Fourteen years ago, hundreds and thousands of Kashmiris came out on the streets raising slogans of Azadi (freedom), which shocked the government of India. Socio-political scientists started analysing the causes behind this unexpected and unprecedented development. Different reasons were put forth, such as the influence of the successful Afghan jihad, the fall of the Berlin Wall and the unification of the German Democratic Republic and Federal Republic of Germany, the Balkanisation of the Soviet Union, rigged Kashmir elections and the denial of democratic rights to the people of Kashmir, coupled with the erosion of autonomy guaranteed to them through the 1952 Delhi agreement.

One important reason given was the failure of secularism in India. Kashmiris maintained communal harmony and protected the religious minority in its midst even as the two communities, Hindus and Muslims, were butchering each other in 1947, when two dominions, India and Pakistan, came into being. This had prompted Mahatma Gandhi into saying, "I see a ray of hope from Kashmir."

Inter alia, the treatment meted out to the largest minority community in India did influence the Kashmiri psyche. Whenever there were communal riots in India, it had an impact on Kashmiris. The Nelli (Assam), Bhagalpur, Meerut communal riots, along with thousands of other communal clashes that became a routine feature of Indian society, became, no doubt, one of the prime factors for the armed uprising in Kashmir.

Kashmiris as Muslims were not responsible for the partition of India but were treated at par with Indian Muslims because of a common religion. The treatment by the central government made Kashmiris believe that they were being punished for not condemning the two-nation theory at the time of Partition. A common Kashmiri, ruled by regimes imposed by the government of India from time to time, had to repeatedly prove his loyalty to the state, central governments and central political parties.

The rise of extremist Hindu religious parties, which appeared on the Indian national scene after the demolition of the Babri mosque, further shook the faith of a section of Kashmiris who had reconciled to their fate within the Indian Union. The majority of Kashmiris, as a nation, were committed to the right of self-determination.

Some national political parties vied to promote the Hindutva agenda on the national scene and this, along with the process of saffronising the institutions in India, has further disillusioned the minds of the Kashmiri people. The demolition of the Babri mosque on December 6, 1992, by communal forces supported by the ruling government, in a bid to transform a composite civilisation to fascist Hindu Rashtra, was hailed not only by religious fanatics but also by writers of international repute such as Nirad C Choudhary and VS Naipaul.

Saffronisation is not confined to education alone. It has spread to other institutions, including the supposedly apolitical Indian army, as its officers now use the language of fascist Hindu nationalists.

In Kashmir Valley, the latest shock to the people was last year’s Gujarat carnage, in which 2,000-2,500 Muslims were butchered, their property destroyed and extensive destruction caused to their places of worship.

The gruesome killing of former member of parliament, Ehsan Jaffri, inside his house, only conveys the message that whatever you are, you can’t be forgiven because of your religion. Nearly one hundred thousand people fled their homes in the aftermath of the massacre. It was a communal riot with a difference, because never before had the administration or state machinery provided such tacit support to the rioters.

Besides draining the Indian economy, the Kashmir conflict has resulted in 34,790 Kashmiri deaths (official figures stated by minister of Law & Parliamentary affairs, Abdul Rehman Veeri, in the state assembly on June 21, 2003. Even on July 8, the Jammu & Kashmir police admitted that 90,000 people of Kashmir had been killed in the ongoing turmoil).

Thousands of youth have disappeared (official figures peg the number at 3,931, unofficial estimates are close to 8,000) while other forms of brutalisation of Kashmiris continue. The government of India has now "gifted" them, for the first time, with free elections in 2002. The elections, though free and fair, were not inclusive.

Though the politicians of India have publicly admitted that there were a lot of wrongdoings in Kashmir and promised to set things right if given a chance, nothing has changed and the public perception is that nothing will change in the future either. Kashmiris still believe that the Indian media, the federal government and the state government have a discriminatory attitude towards the majority community in the state and, despite the conflict and the suffering of the people of Kashmir, nothing has been done regarding the guarantee of political rights to them.

There are well-founded reasons behind these fears – the fear of demographic change, the fear of loss of identity. For example, according to an official census report, during last year’s election, voter strength in Jammu was shown as having increased by 28.46% between ’96-’02, as against an increase of 7.37% in Kashmir. This is in sharp contrast to census data for 2001, which shows the population in Kashmir Valley as having risen by 73% (1.5 million) between 1981 to 2000, compared to 60% in Jammu (35,000) over the same period.

The discriminatory approach continues in political appointments as well as in the payment of relief and other rehabilitation measures. The Gujarat government was fair to reduce the ex-gratia relief to the Godhra victims, from Rs. 2 lakh to 1 lakh, to bring them on par with the other victims of the genocide, since it had earlier decided that Rs. 2 lakh would be paid to the victims of Godhra.

On the other hand, in Kashmir, Neha, one of the victims of the massacre of Pandits at Wenham, was paid ex-gratia to the tune of Rs. 20 lakh by the central government, from the PM’s relief fund, in addition to the relief paid by the state. However, in a similar case, that of Allaudin Sheikh (a minor girl whose entire family was wiped off), where the State Human Rights Commission (SHRC) had recommended relief of Rs. 10 lakh, the amount was never paid.

In the case of Shabir Ahmad Sheikh, a student of class 12, who survived an attack in Surankote, Poonch, on August 3, 1998, in which 19 members of his family were killed, even the SHRC enquiry report indicted the army and recommended compensation, which was never paid. There are innumerable such examples and people have not forgotten them.

The majority of Kashmiris seem convinced that even if they were to accept a solution such as autonomy or revert to the pre-1953 position, there is no guarantee that this would not result in the dilution of the state’s Muslim-majority character, keeping in view the conduct of Indian rulers and given the complete polarisation in Indian society.

India’s vibrant civil society did a commendable job in Gujarat. It is combating Modi’s communal agenda and in this Combat played a leading role. But they have failed Kashmiri society. They have, perhaps, written off Kashmir. They are quick to condemn terrorism but are afraid to condemn state terrorism, which is more organised and brutal. They often lack courage and are afraid of speaking the truth about Kashmir to their own people.