Round The World
New Delhi, 22 December 2023
The New Kashmir
AN INTERNATIONAL IMPERATIVE
By Prof. (Dr.) D.K. Giri
(Secretary General, Assn for
Democratic Socialism)
A day-long conference with an instructive theme “Strengthening
international investment in Kashmir”, was held on 19 December New Delhi. It was
co-hosted by Indian Economic Trade Organisation (IETO) and Kashmir Central.
There were two major panel discussions; one on the political conditions
prevailing in the state after abrogation of Article 370 and the second was
rebuilding the economy by “strengthening international investments”. The latter
which I happened to chair is the focus of this piece.
A couple of words about the organisers, IETO is a private
entrepreneurial agency in promoting Indian trade abroad and facilitating
international investment into India from across the world. It is indeed a
dynamic and vibrant organisation engaged in almost all the economic zones of
the world – South Asia, Africa, Latin America, West Asia, Europe and the
Pacific. It has taken up the cause of Kashmir in terms of raising awareness of the
business community in India and abroad in the immense potential of the state in
absorbing huge investment in multiple sectors.
Kashmir Central is a weekly magazine from the Valley which has been
working for laying out a genuine and authentic narrative in the state. In the recently
published book, “Kashmir: The War of Narratives” the author, who is the
editor of the journal talks about how false narratives have harmed the people
in the Valley and India as a country.
The conference sought to eliminate the mismatch between
politics and economy in India’s foreign policy. I have talked about it for
years since it came out glaringly in my research on the European Union in India
30 years ago. The research has resulted in a book titled ‘The European Union
and India: A Study in North-South Relations’. India’s trade deficit was
more than 60 per cent with the European Union, yet India did not have a robust
policy towards Europe. India’s foreign policy was centred on Pakistan, Soviet
Union (Russia) and China, all because of a tenuous security situation in
Kashmir.
Quite a few Kashmiris also suffered from an overriding
mindset of confusion over its affiliation to India or Pakistan, at the heavy
cost of their economic growth and development. Let me illustrate it with an
anecdote. A few years ago, I escorted a delegation of companies led by
Scandinavian consulting agency called Rud Pedersen Public Affairs Company. It
is fairly a big agency which has just employed the former Swedish Prime
Minister Stefan Loven as its consultant.
At the end of the Kashmir visit, a press-meet was organised
in the Press Club in Srinagar. As the head of the delegation, Morten Pedersen
was sharing his ideas of possible investment by the companies in the state. A
journalist stood up to ask about the opinion of Pedersen on Kashmir’s
geographical location, whether it should be a part of India or Pakistan! As it
was an irrelevant question to an inappropriate person, Pedersen hesitated to
answer. I stepped in to snub the journalist, “the delegation is here to explore
investment and job creation etc, the status of Kashmir was not their concern”.
The journalist should stop harping on the political issue which had to be
settled by the Indian state.
That said, the conference in its two sessions on politics
and economy sought to solve the dichotomy by addressing both the sectors. In
the politics session addressed by eminent and experienced panellists, the
overwhelming opinion was that Parliament endorsed by the Supreme Court has
completed the process of integration of Kashmir into India. Any doubt on its
belongingness was laid to rest forever. The Kashmiris, even those with a
separatist mindset, have reconciled to the reality. Now it was time to build a
new narrative in the country and abroad.
The ruling BJP’s narrative is that Kashmir was ruled by three
families – Indira Gandhi’s, Sheikh Abdullah’s and Mufti’s. These families used
Kashmir for their own vested interests. Internationally, the ‘Islam in danger’
narrative and Pakistan-Turkey connivance fed the mindset of militants, Mullahs
and extremist Islamists subscribing to revivalism. It was also recalled that the
Kashmir issue had weighed heavily on India’s foreign policy because of its
geo-political and religious importance.
The economy of the state was discussed in great depth by
speakers from the bureaucracy, business, academia and civil society. The focus
was on building infrastructure for IT, tourism and other traditional sectors of
economy. Tourism, as is well known has the greatest potential. A tourism expert
as well as a practitioner from Nepal presented a new tourist map connecting the
beautiful spots in the Himalaya corridor spreading from Nepal to Ladakh and Sikkim
and Srinagar, and emphasised that tourism creates grassroots economy by
catering to all sections of society from the state bodies down to the
grassroots like Tongawalla and street shopkeepers.
On innovative tourism, he quoted Dr. Karan Singh, the scion
of the royal family that was at the helm when Kashmir acceded to India. The
Home Minister Amit Shah said in Parliament that in 2022, 1 crore 80 lakh
tourists visited the Valley. On law and order, the violence has conspicuously
reduced. A stable law and order is a pre-condition for any big investment.
On global investment in Kashmir, Indian foreign policy
should make it a top priority. It has so far dealt with Kashmir as a security
issue. Now that the dust has settled in, it should promote Kashmir as an
economic imperative. The Valley has immense potential. Foreign companies would
like to invest in the state for its cold climate, natural beauty and a large
segment of youth population. Kashmiris are good with their hands. If resources
and infrastructure are made available, they would create wonders.
From the security point of view, presence of foreign
companies in the Valley should also draw in international support for the
stability of the state. The investing countries would naturally protect their
business interests. Trouble-mongering countries like Pakistan would not dare
sponsor terrorism anymore. Let us not forget that Pakistan was using military
resources provided by other countries against India.
Kashmir is a perfect case for blending security with the
economy, trade and diplomacy, and for shifting the focus from politics to
economy. At the end of the day, as James Carivilley, the strategist of Bill
Clinton said in 1992, which has become universally popular on the critical
importance of economic strength, “It is the economy, stupid”. ---INFA
(Copyright, India News & Feature
Alliance)
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