Kashmir Burns Again | Mushtaq Ul Haq

The inception of the year 2010 was marked with killing of Inayat Khan by CRPF personnel & these killings continued with the death of teenagers like Zahid Farooq & Wamiq Farooq at the hands of paramilitary troopers & Kashmir police. On June 11 Tufail Ahmad Mattoo was murdered in cold blood by police by aiming a tear gas shell at his head which alongwith the Fake Encounter killings of three innocent youth at Machil, Kupwara in May proved to be the last straw on the camel’s back and whole kashmir erupted as never before, with youth taking a lead in the indigenous protests and separatist leadership forced to chalk out some strategy which they did with the announcement of “Quit Kashmir Movement” on 24 June, 2010. With that initiated a never ending vicious circle of death, maim, torture and killing spree by the armed forces and kashmir police. The separatists began to issue unique calendars of Hartals and protests which people follow in letter and spirit with the result whole life and governance in kashmir being crippled for the past three months with death toll crossing hundred, there is no indication of the protests being abated or the killings being stopped with the people ready to offer even more sacrifices for what they perceive as Aazadi from Indian occupation.

With a life coming to impasse and people being fed up with the Status quo of the centre and negligence of the State government they give vent to the resentment through protests and social networking sites.  Omar Javed a student in an elite valley school says “I think that the movement is now on its peak and its do or die time. It will be a shame if we leave this movement now, after so many killings. Does any government have the right to snatch away peoples' rights with military force??”
Fahad Nazir seconds him as he states that “The present phase of kashmir movement has been triggered by the ongoing killings in kashmir, and the brutal suppression of more than 60 years has taken a form of 'protest'. The people of kashmir are not protesting for construction of roads, neither employment nor any economic packages. The protest of kashmiri's is against human rights violation, innocent killings, against AFSPA in kashmir. The oppressions has led the kashmiri's to think that they have no future with India”

The education has been hit the worst with the hartals called by the separatists & the subsequent curfews clamped by the authorities resulting School and college work coming to a halt, but Adil Ayoub an engineering student at National Institute of Technology has something different to share when I question him about education “Everybody is equally suffering in one way or the other. When we are not sure whether we will be alive the next moment, how can we even think of our careers? Let our right to life be secure first and the right to education comes next”. He shots a volley of queries at me “Even if the hartals are not announced, do you think everything is going to change in kashmir. Still we have to go through the daily humiliation, showing your ID cards to alien soldiers, arrests, tortures and getting killed for no reason will continue”.

“We want peace with dignity. We want our human capital to work freely in any part of the world and trade t o be carried out without any impediments and obstacles”, opines Shahid Ali a businessman.

Stone Pelting has assumed epidemic proportions throughout the whole Valley and is proving the worst nightmare for the state and paramilitary troopers to be dealt with, though they have arrested till now more than 2000 youth related to the incidents of stone pelting and instigating violence though the majority among them claim that they have been implicated innocently, Arsalan Sidiq a Stone Pelter(name changed) deplore that “Present freedom movement in kashmir is a reflection of how are the human spirit can guide its material body for the achievement of its aspirations beyond the fears of physical loses & mental torture. I can't understand what moral or legal right India has to hold 10 million people against their will, why can’t they honour their promises. We the kashmiris have been left with nothing but stones, and we shall throw them on our occupiers as long as aspirations are not respected & the promises made to us r not fulfilled. We as a nation have shown our resolve, now the ball is in Indian court if they want peace in South Asia they will have to solve this problem politically according to aspirations of kashmiri people.
We shall fight with stones till we break the imperial castles of India"

Souzeina Mushtaq giving vent to her anger says “Each day turns out to be a bloody day- with mayhem, chaos, wails and cries marking its end. Do people deserve such response for raising voice against tyranny?

A mother has been robbed of her beloved son; a heart broken father is shouldering the coffin of his 8 year old son. The so called ‘security forces’ are not tackling terrorists but the young Kashmiri’s. Each one of us has been pushed in the dark alleys of injustice.

In the name of counter insurgency, innocents are killed mercilessly and in cold blood. The stones in those little hands can only poke the men in uniform, what compels them to shower the volley of bullets on those poor young souls? The people on roads want no jobs, roads or anything- the only demand is Freedom”.

Geer Muhammad Ishaq who teaches at Kashmir regards the present phase of Kashmir crisis as a fall out of New Delhi's inaction over resolution of the vexed issue of Kashmir in accordance with the wishes and aspirations of all sects of Kashmiri society. “The complacence after holding previous assembly elections and installing a local government probably made Centre believe that no issue is pending anymore and it went into a state of hibernation over the main territorial dispute. Deep-seated roots of conflict and injustice led the new generation that was born and grown up during the period of turmoil to despondency and they resorted to stone pelting as a means of achieving their ends. The anger and frustration brewed up as never before, that was further fuelled by the ruthless use of force and firepower by the paramilitary forces particularly CRPF. The feeling that all forms of peaceful protests have not borne any fruit in terms of any concrete action on the main issue drew the youth to pent up anger forcing them to seek refuge in stone pelting in order to get their voices heard both nationally and internationally. This in turn spurred up a never-ending vicious cycle of protests and killings that continues unabated till date”.

