Women in Security, Conflict Management and Peace (Wiscomp; a Delhi based initiative of the Foundation for Universal Responsibility) had an inter-community dialogue planned when the tragedy struck. With civil society and the administration focused on the completion of relief and rehabilitation work before the onset of winter (when the temperature in Ladakh can drop to -30 degrees), it was extremely challenging to go ahead with the proposed dialogue. Many however welcomed the decision to continue with the event as planned: “We are so glad that you have decided to come and hold this workshop. This is the time when all communities should come together for rehabilitation and peace in Ladakh” said Professor Jamyiang from Central Institute for Buddhist Studies.

Ladakh, which lies to the north east of Kashmir Valley, from where it is administratively controlled. There are two districts in Leh; one predominantly Buddhist, and one predominantly Shiite Muslim. There is also a very small Christian community in Leh. Ethnically and culturally different from other parts of Kashmir, many in Ladakh wish to separate and form a Union Territory directly administered by the Union of India. This is not, however, the simple solution it would seem, and there are many disagreements within Ladakh over political power and representation. These tensions add to the internal religious conflicts in Ladakh, which are in turn linked to the resolution of the Kashmir conflict.

The Shiite Muslims from Kargil do not advocate separation from Kashmiri Sunni Muslim population as the Zojila Pass, their life line that links them to the Kashmir Valley. They wish to include the Gilgit-Balistant people from Pakistan-administered Kashmir and aspire for a Greater Ladakh region, although it is not clear under whose control. They are not keen on the Union Territory status that is being demanded by Buddhists in the region as they fear Buddhist domination in political, administrative and economic sectors.

Kargili’s complain that while the Muzafarabad–Srinagar Road and the plight of divided Kashmiri families have captured the media headlines and the attention of the international community, the largest number of divided families live across Kargil and Gilgit. Those in Kargil have therefore been demanding the Kargil-Skardu road to be reopened so that the divided families can meet. The Kashmir and Central union is however, yet to respond to this demand.

These complexities and the recent history of communal violence in Ladakh demonstrate that the terrain of peacebuilding in Jammu and Kashmir needs to be extended to Ladakh and the Jammu Division which also have a critical stake in the Kashmir conflict and its resolution.

Inter-community Dialogue

Since 2000 WISCOMP has been engaging with the civil society in Kashmir, Jammu and Ladakh to build constituencies of peace. A major focus in their peacebuilding efforts has been the use of dialogue as a tool for bringing key stakeholders together to share their perspectives, aspirations and political goals so as to create a common ground identifying possibilities, and issues which connect people so as to design a collective future.

The initiative in Leh, Ladakh was also designed with the purpose of bringing together Buddhist and Muslim communities from different parts of Ladakh to discuss inter-community relations for peacebuilding in the region. The flashfloods provided a new context for the existing and past inter-community relations and future courses of action. Does disaster open new opportunities for interdependence and co-existence? This is a question which needs also to be addressed in the larger context of India and Pakistan, particularly given that the latter is witnessing the worst natural disaster in their history.

The two day dialogue ‘Symbol and Substance: Exploring Inter-community Relations in Ladakh’ brought together community, religious, and youth leaders; women groups; the media; teachers and professors; advocates; civil servants; development practitioners; and business associates. The purpose was both to understand the dynamics of Buddhist –Muslim relations, and to rekindle the spirit of co-existence. As Ashraf Ali Barchapa, President of Anjuman–e-Imamia, a Shia religious body, remarked “We wish the same future for rest of the people in Jammu and Kashmir as we would wish for ourselves.”

The dialogue covered a number of important issues including the political future of Ladakh, sustainable development, and disaster management. It also generated an interactive discourse on the significance of cultural identity and the way religion is being used in Ladakh for the achievement of political goals. “In fact religious groups sponsor political parties and political parties rake up communal action of an individual to politicize communities along religious lines”- Nasir Shabani, a government school teacher from Kargil.

