The fight between Left and Right over ideologies, the fight between India and Pakistan over Kashmir, and possibly any other fight in the history of fights can always boil down to a simple right or wrong. Each side thinks their viewpoint is right and the other is wrong. Each side is so passionate about their view point that they completely disregard any other viewpoint altogether. As a person who almost always end up being the one with a view point in the middle, I sense that almost always, the middle ground or rather the “gray area” is grossly under represented.
In the current political climate, whether it is the US or India, you are not given the freedom to have an opinion that is different from the masses. You have to either be a liberal or a conservative. What if I am neither? What if, on some issues, I’m liberal but on some issues, I’m conservative? If I say I’m liberal, the conservatives jump down my throat. If I say I’m conservative, the liberals make me feel like I should be banned from this planet, let alone the country. In India, the Kashmir issue has been spiraling for a while. While sitting in the US, my exposure is limited to the articles that I am reading. I read quite a few in fact – some from the perspective of the Indians who are rejoicing at the prospect of finally “winning” the Kashmir battle with Pakistan for decades now, and some from the perspective of the Pakistanis who feel this is a major setback for the Kashmiris. Granted, the Pakistanis might use the uproar to their advantage because the general opinion would be that they were “defeated”. The Pakistani Prime Minister even vocalized it – “What do you want me to do? Go to war with India?” This is real drama. In the meantime, the Kashmiris, the ones who have actually been impacted, are imprisoned in their own country to prevent a massive backlash with no contact with the outside world. Families that have relatives outside Kashmir cannot get in touch with each other. Families with ailing relatives are frantic to hear from each other. The Indian army is on high alert and even then they are being pelted with stones by the Kashmiri people. Pakistan is threatening wars against India. The neighboring countries are gearing up to take sides with their respective “allies”. The US government has strategically decided to let the two countries handle it among themselves. There’s a frenzy among the media of both countries trying to get ahead of each other to report the country’s sentiments. In this whole mess, I wonder what the average Kashmiri is feeling. Are they celebrating that they can now finally move between states and visit each other freely and that they are finally just Indians? Or are they mourning the loss of their freedom and their special status? I would assume there is a bit of both. I’m even more curious to know the ratio of both sides. The Kashmiris are the “Gray Area”!
The Muslim population must be mourning and the Hindu population must be rejoicing. To be fair, this is not completely true. There are so many Muslims in India who are die hard patriots of the secular country that India used to be. And there are also some Hindus who have families settled across the border that they ache to visit but can’t because of the divide. In such a situation, how can you choose between sides? How do you choose to make one side happy versus another? Why is there a side in the first place? You’d think I’m childish for raising such absurd questions. Indians are strongly voicing their opinions about how this was what should have happened ages ago and that the protests are simply against what is “right” and “The Kashmiris should just fall in line or leave!” It is alarming how many articles I read that had this exact sentiment. How do you even define “right vs wrong” in such a case? Who gave you the authority to define what is right for everyone? Yes, there are some moral facts which are generally accepted as right and wrong. For example, it is wrong to rape women and just leave them on the side of the road to die. It is right to help a genuinely needy person get some food, clothing and shelter. It is right for a community to stand up for the under represented minority’s rights. It is wrong to treat people differently based on their race and religion. So, yes, there are some general rights and wrongs in this world. But when it comes to a human being’s life, how can people outside that state, determine what is right for them? This India-Pakistan war has always claimed that they each know what is best for the Kashmiris. How can any of the sides know that for sure? The Kashmiris themselves aren’t given that choice. That’s the Gray Area that people are completely ignoring. Why not just give them the right to choose? Why should any country dictate who owns it? Does that mean they should be allowed to become their own country? Why not? If they have the means to sustain and run themselves, why not? At least they will be able to live peacefully. Well, maybe not. If Indian history has taught me anything, its that the weakest are always wiped out by the strongest. I guess they will never be free. And that just saddens me.
Even as I write this, I am mindful of how my own feelings on this matter might be skewed towards keeping them as part of India. Afterall, Kashmir has widely been accepted as “heaven on earth” and who doesn’t want a piece of heaven close to them? I have only seen pictures and some day, I would like to go visit. I can’t help but feel that I would never want to force them to be a part of India just because I think that’s the “right” thing to do. I am in no way qualified enough to be a point of authority to even say that. I guess, the main damage was done in 1947. After that, it has just gone downhill. At this point, there’s no way to remedy this situation. I feel for the Kashmiris and hope they get some state of normalcy in their lives soon because they have been caught in this crossfire for decades. I wish they find peace so that someday, they welcome a visit from me with open arms!
Musings of a confused nut! 