HARTALS n KASHMIR!

Protest Calender Have you Ever Seen One?

More than one month has passed to the hartals and curfews (declared or undeclared) and the busy, occupied and hustle- bustle of life now seems to be a distant dream, God only knows when the situation will return to the normal? Since the inception of armed insurgency in the valley, hartals and curfews have been a norm the former issued by the separatists to condemn the State atrocities as well as to depict their strength and grip on masses and to judge the level of obedience of the masses while as the latter being clamped down by the State and enforced by its numerous security agencies to keep the dissent and resentment at bay and in between the two the common innocent masses keep suffering for the reasons they don’t know, or are too naïve to understand the same or just fate made them a part of the same.

The recent innocent killings of teenagers and unarmed youth by Police and CRPF once again let the vicious circle of Hartals and Curfews go on. Yes the innocent killings must be mourned, condemned and resisted by the people and democracy and accountability revived once again and as the method of resistance separatist camp this time headed by Hurriyat(G) and a new face Masarat Alam Bhat at the helm of affairs issuing the calls for Hartals and backed by Syeda Aasiya Aandrabi, which makes the present phase of movement inclusive of women voice and dissent too. The present leadership has thrown the moderate faction of Hurriyat in oblivion with Mirwaiz Omar Farooq occasionally endorsing the Hartals Calendar chalked out by Hurriyat(G), while the stalwarts of the moderate group like Prof Abdul Gani Bhat, Fazlul Haq Qureshi and Bilal Ghani Lone reduced to mere dwarfs with no real say in the present resistance.

The present resistance can be witnessed as a Sequel to the 2008 Land Row agitation when the Chalo’s to various places became a norm and the politics of Hartals were revived last year in the aftermath of Shopian double murder and rape case. The present phase is a continuation of the same, hartal politics and the separatists who are made to spearhead the movement are caught between the devil and deep sea because they can’t repeat 2008 and afford to open the hartals because the people don’t want them to. The Supreme head of United Jihad Council and supremeo of Hizbul Mujahideen Syed Salahudin’s remarks about trying something different than Hartals drew a flak from separatists as well as masses who rebuked him by saying that he was ignorant about the ground situation in the valley.

The common masses are under the illusion that Hartals will bring India on knees but this perception is wrong, by resorting to more Hartals we are harming only ourselves and our economy not Indian. Only the business class is worst hit and the daily loss is in millions and the daily wagers, cart pullers and laborers who earn daily for two square meals are hit the most. The government employees are secure because despite Hartals they at the end of the month receive their full salary but among them a big chunk is disappointed because the constant source of income in the form of bribes has been stopped and made them resentful against the separatist camp.

Though Hartals have a positive aspect too, the consumerism is at its lowest and billions of rupees surplus has been saved which otherwise would have found its way to the coffers of the Capitalists.

The present phase as I call it "Autarkic Phase" is led by the people and leadership has to comply to the wishes of the masses and if this time they fail to deliver, it will be a political death for them and a sense of inferiority complex would prevail among the masses once again as in the aftermath of 2008 agitation, but as is the norm with kashmir here the leadership always fails to deliver.

Leadership must break this cycle of Hartals and chalk out some new strategy to resist and protest. Also the separatists have launched the “Quit Kashmir Movement” on 24 June, 2010 same as was launched in 1946 by Sheikh Muhammad Abdullah against the then Dogra ruler Maharaja Hari Singh but I don’t think that Hartals are going to make this campaign successful. Instead the resistance leaders should have certain well defined objectives to concede from India which could be the first step towards realization of this goal, but till now no goals have been earmarked. The resistance must continue till

1. Armed Forces Special Powers Act(AFSPA) is revoked.

2. Whole J&K is demilitarized.

3. All Political Prisoners are released.

After achieving these goals, new demands and strategy for resistance must be chalked out. What we are presently landed in is just chaos, confusion and anarchy which will breed more resentment, violence and innocent killings instead of achieving something substantial and concrete.

The State too must understand the genuine concerns of the masses and try to redress the same instead of suppressing the resentment and dissent with an Iron Fist. The State must respect the sentiment and anger and invite all the separatists to the table for a Dialogue and conceive to the above demands. I can surmise that people this time are in no mood to break the Hartals and are warning the separatists who think of doing the same by verdicting them as Traitors.

Hence the State must act as a mother and put an end to the same but not with a heavy hand, separatists too must put forward certain demands because it is utopian to think that by resorting to endless Hartals, valley will secede from India.

Mushtaq Ul Haq Ahmad Sikander is Writer-Activist and presently student of Masters Program of Political Science at Kashmir University and can be reached at sikandarmushtaq@gmail.com