Kashmir’s terrible thirst for freedom

Freedom’s terrible thirst, flooding Kashmir,
is bringing love to its tormented glass,
Stranger, who will inherit the last night of the past?
Of what shall I not sing, and sing?

Agha Shahid Ali, Kashmiri poet

According to independent estimates, close to hundred thousand dead and ten thousand missing in two decades of armed resistance with the Indian State and yet Kashmiris’ thirst for freedom seems far from extinguished. With the armed militancy at its lowest ebb and two relatively peaceful elections in the state, the level of protests and violence which have rocked the state over the last three summers are a crude reminder that the issue is far from settled. The immediate causes of these summer unrests have been Amarnath land transfer row in May ‘08, rape and murder of two young women in Shopian in May ’09 and fake encounters for rewards in cash and kind in Machil in April ’10. These incidents which have been occurring at an annual frequency for last three years have completely shattered the charade of normalcy in the state.

The new breed of young protestors who appeared on the streets after the aforementioned incidents have not taken to guns as their predecessors but resorted to pelting stones in face-to-face clashes with the police and paramilitary forces. The response of the security forces has been swift and heavy handed leaving more than sixty people, predominantly teenagers dead and scores injured over last two months. Each death has led to another round of protest leading to more deaths. Even the women and children have come on the streets raising their voices against the state. The idea of extreme oppression under the Indian military occupation has taken root again in the hearts and minds of people and another round of alienation with the Indian state seems underway. For the people of Kashmir, the only escape from this perceived oppression seems to be ‘Azaadi’ through the exercise of their right to self-determination.

This renewed vigour for self determination stems from the complete inertia and inaction of the governments involved and unabashed abuse of human rights by the rotten elements within the security establishment under the aegis of Armed Forces Special Powers Act. Under the provisions of this act even a non-commissioned officer can shoot to kill and he need only be "of the opinion that it is necessary to do so for the maintenance of public order" and only give "such due warning as he may consider necessary". The army can destroy property on the mere suspicion of being a militant hide-out or an ammunition dump. The army can arrest anyone without a warrant, who has committed, is suspected of having committed or of being about to commit, a cognisable offense and use any amount of force "necessary to effect the arrest". Army can enter and search without a warrant to make an arrest or to recover any property, arms, ammunition or explosives which are believed to be unlawfully kept on the premises with the use of force necessary for the search. The army is supposed to handover the arrested persons to the nearest police station with ‘least possible delay’ but this delay is not quantified at all leading to arbitrary interpretations. Moreover, no legal proceeding can be brought against any member of the armed forces acting under the AFSPA, without the permission of the Central Government. This section leaves the victims of the armed forces abuses without a remedy.

These sweeping powers under AFSPA have resulted in innumerable incidents of arbitrary detention, torture, rape, and looting by security personnel. Yet, the Central Government has consistently refused to give permission to prosecute many of those accused. There are many cases where even after CBI enquiry and charge sheets, trial is yet to begin. The delivery of justice has been completely obstructed through the application of AFSPA to cover the blatant abuses. The National Human Rights Commission’s (NHRC) jurisdiction to J&K was restricted under the Protection of Human Rights Act, 1993 and at present it has negligible jurisdiction over human rights violations in Jammu and Kashmir. NHRC Chairman K.G. Balakrishnan as quoted by The Hindu recently, said that he wanted these restrictions removed while hinting that the limitations were binding the hands of the NHRC in providing succour to people of the valley who could have grievances on account of human rights

By the Government of India’s own admission as late as June 2010, there are only 500 armed militants now left in the valley. This number according to estimates used to be 35,000-40,000 during the peak years of insurgency. Yet, there has hardly been any scaling down in the presence of security forces in Kashmir since then. The number of security forces varies between different estimates from 400,000 to 700,000. Obviously such a huge presence during the relative years of peace and the frequent incidents of human rights violations by the security forces has taken its toll on the collective psyche of the people of Kashmir.

