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Chapter 6 - Policymakers’ Perspectives
- Debidatta Aurobinda Mahapatra
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- Conflict Management in Kashmir
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- 01 August 2019
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- 04 October 2017, pp 113-132
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Summary
In this chapter, I explore the perceptions of the policymakers on their interactions with the traders in order to explore how the core needs of the Kashmiri traders factor in policymaking. This exploration is crucial as I argue that management of a protracted conflict depend on how the stakeholders are engaged, and how the state – which has the authority to govern and make policies – is accommodating the needs of the marginalized. In the analysis in this chapter, I have mainly drawn from the semi-structured interviews with the policymakers, involved in the cross-LoC trade and based in New Delhi, Kashmir Valley and Jammu region as well as the official documents.
The Communication
The policymakers corroborated the traders’ argument that there is no formal communication pattern. They conceded that the communication is largely a one-way process as mostly the traders initiate it. One respondent said: ‘They (the traders) experience problems as they are engaged in the trade. They convey those problems to us.’ A respondent had a typical bureaucratic refrain: ‘It is natural that they approach us. We would not go to them to ask if they have any problem.’ In spite of this bureaucratic attitude, the general perception that prevailed was that the officials were approachable. They were ‘open’ to the traders’ inputs. There was no official limit on the meetings with the traders. One Srinagar-based respondent stated: ‘There is no formal mechanism (for a meeting of officials with the traders). But, whenever there is a need, they can meet the officials. They frequently meet the Custodian, Deputy Commissioner (DC) and Superintendent of Police.’ Another respondent based in Poonch informed: ‘Yes, we meet them on all available occasions. I made a comprehensive proposal and presented it to the government of India about how to reform this trade. I prepared this proposal while keeping in mind the demands of the traders.’ There is a three tier, though not formalized, communication between the traders and the policymakers. A Delhi-based respondent elaborated:
With a minor problem, they go to the Custodian. If the issue is not resolved, then they approach the DC. If the DC cannot solve it, they approach the higher authorities. The traders have access to the political leaders. They have met not only senior officials such as Home Secretary but also the Chief Minister and the Governor of J&K and the Home Minister of India.
Chapter 1 - Kashmir, Conflict and the (Uncomfortable?) Questions
- Debidatta Aurobinda Mahapatra
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- Conflict Management in Kashmir
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- 01 August 2019
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- 04 October 2017, pp 1-18
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Summary
Violence, deprivation and protracted conflicts are linked and are among the most pressing problems human society confronts today. It is crucial to address them to realize a peaceful and secure world. In this book, I examine them and explore prospects of conflict transformation by focusing on one of the world's most complex conflicts – Kashmir. I examine the prospects of managing the vertical aspect of this conflict, in which the Indian state and the marginalized Kashmiris are engaged in a conflictual relationship. Broadly, my goal is twofold: to apply a protracted social conflict (PSC) framework in understanding the Kashmir conflict, and to suggest ways to address it.
I have been working on the Kashmir conflict for over a decade. The sustained research has helped me grow personally and professionally. From a personal standpoint, I have become empathetic to the people's everyday struggle to lead a normal life amidst violence. Professionally, I have explored various aspects of the Kashmir conflict. My initial writings attempted to understand Kashmir from a foreign policy perspective. My interactions with the Kashmiris propelled me to look at the problem from the people's perspective. I then explored the internal dimension of the conflict. I documented how the sustained militant movement challenged efforts at managing the conflictual relationship shared by the state and the people. I explored how defective policies paved the way for internal conflict. I have been ruminating on this work for over a decade as several questions troubled me. More so, the humanitarian consequences of violence, traces of which I have witnessed during my residence and field surveys in the region, strengthened my resolve to work on this particular subject – how to address the conflict. This book, hence, is not a mere academic exercise; it is also an attempt to look for alternatives, for solutions.
Reality Check
Why some groups within a state feel alienated and adopt violent methods to fulfill their needs, and how a violent conflictual relationship between a state and a group can be managed, have emerged as critical issues in the twentyfirst century with resonance throughout the modern world, in which intrastate conflicts have far surpassed interstate conflicts. Micro-level approaches in managing an internal conflict through an intensive engagement of a state and its people in a cooperative framework may prove more sustainable than grand theorizing.
