Development matters, but so does identity

Disturbing a federal system that protects the complexity of human identities could pave the way for conflict

It is sometimes claimed that once ordinary people benefit from economic development, they automatically set aside issues related to their identity. Such a view was found not only in materialist theories that gave explanatory primacy in human life to economic factors but also among leaders of social and political movements. Nehru, for instance, is believed to have assumed that as India makes economic progress, religious identity would matter less and communal conflict would disappear. It seems that the government’s claim on Jammu and Kashmir shares the same premise. Give Kashmiris an economic package, prospects of more jobs, better healthcare, high-quality consumption goods and they will forget their specific identity and assimilate peacefully with the rest of India. ‘Development’ shall trump identity.

Cultural and ethical framework

Identity is much misused and abused. We misunderstand it, misconstrue its significance, maliciously politicise it but it refuses to go away. Why? Undeniably, we are biological creatures with basic material needs. But we are also expressive creatures, image-builders, story-makers, concept-inventors, and so live in a world saturated with images, representations, myths, stories, and philosophies. Over thousands of years, multiple imaginary worlds have been fashioned, each of which is the collective possession of different societies. These imagined narratives shape our material needs, making them complex, elaborate and distinct. All humans do not have the same food and sartorial preferences. They design their dwellings differently. They even use their bodies and tongues differently to communicate with one another. In short, our material needs, suffused with imagination and saturated with concepts, are filled with intricacy and nuance.

Moreover, we have developed non-biological needs and dispositions. We reflect on the world and on ourselves. We develop a sense of who we are. We have implicit or explicit answers to the question: who am I? This is partly answered by our culturally mediated material needs: we are, for example, what we eat and do not eat. But equally important for this answer is an ethic that distinguishes the good from the bad, right from wrong, what is worth striving for and what is not. With the help of this, we get a sense of where we stand in this world and what stand we take on it. In short, we are also defined by our specific stand on what happens to us after we die, and, say, on our position on the place of women in society.

So we cannot live a proper life without a framework of culture and ethic — the source of meaning and worth in our lives. Nor without other people with whom we share this framework, without a community. If this identity-endowing, cultural and ethical framework is so crucial to each one of us, then how can economic development alone satisfy us? This unsubstitutable need for selfhood will not disappear just because one’s biological needs are fulfilled.

So, not only are identity-related needs extremely important, but these needs are satisfied by a particular socio-culturally informed ethical framework. Why not any such framework? Good question, but one that has a rather simple response: we are born into a specific framework, are initiated into it in our childhood, and before long, it makes us who we are. It provides humans with features that define them. These form the core that remains relatively constant, even as everything around changes. Moreover, these constitutive features matter more than anything else. A wart on the body may be permanent, but it won’t matter if it is removed. But take away fish from Bengali cuisine and all hell will break loose. Tagore’s songs in middle class Bengali homes have the same status. The same is true of the worship of Murugan to many Tamils; the relic of Muhammad in Hazratbal to Kashmiri Muslims; the Kamakhya temple to the Assamese. These specific, enduring, valuable beliefs and practices are identity-constituting, anchoring people in the world, making them feel at home, giving them succour.

All this is true. But it is equally true that identity-related issues invoke fear. They are prone to being abused. They can even become dangerous. How so? This happens when the relatively enduring character of identity begins to be viewed as immutable and incontestable, and derived from a single, permanent source. An identity is then seen as defining us categorically, once and for all, in an all-or-nothing manner, like something inscribed in our DNA. Anything that disturbs or threatens the structure of our socio-cultural ‘DNA’ unhinges and enflames us, forcing us to die for it or even to kill.

