Few things I noticed:
Most of the 'war' these days is fought in public opinion, and frankly, India sucks at managing that. While our inclusive approach to media make it easy for someone to publish all kinds of things that create a certain image of the Indian presence in Kashmir, there is no real coordinated effort to present the Indian side well. The few voices that get raised are often the Hindutva variety, which are easy to dismiss as radicalized or biased. On the other hand, there is wholesale propaganda geared toward inciting crowds, creating an overwhelming image of Indian oppressive actions, unending suffering, and so on. And I am sure some of it may be true, but it is also very exaggerated in terms of the magnitude. For example, it must be a real 'moderate holocaust' or 'gentle genocide' (a la moderate separatists
) if the number of people dead is less than the number of days of actual conflict on the streets. Not that I discount any death, but obviously the projection of the 'slaughter' is quite exaggerated.Missing information: There is very little real information coming in from the government or army. 5 infiltrators killed in so and so place as a small article is not the same as photos, names, IDs if any, audio clips from recorded conversations that imply planned unrest, scans of posters confisticated from the youth to intimidate people into supporting strikes, etc.... all this makes the Indian version more credible, but apparently no one realizes that. So, while you have quotes from the separatist publicity machine about the daily habits of the dead, quotes from family members, references to earlier death announcements in following ones..... it is a very well organized way of keeping the issue alive. India needs to wake up to this.
Then there is actual countering propaganda. Check out news coming out of Israel. No matter what the slaughter they indulge in, there is always also an Israeli version, no matter how thin and unbelievable, that makes it sound overdue at best and a very human mistake at worst. Check out Pakistan and its protests about human rights abuse in Kashmir, including the dramatization of receiving aid around it. No one laughed outright at the thought of Pakistan lecturing about human rights, when it is framed with images of the suffering of millions. Millions who are better off dead than being aided by such a cruel nation as India.... Without getting into the right and wrong of it, the important part is that these techniques are effective. India needs to have someone talking on its behalf. Someone other than Arundhati Roy, that is. She brings up some great points on behalf of the oppressed, but apparently no one other than the oppressed has problems. Uhmmmm.... lets just say human rights activists only if they think cops and army people are human too, but otherwise, the common man of India - who cares about the armed forces and the hurting kashmiris and is interested in looking deeper into things and questioning propaganda rather than bashing the Congress (no matter how tempting it gets).
There is an extremely organized network churning out propaganda and making comments, sharing forwards..... we need to have something with a capacity to question it visibly. I'm not speaking all out war, but certainly keeping the Indian perspective visible for the countless people reading on in disbelief and often hoping to find something that makes sense out of the apparent cruelty.
The Human face: The government is utterly paralyzed by the happenings, and running in circles, muttering to and among itself without actually saying anything at all to the Kashmiris other than requesting restraint and implying vague promises along disastrous lines. Incredible as it sounds, it hasn't occurred to the government to say, "Gosh, we screwed up big time. We ignored Kashmir. Kids died. Words can't bring them back, but we are sorry." or "We are sorry that your complaints on human rights abuses have been ignored. We would appreciate it if you could submit records of issues you think have been ignored and on our end, we will set up an inquiry." or "Let us get a grip on the human rights scenario from now on, while we sort out the past. The army has set up helplines. Could you volunteer mature and sensitive people to interact with the victims, who may find it easier speaking with a fellow Kashmiri?". Replacing politicians with call center trainees would solve half the Kashmir problem. You don't have to do something you can't, but you can listen, apologise for their suffering, put the grievance into a system, which allows for time to work with it. Involving them is important, and the government seems to think "do this" or "take this" is a form of engagement.
We can't do much about the government, but I can't but help think that creating interactions that are compassionate rather than accusative would help influence the tone of the Kashmir problem online. For example, it is not helping to hear of the income versus expenditure of Kashmir, when obviously that money hasn't brought joy. Or talking about being misguided, when they see injustice around them (never mind that they have been sensitized to see and react to that). People sometimes forget that when you antagonize Kashmiris, you push away Kashmir too. The point isn't who is right or wrong. Like a friend with a tantrum, when we care and we simply listen without correcting or blaming no matter how outrageous they get to help them find calm again. What we need is a true "popcorn brigade" watching events unfolding between the government and Kashmir with no particular bias and desire for well being of both, together or apart, but looking at all kinds of facets that may not have been considered and inviting conversations around them. A friendly curiosity and a nosy irreverence that questions everything on the table. For example, "Say dost, you get your independence. What have you guys planned for the country?" or even "What do you see in that Andrabi woman? She herself says she doesn't care for kashmiriyat." even, "Do you think these guys will really take away the superpower acts?" or "What is the longest time you've stayed indoors because of a curfew?" Whatever the answer is, to not argue, but simply discover how their thinking and life differs from ours. Get them talking, get them engaged. Show them that we care for THEIR perspective rather than trying to con them into ours. Show them that they can have that perspective safely around us. Create those islands of peace so that they don't have to default into the schemes of the separatists, but have a feeling of security of their own too.
I feel certain that something like this would help. I was wondering the viability of a volunteer covert popcorn brigade group as a social/patriotic experiment, where our main job is to create diversity in the conversations around Kashmir and question negative propaganda, without actually fighting it. The idea is to take it seriously and poke enough holes for its unviability to be evident without calling it fake and triggering argument. Diversity that forces thinking for answers, because the propaganda hasn't covered the "lines". It is discovering and talking more and more about these gray areas that can help those interactions form and communications open.
I don't know if it is a suitable subject for here, since I'm new, but this was the reason I joined, so I might as well ask.