Select Bibliography
- Debidatta Aurobinda Mahapatra
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- Conflict Management in Kashmir
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- 01 August 2019
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- 04 October 2017, pp 163-172
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Chapter 3 - Protracted Social Conflict in Kashmir
- Debidatta Aurobinda Mahapatra
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- Conflict Management in Kashmir
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- 01 August 2019
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- 04 October 2017, pp 37-63
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Summary
In a PSC, internal and external dimensions operate in the same social milieu. In this chapter, while elaborating the linkages between external and internal dimensions of the Kashmir conflict and probing the conflictual relationship shared by the state and the people, I have focused on the structural causes of the conflict and the political power shaping it. Why and how did the violent conflict erupt within J&K? Why and how did the Kashmiris, once considered apathetic towards Indo-Pak rivalry, become dynamic players in the conflict? How did the deprivation of the non-material needs contribute to the vertical conflictual relationship? I consider it important to examine these questions to understand the protracted nature of the conflict. Weaving the analysis together with the PSC theory, I elaborate how the conflict originated, what contributed to its protracted nature and how it shaped the state–people relations.
India, Pakistan and Kashmir
Conflicts can be divided into three categories: ‘clearly civil wars’, ‘clearly international conflicts or wars’ and ‘a mixture of international and civil wars’ (Azar, Jureidini and McLaurin, 1978, 45). Most of active civil conflicts in the developing world are characterized by a blurred demarcation between internal and external sources and actors, as there are multiple causal factors and dynamics, reflected in changing goals, actors and targets (Azar 1990, 6). The sources of such conflicts lay predominantly within and across rather than exclusively between states (Ramsbotham 2005, 114). While in its external dimension a PSC is mainly about national identity of two neighboring states, in its internal dimension it may be about identity of a particular group. Here, the domestic and international settings are arenas to fulfill the non-negotiable needs. A group may make alliances and compromises with another group, whether in the domestic or international arena, the ultimate goal, however, is to fulfill core group needs. When there is a mismatch between the boundary of a state and the ethnic, linguistic, religious and cultural composition of the people within the state, or when they overlap with the boundary of another state, the disputes may lead to conflicts crossing physical borders (Goor, Rupesinghe and Sciarone, 1996). Kashmir conflict was in the list of PSCs developed by Azar; the others being Arab–Israeli, China–Taiwan, North Korea–South Korea, Cyprus (Turkish–Greek) and Northern Ireland.
Preface
- Debidatta Aurobinda Mahapatra
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- Conflict Management in Kashmir
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- 04 October 2017, pp vii-xii
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The book emerges from an indomitable optimism that conflicts emerge to be solved. This is a novel attempt to search for alternative solutions to address state–people conflicts in general and the Kashmir conflict in particular. There is ample literature on the Kashmir conflict, covering its interstate and intrastate dimensions. While acknowledging the significance of these studies, this book goes a step further to identify a core factor that propels the internal and external dimensions of the conflict and makes it protracted.
The post-Cold War world witnessed the rise of state–people conflicts with severe humanitarian consequences. There is more loss of civilian life in these conflicts than in interstate wars. Whether in the Middle East, Eurasia or South Asia, such conflicts have not only affected state–people relations, but also surrounding regions. These conflicts share commonalities, which this book has amply demonstrated. First, there is an intermingling of external and internal dimensions. The linkages between these two dimensions need to be identified. The two cannot be isolated as they operate in the same social milieu. Second, fissures within the society, multicommunal cleavages, sharpened by discriminatory policies, are prominent. Third, the state and its people are engaged in a conflictual relationship with cycles of violence becoming a regular feature. Fourth, there is no precise start or end of the conflict, though there may be spurs in terms of wars, episodes of violent protests, etc. Fifth, people and society are conflict-habituated and spoilers engage in activities to sustain the conflict atmosphere; hence, they oppose initiatives for peace. Sixth, conflict management is a difficult process and it requires a multi-pronged approach.
The book is not only interested in identifying the commonalities of state– people conflicts and the intersection of inter and intrastate dimensions, but also in exploring the roots of conflict and suggesting ways to address it, by focusing on a South Asian conflict – Kashmir. This region is well known in conflict lexicon, drawing attention of scholars from all over the world. The region has witnessed wars, border clashes, war scares and militancy – producing several consequences, intended and unintended, immediate and long-term.
