As the furore over Mumbai resolves into Indian rage towards Pakistan, it is worth taking a step back to look at what the tensions between these countries are about. Traditional explanations centre around partition, and about the holy status of Kashmir in the Hindu imaginary as a place of heaven, portrayed as a form of Heavenly Paradise lost to Terror in film narratives. However, in many ways this is an elite Hindu conception, which does not really address the concerns of the majority. One of the most crucial issues with the disputed areas of Kashmir is that they either are in, or border upon, the breadbaskets of India and Pakistan. Add to this the longstanding and complex disputes over the River Indus water resources. Currently dam projects on either side of the border are nearing completion, but both cannot operate. Under climate change this river will see 40% loss in flow due to glacial meltaway and increased evaporation.
This looks like becoming a major nuclear flashpoint.
However, since this issue is about the decidedly mundane business of growing food, it is part of the world of the silent majority. The narrative of Kashmir as a Holy Land, Kashmir as terrorist stronghold for Muslim Fundamentalists fits into prevailing elite discourses about global religious conflict – good Christian democracies verses bad Islamofascism. The idea that the root of this problem might be about food, water, feeding poor people, the environment and climate change, simply does not fit the story. What if people were united by material rather than religious concerns? My God, you might even have to think about the circumstances under which people actually live.
