Indian and Pakistani Civil Society Activists Meet

After 11 years of silence and deepening mistrust, civil society actors and groups from various parts of India and Jammu and Kashmir took the initiative to link up and wrest back the 'lost' space for a civil and humanitarian initiative for justice, peace and human rights in Jammu and Kashmir. On 10 and 11 June 2000, for the first time since the outbreak of engulfing violence by militants and state forces in Jammu and Kashmir, a two-day meeting of about 90 civil society actors from various parts of India and Jammu and Kashmir was held in Srinagar. Its significance is further reinforced by the fact that it clearly privileged the importance of the democratic process to realise a 'just' peace which is of critical importance at this juncture when there are a growing number of interventions to impose a peace without justice. The Srinagar initiative explored the possibility of jointly strengthening the struggles for a just peace, the protection of human rights and enabling community-level activists to cope with the traumatic impact of violence on society in Jammu and Kashmir.

Background

Since 1990 when the upsurge in popular protest exploded into militancy, the 'Kashmir' issue has been appropriated by militarised nationalism on both sides of the border. In Pakistan, the religious right appropriated the Kashmir issue claiming that 'protecting the honour of Muslim brothers and sisters and recovering their homeland from foreign oppressors' was the 'sacred' duty of every Muslim and, therefore, that of the Pakistan State. In India, both the religious right and the secular nationalists projected the struggle of the Kashmiri people as an assault on the integrity of the nation as well as its secularism. Together they whipped up a militarised nationalism in the name of 'fighting Pakistan's proxy war,' thus, setting the context in which defending the territorial integrity of the 'motherland' became both the 'divine duty' as well as the 'secular commitment' of every Indian. In Kashmir itself, it altogether militarised the struggle, legitimizing violence and squeezing out the space for popular struggle. The victim on all fronts has been the legitimate aspirations of the people and the democratic struggle against oppression and the fascist response of the State. The most unfortunate development of this hijacking of the Kashmir issue by the religious right and ultranationalists is that in both countries people struggling for substantive democracy and genuine reforms have shied away from engaging with the Kashmir struggle, anxious to avoid entrapment in the manipulative politics of militarised nationalism.

The Srinagar initiative, a dialogue between civil society groups from various parts of India and Jammu and Kashmir, comes as a recognition that the people who are at the forefront of the struggles for substantive democracy, justice and peace in India and Pakistan share common aspirations and objectives with the struggling peoples of Jammu and Kashmir, and therefore, these struggles are mutually strengthening or mutually weakening. The suppression of civil and political rights and the consequent obliteration of space for popular struggles in Jammu and Kashmir, thus, has consequences for the strength of movements for democratic struggles in various parts of India and similarly in various parts of Pakistan.

This perspective is reflected in the Statement of Understanding which was adopted by a group of Kashmiri activists from both sides of the Line of Control (LOC) as well as a few Indian and Pakistani civil society actors who came together in Kathmandu, Nepal, on 16Ð17 July 1999 at the invitation of the South Asia Forum for Human Rights (SAFHR). The participants of the Kathmandu meeting formed a 'core group' that was given the mandate to work for building alliances between civil society groups in Jammu and Kashmir and various parts of India and Pakistan. They began consultations with representatives of the popular mass movements and civil society organisations in India and Pakistan. Some of them also participated in the fifth Joint Convention of the Pakistan-India Peoples' Forum for Peace and Democracy which was held in Bangalore, India, on 6Ð8 April 2000. The Bangalore Declaration of 8 April 2000, adopted by the fifth Joint Convention of the Pakistan-India Peoples' Forum for Peace and Democracy, also called on its members and state/provincial chapters to build alliances with the civil society organisations of Kashmiri people on both sides of the border. This commitment of the Pakistan-India Peoples' Forum for Peace and Democracy is symbolized in the forum's decision to hold the meeting of the national committee of India in Srinagar. The Pakistan chapter, it is understood, will also be initiating a civil society dialogue with Kashmiri civil society groups on their side of the border in July-ÐAugust this year.

The SAFHR initiative catalyzed the emergence of the Jammu and Kashmir Federation of Civil Society Organisations (JKFCSO). Members of about 20 civil society organisations representing business and commercial interests, lawyers, doctors, teachers, environmentalists, human rights activists, women and child rights activists, writers, poets and trade unions of Jammu and Kashmir came together to form this federation. In a place where the government and its various agencies ruthlessly suppress any form of popular expression of dissent and where the militant organisations look upon every civil society initiative at alliance-building with suspicion, forming an independent civil society organisation was not an easy task. The pioneers of JKFCSO took considerable risks in taking this step. As the participants from Jammu and Kashmir have candidly admitted, they would never have dared to speak up, let alone organise a civil society meeting, without the demonstrated solidarity of civil society groups from various parts of India.