Index
- Debidatta Aurobinda Mahapatra
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- Conflict Management in Kashmir
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- 01 August 2019
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- 04 October 2017, pp 173-175
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Chapter 2 - Theorizing Conflicts
- Debidatta Aurobinda Mahapatra
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- Conflict Management in Kashmir
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- 01 August 2019
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- 04 October 2017, pp 19-36
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Conflict broadly implies pursuit of incompatible goals, which can range from competition over resources to contradictory needs and interests. While Coser (1956) defines conflict as struggle over values and claims to scarce resources, Pruitt and Rubin (1986) define it as perceived divergence of interest or a belief that parties’ current aspirations cannot be achieved simultaneously. Four criteria separate a conflict situation from other situations: first, the participants in a conflict must perceive that there is a conflict; second, there is a clear difference of values, interests, aims or relations at the root of the conflict; third, the parties to the conflict are either states or significant elements of the population within the state; and four, the outcomes of the conflict are considered important by the parties (Miall, 1992). Over the years, the patterns of conflicts have changed. The end of the Cold War witnessed decline in interstate warfare and sharp rise in conflicts confined to the borders of states. According to Wallensteen and Axell (1994), 90 armed conflicts took place in 61 locations around the world from 1989 to 1993. Out of these, only four were interstate armed conflicts and the rest were intrastate conflicts, implying that in the post-Cold War period the conflict actors were not only the states. Holsti (1996, 20) refers to internal conflicts, many of which are ethnicity based, as the wars of ‘third kind’. For him, the wars of the third kind have different profiles. In these wars:
[n]o single crisis precipitates them, and they typically do not start at a particular date. There are no declarations of war, there are no seasons for campaigning, and few end with peace treaties. Decisive battles are few … wars are fought by loosely knit groups of regulars, irregulars, cells, and not infrequently by locally-based warlords under little or no central authority.
The post-Cold War conflicts are complex in multiple ways. First, most of them are internal; number of conflicts within states surpasses conflicts between states. Second, most of them are intrastate with, many times, aid and fuel coming from across the formal boundaries of a state. Third, the distinction between combatants and civilians as targets of war has disappeared in the conflicts within the state. Civilians are no longer part of the ‘collateral damage, consigned to the margins’. Rather, in many conflicts they are the targets.
Conflict Management in Kashmir
- State-People Relations and Peace
- Debidatta Aurobinda Mahapatra
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- Published online:
- 01 August 2019
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- 04 October 2017
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The book examines the intersections of political violence, deprivation and conflict, and explores the prospects of its management by studying one of the world's most complex political turmoils - Kashmir. It closely investigates the vertical aspect of the conflict, in which the Indian state and a section of Kashmiris are engaged in a turbulent relationship, and explores ways to stimulate conflict management. By employing the protracted social conflict theory, the author argues that a conflict between a state and a social group ensues when the political elite fail to address the non-material needs of the marginalized. By documenting narratives of the Kashmiri traders and the state officials, and the impact of the opening of the two intra-Kashmir trade routes during the 1990s, this book emphasizes the need to focus on peace initiatives taken by the government, and the significance of accommodation and engagement to address a state-people conflict.
Chapter 7 - Conflict Management Prospects
- Debidatta Aurobinda Mahapatra
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- Conflict Management in Kashmir
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- 01 August 2019
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- 04 October 2017, pp 133-162
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Summary
In a protracted conflict situation, while the state is concerned about state security, the marginalized groups within it struggle to assert their identity. As I demonstrated in the earlier chapters, the hostile relationship between these two nurtures the hostile atmosphere and further contributes to marginalization. When this conflictual relationship is addressed through a mutually cooperative framework, it is possible to manage the conflict. The success of this framework would depend on how genuinely the political elite is willing to accommodate concerns of the marginlized. When a state engages its marginalized people in such a framework, in which the marginalized feel accommodated and empowered, there are possibilities for conflict management. In the conflict management process, every step with the possibility to contribute to peace is valuable and needs to be cultivated. Among the various steps in this direction, engagement between the state and the marginalized is certainly a major one. The transformative power of this engagement needs exploration. There needs to be more emphasis on peaceful engagement, to view a conflict from different angles, from the angle of the people as well as that of the state. Here, I engage with some of the major findings of this research to make an argument that it is possible to manage PSCs through constructive engagement.
The major responsibility for the initiation and the continuation of constructive engagement lies with the state as it has authority to govern. If the state promotes engagement towards addressing the core needs of the alienated group, then conflict management may become a possibility. The more substantive the state's attempts to address these core needs, the more likely the conflict management. If a state can help evolve a constituency of gainers through its peace initiatives, durable peace may become a tangible reality. A half-hearted initiative might produce short-term results but it might not work for a long period, or worse, it might contribute to the existing conflictual relationship. Beside the state, the marginalized too have a role to play in this process. If a marginalized group pressures the state through nonviolent methods, the later may respond positively. There is a possibility that the group will extract more than material benefits. The process of extracting those benefits may address their non-material, non-negotiable needs.
