My Shangri-La Beneath the Summer Moon
Shangri-La is a mythical Himalayan utopia. If you are a fan of rock like I am then I am sure you have listened to the song “Kashmir” by Led Zeppelin. Led Zeppelin is one of the all time bands and Kashmir in my opinion is their best work. The song is a tribute to their versatility as a band and has mesmerizing music that you cannot get out of your mind once you hear it. Then there are the lyrics (written by guitarist Jimmy Page and singer Robert Plant) that will transport you to a place very few songwriters of today can.
Oh let the sun beat down upon my face
With stars to fill my dream.
I am a traveler of both time and space
To be where I have been.
It took Zeppelin three years to write this song. It was finally released in 1975. Although the album (Physical Graffiti) is almost 35 years old you can still hear songs from the album regularly on radio stations all across the United States. Whenever my favorite local rock station (93.3 WMMR) plays Kashmir my mind invariably starts thinking about Kashmir.
How come a band from a land so far away get inspired by Kashmir and the Middle East and create such a classic work of art, yet people who live in these heavenly places live a miserable life largely of their own making? The answer is very complicated. I really believe that you will never realize the value of something until it is taken away from you for good or for a period of time. My appreciation and understanding of what India can offer dramatically changed (for the better) after I started living in the West for an extended period of time.
I do not want to get in to the history of the Kashmir conflict since everyone in the Indian sub-continent knows about it and has well set opinions about it (based on their versions of the conflict that they are comfortable with). I want to dig deeper and find out the underlying issues that is preventing a solution to the conflict. Maybe my conclusions are wrong but you can be the judge.
The most commonly used excuse/reason for the Kashmir conflict is that it is a clash between a predominantly Hindu India and a Muslim Pakistan. I do not think that this is a key issue at all. This theory assumes that Hindus and Muslims cannot get along with each other. Kashmir has been partitioned (between India, Pakistan and China) only for the past 62. But Hindus, Muslims and Buddhists have lived together in Kashmir for almost 1100 years before that.
This Hindu-Muslim theory also assumes that Muslims as a group can live peacefully with each other and that the Hindus can do the same as well. But what is going on in Pakistan (and throughout the Muslim world) and India are live examples of holes in this argument. More Muslims are killed in Pakistan every year by fellow Muslims than by anybody else by a huge margin. Similarly more Hindus and Buddhists are killed every year in India by fellow Hindus and Buddhists (we call them Maoists and Naxalites) than by members of other religious groups.
If religion is not the driving force behind the division then is it a territorial dispute? It is a territorial dispute but not to the extent that we think it is. After the partition of British India into India and Pakistan, Kashmir remained an independent entity. As Kashmir started faltering as an independent nation, both India and Pakistan tried to seize control of the entire state without success. Some of the land that Pakistan captured was later gifted to China by Pakistan. Today all three nations (India, Pakistan and China) control land that they did not have before partition.
If it is about territory then why did Pakistan give away part of Kashmir to China? This is a case of Pakistan admitting that Kashmir is not that important to it as a territory. In addition, if Kashmir is part of India as India claims then why does India give special status to the state of Kashmir? It is a tacit acknowledgment by us that Kashmir is different and that the territory should be treated differently than other Indian states.
In addition territorial issues in this region of the world are not between nations alone. There are major territorial and resource issues between Indian states (the Cauvery River water sharing issue between Karnataka and Tamil Nadu is as old as the Kashmir issue). Then there is the Tamil Nadu-Kerala border issue. Why are these issues still continuing decades after independence? It continues because the underlying issue is not territorial because if it was then these states should abide by the arbitration process set under the supervision of the Supreme Court of India. They currently do not.
The Indian sub-continent has a long history and tradition. Unfortunately like most things that are old (like a house), the history and tradition comes with a certain baggage. There is a certain amount of looking down on people, inflated opinion of who we are and our past, a know-it-all attitude, constant worries about how others are thinking about us and a sense of superiority complex. This colors our view and opinion of others. This prevents us from moving forward.
We have to cultivate a sense of equality and an understanding of other people’s needs (however ridiculous it might sound to us). We have to learn the “art of deal making” which is a complex social exercise that involves a lot of give and take (Recently Indian Foreign Minister went to Pakistan to talk peace. He wanted Pakistan to stop supporting terrorism but did not want to discuss Kashmir. But why would Pakistan discuss terrorism emanating from its soil if we are not willing to discuss Kashmir?)
Less than 70 years of fighting a brutal war against each other the United States and Japan have a working relationship. They do not necessarily like each other but they know how to get along and have a mutually beneficial relationship. Why can’t India and Pakistan follow the same example? What is stopping us is not religion, territory, politics or terrorism. What is stopping us is our inability to overcome the limitations of our “great culture”.
My Shangri-La beneath the summer moon
I will return again.
Sure as the dust that floats high in June
When movin’ through Kashmir.
-Led Zeppelin (Kashmir)
Related posts:
- Chinese Think Tank Proposes Breaking Up India
- Kashmir: Self Determination or Self Delusion
- India and Pakistan: Freedom vs. Azad
- Israel’s Public Relations Campaign in India
- Hindu Fundamentalists: Ayodhya Similar to Mecca
Category: Culture & Religion
I agree with you, India want to continue the dialogue process with Pakistan, but Kashmir is not the core issue…
We all know of family members who fight legal battles with each other over minor issues for decades. We want revenge and total victory. We do not fully understand the concept of compromise or give and take. The Kashmir issue between India and Pakistan is once such issue.
This is exactly why a divorce between a Indian couple is always contentious and never a compromise. I see many Americans divorcees who bury their hatches and still get along after the divorce for the sake of the children.
India and Pakistan started a divorce process in 1947 and the custody and equity distribution issues are still unresolved.
This is a very good point Ram. We want to fight tooth and nail and to the bitter end. We want to negotiate a Win-Lose situation and not a Win-Win situation.
Your Article has very minute details too and yes you are right we should have to move forward no point in being stagnant.
I don’t understand why we have dispute over Kashmir, let Pakistan have their part and we have ours.
But People of Kashmir wants it as an independent state, they say they want Azadi, which i don’t really affirms as many Hindus(Ksshmiri Pundits used) ussed to live there and they have to move out from there because of threats, so Kashmir not only belongs to people that live there but also who have lived there.
Welcome Abhishek,
Kashmir as they say is the Achilles heel for both India and Pakistan. I think that an independent state is out of the question. Limited autonomy maybe …