75 years after the independence of India and Pakistan, Kashmir continues to be an obstacle between the two

Despite the start of a year of celebrations for the On the 75th anniversary of their independence from the British Empire, India and Pakistan continue to compete for control of Kashmir, the region’s greatest source of instability.

The expulsion of the British, promoted by the nonviolent movement of Mahatma Gandhi, however triggered with the partition of the Indian subcontinent a Massive exodus of Hindus and Muslims from both sides of the border which degenerated into attacks on minorities, killing up to a million in its wake.

These tensions between the two countries have continued since then in Kashmir, the only predominantly Muslim Indian region with a strong independence movement, and for which India and Pakistan have waged two wars and many minor conflicts.

Almost 75 years later, and despite independence, “Kashmir is still a black spot”, assured the well-known political scientist and jurist Sheikh Showkat Hussain.

LA PAZ ESCIVA

Despite several attempts to reach an agreement to resolve the tensions over Kashmir, over which Islamabad and New Delhi demand full control, peace has never succeeded in settling in the region.

The last period of crisis erupted on August 5, 2019, when New Delhi stripped Indian Kashmir of its semi-autonomous status and confined its 7 million inhabitants for months, with severe restrictions on movement, to avoid protests. .

Pakistan called the move a violation of UN Security Council resolutions on Kashmir, reduced diplomatic relations with India and suspended all trade.

“Peace between India and Pakistan is subordinate to Kashmir. Peace will continue to elude these neighbors until they resolve the Kashmir issue. It may take another 75 years, but a solution to the Kashmir issue. Cashmere must be found. “said Hussein.

Indian historian Ramachandra Guha also agrees that “Kashmir is one of India’s fundamental shortcomings”, even when he believes the country has stood firm on its democratic credentials 75 years after independence.

HINDU NATIONALISM

India is also experiencing a rise of Hindu radicalism, an issue that worries in this multicultural democracy, with a degradation of its freedoms which, some criticize, is beginning to resemble the Islamic extremism present in Pakistan.

Author and commentator Gowher Geelani believes Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist government is using “the tools of democracy” to suppress dissent, while Muslims, who make up 14% of the country’s 1.35 billion people , are marginalized.

The government has politically deprived marginalized societies, suspended civil liberties and gagged the media, making fear one of its main weapons in Kashmir and the rest of the country., he assured.

“The current regime considers the loss of power of the Kashmiris as a Hindu conquest over Muslim Kashmir,” he said.

Earlier this year, think tank Freedom House downgraded India’s status to that of a “partially free” country, due to the alleged crackdown on dissent and restrictions on media and civil society activists. .

ANTI-INDIA PROPAGANDA

Although the idea of ​​anti-Muslim sentiment is supported by many civic organizations, Praveen Rai, a policy analyst at the New Delhi-based Center for the Study of Developing Societies, denies this claim.

The anti-Muslim political narrative develops on two levels. One is the Muslim intelligentsia pampered by the previous Congressional government (the formation of the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty). They are everywhere, in the media and in foreign institutions, ”Rai said.

According to his thesis, these Muslim intellectuals promote an anti-Indian discourse according to which the country is anti-minority and exaggerate certain “violent anti-Muslim incidents” that occurred during the Modi government. “(The number of) these incidents has decreased. Muslims are not victims of this government. Things are quite calm “, he assured.

The analyst also touched on the controversial policies of Modi’s nationalist government in Kashmir, which Rai says are justified measures given the history of violence in the region.

“Every sovereign state has a way of doing things. But whatever happened in Kashmir and how (their) problem was resolved is up to Parliament and the Constitution,” he concluded.

(with information from the EFE)

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