Obama's Kashmir Dream

By Arjimand Hussain Talib

 Daily Greater Kashmir, November 19, 2008

 

It is not about chalk and cheese; it is about an elusive vision

US President-elect Barack Obama is said to be a man who normally wears his heart on his sleeves. Recently, he did some plain talking about his vision on Afghanistan and Kashmir. At last, he seems to be that elusive US president who is striking a positive chord with the millions of angry and dejected young (even the elderly) Muslims around the world. Suddenly, the doctrine of a "post-American world" seems challenged and even exaggerating. Obama seems to be offering hope to the Muslim world, and as a spin off could drastically help re-build America's image and reputation.

In India, his comments have ruffled quite a few feathers. He suddenly seems to be attaining a "villain" image, and those people who are allergic to the idea of external intervention on Kashmir look too eager to label him as a "covert Muslim", nursing some "nasty ideas for Hindu India." Internet is full of this hate campaign.

New Delhi's official response to his comments, and his delayed customary call to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, seem a knee jerk reaction. Today India's leading newspapers are writing editorials, warning against linking Kashmir with Afghanistan. Columnists are finding the linkage hard to digest, and are asking New Delhi to embark on aggressive diplomacy. New Delhi also rushed its officials to Washington to "convey India's concerns on the evolving US thinking on Kashmir", even when the new President is yet to assume office.

Senior columnist and former diplomat, Kuldip Nayar, in a piece in the Gulf News on Nov 14 titled "Obama's Kashmir comments baffling" wrote, "I have not been able to understand the linkage between Kashmir and Afghanistan. The first problem is as old as partition while the second came up after 1980 when America created a force of Taliban to bleed the Soviet Union to death. Even if the time factor is forgotten, combining the two will be like mixing chalk with cheese."

Strategic Analyst, C  Raja Mohan, in a similar comment titled "Obama's Kashmir Thesis" in the Indian Express wrote, "Obama's remarks on Kashmir are by no means off the cuff. They have been remarkably consistent since he launched his presidential campaign. If Obama's Kashmir thesis becomes the policy, many negative consequences might ensue. For one, an American diplomatic intervention in Kashmir will make it impossible for India to pursue the current peace process with Pakistan."

The hullaballoo on Obama's Kashmir comment seems totally out of place. He has sought to go by the facts and common sense. The instability in Afghanistan-Pakistan-Kashmir regions – sometimes even involving India – has a clear common thread, which is too well known. Pakistan is unstable because of instability in Afghanistan and Kashmir – this is the first lesson which a student of this region's politics gets to know. Decades of political domination and economic plunder - coupled with marginalisation of nationalist forces in Kashmir – have created a space for certain insurgent groups which draw their inspiration and resources from places like Afghanistan. This link is too well known, which New Delhi has been show casing to the world since long now. There is nothing new about this link.

New Delhi's harping on bilateralism on Kashmir yet again smacks of contradiction. It is again too well known that whenever New Delhi has engaged Islamabad on Kashmir, it has held the line that Kashmir is its internal issue. When faced with international pressure, it embraces bilateralism.

Over the years – mainly due to its role in West Asia and the Persian Gulf - the United States is faced with a serious image problem in the Muslim world. Its public relations exercises to earn good will among the Muslims have met with little or no success. Worse, its reputation as a world leader, promoting freedom, rule of law and democracy has been severely eroded.

Be it Palestine, Chechnya, Iraq, Afghanistan or Kashmir, the lack of political resolution and state repression created a breeding ground for violent resistance which has gone beyond the realm of normal politics. Pan Islamism has been a natural consequence as genuine peaceful nationalistic struggles have met brute state repression.

The US-led NATO intervention in the Balkans, which among other things, helped in preventing greater genocide of Muslims there has hardly been appreciated because of the same image deficit America is faced with in the Muslim world.

One of the most important figures who supported Obama's line of thinking was Meghan O'Sullivan, former deputy national security adviser for Iraq and Afghanistan. In response to an invitation to proposals for President-elect Barack Obama's priorities, he wrote in a leading newspaper, "U.S. President-elect Barack Obama should move quickly to deal with Afghanistan and try to help resolve the Kashmir dispute between India and Pakistan."

"India has resisted U.S. mediation on Kashmir in the past, but the growing U.S.-India strategic relationship may now make American involvement possible," he further wrote. 

"One intriguing model for Kashmir is the 1998 Belfast agreement, which established a web of overlapping institutions that have allowed the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland to, in effect, share sovereignty over Northern Ireland—and end decades of deep-seated violence," he said.

Since Meghan is one of those rare American men who know Iraq and Afghanistan – and in certain ways Kashmir's explosive potential also - too closely, his words deserve a serious thought. What heavens did fall with Muslim Kosovo's independence in the heart of Europe? Right to self determination of Muslim nations faced with occupation does not mean an automatic antagonism with the US and its values. Kosovo is a living example.

The fact is that the situation in Iraq and Afghanistan – mainly the undercurrents of instability which are not too visible now - bear testimony that the US military campaigns are no solution for maintaining world order. The times when the Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) would mean automatic control and goodwill are gone.

Any form of denial – which often takes the convenient route of conflict management - would mean prolonging armed conflicts in the Muslim world, including Kashmir. Skirting the root cause of a problem may pay short term dividends but in the long term everyone involved is a loser. Decades of efforts at political, economic, diplomatic, social and military levels by New Delhi towards conflict management in Kashmir have failed. The explosive situation in Kashmir today – largely iron curtained from the outside world – is a grim reminder of that. A stable Kashmir can be achieved only when the political yearning of its people are heard. There is no short cut to that.

So if the new US president talks about the root causes of all the hell that has been raging in this region, he deserves a chance. When young Kashmiri students light up candles in Srinagar's city centre in celebration of his election, it conveys a profound message. And hope. At last, Muslims see a whiff of fresh air coming from a nation which has lately inspired scepticism. The US could well regain its lost image and influence, if only Obama could translate his vision into a policy.

(Feedback at: arjimand@gmail.com)

 

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