The desolation of Kashmir

Seventeen year old Tufail Ahmad Mattoo, a class XII student, was preparing for the medical entrance exam.
On 11 June, while coming home from his tuition class, he was caught in a street fight between a stone-
pelting crowd and the police in Srinagar’s Rajouri Kadal area. Tufail took shelter in the Gani Memorial
Stadium but a tear-gas shell fired by the police from close range landed on his head. He died on spot. The
administration first tried to pass the blame on the protesters claiming that the boy was killed “to keep the pot
boiling’’ but later retreated when eyewitness evidence and the autopsy report confirmed that the murder was
caused by police firing. Since then, large-scale street violence has erupted across the Kashmir valley. The
police and the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) were seen engaged in frequent clashes with incendiary
crowds armed with nothing but stones and chunks of rocks. Reacting to the young stone-pelters, the security
men, apparently ignorant about non-lethal ways of crowd control greeted the youngsters by firing bullets
straight at them. The indiscriminate firing caused several civilians to die on the streets. Most of the
casualties, shockingly, are teenagers and school going children, aged between nine and nineteen. Normal life
is suspended in the Valley for months by strict and indefinite curfews imposed almost every day.
Participation of youngsters in street demonstration and protests are nothing new in the former princely state
of Jammu & Kashmir which has a two-decade-long history of Pakistan backed insurgency. Even during the
turbulent days of 1989 from when the separatist movement began, thousands of embittered youths recruited
by the JKLF came out on streets to protest. But this time the protests are different in nature. The significant
presence of women and children among the protesters who have spontaneously descended on the streets
defying curfew orders and braving police bullets has provided a unique characteristic to the protests. It
seems that bullets do not scare the common Kashmiris any more. This popular mood explains why it is
difficult to dub the present turmoil just as a Pakistan-backed activity contrived by anti-India forces of
Kashmir. The anger is clearly directed against the brutal repression by the Indian security forces which has
caused needless deaths of innocent teenagers and injured several hundreds. An unnerved Chief Minister
Omar Abdullah has to call in the Army – for the first time since 1989.
*****
Should we view the recent protests with sympathy or apathy? In the public domain there is an intense debate
on this question. On one side, there are “nationalist” observers and critics who believe that the incidents are
definitely linked with a “nefarious design” orchestrated by Pakistan backed “anti-national elements”. Those
elements, we were told, are “pushing children and teenagers to the forefront to fight their messy fight against
India”. What will the poor police and security men do when the mischievous protesters are provoking them
to fire? “If one person is killed in police firing, the valley erupts as if on cue,” explains the Hindu nationalist
RSS mouthpiece Organiser in its July 11 editorial. “But when the security forces are maimed or killed in
dozens by the terrorist attacks, the government and the society do not even murmer,” the editorial dejectedly
observed. Pointing their fingers towards the fishy timing, the watchful nationalists have hinted that the
protests are carefully orchestrated to create a tense situation for disrupting the annual Amarnath Yatra which
begins in the month of June. They have also noted that the timing has been appropriate for the Islamist
hardliner and pro-Pakistan leaders like Syed Ali Shah Geelani and the moderate separatists among the
Hurriyat Conference for inciting the Kashmiri people with anti-India sentiment as the summer holiday
season has just ended and Kashmiri tourist industry has earned its keep for the year. The Bharatiya Janata
Party (BJP) which views every grievance of the Kashmiri people through the anti-national lens is
spearheading this viewpoint and asking the media not to give credence to “lies and malicious propaganda”
unleashed against the country and its security forces. It is difficult for the nationalists to hide their ugly anti-
Muslim chauvinism that is peeping out from their sacks.
Severely criticizing the UPA government at the Center as “totally clueless and spineless,” maverick BJP
leader L K Advani has thundered, “Instead of giving a fitting reply to the secessionists, the government has
been demonising the security forces.” He has also brought out a tattered yet dear issue – abrogation of
Article 370 of the Indian Constitution. Article 370 ensures a special status and internal autonomy for Jammu
and Kashmir and limits Indian jurisdiction in the state to the three areas: communications, defense and
foreign affairs. Invariably, some of them have also raised the issue of the exodus of Kashmiri Hindus from
the Valley after carefully concealing the role of Jagmohan – an infamous bureaucrat specially appointed as
the governor in the State by successive Congress governments in the 1984-1989 and again in 1990.
