About Us
The
Srinagar-based Jammu and Kashmir Coalition of
Civil Society, founded in 2000, is an amalgam of
eight non-profit organizations working for the
betterment of civil society in Kashmir.
Kashmiri civil
society, even before the outbreak of the
militancy in 1989, was already weak due to
political uncertainty and lack of democratic
space. Before the armed struggle, even people
protesting against the hike in electrical
tariffs were killed and dubbed as anti-Indian;
this problem was only compounded by the
government reaction to the armed uprising.
Unfortunately international organizations that
traditionally promote civil society and
accountability have not been allowed inside
Kashmir by the Indian government. There is a
gradual increase in public awareness of the
importance of civil society - this process has
been accelerated by interactions with Indian
institutions of civil society, many of whom
visit Kashmir to monitor the human rights
situation. There is a realization that the
Kashmir imbroglio has caused massive human
rights of Kashmiris and has indirectly
contributed to the plight of many Indians. It
is also widely understood that Kashmir is the
cause of the militarization and nuclearization
of South Asia, which has not only led to a large
economic drain but also transformed the
subcontinent into a political-military
tinderbox.
The Kashmiri civil society is
getting organized to build institutions which
could work as watchdogs in the war-torn state.
The same process is already being developed in
Palestine; the PLO's Salim Tarimi identified the
purpose of building civil society when he said,
“When Palestinian state arrives, it will not
arrive in vacuum. It will already have an
infrastructure of political and civil
institutions to support it." In Kashmir there is
a legacy of distrust between the people and the
political institutions. When politicians are
attempting to secure offices they stand for
human rights, civil liberties and democracy.
When they grab power they stifle the dissent,
curtail civil liberties and have incarcerated
the political opponents to appease the federal
government. There is no dearth of empirical
examples to support this trend and even the
present generation of Kashmiri leadership should
not be trusted without doubts; a strong and
vibrant civil society is needed to serve as a
check against the despotic and untrustworthy
nature of politicians in the Kashmiri polity.
Reinforcement of civil society is necessary to
protect human rights, and the culture of
intolerance is to be replaced by culture of
dialogue and understanding for ensuring peace
and democracy.
In India civil
society is getting stronger because of growing
democratic space. The issues of militarization,
globalization, nuclearisation, fundamentalism,
terrorism, communalism (Gujarat) and other
issues, which effect people directly, are being
confronted by the Indian civil society. Even in
Pakistan civil society is gaining strength
despite the lack of democracy. We are witnessing
how people-to-people initiatives and track two
diplomacy has flourished in India and Pakistan.
The people’s initiatives are dispelling the
traditional distrust and animosity that have
previously held the two neighbouring countries
hostage. These measures are generating opinions
in support of enduring peace and resolution of
political difference. The governments of both
the countries will not be able to ignore public
opinion, which is the most effective weapon of
civil society. The way civil society is gaining
momentum in the newly established democracies or
the third world countries, it is emerging as a
countervailing power vis-à-vis government policy
making and has been able to influence
governments directly or indirectly to end the
abuse of power.
In 2000 a bold initiative was taken by the
different groups of Kashmiri civil society when
they held a meeting between the Kashmir civil
society and the Indian civil society group.
Thirty-eight civil society actors from India
headed by Mr. Ram Das, the retired Admiral and
the Chairman of the Pakistan and India Peoples’
Forum for Peace and Democracy deliberated over
the issue of peace and democracy. It was also
deliberated how Kashmir issue would be
resolved. This people to people initiative was
widely appreciated by the people and
politicians. It was felt that more interactions
should be there in future. It was also felt that
a strong public opinion could be mobilized
against the nuclearization in the region and in
favour of building pressure on the Indian
Government to resolve the Kashmir issue
according to the wishes of the Kashmiri people,
as it is bleeding the countries and threatening
the peace in the subcontinent. There was follow
up meeting at Delhi in November 2000 in which
the civil society actors from India, Pakistan
and Kashmir participated and discussed the issue
of Kashmir, nuclearization and peace.
Soon after
this meeting the Jammu and Kashmir Coalition of
Civil Society was created with the goals of
protecting international humanitarian law in
Kashmir, promoting peace and democracy, taking a
stand against militarization and violence, and
resolving the Kashmir dispute as per the wishes
of the people.
The specific and substantive objectives of the
Jammu and Kashmir Coalition of Civil Society
are:
1.
To strengthen the independent civil society
movement in Kashmir.
2.
To reactivate the paralysed (due to armed
conflict) civil society of Kashmir by involving
the secular democratic forces for alternate
political activity.
3.
The CCS is intending to create a forum where the
important public issues could be deliberated,
discussed and rationalized, particularly by the
youth.
4.
The CCS is trying to plan an important role in
the process of conflict prevention and peace
building, to combat the jingoist hysteria
created by the governments of India and
Pakistan.
5.
To stimulate and to involve national and
international political actions and to
facilitate the formulation of concrete political
proposal in the promotion of peace and democracy
and to deal with the political questions that
rise in conflict situations.
6.
To build alliances with the Indian civil society
and the European civil society for resolving the
Kashmir imbroglio in a democratic and peaceful
manner, for ensuring positive peace in the
Southeast Asian region. Unless the structural
causes and conditions that have given rise to
the violent conflict are not eliminated, there
can’t be positive peace. The negative peace
process alone is not enough to do the job,
because without positive peace negative peace
may collapse.
7.
To build institutions in the state of Jammu and
Kashmir to protect and promote the civil and
political rights of the people. Only
institutions can be guardians of the rights of
the people. Institution buildings are necessary
for ensuring peace and the civic rights of the
person.
