the Kashmir problem is viewed in
diplomatic, political, government and media circles, with the
understanding that the region has a single entity – geographically,
religiously, linguistically and culturally. The complexity of the
Kashmir problem can be unfolded when viewed from the divergent realities
that exist in the region.
Involved in the Kashmir tangle are also the regions of Jammu and
Ladakh along with Pakistan-controlled Azad Kashmir and Northern Areas.
Historically the present geo-political formation of the state of Jammu and Kashmir happened in the middle of 19
th century.
Sikh ruler, Maharaja Ranjit Singh annexed the territories of Jammu
region in 1819, and then sold it to his Dogra commander Gulab Singh in
1820, and crowned him the King. In 1834 Gulab Singh annexed the kingdom
of Ladakh, and in 1846 the Kashmir region was ceded to the Dogra king
under a treaty with the British government, who then was ruling most of
the sub continent.
Dogra dynasty ruled the state for almost hundred years.
Under the Dogra rule the state comprised a huge territory of over two
million sq. km., touching boundaries of Afghanistan in the north, China
in the north and east, the present-day Pakistan in the west and India
in the South.
As India was fighting for independence from the British, so were the
people of Kashmir Valley seeking their freedom from the autocratic rule
of the Dogra regime which ultimately ended in October 1947. Following
that, the region underwent into major political and communal turmoil
which significantly changed the hundred–year-old map of the state in
which Pakistan controls the north-western area of Gilgit and Hunza known
as Northern Area and South-west area known as Azad Jammu and Kashmir.
The Indian part of the state with its three distinct regions Jammu,
Kashmir and Ladakh together don’t make a coalescent political entity as
both regional and sub-regional differences in terms of history,
physiography, ethnicity, language and culture are remarkably very sharp.
According to the 2011 census the present population of the Indian
part of the state of Jammu and Kashmir is 12.55 million, of which Jammu
region is 4.4 million, Kashmir region has 5.4 million and Ladakh has
over 236,000. In the Pakistan ruled state of Azad Jammu and Kashmir the
total population is 4.6 million according to some latest estimation, and
in the Pakistan-controlled Northern region the population is 1.8
million.
Muslims, Hindus and Buddhists are the major religious groups in the
state whereby Islam leads the faith with 67% of the population, followed
by Hindus 30%, Sikhs 2% and Buddhists by about 1%. Minority faiths in
the Indian held areas of the state include Christians and Jains. Muslims
are almost 100% in the Pakistan part of Jammu and Kashmir.
While a clear majority of the dominant Muslim faith in Jammu, Kashmir
and Azad Kashmir are followers of the Sunni sect, in the Kargil
district of Ladakh and in the Northern Areas, except Gilgit, majority of
the population follows the Shia sect.
Contrary to the popular belief that all the people of the Indian
controlled Jammu and Kashmir speak Kashmiri language, the fact is that
according to the 1981 census 40% speak the language, and the rest 60%
constitute the non-Kashmiri speaking population.
Whereas Hindus of the state mostly speak Dogri language, non-Kashmiri
Muslims speak various languages and dialects depending upon the region
they inhabit, and accordingly there is quite a cultural variation among
them.
The primary language in the Kashmir region is of course Kashmiri, and
in the rest of the state there is an abundance of languages and
dialects. Moreover, each language or dialect is not confined to any
religious group.
Kashmir is inhabited by Pre-Aryan and non-Aryan races, Jammu by an
Aryan race, and Ladakh by Tibetan and Mongolian races. All the three
regions have distinct geographical, historical and cultural backgrounds
which influenced the character and the role of religion in each one of
them.
Kashmir region developed its own character based on its
un-interrupted history of five thousand years. Originally inhabited by
pre-Aryan tribes, Kashmir accepted Vedic, Buddhist, Saivite and Islamic
faiths, retaining the essence of the beliefs, rituals and practices of
each of them while taking pride in its pre-Islamic achievements in the
fields of philosophy, culture and politics.
Unlike Kashmir most parts of Jammu are mountainous and sub
mountainous. Its pluralistic society is almost entirely of Aryan stock
and Dogri language is spoken by the single largest community of both
Hindus and Muslims who culturally and politically dominate the region.
The Pahari speaking community lives in both the Kashmir and Jammu
regions of the state. In the Pakistan-controlled region they speak the
same language with small dialectic differences. The Pahari community is
pre-dominantly Muslim. The Hindu and the Sikh members of the
Pahari-speaking community, who had to migrate from the Pakistan-held
area of the state, mostly live in Jammu district.
Ladakh, the third important region of the state, enjoyed its own
status for centuries as part of the celebrated Silk Route. As an
entrepot of trade between India, Central Asia and Tibet for centuries
Ladakh was a confluence of cultures. But its geographical position has
helped it preserve its ancient culture and ways of life almost intact.
It was thru Ladakh that Mahayana Buddhism, which was born in Kashmir
spread to Tibet, China and Japan. The Buddhist owe their loyalty to
Lamas who have their own discipline and hierarchy. They used to go to
Tibet for religious training. But after the Chinese intervention in
Tibet and the flight of the Dalai Lama along with some of his followers
Tibet has lost its status as a source of religious and spiritual
inspiration. Buddhists who inhabit the Leh district constitute 50
percent of Ladakh population.
