Kashmir today -- beyond news headlines

For a long time in the recent past Kashmir has been in the news for all the wrong reasons -- at least to the outside world. Political unrest, hartals or shutdowns of shops, bazaars and offices, even stray gunshots and stone pelting incidents during protest marches which make it to the newspaper headlines and television screens, too often obscure the beauty of its lakes and mountains, and the bustle and welcoming greetings of its people. Walking the Dal Lake Boulevard of Kashmir’s capital city Srinagar any time of the day transports you to the other reality of this lake isle of nature’s bounty and man’s effort to spread the joy to all comers. But the scene is doubly enchanting during the evenings when the waters of the Dal Lake are shimmering in the reflected lights of a long line of house boats along the far shore and the tiny lights of shikaras or gondolas sailing out from the Boulevard side. The lake’s waters cover an area of about 18 square kilometres with a shoreline of about 15.5 km. It has the Zabarvan mountain range with the Shankracharya temple on one of its peaks on one side and Harishankar temple range across the waters on the opposite side with scores of big and small houseboats on the lake edge. Colourful shikaras which line up the Boulevard and Zabarvan side keep the scene alive for the best part of the day. Come early evening, after a short siesta during warm summer days, the scene revvs up as the shikaras dart out in various directions with their tourist guests. The houseboat names vary from the local HB Riyaz and HB Fazil to international signs like HB Duke of Windsor, HB Derby Shire, New Mandalay, New Melbourne and New Australia. The shikaras have their own panache and variety with names like Sheikh Palace, Ashiq Palace, Lovers Light and Chinar to Lotus Island, Nightingale, Red Rose, Rose Mary, Lufthansa and even Journalism With Human Touch. Hotels, dhabas or eateries, craft shops and art galleries on the Boulevard side of the lake have their own taste–tingling titles. Lakshmi Dhaba, Punjabi dhaba, Punjabi Tadka, Delhi di Rasoi, Nathu Sweets, Poornima Vaishnu Bhojanalya and veg-non-veg Kareem’s all jostle for the hungry tourist’s attention. For those fond of their tipple, liquor shops are rather too few for a city like Srinagar or the entire Kashmir Valley. A definite damper for tourism but some of the bigger hotels do have bars to alleviate the plight of the thirsty. Handicrafts shops calling themselves art galleries full of beautifully embroidered bags with colourful motifs and designs beckon the shoppers looking for bargains and gift items for friends and relatives. Special discounts and sales are the order of the day with buyers and sellers testing their haggling skills all the time. Across the road on the pavement by the lake edge individual salesmen walk with their wares offering waistcoats, jackets, bags, broaches, maps , pictures, caps and bags at whatever price the two sides can settle after a fairly long banter. It is all good fun. Tourist accommodation -- houseboats, guest houses or three to five star hotels – is plentiful and available most of the time at a reasonable price. At the lower end one’s haggling skills are a definite advantage worth exploiting. Srinagar’s Dal Lake and its surroundings like Nishat Gardens, Shalimar Gardens, are a good introduction to the Paradise Valley which has a lot more to offer with places like Gulmarg, Sonmarg, Pahalgam and the rest. Ignore the scare stories from the Line of Control or one or two other areas and enjoy the general welcome. Holiday season is pretty long, so choose your moment and go for it. Ironically, just a few yards from the Nehrus hotel on the Boulevard is a reality of different sort – a sizeable presence of the Central Reserve Police Force billeted in a huge compound with a signboard outside saying: JOIN CRPF/&/BECOME/A PEACE WARRIOR. A few armed CRPF men in their fatigues with guns, helmets and boots can also be seen standing here and there or strolling past the tourists and general public. An odd presence certainly, but the tourists or locals don’t seem to be too bothered and the Boulevard bustle goes on. Away from the Boulevard in the heart of city at places like Lal Chowk ( Red Square), and Regal Chowk and other spots, the presence of this federal or central police, in addition to the Jammu and Kashmir state police, is rather more ubiquitous and hence somewhat more disconcerting. The central reserve police which is part of the federal security system under the AFSPA (Armed Forces Special Powers Act) umbrella has been a historic reality of the J&K state since the 1947 Partition of India, with part of the pre-partition state under Pakistan control and the other part with Srinagar as its capital under Indian control. Despite three Indo-Pakistan wars and occasional gunfire on or across the Line of Control, life goes on both sides with each side blaming the other for a variety of hiccups. The strength and the very presence of the CRPF, in addition to the federal Army units and the state’s own J&K police, on the Indian side has often been questioned by a variety of forces who consider it at at odds with the spirit of democracy. AFSPA continues to be hot potato with federal and state political forces holding varying points of view, with majority conceding it as a necessity while others demanding a considerable downsizing of the security apparatus. Very few question the presence of the Army which is considered essential on the Line of Control and other border areas. Broadly it does maintains a discreet distance in the civilian areas. Perhaps there is some more room for refining or repositioning of its presence and its role. But the rather ubiquitous presence of openly armed, helmeted and booted presence of the CRPF jawans or squaddies is another matter. It sends an altogether disproportionate message than is required for reasonable security needs. Their excessive visibility in urban areas from Lal Chowk to Dal Lake Boulevard and other places is nothing short of overkill in the name of security. In this age of instant telephony and mobility you don’t need CRPF jawans parading town streets and crossroads. Keep them billeted in selected in a few thanas or police away from the public glare and call them out only when it is absolutely necessary. Let the normal J&K state police do all the required patrolling. Too much CRPF visibility is counterproductive. It sends all the wrong signals and creates trust-deficit between the public and the law officers. Reduction of this trust-deficit is the key to good governance. Such an effort can be a good start towards a relook at the entire gamut of AFSPA. We can ignore this approach at our own peril. Doubting Thomases will straight away pooh pooh such an approach and cite incidents like the killing of two shopkeepers in quick succession in June in Sopore, the home ground of Syed Ali Geelani, the self-declared pro-Pakistan leader of the separatist Hurriyat faction. Blaming the killings on federal Indian or J&K state agents was instant, thanks in part to the federal defence minister Manohar Parrikar’s remarks a few days earlier that “terrorists could be killed by terrorists.” The state government’s order for an inquiry or its announcement of a million rupee award to anyone for information leading to solve the murders went unheeded. The possibility, even probability, of a new jihadi outfit called Lashkar-e-Islam carving out its own place in the turf war among militants and extremists cannot be ruled out and must be as vigorously pursued as any other explanation. Yet Sopore and similar happenings must not be allowed to cloud the overall situation in Jammu and Kashmir. A thriving democracy is in full play in the state. Local newspapers are full of all shades of opinion -- pro-ruling coalition, anti-government, anti-India, lone wolf, even pro-IS and pro-Caliphate voices galore. In the midst of all this political cacophony the Paradise Valley is very much intact with locals and tourists intermingling freely and army, police and people joining hands in times of nature’s fury and floods. ............................................................................................................................................. .