NEW DELHI: Indians appeared to be poles apart on Friday, as they usually are, over the way ahead in the strife-torn region of India-held Kashmir.

A government minister in the state said bullets were the only way to deal with angry civilians. But a group of “concerned citizens” warned of devastating consequences for India’s legitimacy in the disputed Himalayan region if bloodshed didn’t abate.

Elsewhere, Kashmiri students were mercilessly beaten up in BJP-ruled Rajasthan and threatened in BJP-ruled Uttar Pradesh, where hoardings have come up warning Kashmiri students to leave the state.

“An erosion of faith in democratic processes may eventually threaten the legitimacy of the state itself,” the civil society group warned. Signatories included former BJP foreign minister Yashwant Sinha, former foreign secretaries Nirupama Rao and Salman Haider, journalists Prem Shankar Jha, Shekhar Gupta, John Dayal and Bharat Bhushan. Other members of the group are retired Justice A.P. Shah, Wajahat Habibullah, Aruna Roy, Ramchandra Guha, S. Irfan Habib, Kapil Kak, Badri Raina and Sushobha Barve.

Others say bullets only way to deal with angry youths

The group said the worst-ever voter turnout of a mere seven per cent in parliamentary by-poll in Srinagar was a warning of the extent of disillusionment prevailing in the Kashmiri voter’s mind.

Avoiding any reference to Pakistan, the group said: “Conditions conducive to a dialogue that can restore reason, calm and sanity must be enabled. For this, the government of J&K and the central government need to show exemplary restraint in either deploying force or adopting ‘innovative’ measures which (do not) backfire in dealing with protesters. The protesters must also understand that the path they have chosen is counterproductive.”

A senior Supreme Court lawyer considered insightful on Kashmir affairs said there was a genuine fear that the cult of death wish evident among Kashmiri youths of late could mutate into something devastating and uncontrollable for India.

However, this was not every Indian’s view. “Even by the loathsome standards of rightwing nationalism the tweets of retired Air Marshal Anil Chopra have plumbed new depths,” said the analytical portal The Wire. “And it is time he and others like him in official positions are called out.”

A tweet by Chopra, according to The Wire, said: “Any self-respecting nation should have shot 100 stone-pelters by now. India is a country of pseudo-liberals enjoying tea in Pak High Comm.”

He was said to be responding to a video clip that showed CRPF jawans in Kashmir being punched and jostled by young men. Other videos showed Kashmiris being beaten with sticks by the security forces and who then forced them to call out anti-Pakistan slogans.

“The news of recurrence of violence, student protests and the video war on social media in Kashmir ought to disturb every right thinking Indian. Both the government and the Kashmiri protesters need to recognise that in democracies the world over, peace in disturbed areas has never been achieved through more violence or by retributive measures,” the citizens’ group said. “Already we have witnessed far too many deaths, maiming and blindings in the Kashmir Valley last summer.”

The group urged resumption of dialogue with those who hold differing views. “India’s heart is large enough and its constitution flexible enough to accommodate the aspirations of all its citizens, the people of Jammu and Kashmir included.”

The approach was entirely the opposite elsewhere. A day after some Kashmiri students were beaten by a suspected Hindutva mob in Chittorgarh, Rajasthan, hoardings appeared in different parts of Meerut, near Delhi, on Thursday, asking Kashmiris living in Uttar Pradesh to leave the state or face consequences.

Home Minister Rajnath Singh responded by urging the state governments across the country to be kind to Kashmiris as “they are our own citizens”.

Published in Dawn, April 22nd, 2017