Despite the innocent killings the Centre as well as the State Government isn’t showing any desire or willingness to reach to the aggrieved masses which has further alienated them from the mainstream, Mujtaba Waris MBBS says “Till now kashmiris have made relentless sacrifices for their basic right of self determination, but the so called civilised and democratic India is hell bent on pushing us towards the wall so that they can tag even this peaceful and non violent movement as extremism”.  General Secretary JKLF(R) Wajahat Qureshi is angry at the International & Indian Human Rights Organisations who are tight lipped on the situation in Kashmir, “These organisations work for their own vested interests and these interests blur their vision  for Justice and Dignity, otherwise how can they keep mum on these worst massacres happening in Kashmir. If Maneka Gandhi can feel the pain of animals and ban the trade of Shatoos shawls why she is not speaking against the innocent killings of kashmris? Instead the Indian Civil Society by remaining silent on human rights violations in kashmir is unintentionally supporting the killings”. It must be remembered that JKLF(R) leader Showkat Ahmad Mir was killed in Budgam during protests in Police Firing.

Syed Ali Shah Geelani the face of the movement in a Press Conference on 31 August set the ball in Delhi’s court when he laid down Five Points as minimum conditions for reviewing agitation and till date Delhi has shown no seriousness regarding the same, which demand

1.   J&K to be declared as a disputed territory by India.

2.   Demilitarization and Revocation of AFSPA(Armed Forces Special Powers Act)

3.   Guarantee from PM to stop killings in Kashmir

4.   Action against the troopers involved in killings of innocents

5.   Release of political prisoners and youth

Javaid Ahmad Hajam says that “After withdrawal of AFSPA and Troopers the core issue should be solved sincerely with Pakistan and with people of kashmir. India should accept the fact that they have promised people of kashmir the right of self determination in U.N”. Farooq Ahmed from Narkara is of the same opinion that “People of kashmir should be given opportunity to decide their own future. As we all know that UN has passed resolution that people should be given opportunity to decide their own future but unfortunately that resolution has not been enforced yet. International community should come forward pressing for its implementation”.

Adnan Majeed Qureshi too sounds similar as he says “The present situation in Kashmir is a result of prolonged denial of the facts by the Indian authorities. The Indian State has been sticking to the age old myth of integral part theory about kashmir. India needs accept kashmir as a dispute. A kashmir centric solution is needed because the people for kashmir are the highest stake holders in the dispute.What seems to be the best solution is the implementation of UN resolution of 1948 and allow the people of kashmir to decide there own future”.

AFSPA and other such draconian laws are infamous in kashmir for their role in human rights violations of kashmiris and their abuse by the paramilitary forces who go walk free because these laws provide them impunity to commit violations unabated without the threat of ever being caught. When there was a debate about its revocation or dilution Lt General B.S Jaswal reminded all that AFSPA is a ‘Pious Holy Book’ for Army, drawing flak from all sections of the society.

Women have on the forefront during these protests and have suffered though more passively than actively though some have been killed and other crippled for life during the present agitation. Anjum Zamrooda Habib Chairperson Muslim Khawateen Markaz(MKM) says that “Women have been suffering passively throughout the whole period of insurgency as they have been raped, molested, turned to half widows or rendered destitute as their fathers, brothers or husbands were killed by the army. They have offered numerous sacrifices by giving their beloved sons for the resistance but the nation isn’t well aware of their tremendous sacrifices and contribution. They are not given the Political Space in decision making that they deserve”.

The role of Indian Media has too been questioned for its stereotyping and bias viz a viz kashmir, with the fact that Kashmiri Media time and again has been gagged during past three months. “What becomes more important to address is that whenever we demand aazadi Indian media colors it as a word that is vague and its debated as to what does azadi really mean? They try to portray it as Terrorism” sounds an angry H. Kirmani. Meraj Ibn Firdous too sounds similar views “I am very much shocked by watching the reactions of all the politicians of India as in their eyes there is no worth for the life of a kashmiri. I think there are no second thoughts about this that Indians have never accepted us as their own, we are a witness to this step motherly treatment through all these years. How they defame us at each and every moment with media playing a dubious role in their hands”.

The strategy of the Separatist leadership has been questioned by some people who criticise them for not taking the ground realities into consideration. “The career of students is at stake and the business too. There should be a way in which these two could be carried on. But some Kashmiris say that these are small things after azadi we will manage these things in days, but it is not possible”, sounds grave looking Yasir Muslim

Shakeel Ahmad Bakshi, Chairman Islamic Students League(ISL) and a resistance leader deliberates that the present “Youth's movement is answer to Indian mindset which wants to curb people through the barrel of gun.” Though he acknowledges the fact that the “leadership is not in the line of fire”, but further adds that “Every resistance movement needs stage wise programme, next step is to accelerate its pace”.

Only God knows how long this bloody ordeal will continue though the masses are not tired and wish to end the violations and the bruises of conflict once for all, and it is now in the interests of the State how quickly it reacts to the crises on the war footing unless it is too late to remedy the woes.

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