Instead of working to change the demography in favour of India like China has done, the Indian government, in contrast, could not even prevent the expulsion of the Hindus from the Valley. While Xinjiang is half filled by Han Chinese, Kashmir is cleansed of the Hindus. With the result, India has to defend Kashmir by the army instead of by the people.

That China too has its Kashmir and problem with Islamist separatists identical to India's Kashmir is not widely known. "Xinjiang", actually pronounced as "Sinkiang" for postal purposes, is China's Kashmir. Xinjiang actually shares borders with Ladakh in of India's Kashmir. But unlike Kashmir it is not a small area. Its size is 1.8 million sq. kms; almost one-sixth of China; half as much as of India. India's Kashmir measures some 2,65,000 sq. kms. Of which some 86,000 sq.kms is under Pakistan; some 37,500 sq. kms under Chinese; the balance, 1,41,000 sq.kms, is only with India. The disputed part of India's kashmir, some 1,45,000 sq. kms, is less than one hundredth of Xinjiang. So China's Kashmir is physically 100 times bigger than India's and therefore its problem too is that bigger. Yet many do not know about it.

The reason is that China prevented Xinjiang, its Kashmir, from becoming an international issue like India's Kashmir. Xinjiang, which had a majority Turkish Mulims [known as Uyghurs] in 1949, had a short lived state of East Turkestan. China invaded it, crushed it, won back its territory. The name Xinjiang literally means "old frontier returns to China"! See the contrast. A year earlier, in 1948, India almost won back most of the Kashmir from Pakistan which had invaded it, but, voluntarily offered and turned it into an international issue. It was India, not Pakistan, which went to the United Nations; made it an international issue. It is struggling to say it is a bilateral one! Now, on to how China handled Xinjiang, its Kashmir, and integrated it with mainland China.

Xinjiang has a population of 20 million plus. The Uyghur Muslims constitute 45 per cent; other Muslims 12 per cent and Hans 41 per cent. What was the population of Han Chinese in Xinjiang in 1949? Just 6 per cent; in six decades it has risen by seven times. This change did not occur on its own. China did not just trust army or administrative control of its territory in Xinjiang. It trusted only its people. It ensured that the Han Chinese slowly began populating Xinjiang. The result is self-evident. But the 41 per cent Han Chinese population does not include Chinese defence personnel and families, and unregistered migrant Chinese workers.

Xinjiang was once known for a variety of agro products; but now, for more. Xinjiang's GDP rose from $28 billions in 2004 to $60 billions in 2008. Its per capita GDP [2008] is $ 2,864, almost the same as the national average. It has large deposits of minerals and oil. The oil and gas extraction industry in Xinjiang is booming; it has a pipeline to Shanghai. This sector accounts for 60 per cent of Xinjiang's economy. With vast area, huge resources, and sparse population, Xinjiang benefits China more than the other way round. In contrast the economic cost of India's Kashmir is very high. Kashmir receives a per capita Central grant of Rs 8,092, while for other Indian states it is Rs 1,137. If the grant is given directly by money order each Kashmiri family of five would receive Rs 40,460 every year.

Still the Uyghur Islamists are unhappy with communist China. The World Uyghur Congress led by Rebiya Kadeer, a business woman, and based at Germany is fighting for the freedom of Uyghurs. There is violence and terror in Xinjiang like in Kashmir but not on that scale thanks to Pakistan's ISI being friendly to China as common cause against India. The Uyghurs are therefore not getting any support from Pakistan. Yet militancy among Uyghurs is growing. There have been terror strikes in Xinjiang on August 5, 2008, just three days ahead of the Beijing Olympics, killing 16 policemen. On August 11, when the Olympics was in progress, attacks took place near Beijing in which 11 people were killed. And just last week, on July 6, there were huge riots between Uyghur Muslims and Han Chinese in Urumqi, the capital of Xinkiang, resulting in 184 deaths and 1,000 injured. Most of the dead and injured were Han Chinese despite that Uruqmi has in 3/4th Han Chinese majority. See how the Chinese reacted the July 6 riots. The Chinese President Hu Jintao, who was to attend the G8 meeting, banked the meet impliedly admitting the depth of the crisis. His government declared war on "three forces", namely"separatism, extremism and terrorism". It banned Friday prayers in Urumqi mosques and told the Muslims to pray from their homes, something which no other country would or could do. China has also pointed to the Al Quieda for the trouble.

Yes China do have problem with Islamist separatists, extremists and terrorists. But it has, by diplomacy and action, kept that an internal problem of China unlike India which has on its own made the Kashmir an international issue. More, China has changed the religious and political demography of Xinjiang by ensuring that 41 per cent of the province's population is non-Muslim. Instead of working to change the demography in favour of India like China has done, the Indian government, in contrast, could not even prevent the expulsion of the Hindus from the Valley. While Xinjiang is half filled by Han Chinese, Kashmir is cleansed of the Hindus. With the result, India has to defend Kashmir by the army instead of by the people. Had India followed the policy which Chinese had adopted in Xinjiang, conquering back Kashmir instead of contracting under Article 370 which prevented rest of Indians from migrating to Kashmir, today Kashmir would have demographically integrated with India. India would be dealing with internal riots occasionally like China does; and not face or fight wars with Pakistan and with terrorists everyday. The lesson for India is: demography-religious demographic balance that is in tune with the national mainstream-is the guarantee for the nation. More so, at the borders. China gradually brought Xinjiang, its Kashmir, into the Chinese national mainstream through the Han Chinese. But India constitutionally contracted to keep its Kashmir out of the mainstream; it even cleansed it of the mainstream by making the Hindus refugees in their own nation. What a contrast?

QED: Augustus Comte, the 19th century French Philosopher, said, "demography is destiny". Citing him, The Economist magazine [August 24-31, 2002] emphasised the importance of demographic influences on nations and economies. The China understood the criticality of religious demography; India did not. This is the differing tale of the two Kashmirs.

Courtesy: www.organiser.org, August 02, 2009