Integrity Score 240
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Continuing...
India is an ancient organic union reared in the tradition of the oldest unbroken culture in the world. Kashmir for most of India’s population is not crates of cherry and beautiful carpets, but the Amarnath caves, Shankaracharya Hill and Vaishno Devi. In other words, Kashmir does not have only a Muslim population but a hoary Hindu past. Even the name Kashmir comes from rishi Kashyap who, taking the help of Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva, cleared the valley of demons by dredging the Dal Lake (see Nilamato Purana). Many all over India are descendents of rishi Kashyapa, even if they do not live in Kashmir or are Kashmiris.
If we divide Kashmir into Jammu, Ladakh and the ‘Valley Plus’ areas, the problem of insurgency will boil down to managing the 3 million people of the Valley. In fact, the Jammuites and the Ladakhis have been sore with the rest of India for lumping them with the Valley. In turn the Valleyites, Hindus and Muslims included, have always had contempt for them. The whole tragedy of Kashmir from the beginning is that it is the representatives of the Kashmiri Pandits who have been the villains in history; and in turn, ironically, their community is the worst victim of their own past villainy. In 1320 A.D., a Ladhaki King, Rinchana by name and Buddhist by religion, conquered the Valley, and then requested the Kashmiri Pandits to ‘baptise’ him to Hinduism. The Pandits refused! In a fit of anger at the insult, Raja Rinchana and his Buddhist supporters converted to Islam. In this way, Islam spread in Kashmir not by conquest but by conversion. Similarly, the role of Maharaja Hari Singh and his Prime Minister, R.C. Kak in creating the accession problems in 1947 by signing first a ‘standstill’ with India and Pakistan, are well known. Only when, faced with Pakistani intruders, he thought he would lose everything, did Hari Singh accede to India. In fact, the Kashmiri problem today is not a Hindu-Muslim question at all. It is instead a problem created by the ineffectiveness manifested by a soft state in facing the challenges of the times.
to be continued...