Realistic Politics
SUCCESS IN LIFE can be achieved by availing of a second chance which is always there to be tapped. This fact is as true for Kashmir as it is for other countries. For instance, the first chance of success for India was to rise as an undivided India, but that could not be realized. Then our leaders availed of the second chance and now India is fast emerging as a powerful, developed country. This has happened in one form or another with other countries. Every country has in one way or the other lost the first chance, but have gained new life by availing the second chance. The same can be the case with Kashmir.
The leaders of Kashmir had a political dream for their land prior to the Partition—that was, in a sense, their first chance to fulfil this dream. But they lost this chance with the Partition in 1947. The Kashmiris now have a second chance, which they must fully avail of so that they can build a new Kashmir based on realities. The leaders of Kashmir dreamt of an independent country for their people. But this proved to be impossible because of political and geographical realities. Today, the only realistic possibility for Kashmir is to remain a part of India, with the special status as granted to it by Article 370 of the Indian Constitution. Till now, the Kashmiri leaders have been engaged in what I call ‘the politics of the impossible’. Now, it behoves them to recognize practical realities and engage in ‘the politics of the possible’. The Kashmiris must forget the past and learn to live in the present. They must seek to chart the course of their lives while recognizing the practical realities of the present, rather than living in the past and dreaming of impossible solutions and chimerical schemes.
If Pakistan followed the policy of the acceptance of reality with regard to Kashmir, it would not be something novel for it. In the case of Bangladesh (East Pakistan) it has already agreed to this policy of the acceptance of reality. This being so, Pakistan has no excuse to justify its stand.
