Appeasement Doesn't Work Against Intolerance

Printer-Friendly Page

Appeasement Doesn't Work Against Intolerance
Subodh Atal, Ph.D.

It is unfortunate that many so-called "experts" speak of violence in Kashmir as an isolated situation that will be resolved by "self-determination" or other Indian compromises. To understand the roots of this violence, one needs to understand the extent of current global threat of Islamic fundamentalism centered in Pakistan and Afghanistan.

The situation in Pakistan and Afghanistan is reminiscent of 1930s Germany, where intolerance, disenfranchisement, cultural decimation and ethnic oppression of minorities was the order of the day. The most ominous common thread between the two situations is the incessant wish to forcibly spread such intolerant and illogical ideology to the rest of the world. This is done by brute force, or by inciting local populations to revolt against regimes not amenable to such intolerant ideology. Nazi Germany successfully employed such techniques in countries like Austria, which willingly became a part of the pogroms.

Minorities such as the Jews and Slavs of the 1940s suffered the same fate as Hindus and Sikhs of Kashmir are suffering right now. Their populations and their cultures come under tremendous pressure towards oblivion. Just as Jewish population and culture was wiped out of Nazi-controlled territory, so has Hinduism including its people and cultural symbols come to near extinction in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Kashmir valley. In the 1930s and 1940s, the aim was to establish the total hegemony of a self-styled "superior" race, now the aim is to establish a total hegemony of a self-styled "pure" religion.

When such intolerant ideologies reach a level of power such as they have in Pakistan and Afghanistan, they can not be countered by compromises. The British, under Neville Chamberlain, made the mistake of compromises with the Nazis, which the latter looked upon as simply whetting their appetite for more conquests. Given more of Chamberlain, the world might well have permanantly lost all of Europe to intolerance and racism.

In a very similar fashion, Indian PM Vajpayee has made compromise after compromise, first Lahore, then respecting the LOC in Kargil and now the self-propagating unilateral ceasefire. As in the case of Nazi Germany, the jihad industry has thrived on these compromises, and has expanded its horizons after each compromise. Will ceding more territory to Pakistan end the violence? No, because the major goal of the jihad industry is to create many more Pakistans in India. Will independence bring peace to Jammu and Kashmir? No, because it will simply become a satellite state of Pakistan and a forward base for jihadis to conquer more parts of India. Each compromise adds to the appetite of such forces, as has been seen repeatedly in history.

A truly bold move by the Indian government would be to scrap Article 370 and allow India's high-tech industry to unreservedly bring economic opportunities to the youth of the state, preventing them from being lured by Pakistani agents to jihadi camps across the LOC. It is Article 370 which has created an artificial wall between India and J&K, and pushed the state far closer to the decay and destruction of economy and society seen in Pakistan and Afghanistan.

The international community also needs to play a more sensible role in checking the deadly exports of the jihad industry into Jammu and Kashmir. The recent addition of several Pakistani jihadi groups to the terrorist list by Britian is a starting point. The United States needs to stop sitting on the fence and similarly move to declare its opposition to the biggest threats to humanity today: international terrorism and religious intolerance.

Subodh Atal, Ph.D.
Director (Communications),
Indo-American Kashmir Forum,
Maryland, United States