Kashmir: Of Love and Resistance

We happen to return from The Struggle’s Political School on 14th August, the day of Pakistan’s alleged independence. As we pass from the eerily quiet valley of Koyian in Kashmir towards Punjab, it dawns upon me that no journey could have better revealed the blatantly baseless nature, the falsity of the two nation theory.

In Kashmir the streets are empty, the river Jhelum subdued, a heavy threatening silence prevails. The calmness belies the unrest of the past month. Major cities of Kashmir including Rawalakot, Bagh, Mirpur, Kotli have been on strike and observed shutter down protests, many have been injured by the states firing, many more have been imprisoned and are being tortured as I write this. We make our way through solemn empty streets sans decorative, Pakistani flags, sans joyful children running around lighting fire crackers, wearing green. Yet Kashmir is beautiful even in mourning, and as my comrade drives the car through sharp turns on the newly built motorway or over the numerous potholes of the old road, the cold wind blows on my face, I look out in awe at this valley which has survived so long, remained so beautiful in the face of so much ugliness. A people whose noses sit long and proud, whose eyes are pools of amber and green, whose lives have embodied resistance, who have given their blood and resources to fill the coffers of greedy capitalists and their ever hungry State, yet are denied the basic autonomy to govern their own affairs, are villianized because they trigger the states existential anxieties. And are continuously asked to sacrifice more to capitalisms insatiable lust for profits and to its experiments in nation building.

We cross over into Punjab and the scene changes dramatically, and it feels as if we have been transported into another world altogether. Bikes which have removed silencers whizz by, young boys attempt deadly tricks: one wheeling, standing up on their bikes, zigzagging through the traffic, vying for the attention of the few unfortunate women who happen to be on the streets. Cars painted white and green, children in white and green, men painted white and green, cows painted white and green, donkeys painted white and green, there seems to be no shortage of absurdities and spectacles on 14th August. The crowd flexes an obnoxious, hyper-nationalist sentiment. Busses and lorries adorned with Pakistani flags pass by, blaring national songs. Men leer at the few women who have been dragged out today, subjected to the dehumanising male gaze, the occasional misplaced touch, the circling round of bikes, all deliver a clear message to the women, that they have no place in these festivities. A wide array of billboards selling everything from mobile sims, real estate, cooking oil and whitening soap wishing a happy independence day perhaps best sums up the marriage of nationalism and capitalism. An orgy of all our national insecurities combined: hyper nationalism, idiocy, toxic masculinity, consumerism. No scene can better capture the false conceptions of nationhood, then the spectacle on the streets of Punjab on 14th August and there can be no louder protest than the blaring silence in the streets of Kashmir.

What started as protests against ungodly load-shedding, of up-to 20 hours in some areas, soon escalated into statewide demonstrations as drafts of 15th Amendment started circulating on social media. Under the Mangla Dam Agreement of 1962 Kashmir was promised free electricity for the entire region, however today it suffers massive power cuts despite generating over 2000 megawatts/annum. This deprivation creates further mistrust, animosity and alienation between people and the state. Such extractionist development however seems to be the fate of all of Pakistans peripheries, which are asked to sacrifice themselves and their resources endlessly without being offered anything in return. The people whos lands and lives have sustained ‘Pakistan’ are least prioritised as super profits are funnelled into the elites pockets usually in offshore bank accounts.

