Conflict is not just a political tragedy; it is a multi-billion dollar business. For decades, a war economy has thrived in Jammu & Kashmir, enriching a select elite while ordinary citizens pay with their lives, livelihoods, and dignity.
Political honesty requires us to name this dynamic clearly:
- The Bureaucratic-Security Apparatus: Profits from unchecked emergency funding, lack of fiscal accountability, and institutional expansion.
- The Conflict Entrepreneurs: Figures who raise funds internationally under the banner of Kashmiri suffering, only to funnel those resources into private empires abroad.
- The Local Collaborators: Those who sell out their neighbors’ rights for political patronage, government contracts, and administrative power.
Economic Realities
We cannot talk about Kashmiri self-determination without talking about anti-corruption. A free Kashmir that inherits a corrupt, unaccountable political class is not free at all—it has merely swapped one set of masters for another.