“Jagmohan did more than anyone else to provoke insurgency in the state” writes Pankaj Mishra in his article
Death in Kashmir. By the time he was replaced, “the entire Muslim population of the valley had revolted
against Indian rule.” Jagmohan was a pro-Hindu fanatic, who later found his real abode and joined the BJP,
had ruled the State with ruthless aggressiveness. It was his hardhearted methods that “drove many Kashmiri
youth to support Islamist parties,” created communal divisions and aided the mass exodus of Kashmiri
Hindus from the Valley. The wealthy and elite among the displaced Kashmiri Hindus took refuge in big
cities like Delhi, many settled in the United Kingdom America. The ordinary and poor ones had no other
option other than cramming the refugee camps of Udhampur and Jammu.
From the other side, the protests are viewed not as a terrorist oriented movement but a popular upsurge, a
result of deep alienation, disillusionment and dissatisfaction among the general Kashmiris, the younger
generation in particular, due to the “wrong policies being pursued by the governments at Delhi and Srinagar”
and “the environment of hopelessness created by the false promises and non-responsive administration both
at the state and the centre”. (Source) The democratic minded observers has urged for an immediate end to
the brutal and inhuman police firings, to release all the detained juvenile protesters from state prisons, to
withdraw cases of stone-pelting registered against them. Keeping in mind that there could be certain
elements across the border that may like such a situation to develop in the Valley, the observers have
nevertheless insisted on taking out Srinagar and other civilian areas of the Disturbed Areas Act since there is
a significant decrease in militant activities. They have further argued that the Kashmir crisis is not just a law
and order problem which can be resolved through administrative measures and stressed that the crisis can
only be resolved politically. According to them, the first step to tackle the crisis is to create a right
atmosphere for dialogue. Holding talks with the people of Kashmir must be initiated without precondition
because one does not put conditions “when you talk to your people.” It is also important to involve the
Hurriyat conglomerate in the talks in the process of finding out a long-term solution.
Communist Party of India (Marxist) general secretary Prakash Karat has met the Prime Minister to apprise
him on the volatile situation after he visited Kashmir in August and held discussions with a wide section of
the people in Srinagar. He argued that there has to be a distinction between dealing with stone pelting youth
and tackling militants resorting to terrorist violence. The CPI(M) has further asked the government to amend
the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) by removing certain draconian provisions. The law, which
was imposed in the area since July 1990, allows the Armed Forces to constantly scrutinize, arrest, and shoot
people with impunity, without any fear of a court trial.
*****
We have heard the views of the Right and Left. What are the views of the centrist Congress party? Keeping
its tradition of doing absolutely nothing when expected to do the most, the party has resorted to do what it
historically does the best – delivering empty talks without taking any specific stand, spinning a few lies and
patiently wait till the public mood dissipates naturally. The Prime Minister has gently floated a statement
that the Centre is ready to “consider” the demand for autonomy in the state “if political parties were
unanimous on the issue” knowing fully well that nothing is going to happen since the main opposition party
BJP is totally against it. After toying with the idea of announcing an Eid peace package on the eve of Eid-ul-
Fitr, the party core committee has conveniently decided to shelve the idea for the time being considering it
too hazardous to implement. The peace package was expected to repeal the AFSPA in certain areas of the
state, offer special compensation for the families of the civilians killed in firing by security forces, ensure
rehabilitation for surrendered militants and announce an employment package for the educated unemployed
of the Valley. The Eid peace package has become a joke.
In the September 11 all party meeting, Sonia Gandhi has expressed her “serious concern” about the crisis
and urged that, “we must ask ourselves why is there so much anger. Why is there so much pain, in particular
amongst the youth?” Who are the “we”? If she means the Congress Party then it is a wrong question put to
the wrong people that can never find the right answers. If she and her party are really so concerned about
Kashmir, why nothing was done to address the issue and consolidate the positive gains achieved during the
recent years when the situation was apparently turning normal? Why are the people of Kashmir showing
obvious signs of their lost faith in the democratic process when just one and half years ago they have turned
up in large numbers to cast their ballots defying calls of poll boycott from the separatists? If the “we” means
the other political parties present at the meeting, then can we softly ask who gave her the right to deliver
such sermons? It is now clear to the entire country that the Congress President and her grand old party have
adapted a programmed habit to take refuge behind the curtains of moral wisdom in extremely grim
situations, as now. The people have become habituated with this sneaky exercise of solipsism and listening
to the big words that quickly evaporates into thin air. Needless to say, the Kashmiris are also quite familiar
about this adulterated morality. It is a truism that leaders of the Congress party have the least idea from
where and how to begin the process of finding out a solution.