The participants acknowledged the role of His Holiness Dalai Lama in influencing Buddhists in showing compassion and tolerance towards Muslims. The Buddhists however felt that reconciliation with Muslims would only happen when the Muslims of Kargil allowed the construction of Buddhist Gompa in Kargil. Local Muslims are resisting this, claiming that there are no Buddhist residents in the city of Kargil. Whilst the Buddhists argue that many Buddhists work in Kargil offices and live as tenets.

Overall there were many trust issues between the Buddhists and Muslim parties to this discussion which it will take some time to overcome.

Conclusion

With every sub-region in Kashmir struggling with their own regional aspirations and political goals, and community relations affected by social, political, and religious tensions, peacebuilding initiatives in Kashmir need to work at several levels to open spaces for an inclusive dialogue. WISCOMP’s intervention, at a time when communities in Ladakh are fragmented along religious and political lines, brought to focus the way disaster can be linked to inter-community relationships. While disaster brings together people and communities for relief and rehabilitation, it can also divide the same people and communities if relief is not distributed in a transparent and impartial manner. In such times deep prejudices can surface to exacerbate conflicts. Efforts such as this to bring all key stakeholders across regions, sub regions, communities and political spectrum in a dialogue is perhaps the only way forward for peace in the region.

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Women in Security, Conflict Management and Peace (WISCOMP)

Based in Delhi but operating through South Asia, including Kashmir, WISCOMP's aim is to promote women to positions of leadership in all aspects of peace, security and international affairs.

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Sufi-Yogi Dialogue from Insight on Conflict on Vimeo.

“If you listen to truth, curb the five; (five senses), Otherwise, you bend the body and call it namaaz (Muslim prayer). If you unite Siva (inner Being) and shunya (non-Being). That is the inner namaaz, indeed”, Professor M. H. Zafar, a Muslim Shaivaite scholar captivated the gathering of Muslim Sufis, Hindu Yogis, Buddhist Monks, Humanitarians and Peace practitioners at Sufi –Yogi Dialogue from 8th -12 April 2010 organized by Global Peace Initiative of Women (GPIW) at Kathmandu as he recited the sholaks ( verse ) of Nund Rishi, Kashmir’s patron saint.

Indeed the path shown by Kashmiri mystics for co-existence for people from different faith traditions is the guidance the world needs when religious extremism, intolerance and violence is becoming a norm. The spiritual culture of Kashmir holds within it the essence of indigenous Reshi, Hindu Shaviate, Buddhist and Islamic Sufi ethos, thereby learning from the wisdom of great masters from different traditions. This makes possible the development of a contemporary framework for evolving a collective consciousness that is locally rooted but has a global identity and appeal.

Contemplating and reflecting on how to bring to fore the deeper wisdoms of all religions, a group of 30 Sufis and Vedantic practitioners from Kashmir Valley, Pakistan, India, Cambodia, Qatar USA and Nepal spent three days sharing their faith traditions, doctrines and direct experiences. As Sister Maureen of Brahma Kumaris said, ‘We have to find ways for the humanity to make a shift to finding a pathway to creating a society based on the principles of love, co-operation and peace’.

Dena Merriam is a founder GPIW. Sitting next to Taimoor Khan Mumtaz, of Shadhili Sufi Order and from Lahore, Pakistan, said in her soft voice said that one of the ways of bringing about such a shift, besides individual meditation, was to collectively go deeper into the levels of their work and help what is happening at the subtle level to manifest at the physical level.

“Walk”, said Bob Maat simply. Dressed in a plain white t-shirt, blue trousers and nylon bathroom slippers, Bob, a humanitarian and teacher, narrated how in 1992 Venerable Maha Ghosananda conceived the idea of Dhammayietra (Peace Walks) when annual month-long peace walk comprised of monks and lay people traveled through politically unstable regions of Cambodia to begin healing and promote peace.