The Srinagar initiative is supported by SAFHR, a Kathmandu-based regional public forum oriented towards promoting a culture of peace within a democratic framework. SAFHR works through a network of 35 partners comprising civil society organisations committed to promoting human rights and peace in the region. The two national chapters of the Pakistan-India Peoples' Forum for Peace and Democracy are partners of SAFHR.

The Meeting

The two-day deliberations began with a public meeting on 10 June, which was attended by more than 200 people from various parts of Kashmir and Jammu in addition to the delegates from outside of Jammu and Kashmir. The delegate sessions on human rights, civil society alliance-building and peace and political initiatives were attended by about 90 delegates of which 40 were from outside of Jammu and Kashmir. Delegates included lawyers, human rights and social activists, retired armed forces personnel and civil servants, doctors, teachers, engineers, psychologists and journalists.

In the two days of dialogue, it became starkly evident that in the last 10 years of conflict all space for democratic dissent and popular struggles for social justice had been completely destroyed. The ubiquitous violence of the Indian State, which permeates all aspects of life of the people of Jammu and Kashmir and the systematic denial of justice in the name of 'national security,' has convinced the Kashmiris that they can never get justice from the Indian State. New Delhi may claim that the U.N. Security Council resolution to hold a plebiscite is no longer valid, but most Kashmiris still believe that the political status of Jammu and Kashmir is not yet settled. This unsettled nature of the territory's political status has created a sense of insecurity among the people that is further compounded by the increasing numbers of custodial killings, the widespread use of torture and custodial rape and enforced disappearances. New Delhi's interventions in Jammu and Kashmir throughout the last 50 years are seen essentially as attempts to manipulate different classes and communities of people in Jammu and Kashmir and of buying them over through granting privileges.

It also became apparent at the meeting that the failure of the Indian civil society organisations and mass movements to intervene in Jammu and Kashmir has alienated the people of Jammu and Kashmir from Indian civil society. Many Kashmiri participants asked the delegates from different parts of India why they had not intervened in Kashmir previously. They emphasised again and again that what they wanted from Indian civil society was not 'relief' but partnership in their struggle for human rights, justice and peace. The delegates from Jammu and Kashmir pointed out that, despite the claims to the contrary by the local administration, it was clear that the social delivery systems had collapsed, public health centres had ceased functioning and more than 400 schools in the valley were still closed. Environmental degradation in the subcontinent's prime reserve forests had also reached crisis proportions. There was a critical need for a humanitarian response to reach out to the people of Jammu and Kashmir after 10 years of neglect.

For most of the delegates who had come from various parts of India, it was their first exposure to the human face of the Kashmir story. The killing of Rafiq Bakal, a local shopkeeper in Lal Chowk, by a Border Security Forces (BSF)officer brought home to the visiting delegates the arbitrary state terror which still stalks ordinary civilians in the heart of Srinagar.

The two-day intense deliberations in plenary and working groups was in many ways the first interaction between civil society actors of a 'victim community' and a 'non-victim community.' For civil society actors from outside Jammu and Kashmir, it was an eye opener to discover that, despite the near destruction of the social capital of Kashmir, there were independent initiatives for the care of orphans, the Association of Parents of the Disappeared demanding justice for the missing, Green Kashmir campaigning to save Dal Lake and the forests and a student-initiated helpline to help needy students and to provide career counselling.

Given the professional orientation of the delegates who had come to Srinagar from various parts of India, four concrete areas of joint activity were identified at the first dialogue of civil society activists.

(1) Mobilising for joint struggles for peace, justice and democratic rights: Activities like joint rallies and public meetings will be organised in different parts of India so that the struggle for peace and justice in Jammu and Kashmir can be supported by the democratic struggle groups in various parts of India. Mass organisations and other civil society groups would be encouraged to send volunteers to Jammu and Kashmir to participate in political and social struggles.

(2) Joint activity on human rights: Activities are envisaged both at the level of theory and practice. A course on human rights education should be introduced at the university level in the state as has been incorporated in other universities in various parts of India under a University Grants Commission scheme. At a more practical level, a legal cell would be constituted to assist in jointly pursuing cases of gross human rights violations.

(3) Counseling and training for trauma-affected areas: The objective is to assist the Kashmiris to cope with the impact of generalised violence and especially that of torture at the social level. A core group of trained psychologists, doctors and social workers with experience of working in trauma-affected areas would work at the community level in different parts of Jammu and Kashmir to train professionals and activists.

(4) Joint solidarity campaigns to save the environment: Solidarity links would be established with environmental movements in various parts of the country to strengthen information-sharing and skills and training for environmental activists in Jammu and Kashmir.