KASHMIR is seething and close enough to breaking point that sensible, right-minded Indians are speaking out in alarm against the militarised approach of the government of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi towards India-held Kashmir. From newspapers of record such as The Hindu and The Indian Express to widely respected retired military officers, independent media outlets and some of India’s most fearless and respected journalists, the criticism of the Indian government is powerful, unequivocal and growing. The harsh tactics of the Indian state have caused unacceptable human rights violations in the disputed territory and may have already triggered a humanitarian crisis. It is particularly telling that even Indian observers who are otherwise reluctant to acknowledge the disputed territory status of Kashmir are uniting in their condemnation of Prime Minister Modi and the Indian security forces.

What is particularly troubling is that at every stage of the year-old protests by the Kashmiri people, the state of India has responded in a manner almost deliberately designed to draw more protests and cause more unrest. The killing of Burhan Wani itself was an alarming military provocation nearly 10 months ago and, now, with the widely condemned use of Farooq Ahmad Dar as a human shield against unarmed protesters, the Indian security forces appear to be emulating Israeli tactics against the Palestinians. Disturbingly, senior government and military officials have defended the shocking treatment of Mr Dar, who was returning from voting in the widely boycotted by-election. It is almost as if the state of India wants the people of Kashmir to turn to full-scale rebellion in order to justify more violence and possibly even ethnic cleansing. That is a frightening possibility, one that the outside world simply cannot afford to ignore. If South Asia is a geopolitical tinderbox, the disputed Kashmir region is the match that can cause a regional conflagration.

Sensibly, and in a policy that must continue to hold, Pakistan has not tried to intervene inside IHK on behalf of the distressed people there. Not even the most ardent of critics of Pakistan in India have suggested that the current unacceptable state of affairs in IHK has been instigated or sustained by Pakistan. Rightly, Pakistan has adhered to a policy of drawing international attention to the repression in IHK and speaking up on behalf of the people of Kashmir. It is the right thing to do from a people-centric perspective too: even the possibility of direct Pakistani involvement in IHK would be pounced on by the state of India to justify its brutal tactics and, perhaps, turn to even greater violence. There is no guarantee that conscientious voices in India will prevail soon over a hard-line government. But Prime Minister Modi and his civilian and military advisers must surely recognise that the future of IHK will not be settled through the barrel of a gun.

Published in Dawn, April 23rd, 2017