As Bob continued to share his experiences of the many walks he has undertaken he recollected that the first Dhammayietra began in the refugee camps on the Thai border, traveled through Khmer Rouge territory and highly contested land, and ended in Phnom Phen. “We were few walkers initially, almost 100 refugee Cambodians, but hundreds of local supporters joined as we proceeded through the countryside”. He believes that the peace walk was a testament to the eagerness for peace. Both poor villagers and soldiers joined the march or received blessings from the monks. Soldiers laid down their arms and explained to the walkers that they did not want to kill anymore. Villagers gathered spontaneously in the early mornings to receive a water blessing from the monks as a means of psychological purification. And unexpectedly, walkers began to meet relatives they had not seen for decades.

With deep reverence etched on his face Bob continued to add that for Ghosananda, consciousness was the starting point for social ethics because one’s mental state generates all verbal and physical activity. All involved are personally responsible for the health of society. “When he crossed the landmined areas, he asserted that to remove landmines one has to first remove the landmines within ones heart – anger, greed and delusion.”

Swami Atmarupananda, Spiritual Teacher from the Ramakrishna Mission in USA, however said the greatest service to the world is to help “awaken the spiritual heart” and that can be attained through the path of prapati (total surrender to the grace of God) and Truth. Sharing with the participants the various ways to get to the path of prapatti and Truth Atmapurananda added, “An inclusive idea is more powerful than an exclusive one”. Sitting crossed legged in a yogic posture, wearing saffron robes he looked at the participants and mused, “My Self existence extends only upto me only so why shouldn’t I identity with the whole Universe, which is larger, more inclusive, and therefore more powerful”. This is indeed a powerful message to the world, when people want to shrink identities, exclude each other and at times even eliminate each other in the search for achieving power. “I see it as an accumulation of the negative Karma and self-destructive behavior”, said Dena thoughtfully. She asked pointedly, “How can we, a group of mystics, Sufis, yogis, practitioners rebuild or alter energy structures?”

Responding to the challenges Dr. Shezad Qaiser, author and poet from Pakistan said that spirituality cannot be sustained in a vacuum without cultural forms. “Sufi traditions have been a vital link between common man and heaven through the native language and oral traditions. When people are denied native language and oral traditions die, spirituality also dies”. Often breaking into his own native Saraiki language spoken in south eastern areas of Pakistan, Dr. Qaiser expressed poetically that the basic message of Sufis is of Unity and Diversity. “While the principle of Unity is hidden, the phenomenon of Diversity is understood by people because it is their immediate experience. When we hold dialogue, the purpose of the principle becomes unseen and unhidden”. To which Ahmed Jawaid, Deputy Director Iqbal Academy, Lahore, Pakistan eloquently added “Diversity in perceptions is not conflicting for Sufis and Yogis. However, we have to search and arrive at a workable unity, perhaps the only way to overcome the crisis in the world today.”

Ashima Kaul, Insight on Conflict, 30 April 2010

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“In the last 20 years both, the state government of Jammu and Kashmir and India have given priority only to the political and security aspect of this region, whereas governance, social issues and accountability have take a back seat”, Dr. Raja Muzaffar said with an upset tone. A dentist by profession, Dr. Muzaffar is spearheading the Right to Information Movement in Jammu and Kashmir which he thinks is a potential tool for peace building in the region. “It is because of this weapon that we can bring real democracy, justice for all and ensure that rights of the people are protected”, he reiterates.

Dr. Muzaffar’s fellow activists, almost 20 of them from different villages, sitting with him in a circle in Citizen Council’s room in Chadoora, District Badgam almost an hour’s drive from the capital city Srinagar, agree with him. “When the oppressed and poor will get their rights, militancy will automatically go away”, they opine, which may not be accepted by all but clearly for the people who have joined the movement, they are convinced that RTI is the answer for social justice , good governance, accountability and transparency which in turn will bring peace. “Yahi hatiyar yahan aman layega (this weapon alone will bring peace here)”, they raise their hands and shout in unison.