Last year on 5th August when India stripped Kashmir of its special status, granted by articles 370 and 375A of the Indian constitution, Pakistani authorities and media declared a Black Day and were at the forefront in defending Kashmirs autonomy. Yet Pakistani media has maintained a criminal silence when the Pakistani state itself has proposed to do the same in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir. Even as Srinagar Highway and Serena Chowk are lined with posters of mutilated Kashmiri bodies in Indian Occupied Kashmir, in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir prisons continue to be filled with those protesting the 25th attempt at undermining Kashmirs autonomy. The proposed amendment turns Kashmir into a province of Pakistan with no autonomy in its own affairs. It is a spectator in a ceremonial role while a Kashmir Council filled with ministers from the federal Government take over governance. In response to this a movement has sprung up in many parts of Pakistan Occupied Kashmir protesting the Pakistani States continued attempts to alter Kashmirs constitutional status. Action Committees formed spontaneously, helped organise the protests in most cities. These committees have set an excellent example of organising the working class independent of bourgeoise political parties who only exploit the Kashmir cause for their own personal benefit. Characteristically the state, resorted to violence to quell the protests, it opened fire, injuring many protestors. Those it has not been able to harass or intimidate into silence it has imprisoned and subjected to mental and physical torture. While it can not let loose its land grab mafia, it continues to benefit from the conflict through the war economy.

A critical part of the proposed amendment plan was the AJK Tourism Promotion Act 2022 which opens up Kashmiri land to foreign investors. This paves the way for housing schemes, DHAs, commercial investment property development. As it has in other areas, the state and military industrial complex will dispossess native people by weaponising bourgeoise legality to its advantage. This has now become a tried and tested favourite of under-developed capitalist states. Housing schemes dot the entire country, with vast majority of the houses empty, mere plot files to be bought and sold, even as many millions remain without shelter. Multinational corporations move in, in the name of modernity and development, forcing local small businesses to close, pollute local rivers then sell bottled water, destroy the local culture as they fetishize, commercialise and profit off of it. However this is not the individual evil of a few politicians but the inherent contradictions within capitalism ensure capitalist States are always in search of new markets and the Pakistani state having milked its existing peripheries to maximum capacity, is always is search of more land and resources to plunder, so it eyes Kashmir lustfully, greedily, hoping to cannibalise its beautiful valleys, forests, rivers and mountains and turn them into profit. As Parenti says:

“Capitalism is a dynamic that has very little to do with human needs, it’s a dynamic that has to do with the maximisation of profit. Its central imperative, the central law of capitalist motion and development is the maximisation of profit — it’s capital penetration for the sake of capital accumulation.”

It is easy to misdirect this conflict towards a debate of centre and periphery, of democracy and dictatorship, military vs civilian rule or to weaponize peoples resentment to promote xenophobia and hatred of the other and hold one group accountable for all the ills of the system, this is usually the route taken by bourgeoise political parties. However it is imperative to understand that the conflict in Kashmir, as well as Pakistans conflicts with the rest of its peripheries, are the results of the inherent contradictions present within capitalism and there is no solution to the Kashmir Conflict within the existing capitalistic framework. United Nations a Neo-liberal institution will never do anything to seriously aggravate either Pakistan or India as its primary goal is to secure markets and protects the commercial interests of North America. Two nuclear countries have not been able to solve the issue through force and multiple wars. An independent capitalist Kashmir is also not the solution we think it to be. An independent Kashmir will be heavily reliant on loans from International Monetary Fund and Wold Bank, early on it will be chained by terms and conditions imposed by Neo-liberal powers, whose sole purpose is to extract super profits, this only leads to further impoverishment. Any independence or autonomy will be illusory and reserved for the elite class.

True liberation and autonomy for the masses can only be achieved through a socialist revolution and formation of a voluntary socialist federation. Where Kashmiris are truly free, their culture and resources, protected and utilised effectively for their benefit, where locals do not go to bed hungry as tourists enjoy seven star services and foreign cuisine a few miles away, where no one is forced to buy bottled water in the land of the mighty Jhelum, where people dont suffer hours of power cuts despite Kashmir generating many times in excess of its needs. Where no more bodies bear torture marks, no young boys go missing, no women wakeup to dreadful knocks at midnight or to dead bodies at their doorsteps, where no mother or father has to struggle to recognise his childs mutilated face in rows of dead. Where the valleys mourning is transformed into joy. Where every mans dignity is safeguarded and mankind is finally free from the shackles of wage-slavery to actualise its true potential, to love freely, and enjoy the paradise that is Kashmir without waiting for a hereafter.