The 100 days’ “Message”!

The longest mass uprising in Kashmir has conveyed a definite “Message” to New Delhi and to the World at large!

The mass uprising which was triggered by the killing of Burhan Wani has already crossed 100 days. The uprising had resulted in total shutdown throughout the valley with massive protest marches. To prevent the marches and public meetings for “Azadi”, the government came down harshly on the marchers resulting in clashes all over the valley. Most brutal and harsh methods were used to quell the marches. Pellet guns, tear gas, pepper gas and even straight bullets were used to prevent the assemblies and the marches. Continuous curfew without relaxation was imposed throughout the valley. It was a virtual siege and the valley was converted into a huge prison with the induction of additional troops. 

According to press reports, 94 persons were killed; over 15,000 were injured; 780 people were hit with the pellets in the eyes with many losing eyesight permanently. 9000 people have been arrested out of which 500 have been booked under the Public Safety Act. 5,500 youth are reported to be wanted. Scores have gone into hiding to avoid arrest. Nocturnal raids have been conducted all over the valley. Forces vandalized residential places in many parts of the valley, destroying house hold goods, damaging vehicles, breaking window panes, beating up inmates and in some places burning of harvested crops and destruction of apples was indulged in. The theme appeared to be to terrorize the population into submission. However, all these harsh measures did not deter the youth who were using stones against the bullets. The message everywhere was, “We want Freedom” and “Go India, Go Back”! 

All activities had come to a standstill. The government has virtually disappeared at least in the valley. Everything was shut. Even the Central Government offices, banks, post offices, schools and Colleges are all shut. There appears to be total absence of any administrative machinery. Law and Order, normally a state subject, has been run directly from Delhi! The situation had been compounded by total communications breakdown. The Internet is still shut. The pre-paid mobile phones were “released” after 95 days!  Even the local newspapers failed to appear due to undeclared and unacknowledged official media gag for 3 days. One local English newspaper has been totally banned. One cannot imagine such a situation in any part of India. Kashmir is taken by one and all as the virtual “Enemy Territory” and anything goes here for the sake of the so called “National Interest”! According to some estimates, the trade loss runs into rupees 10,000 crore or more. The loss in Tourism alone is estimated to be around rupees 4,000 crore. It is only in Kashmir that in spite of such harsh measures and massive economic losses, the majority of the people are still surviving and itching to go on and on!

This uprising after a long time woke up the world which had virtually given up Kashmir as a problem. There was a clear cut message to the world from Kashmir that everything was not alright here. The United Nations Human Rights Council wanted to send an observer team but the Indian Government did not allow it. The Chairman went to the extent of saying that if India does not allow observers, there are other means including satellites to monitor the violations of human rights. To divert the attention from these gravest violations of human rights, war hysteria was engineered. The prospects of a destructive war still hang over the sub-continent. Pentagon and NATO had to express concern over the developing situation in the sub-continent and called for restraint. One and all are persuading the two nuclear armed neighbours to sort out their differences including the Kashmir problem through dialogue. Thus after a long time Kashmir is once again on the international radar notwithstanding the fact that the international organisations are not exerting the maximum possible pressure to halt the human rights violations. They could do much more than express their annoyance and anger only!

In contrast, within India there has been a perceptible change among some people in perceiving the real situation in Kashmir. The façade of everything been done by a few pro-Pak elements supported and instigated by Pakistan has been torn away. A large number of people are now accepting the fact that the Kashmiri unrest is something indigenous. Prominent Indian political leaders, top journalists and many social activists of repute are now frankly admitting that the Kashmiris have been grossly wronged. All these people are not only saying that the promises made to Kashmiris have remained unfulfilled but are advocating an open and unconditional dialogue with all the stakeholders to resolve the basic political problem by fulfilling the commitments made to the people. Even the top army commander had admitted in a press conference that peace in Kashmir can only be restored when all stakeholders including the “separatists” are taken on board!

Some people feel that the general masses are getting slowly tired and they will soon give up. Also with all the harshest measures and the use of brute force, the government may be able to bring a lull in the situation and claim the return to superficial normalcy but that will not solve the basic problem. The volcano will continue to simmer underneath for a more destructive eruption next time. For last 70 years Kashmiris are now used and conditioned to these off and on uprisings. They may soon resume normal activities without any credit to the government. However, they refuse to finally give in and call it a day! The resilience and the survival instinct of a Kashmiri are unmatched. They carry on and on as if nothing is wrong. However, once they sense that their existence is threatened, they rise up en masse regardless of the consequences, to the utter surprise of everyone! 

On the government side the theory of the problem management has never worked in the past and will not work in future also. The need is for the problem resolution. In the meantime, the brutal suppression of the freedom of expression drives the discontent underground and the resistance takes shape which late Burhan Wani advocated and popularized through social networking. Already it is reported that a 100 weapons have been snatched in these 100 days! This extreme and brutal suppression has given rise to a new wave of indigenous militancy. The “Burhan Generation”, brought up in the conflict of nineties of the last century is running the show. These people are very determined, highly motivated and bold. In nineties, motivation and guns came from across the border. Still the youth were not emotionally charged and mentally prepared to go to the extremes. However, now a revolution has taken place in their minds. They are throwing stones against bullets and even snatching guns! Moreover, they are supported by masses everywhere that even help them during encounters! It is not a good scenario for the entire sub-continent. There is urgent need for saner people on all sides to take a bold and constructive step for the ultimate resolution of the underlying political problem through an open and unconditional dialogue enabling Kashmiris to lead a life of honour and dignity. The 100 days’ message needs to be heeded and acted upon before it is too late!

The “Political Strikes”!