Identities in flux

These conclusions about the nature of identity are troublesome but not ineluctable. First, because, although our identity-constituting beliefs, feelings, values are given in childhood, as we become self-reflexive, we frequently begin to question, revise and even reject them. They must endure but don’t have to be immutable. Second, as we grow, we enter different groups, begin participating in more than one socio-cultural framework, develop multiple identities. These identities move in and out of focus depending upon context. It is doubtful if human beings will flourish, perhaps even survive, if they were entrenched exclusively within one framework, bound to one single, permanently embedded identity. Third, each of these identities is itself derived from multiple sources. Consider J&K. Three thousand years ago, like the rest of the north-western region that includes Pakistan and Afghanistan, Kashmiri culture was Vedic. It then probably acquired a layer from Greek settlers and definitively from the teachings of Buddha. By the middle of the 1st millennium CE, it imbibed a strong strain of Shaivism. Later highly syncretic Sufi currents entered and still later, large chunks from modern Islam. Kashmiri identity is a palimpsest that unfolds like a peeled onion, layer by layer. It would be absurd to reduce it simplistically to monoliths like ‘Hindu’ or ‘Islamic’. These are useful simplifications in ideological or political battles but half-truths, even lies. The core of Kashmiri identity is a complex compound, flowing from multiple sources, not reducible to a simple, single element. What’s more, this is true of every regional identity in India, of Indian identity in general, indeed, of every group identity in the world.

What is the political implication of these observations? Modern socio-economic conditions require states to take care not only of people’s material welfare but also their identities. But these conditions also foster ethno-nationalisms that insist on one state for every monocultural identity. Deep down this is a lie, because it defies the intricacies of human cultures. So, is there a viable modern political system that protects the complexity of human identities and mitigates their rough, violent edges? There is. A decent federal system that allows a great deal of political autonomy to distinct cultural groups, protects important common (national) interests and enables fruitful encounter of regional cultures does that. Disturbing this federal arrangement for the sake of a simplistic idea of unity is not a smart thing to do. At worse, it paves the way for prolonged conflict that endangers development. Paradoxically, then, we might well be undercutting development in the very name of development.

Rajeev Bhargava is Professor, Centre for the Study of Developing Societies, Delhi

Source: The Hindu, 10/09/2019

How to counter radicalisation in Jammu & Kashmir

Building mental resilience of the youth will help them to resist the temptations of radical ideology.

In the last few years, Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) has witnessed a discernible rise in the levels of radicalisation and violent extremism. There has been a marked increase in local recruitment of terrorist groups. The youth today appear far more emboldened to disrupt military operations and challenge the State authority, especially in the Kashmir Valley. The frenzied stone-pelting mobs at the encounter sites, of late, have demonstrated increasing levels of motivation and boldness in facilitating the escape of terrorists.

The Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) sponsored propaganda and psychological operations based on toxic, warped and intolerant religious and ideological narratives have been instrumental in proselytising the people, eroding the ideals of ‘Kashmiriyat’ and gradually sowing the seeds of jihadist culture. Pakistan has effectively employed the cyberspace, subverted sections of the media and its proxies in the state for this purpose. The Friday prayers at the mosques are being used to fuel extremism and the young impressionable minds at the madrassas are also being surreptitiously subjected to jihadist ideology on a daily basis. Pakistan has also leveraged the existing communal fault lines in other parts of our country to create insecurities that bolster secessionist tendencies and an inclination for a new political order.

The rising level of radicalisation has manifested in increasing number of young people taking to arms. Even some of the well educated and employed youth have fallen prey to the ISI’s psychological machinations. As compared to 131 young people , who joined various terrorist outfits in 2017, the number in 2018 rose to over 200. Some new terrorist outfits, such as ISIS-Kashmir and Ansar Ghazwat-ul-Hind aligned to the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) and Al Qaeda ideologies, have also mushroomed in the past few years.

Radicalisation is a product of protracted psychological conditioning of the minds; it has no quick fixes. It requires an enduring strategy that focuses not just on targeting the external and internal actors and conditions that fuel radicalisation but also attends to the process of de-radicalisation. Logically, it should form an additional dedicated prong of our overarching national strategy that aims at bringing normalcy in J&K. In addition to the ongoing military operations, it will require a coordinated deployment of our political, diplomatic, economic, social, and perception management prowess.

An effective sealing of the conflict zone, both in the physical and virtual domains, is a prerequisite for dealing with the deteriorating situation. Therefore, in addition to plugging the porosity of the Line of Control, we need to establish ‘information superiority’ in the virtual space, which will deny the ISI and their proxies the ability to use various communication platforms to their advantage. It will also help us in the acquisition of uninterrupted real time intelligence, which is critical for proactive management and shaping of the environment. State of the art technologies available with our strategic partners like the United States and Israel should be leveraged to hone this capability.