The journey of these brave hearts started when Dr. Sheikh Gulam Rasool, a mobile medical officer working in far flung border villages under Border Development Program run by the state government, met the local villagers. “I noticed that in the far flung areas, a common person had to struggle even for a ration card [a government subsidy card]. There was diktat of local politicians, contractor mafia and oppression by landowners”, he shares. His friend, Dr. Muzaffar, who used to visit him often, started interacting with the villagers Dr. Rasool attended to his patients. Dr. Muzaffar inquired from people about their problems. “Today this has taken the shape of a RTI movement as common people are joining us”, says Dr. Muzaffar.

However the crusade for justice and peace is not without its challenges and dangers. In Branwar, a border village when the local Awami Insanf Committee ( People’s Justice Committee), which is now the local RTI watchdog, exposed irregularities in a government scheme, the local politicians and timber contractors influenced the police to arrest the activists on baseless charges of theft and even sent their goons with axes to attack them. “We had to hide in the jungles and some of our activists were put behind bars with criminals” says Dr. Muzaffar.

Visibly charged and agitated Mushtaq Ahmed Mir, Nazeer Ahmed, Mohd Iqbal Nadem and many other members of the Awami Insaaf Committee sitting in the room however seemed undeterred in their pursuit. “This has given an entry point to the oppressed to seek justice and we are not going to give up” says Dr. Muzaffar. Letters to Chief Minster of the state and other RTI activists across India as also ensuring editorials in local newspapers highlighted the need and urgency to reach justice to the common people in Jammu and Kashmir, a region laden with conflict and violence. For it the common people whose aspirations are exploited by the separatists to help form their constituencies for extremist and divisive politics. An effort towards weaning the common people away from separatist constituencies through participatory governance may build secular structures and politics.

The success stories wherein villagers have been able to get drinking water to their villages or shelter sheds for Below Poverty Line people have emboldened the spirit of the villagers. “ I am seeking answer as to how many illegal rice mills are operating in our residential area as one of the mills adjacent to my house has made it impossible for us to live there”, says Hilal Ahmed Bhat. With a bundle of documents under his arm, indicating the long battle he has been engaging with the different authorities, Hilal is confident to get justice. So is Shakeela, headmistress of Government Girls High School, Raipora, District Badgam is planning to file an RTI on behalf of her school. “The entire building is almost collapsing and it is unsafe for 130 children and 13 staff members to be here”, she said pointing to cracked walls, flooring and caved in roof. “We have no option but to fight for our children’s safety and schools infrastructure through RTI”.

The RTI team is slowly spreading awareness about the Act to the public through workshops and seminars through out the state and its heartening to see when people from Jammu region call up RTI Movement activists for advise on how to seek justice, clearly an issue which is connecting people divided otherwise through politics, identity, ethnicity and religion.

Ashima Kaul, Insight on Conflict Local Correspondent, Kashmir. April 2010.

Right to Information Movement

A peoples movement working on the implementation of the right to information in Jammu and Kashmir

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Ashima Kaul, our Kashmir Local Correspondent, is herself a peacebuilder with the Athwaas organisation. In this interview, she takes about her involvement in peacebuilding in Kashmir.

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“What is your position on Kashmir?” Gulali Ismail asked me hesitantly at the Doha airport on our way back from Peace Direct’s peace retreat in Nairobi. Hailing from Peshawar in Pakistan the young 23 year old peacebuilder added, “Do you think it should go to Pakistan or India or get independence?” I smiled and said, “I have no predetermined position on Kashmir. The various solutions that are being floated around every other day will not lead to the resolution. It is the peacebuilding work that people like you and I do will carve a path for a final resolution”. With a thoughtful expression, Gulali nodded her head up and down, as we Asians do in agreement.

Later as we sat uploading the Nairobi pictures and waiting for our respective flights to Pakistan and India, I knew that while our physical journeys had different paths, the ‘powerful blend of personal peacebuilding stories’ that we shared with other peace builders from different parts of the world in Nairobi had touched us in a way that allowed us to envision a future full of possibilities even in the midst of severe adversities.