Yet, the plight of Kahsmiris has not received the same level of attention in the Indian mainstream as other acts of oppression around the country and the World. Civil society by and large except for a few lonely voices has been impervious to the goings-on in Kashmir and in most instances blamed the Kashmiris themselves for inviting their predicament. The primary reason for this insensitivity seems to be prevalent myths about the issue fed through well oiled propaganda machinery to the people of this country. For the recent round of unrest, first there were stories doing the rounds about how the stonepeltors were being paid daily wages and being radicalized by Lashkar-e-Toiba. Soon after that some ‘intercepted conversations’ about the plans to instigate the protestors appeared in the media between an alleged aide of a separatist leader and militants across the border. Then somebody alleged that there are terrorists hiding in the crowd who are directing the protests. A new theory appeared that the protests are limited to certain pockets which are known for Anti India activities. Then came another submission about how security forces did not have any option but to respond with force. Finally somebody came up and said that the youth are alienated because they did not see a future due to lack of educational and employment opportunities.

All these myths are being created to discredit a people’s struggle and dehumanize the Kashmiris’ inalienable demand for their fundamental right to live in their own lands with dignity. Any attempt to question the conduct of the security forces is met with shrill jingoistic response and the chorus of armed forces being the most credible institution in our country. The bogeyman of radicalization is erected in order to link the Kashmiri struggle to the idea of an insane and senseless global Jihad, thereby undermining its credibility whatsoever. The issues of economic impoverishment, unemployment and education are brought in to treat Kashmir as an issue that is same as what rest of India is grappling with. The state government is blamed for the current events in order to demonstrate that Kashmir is a law and order problem while paying lip service to the political nature of the problem.

The basic question of Kashmiri aspirations, Indian commitment to Kashmiris at the time of ascension and our mishandling and mismanagement in the last six decades is never brought up. Whatever has happened in Kashmir since the outbreak of insurgency is one of the darkest chapters in the annals of our democracy. Yet, no questions, no answers, only rhetoric and only myths!

So why is that we have not asked tough questions. Why is it that the teenagers are facing bullets with nothing but stones? Why is it that women are on streets with pots and pans? Why is still such a strong presence of armed forces even when we ourselves admit that the number of militants has drastically reduced? Why is it that a draconian act such as AFSPA still in force in Kashmir and other parts of India? Why is it that the Government does not allow those proved responsible for human rights violations to be prosecuted in a court of law? Why have we not asked for earliest possible resolution of the issue that has led to multiple wars?

The Prime Minister in his Independence Day speech asserted "In Jammu and Kashmir, we are ready to talk to every person or group which abjures violence." This is welcome proposition yet needs to be approached by all parties with cautious optimism. Similar experiences in the past have led to extreme bitterness. Those form the separatist ranks who in the past have responded to such offers from the Government of India have been short changed and undermined. In the last such talk after the initial photo-op every political creature moved out and left those who were dubbed as ‘moderate separatists’ to talk to the members of intelligence and security establishment, thereby completely undermining the political nature of talks. This in turn led to the loss of face for the moderate leaders in their constituencies and today their voices are hardly heard. As for the elected representative, somebody rightly remarked that they do not represent Kashmir in Delhi; rather they represent Delhi in Kashmir. Their credibility if there was any has been completely dented.

Therefore, the proposed talks have to be talks with the political representation from all sides and not the repeat of what has happened in the past if it has to take any step forward towards the resolution. Otherwise the talks will remain an exercise in futility and may even turn out to be counter productive.

The call of the hour for all parties concerned is to come down from the intransigent positions they have taken and think of Kashmir as a human tragedy and enable the direct participation of the victims of this conflict, be it those in valley, in Jammu, in Leh, in Gilgit-Baltistan or in Pakistan Administered Kashmir or those who have migrated to other places, in the final resolution and decision about its future. It is in the immediate interest of both India and Pakistan to resolve this issue at the earliest and save themselves from the perpetual animosity and its consequences. The resolution will be in the great interest of India which is getting ready to take a bigger role at the World stage and exhibiting aspirations of becoming a global power. However, any just resolution for the long lasting peace will have to keep Kashmiris at the centre of the equation and not treat Kashmir as merely a territorial dispute between India and Pakistan.