Improvements in governance are necessary, whereby political leaders at all levels and the administration remain committed to the aspirations of the people. The state’s Vigilance Commission should be revitalised to deal with widespread corruption, which has precluded the desired economic development in the state. Sincere efforts should also be made in addressing the feelings of any perceived injustice. Rogue political and community leaders, who are playing to the tune of negative elements and spoilers, should be sternly dealt with as per the law. Contemporary educational infrastructure with dedicated security cover should be created and the religious preachers at the mosques should not be allowed to spew venom and spread jihadist ideology. Since poverty creates exploitable conditions for radicalisation and idle minds are the root of all evil, job opportunities should be created expeditiously by giving a boost to tourism, developing infrastructure and raising additional Home Guards and security forces units.

On the military front, the security forces should continue with their people-friendly counter proxy war operations, employing smart power, which is an imaginative mix of both hard and soft power. In concert with these operations, a determined drive under the police should be undertaken to ensure effective management of prisons and for neutralising various inimical players of the environment as per the law. De-radicalisation cells manned by experts and police personnel should be established alongside all prisons and also at the affected district headquarters. Well conceived and implemented de-radicalisation programmes can help the inmates and other radicalised individuals to reject the radical jihadist beliefs and re-embrace the prescribed value-based tenets of Islam.

Enduring political, diplomatic and perception management initiatives to coerce Pakistan to stop meddling in our internal affairs and putting an end to external funding should continue with added zeal. Perception management initiatives should also help counter toxic narratives and help cement mental and emotional bonding of the people of the Valley with the nation. The electronic and print media, in the larger interest of national security, should exercise prudence and ensure their reportage strengthens our secular fabric and does not widen or deepen any existing fault lines.

Radicalisation is the first step in the psychological process that transforms innocent young men into terrorists. As a nation, we need to acknowledge the gravity of the situation and put a pragmatic strategy in place at the earliest. Building strong shields of mental resilience among the youth is imperative to enable them to resist the temptations of any radical ideology.

Bikram Singh is the former Chief of the Army Staff

A little bit of hope

The lifting of the ban on a newspaper, a birthday phone call, are small steps. They could be a beginning

For Kashmir, this has been a year of greater tumult — from the death of Mufti Mohammed Sayeed and the political uncertainty that followed, to the violence, clampdowns and casualties after the killing of home-grown militant Burhan Wani in South Kashmir. As the year ends, however, there may be reason for cautious hope. The Jammu and Kashmir government has lifted the ban on Kashmir Reader, imposed three months ago on grounds of being a threat to “public tranquillity”. Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti has also promised to review the cases against young men who are currently incarcerated and did not commit “serious crimes”. Meanwhile, Prime Minister Narendra Modi called Nawaz Sharif to wish him on his birthday and Pakistan released 220 Indian fishermen.

The growing chasm between the government and the people of Kashmir became stark almost immediately after Wani’s death on July 8. As Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti told this newspaper in an interview (IE, December 18), “I knew that it would have repercussions (Wani’s death)… But it will go to such an extent, I had never thought…”. The chief minister has expressed anger, helplessness and sadness — the politics of Kashmir and the aspirations of its people were being influenced and shaped by political actors from beyond the constitutional and democratic spectrum. The use of pellet guns by security forces left around 100 dead, 1,000 partially or fully blind and another 12,000 injured, many of them young men, even children. Security forces too faced casualties — some estimates put the injured at thousands. Over 500 people were arrested under the Public Security Act — including human rights activist Khurram Parvez, released later — and about 6,000 people in all.

The publication of a newspaper and a birthday phone call are small steps, but they could be a beginning if they are built on over the next year and beyond. They could indicate that the governments, both in the state and Centre, can look at Kashmir from beyond just the prism of strategic and security interests. Political and diplomatic measures will be key to bringing back dialogue as a way to solve differences. Hopefully, these steps are a precursor to that conversation.

Source: Indian Express, 27-12-2016