Lessons From 2019 For The Kashmir Movement

Eighteenth-century Anglo-Irish statesman and philosopher Edmund Burke’s famous words that “Those who don’t know history are doomed to repeat it” has stood the test of time. And thus, while we have ushered-in 2020 with great optimism arising out of the belief that Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan’s promise of serving as “Kashmir ka safir”(Kashmir’s ambassador) and his army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa’s assurance of Pakistan army willing to go to “any extent” for the sake of people of Jammu and Kashmir, will finally resolve the ‘K’ issue.
Many of the Kashmir related developments during 2019 have been unprecedented and that’s why those who are leading the ‘self-determination’ movement cannot afford to evade the inescapable need for serious introspection so that appropriate lessons can be learnt for the future. To be positive is a very good attribute, but when optimism assumes proportions that detach one from reality, it tends to prejudice rational thinking and ends up serving as the ideal recipe for disaster. So, let’s do some sincere soul-searching on the highs and lows of some important events that occurred during the year gone by and learn the right lessons from them.