- For Indians, our map is incomplete without its crown – Kashmir. This map is ingrained in our very own system, it is defined by our Constitution and our political psyche. Any outside person challenging this image is termed belligerent, and if challenged by a fellow Indian it is sedition.
- But Kashmir, the crown of India, has been the centre of intense territorial disputes between India and Pakistan for a long time now.
- A look at the world atlas in India will show Kashmir as a part of India, (although the region is shaded by lines), and a world atlas in Pakistan is likely to show Kashmir as part of Pakistan (again shaded by lines).
- Even history lesson in both countries give diametrically opposite views on the same piece of land. Each with a sense of ‘his own’ associated with Kashmir.
- Barring a few, most of Indians and Pakistanis are driven by the political claims as opposed to the matters of the Constitution.
- For Indians, Jawaharlal Nehru, the instrument of accession, Sheikh Abdullah, the Indo-Pak wars, Tashkent, Shimla, Siachen, cross-border terrorism and Kargil are the words associated with attack on our rights.
- For Pakistanis, the same is true with ‘the Rights of the Kashmiri, the United Nations, plebiscite, ‘self-determination’ and the war’.
- In all this, the primary issue is that of land occupancy, but never of the people, the culture, tradition, languages and religion that transcend the drawn borders and fail to disintegrate at the line of control.
- Both countries term each other as occupants. Where then does the line of control really lie?
- Our sense of nationalism should not be allowed to degenerate into a property issue as what is at stake here is the life of the old Kashmiris, for whom this is not an issue of identity crisis and ownership.
- The focus should instead be on stopping violence against these people from across the line, within the lines and even by people who are supposed to protect these lines.
- But so long as the focus is on ownership and land dispute, it is hardly likely that the real issues of these people living in these regions, bearing the brunt of these continuous wars in their daily lives will be addressed.
- Read at: http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-features/tp-sundaymagazine/disputed-territories/article6181414.ece
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