My thoughts raced back to the scores of untold stories that peacebuilders hold within their hearts; stories of courage and determination. Some of these stories unfolded in the sunlit room at the far end of Lukenya Getaway Hotel off the Mombasa highway almost an hours drive from Nairobi city.

As our conversations deepened over the three days, each one of us brought to life the people of our communities – from young people, women, tribal leaders, and religious clergy, to ex-combatants or even dreadful militia. “I befriended them (ex-combatants) and built trust as it was very hard to include them in peacebuilding initially”, said Henri Bura Ladyi, a cheerful Congolese peacebuilder. Dishani Jayaweera from Sri Lanka narrated stories of her befriending the Buddhist monks and Ramzi-Al Absi from Yemen shared about winning the trust of tribal leaders for a truce. Each person reflected on how ‘people in communities have the sharp edge’ in the restructuring and decentralizing processes that are integral to peacebuilding.

These stories of personal transformations, strategies, best practices and methodologies for peacebuilding have to be told and retold to the world, which sometimes seems only to listen to stories of horror, extremism and violence. We frequently hear news about motivated Sudanese, Afghan, Pakistani and Yemni Islamists fighting for Jihad in Kashmir, but we remain ignorant about equally motivated people like George Ngoha in Sudan, Ramzi Al -Absi in Yemen, Gulalai in Pakistan and Mirwais Wardak in Afghanistan who put their lives at stake to build peace in local communities, across borders and regions, dispelling stereotypes about identities and cultures.

I choose to as always hold their hands so that we can challenge extremism together, building relationships rather than destroying them!

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It was on October 14 2009 while addressing media at All India Editors’ Conference on Social and Infrastructure in Srinagar that Indian Home Minister P Chidambaram said that the government will hold talks with every section of political opinion in the state through “quiet dialogue, quiet diplomacy”, in order to find a political solution to the Kashmir problem that may be “unique”. He added, “We cannot hold the dialogue in the glare of the media”.

However the media made sure that there was lot of focus and noise about the dialogue. They have watched and reported ‘quiet meetings’ between the government and separatist leaders. The government’s ‘fresh bids’ for an ‘inclusive dialogue’ and quiet meetings with the separatist leaders was seen by many as a conspiracy and ‘betrayal of the cause’.

Almost a week after Home Minster announced the quiet dialogue path, we in the women’s network Athwaas had a meeting in New Delhi to expand our circle and constituency to include women from Ladakh and Jammu in the core group. For us the Home Minister’s statement about inclusive dialogue was not acceptable whilst women continue to be excluded from the political process. It was to press this point Athwaas submitted a memorandum to Dr. Manmohan Singh, Prime Minister of India when he visited Kashmir soon after on 28th October 2009. In the open letter, we wrote:

“We deeply appreciate and welcome your step towards including all stakeholders for exploring inclusive solutions for sustainable peace in Jammu and Kashmir. However the desired dialogue process will not result in any creative outcomes if voices of women, fifty percent of the population, are not included in the process… Women have been directly and indirectly impacted by the violent conflict. Their experiences have given them a deep understanding and insight of the causes and hence their inclusion will deliver the holistic approach needed for sustainable peace.”

(For the full text of the letter, click here)

Despite our misgivings over absence of women from the process, for Athwaas the dialogue process of the government holds significant meaning. The absence of dialogue has only resulted in institutionalized, divisive politics. We realize that if the larger political situation in the region remains hostage to divisive politics, it in some way or other always adversely influences the peacebuilding spaces we are trying to open at the grassroots and civil society level.

For this reason, we had hoped that the talks would be fruitful. However, the attack on Fazal Haq has not only generated unease and concern amongst us, but brought to fore the chilling hard truth about how murky, complicated and dangerous the path to peace in Kashmir remains.

However what came as a genuine shock was Hurriyat separatist leader Bilal Lone’s interview in a local channel Take One, which can be viewed here:

For background on the interview, it is important to know that it was conducted by Ahmed Ali Fayyaz, a senior journalist based in Kashmir Valley. The interview was held in at the the context of the Indian government’s attempts at quiet dialogue and the attack on Fazal Haq.The interview was picked up by Jammu- based Pradeep Dutta, Bureau Chief of Times Now, a national TV Channel, gaining it wider attention.