Chapter 4 - Peace Process, Cross-border Opening and the Engagement
- Debidatta Aurobinda Mahapatra
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- Conflict Management in Kashmir
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- 01 August 2019
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- 04 October 2017, pp 64-86
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Summary
The intensity of militant violence was at its peak for about a decade, until late 1990s, when the Indian state initiated a peace process. It opened channels of negotiations with Pakistan, to which the neighbour reciprocated. It also initiated a series of measures to address the marginalization of the Kashmiris. One of the results of this two-pronged initiative – to engage with Pakistan and to address alienation of the Kashmiris – was opening of the intra-Kashmir border. Weaving together the developments that led to the opening of the cross-border roads, nature and scope of the cross-border commercial interactions, the enthusiasm that surrounded this initiative and the formation of the associations by the traders to put pressure on the state, in this chapter I provide a broad picture of the trade initiative and its implications for conflict management.
The Peace Process and the Culmination
The peace initiative that led to the opening of cross-LoC roads can be traced to late 1990s. In 1998, Atal Bihari Vajpayee-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) came to power in New Delhi. One of the most significant developments was Vajpayee's 530 kilometers bus ride from Delhi to Lahore in February 1999. Vajpayee went to Minar-e-Pakistan, symbol of Pakistan's independence struggle and sought to address Pakistan's sense of insecurity and existential threat from India by stating that a stable, secure and prosperous Pakistan is in India's interest. The Lahore Declaration signed during the visit emphasized that ‘an environment of peace and security is in the supreme national interest of both sides and that the resolution of all outstanding issues, including Jammu and Kashmir, is essential for this purpose.’ In May 1999, after three months of the bus ride, the Kargil war took place. India was caught unaware of the infiltration of Pakistani troops in violation of the LoC. Vajpayee's policy of moderation was challenged. Vajpayee responded to the infiltration militarily. The limited war ended in July after the US President Bill Clinton summoned the Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to the White House. After about three months of the war, the Pakistan army in a coup overthrew the elected government of Sharif. The Indian government expressed readiness to normalize relations with the military ruler of Pakistan, Pervez Musharraf, and in May 2001, Vajpayee sent a letter of invitation to Musharraf for talks.
Frontmatter
- Debidatta Aurobinda Mahapatra
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- Conflict Management in Kashmir
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- 01 August 2019
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- 04 October 2017, pp i-iv
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Chapter 5 - Traders’ Perspectives
- Debidatta Aurobinda Mahapatra
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- Conflict Management in Kashmir
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- 01 August 2019
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- 04 October 2017, pp 87-112
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Summary
In this chapter, I fathom deep into the perceptions of the traders on trade related policymaking and their role in it. I also explore their perspectives on the state and the state policy to address their needs. In this exploration, I have primarily relied on the semi-structured interviews conducted in 2014 and 2015, focusing mainly on three areas – means of communication between the traders and the policymakers, impact of this communication on trade-related policymaking and on the conflict.
The Communication
The traders were unanimous that there was communication with the policymakers. Though the state engaged them, it did not devise a formal mechanism for the communication. As the traders were a key stakeholder in this cross-border economic exchange, the state was the facilitator and the trade was a new development, it was expected that there would be a mechanism for engagement. But there was no formal mechanism guiding traders’ interaction with the government officials. The traders adopted multiple methods, including meetings, memorandums, zero line meetings, media, international conferences and protests and boycotts to convey their concerns. While some of these means entailed regular communication, others were occasional and even rare.
The meetings with the policymakers were not dictated by set guidelines, but by exigency of a situation; when the traders felt the problems needed official attention or when the officials felt that a trade related issue needed discussion. The traders enjoyed relatively easy access to the local officials directly in charge of the trade. A trader elaborated, ‘We have more meetings with the local officials who are aware of the ground realities and are in a better position to understand why we are confronting a problem and how it can be addressed.’ The major mode of communication with the local officials was meeting, for which the traders usually took prior appointment. Occasionally, they had the opportunity to meet an official without prior appointment depending on the availability and consent of the official. A respondent clarified:
At times we have to convey our concerns urgently. In such situations, we cannot wait to seek an appointment and meet an official at the scheduled time and date. The representatives reach the office and request the secretary of the office for an urgent meeting. If the official agrees we meet him and convey our problem.
Contents
- Debidatta Aurobinda Mahapatra
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- Book:
- Conflict Management in Kashmir
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- 01 August 2019
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- 04 October 2017, pp v-vi
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