The widely projected “Surgical Strikes” according to many commentators have political objectives within the country rather than military objectives across the border!

              

Recently Captain Amrinder Singh, the Congress leader from Punjab took a TV team to the border to show that everything was normal and there was no war like situation. A video about the visit has been posted on the Facebook. According to him, the Punjabi farmers were unnecessarily being displaced by the government on the pretext of an impending war. He related his experience of previous Indo-Pak wars and the situation during the Operation Brass Tacks and Operation Parakaram when the borders were very much alive. According to him during those days the borders were mined, there was artillery and thousands of soldiers. At the present moment there was hardly any noticeable activity on both sides of the border. He questioned the government’s directive to the border people to vacate their villages leaving behind unharvested crops. According to him this was all being done for political reasons by the BJP and Prime Minister Modi to consolidate the Hindu vote in forthcoming UP elections. The easiest way to mobilise the Hindu vote has always been to resurrect the bogey of external threat from Pakistan.

A number of questions have been raised about the “Surgical Strikes” across the border by many people within the country and also from abroad. In the absence of any proof shown by the government, doubts have been expressed by many people regarding the authenticity of these operations. The Pakistani side has taken a large group of foreign media persons to the Line of Control on their side to show them that no such operations have been conducted. Within the country high ranking persons like the Chief Minister of Delhi have asked for the proof for which a sedition charge has been filed against him. In fact demanding of proof about the strikes has also been classified as an anti-national act! Many foreign agencies have expressed reservations about these operations. Within Kashmir, Engineer Rashid, the Assembly Member from Kupwara, in whose constituency two of the five places where the alleged strikes are supposed to have taken place are located, says there has been no firing or any other activity in that area. He too termed these as measures for getting political mileage for U.P. elections. In fact, Engineer Rashid in his press conference alleged that Rajnath Singh was being projected as a strong man taking on Pakistan head on to prepare him as the new Chief Minister of U.P. His strong arm methods to harshly put down the Kashmir uprising was alleged to be the part of the plan. Apart from everything else, even the Chinese have alleged that India is trying to derive political mileage from the anti-terror operations.

Whether the strikes took place in reality or not is not as important now as it has been revealed that such events have been occurring across the Line of Control earlier also. Both the sides have been making forays into each other’s’ territory but without any fuss or publicity. The most important thing is the War Hysteria raised after the surgical strikes mostly through the corporate media which has converted its TV studios into virtual war rooms. It appears to have a twofold aim. One was to drown the Kashmir uprising in the war cacophony and the other was to garner Hindu vote in U.P. by presenting a macho image in relation to Pakistan. A detailed analysis of these strikes has been given by Seema Mustafa in her article on the online newspaper, thecitizen.in. She has raised a number of points in regard to this operation.

It appears, both the countries have been only drawing political mileage from these strikes. Even though the Pakistanis have made a lot of noise but the main consideration appears to be somehow drown their own internal political woes in the noise! The Prime Minister there too seems to be facing many uncomfortable questions which he is trying to drown in the noise of the strikes! They have not really made any concerted effort to get the pressure on Kashmiris lessened in any practical manner. This is in contrast to their earlier slogans of a 1000 year war for Kashmiris. Allegedly, their Prime Minister’s family has very strong business relations with Modi’s financiers like Adani and Jindal. Apart from the nuclear holocaust, they cannot afford war because of the ruling family business interests on the two sides of the border!

Whatever may have been the motives of the two countries in these strikes and their aftermath, the real sufferers at the moment are Kashmiris who are used as a whipping boy by both the sides. They have been subjected “surgically” to continuous internal hemorrhage for last four months. The Kashmir valley is bleeding and the Jhelum has virtually turned red! More than 90 person mostly teenagers have been killed; more than 15,000 injured; more than 1,000 hit in the eyes with pellets of whom over a 100 may lose total eyesight and over 6000 or may be even more have been arrested and a large number including minors have been detained under the draconian Public Safety Act. Homes of the people have been vandalized all over the valley. Crops have been burnt and apple boxes destroyed in some places. Kashmir is virtually considered enemy territory by the forces. They seem to have been given a green signal to launch the strongest crack down in the history of Kashmir. The cruelest thing has been attacking a funeral procession of a teenager Junaid killed by pellets just outside his home. Last time such a thing happened was in 1990 which made the then governor lose his job! However, at that time people all over the country especially the parliamentarians had some conscience. They raised a furor. Now, the Parliament is with the people who have let lose a reign of terror. Even the media is not giving the coverage which one would normally expect in a democratic country. They too seem to have been swayed by the war hysteria and the so called “National Interest” which is the easiest excuse to shelve everything.

The most pathetic and ironical instance is the State ruling party members asking for a probe into the killing of the teenager Junaid. How can the perpetrators of the crime ask for a probe against themselves? The cruelest instance is the head of the government which has given umpteen wounds to Kashmiris and made them bleed for all these months, asking the Prime Minister to put balm on their wounds! Can there be anything more hypocritical and naïve than that? However, the most ridiculous stand has been from the so called opposition mainstream leaders. Instead of having the moral courage to express their agony about the Kashmir mayhem by quitting the assembly, they are just tweeting and tweeting which amounts to spraying salt on these raw wounds of Kashmiris. Right now Kashmir is in a logjam between the official curfew and the peoples’ shut down. There seems no end in sight unless the Central Government takes a bold and a practical initiative as advised by many veteran leaders, political experts and reputed journalists. An unconditional dialogue with all stakeholders after restoring normalcy not by the force of the soldiers but by the true balm of the confidence building measures of restoring all the basic human rights without any reservations.