In the interview Bilal Lone confesses to taking money from Pakistan: “There are no holy cows in Kashmir”. For many, the fact that separatists in Kashmir had been accepting money from Pakistan was an open secret, and the general levels of corruption, nepotism and unaccountability are also well know. This interview was notable for being the first time that it was openly admitted on TV. (Bilal Lone has since undertaken a rather uncomfortable follow-up interview.)

Bilal Lone’s admissions might bring more openness about the levels of corruption and secret dealings which exist in Kashmir. These severe defects in the political system nurture violence, extremism and separatist politics. Yet for the most part there has been a deep silence. Bilal Lone’s outburst gives context to not only to the government’s negotiations, but also to the environment in which local peacebuilding organizations have to work.

Posted by Ashima Kaul, 7 January 2010

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But in today’s Kashmir all this seems vague, fading away. There also exists the reality of an extremist agenda and propagation of an Islam which is alien to the indigenous cultural form that the Kashmiri Hindus and Muslims feel safe and secure with. In the new ‘Muslim Kashmir’, is there still scope for recovering the heterogeneous character of Kashmir? Can mechanisms be put in place to engage with the diversity in a constructive and progressive way? If the legacy of coexistence is to be saved, urgent steps need to be taken by both the state and its people, and especially by peace practitioners and peacemakers.

Religious leaders and institutions have often helped in transforming conflicts, either exacerbating or diffusing them. They have made choices to either use religion for dividing people, or for creating peace in their communities and regions. Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh are no exceptions in this regard. On a recent visit to Jammu & Kashmir, Tom Gillhespy of Peace Direct suggested to me that it will be a good idea to engage with moderate religious leaders and explore possibilities for social change, and the opportunity to do so came very soon thereafter.

The Global Peace Initiative of Women is hoping to initiate a dialogue between Sufi practitioner-scholars and those of the Shaivaite (Hindu) tradition in Kashmir. These two spiritual philosophies have different approaches to understanding union with God, but both speak about universal brotherhood, inclusiveness and dialogue as the hallmark of human relationships.

Ashima Kaul (right) with Mian Bashir (centre)

As part of this dialogue, I went to meet Mian Bashir, a Naqashbandi spiritual leader, in his home in Wangat Valley, Kangan, around one and half hour drive from capital city Srinagar in Kashmir. Mian Bashir is known to his followers as ‘Sajjada Nasheen’, who travel from and Jammu & Kashmir, Pakistan and beyond to see him. “My door never closes before eleven in the night”, he says with a smile. As we drove up the small hill where he lives, we saw scores of people trekking up to see him.

People sitting in the room with us told stories of the miracles associated with Mian Bashir. How once he blessed the villagers with water and at other times spoke about his concern and the actions he takes for the welfare of the marginalized. Mian Bashir, himself narrated many stories in which were hidden deeper meanings of inter-dependence, cultural values and spiritual revelations. “We do not reach out to know the other”, he said. He added with pained expressions that while India is a spiritual land where many paigambar (prophets) rested, aman (peace) was killed here when the country was partitioned and Mahatma Gandhi was killed. “And I hoped that Pakistan would prosper and rise, but sadly that has not happened”, he said.

It was heartening to see continuing openness to dialogue amongst religious leaders. The openness to dialogue of Mian Bashir is mirrored for example by the Shaivite (Hindu) scholar Dr. Moti Lal Pandit (currently based in New Delhi) who stated “there is always hope. While one has to be cautious, one should also keep ones mind open. I am willing to listen”. The word of Sufis and Shaivaites whom we met have given me hope and encouraged me.

This dialogue will continue over the coming months, and I will provide updates through this blog. It promises to be an enriching process.

Posted by Ashima Kaul, 2 December 2009

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Posted by Ashima Kaul, 6 November 2009

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