In Kargil area of Ladakh Ulmas have a hold on Shias who constitute
the overwhelming majority of Muslims and 48% of Ladakh’s population.
Some of them have had their theological training in Iran and owe their
loyalty with its Shia leadership.
An important facet to the Kashmir problem which is rarely discussed
and reported is the situation in the Pakistan-controlled part called
Northern Areas which is constitutionally separate from Azad Kashmir.
The Northern Areas joined Pakistan in 1947 thru a local revolt
against the Dogra regime which had a small army there and was unable to
control the revolt. In 1948, the region was formaliy merged with
Pakistan under the Karachi agreement between leaders of the Azad Jammu
& Kashmir and Pakistan, but without participation of anybody from
the Northern Areas.
The Northern Areas comprise five districts, but none of them has any
ethnic-cultural affinity with any of either India or Pakistan parts of
the state.
Different identities of the people on both sides of the Line of
Control are established irrespective of their religious affiliations.
Jammu and Kashmir has far more religious, linguistic and
cultural diversities than any state in India and Pakistan, and even in
any other South Asian country.
If the interests and urges of the people with such multifarious
identities could be reconciled, the diversities themselves would have
been a great source of strength for the state. But the failure to
recognize and reconcile them became its biggest weakness. The divergent
character of the state is not widely known. Rather the religious
temperament is overly manifested.
Nobody can deny the role of religion and religion-based identities in
shaping human behavior. But no identity is monolithic. There are other
identities that cut across religious identities and play an equally
significant and decisive role in determining this behavior.
With enormous diversity existing in the State of Jammu and Kashmir in
terms of geography, religion and culture that a wider look at the
Kashmir problem reveals regional aspirations of its people. These
aspirations are very much reflected in the heterogeneous composition of
its Muslim population as there are Kashmiri speaking Muslims, Gujjar
Muslims, Pahari Muslims, Kargil Muslims, Dogra Muslims and several other
linguistic based Muslims.
The regional aspirations of the people in the state based on their
languages, cultures and customs are felt much more vividly and
emotionally on both sides of the border in the Jammu region than in the
Kashmir valley.
It was primarily Jammu region which was divided in 1947. And this is
where thousands of people, Hindus, Muslims and Sikhs with allied
linguistic and cultural backgrounds had to migrate in brutal sectarian
bloodshed when they left their centuries-old habitats within the
erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir.
JAMMU: A CLUE TO KASHMIR PROBLEM
The regional aspirations of the Jammu region on both sides of the
border constitute a clue to tackle the Kashmir tangle. The bonds of
language and culture between the two parts of the state are what the
leadership of both India and Pakistan need to further cement in order to
make an effective beginning in understanding the fuller dimension of
the Kashmir problem.
As far as the Kashmir problem is concerned Pakistan basis its
argument that it is a Muslim majority region. True, the demographic data
confirm this fact. But this should not be the sole argument for it
being a part of Pakistan. India’s position is that Kashmir belongs to it
because the autocratic ruler of the former Kashmir state signed an
accession treaty with India. And the state’s constituent assembly had
passed the resolution to accede with India.
While India and Pakistan are engaged in their on-and-off parleys and
frequent skirmishes for decades including two wars, the divergent urges
of the region itself have been suppressed for too long. The moment these
are released and recognized the Kashmir problem opens up beyond
religion and politics.
So where the parties can start or restart to resolve this longest outstanding problem on the world political scene.
The first step as far India is concerned is to smooth out wrinkles of
ethnic, political and economic imbalances in the three regions of the
state. Satisfying the regional aspirations of the people along with the
economic uplift thru equal opportunities will not only ease the internal
tension significantly, but will bring a lot of stability and peace to
the region. And the same goes for the Pakistan controlled parts of the
state especially the Northern Areas.
Secondly, both India and Pakistan in their endeavors to resolve the
problem must open up the borders in the state, more significantly in the
Jammu sector, to let the people with same linguistic and cultural
affinities move and interact freely.
A cordial and enthusiastic atmosphere can be created at the grass
root level where linguistic and cultural realities can effectively
compete with both religious and political considerations to determine
the future of the region thru a referendum.
In this social and non-political scenario, the agenda of the
referendum deciding the future of the region – if it will be part of
India, Pakistan, or remain independent- would be the answer most
inclusive of the region’s diversity.
Recognition of diversities existing in the entire area of Jammu and
Kashmir at its pre-partition status followed by a referendum are
critical if a permanent resolution to the Kashmir problem is to be found
for an ultimate peace in the region.
And peace is what people in the region are passionately waiting to breathe.
(Promod Puri, a native of the state of Jammu and Kashmir, resides
in Vancouver, Canada, he is a writer and former editor and publisher of
the South Asian Canadian newspaper, The Link, and ex editor of Native
Indian newspaper, The New nation. He is author of recently published
book titled “Hinduism beyond rituals, customs and traditions”). His website: promodpuri.com