The worsening state of affairs in Kashmir or the numerous deaths of innocent youngsters have no unique
value that can annoy the Congress President or her know-it-all son Rahul – the projected Prime Minister of
India. The mother and son duo have neither condemned the brutal atrocity of the security forces and its
guilty officers for killing and torturing common citizens at random. Nor have they emitted a single word of
criticism against the beleaguered chief minister Omar Abdullah who has earned a universal wrath for terribly
mishandling the situation and proving to be extremely novice to run a sensitive state like Jammu and
Kashmir. Instead, Rahul Gandhi has publicly rallied behind the “youngster” chief minister and solicited that
Omar should be given more time and support! Does the AICC general secretary thinks that Omar Abdullah
is running a local youth club? Does he mean that the Kashmiri people have to wait tolerantly till the youthful
Omar, absolutely unaware of the ground reality, gets mature enough to deliver? How can he talk so casually
about a tragic situation where in the last three months more than hundred civilians have lost their lives?
Omar Abdullah has also responded in a reciprocal way. Instead of listening to the voices from within the
Valley with a willing ear, instead of reaching out to the anguished people with a humane and sensitive
approach, the chief minister has found it more crucial to praise New Delhi and Rahul Gandhi for their firm
support to him and his government. For now, the powerless Omar Abdullah is nothing but a suitable pawn
for the Congress led UPA. Whether the pawn understands the crisis of Kashmir and the genuine grievances
of the people is therefore an irrelevant matter. And after all, isn’t he a dear friend of the crown prince!
One of the main complains repeatedly expressed by the people of the Valley is that the Center has almost
ritualized the practice of planting puppet chief ministers as a supple instrument to rule the state by proxy.
This is why a popular upsurge against a snooty and unconcerned chief minister and his dull, corrupt and
callous administration has tragically turned into an anti-India upsurge. The stone-pelting protesters on the
streets are fuming against the current regime of Omar Abdullah who prefers to spend more time in New
Delhi circles. Very little has been delivered by him after making tall promises in the election meetings. His
regime has badly failed to address economic backwardness or initiate any serious efforts to create jobs for
the vast majority of the educated youths. Jammu & Kashmir is ranked the second-most corrupt state in India
which receives more money than most other states. But little reaches the ultimate user.
*****
For a long time, the security forces are the face of democratic India in the Valley. The Kashmiri youth who
are born and brought up under the shadow of futile militancy and coercive counter-insurgency in this
conflict zone has only seen the repulsive face of Indian democracy through their daily experiences of
nocturnal knock on the doors, ransacked homes, random arrests, enforced disappearances, torture, killings
by direct or fake encounters, routine humiliation and abuses carried out by the security forces since 1989 in
the pretext of maintaining law and order. Unlawful killing of relatives have become an essential part of their
lives. The daily dose of lethal violence does not shock them any more. Living under constant fear, suspicion
and alienation has permanently etched a deep psychological impact in their minds. And when this simmering
situation explodes into a desperate cry for “Azadi” (freedom) and crops up in anti-India graffiti, we blame
the “evil forces of Kashmir” right away for inciting anti-India sentiments. How can we expect any positive
feeling for the Indian State from them? It is an absurd expectation.
Yet, on the eve of the all party delegation that is scheduled to visit the Valley tomorrow, we want to remain
hopeful. We want to believe that the initiative will help to open an almost closed door and generate an
atmosphere for sustained political dialogue with all sections in the State, From the deep of our hearts we
want to express our sympathy for the families who has lost their near and dear ones in the recent turmoil and
extend solidarity to our Kashmiri brothers and sisters. We appeal to them for pursuing their protests
peacefully. We also want to tell them that there are a great number of people in this country who does not
believe that all expressions of their anguish and grievance are necessarily anti-national. We want to tell you
that we really care. We also want to make a heartiest appeal to the political class of India to look into all the
wrongs committed in the past and make corrections. For the sake of the country, leave aside all your
political scheming and posturing and handle the issue prudently with a great deal of sensitivity.
Image courtesy:
Images used in the title collage have been taken from the following web sources:
flicker.com, thehindu.com, thekashmir.wordpress.com, dawn.com, therecord.blogs.com, wn.com,
independent.co.uk, pkdiary.com