Carpe diem: the present and future of Kashmir

ABSTRACT

The Kashmir has an intriguing political and social landscape. The idea of Kashmir is nonetheless guided by multiple narratives created by different stakeholders in Kashmir. The Kashmir falls under the control of three nuclear powers, namely India, Pakistan and China. The accession of an erstwhile princely state of Kashmir to India had different conflicts in store, with the result of which South Asian nuclear-armed neighbours fought three wars to claim the Kashmir territory, besides coming close to a nuclear blaze. The argumentation about the Kashmir among different stakeholders in Kashmir poses the threat to peace in South Asia. We look at different perspectives of various stakeholders. In this paper, we attempt to emphasize that why none of the stakeholders wants a resolution for Kashmir conflict and why all of them want Kashmir, if not to burn but it must simmer continuously.

KEYWORDS:

• Kashmir
• conflict
• geo-politics
• freedom
• resolution

Acknowledgments

Authors are thankful to Dr Jayshree Mathur University of Delhi, Delhi, and Prof Alberto Gomes, LaTrobe University, Melbourne, for their encouragement and guidance. We are grateful to the reviewers of the Asian Ethnicity for their comments and suggestions to improve this paper. We are also thankful to the editor of the Asian Ethnicity, Dr. Julie Chen for her kind support through these months of review and revisions.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. Ansari, Jammu and Kashmir.

2. See, ‘Bilateral Documents – theTashkent Declaration the Shimla Agreement and the Lahore Declaration’ Ministry of External Affairs, India.

3. Ahmad, Exposing the Myth behind the Narrative.

4. Banton, What we Know About Race and Ethnicity.

5. Punjabi, “Kashmiriyat,” 100–16.

6. Ibid., 100–16.

7. See, Seema, In Kashmir also see, Kadlor, 2009.

8. Jayaram and Saberwal, Social Conflict, 527–43.

9. Kakar, “Colors of Violence”.

10. Kalis and Dar, “Geo-political Significance of Kashmir,” 115–23.

11. See, Mehrotra documentary, Ocean of Tears, focusing Shopian rape incident.

12. Bukhari, “Kashmir 2010,” 1–4.

13. Sharma and Mir, “Kashmir”.

14. United Jihad Council is an umbrella organization for command and control over the militant groups operating in Jammu and Kashmir, see Naseer Ganai, India: mailonline.

15. Bose, Kashmir.

16. Nabitana, All Kashmir Killings Since 1989 To Be Probed: One India.

17. Shekhawat, “Fragile Kashmir, Costs and Hopes for Peace,” 976–981.

18. Margolis, War at the Top of the World.

19. Dasgupta, “China should Not Ignore India’s CPEC Concerns”.

20. The Instrument of Accession is a legal document executed by Maharaja Hari Singh of J&K, agreed to accede to the Dominion of India in 1947.

21. See, Prime Minister of India’s Independence Day Speech, 15 August 2002.

22. Kalis and Dar, Geo-political Significance, 115–123.

23. Harne, How is the Siachen Glacier strategically important to India?.

24. See, Samyuktha, One India..

25. See note 22 above.

26. Dulat, Sinha and Durrani, The Spy Chronicles.

27. Noorani, The Kashmir Dispute.

28. Schaffer, The Limits of Influence.

29. Chang, China’s Kashmir, 1–4.

30. Lu, Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Lu Kang’s Remarks People’s Republic of China.

31. Ahmad, Countercurrents.org.

32. Kochlar, The Kashmir problem between Law and Realpolitik.

33. See note 15 above.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Navneet Sharma

Navneet Sharma, PhD, is an Assistant Professor in Department of Education, School of Education, Central University of Himachal Pradesh, Dharamshala. His areas of interest are Philosophy of Education, Educational Theory and Social Science Education. He has post-graduate degrees in Philosophy and Education. He has pre-doctoral and Doctoral degrees in Education from the University of Delhi, Delhi, India. He recently published a paper with the title Decolonizing Education: Re-schooling in India in the Journal Sinectica.

Showkat Ahmad Mir

Showkat Ahmad Mir is pursuing PhD from Department of Education, School of Education, Central University of Himachal Pradesh, Dharamshala. He has a post-graduate degree in Education from Central University of Jammu, India. He is working on his doctoral thesis on Identity and Education: A study of Childhood experiences in Kashmir. He is the co-author of the paper Decolonizing Education: Re-schooling in India.