Vivek Sinha
Photographs tell a story. They have an uncanny ability to get
etched into our memories along with all their details and then refuse to fade
away. And if this photograph emanates from Kashmir, especially from the
picturesque Kashmir Valley, then it has the potential to tell a thousand
stories, most of which are fictitious though.
It was just last year when the image of a stone pelter,
Farooq Ahmed Dar, tied on the bonnet of an Army jeep flashed as “breaking news”
across news channels and on front pages of news dailies. Within hours stories
started pouring in about the excesses of security forces, human rights
violations, atrocities being committed on hapless Kashmiris that all the while alluded
about stone pelter’s innocence. Detailed accounts have since been presented about Farooq Dar’s vocation1, his family and that he was on his way
to cast vote when an Indian Army Major “captured” him and went on to commit the
gravest human rights atrocity2. Barring a few honourable exceptions,
none of the fiction writers masquerading as journalists wrote that this “innocent”
Farooq Dar was part of a blood thirsty mob of stone pelters who were hurling
stones on security personnel with an intent to kill. Tying him on the jeep’s
bonnet to create a human shield was done only to help the security personnel wriggle
out safely.
Fast forward to May 2018. Now a photograph of another
Kashmiri youth being crushed under the wheels of a CRPF jeep is in circulation.
However, the difference this time is that along with pictures the videos of
violent stone pelters kicking and hurling stones at the jeep were also shot and
released. After watching the video it can be clearly understood about how the mob
of violent stone pelters had attacked the lone CRPF jeep and the jeep’s driver had
to manoeuvre the vehicle to save his own life. It was under these circumstances
that this stone pelter was crushed under its wheels and later on died3.
Unfortunately, in the coming weeks this fact will quickly be
brushed aside and a perception will be created that it was CRPF’s fault to
crush and kill yet another Kashmiri youth in cold blood. Already a section of
spin doctors aka journalists have begun to write on these lines to build upon the
narrative about oppressor and occupying Indian security apparatus in Kashmir. Sadly
this video that has been shared across social media platforms will be soon be forgotten
but the photograph of a Kashmiri under the wheels of CRPF jeep will remain and fictitious
stories will continue to be written for years to come, both in national and the
international media.
In fact, this is crux of the riddle that Kashmir has become
in present times. A perception has been assiduously created over the years. Oftentimes
perceptions are contrary to the truths. This happens, when systematic efforts
are made to create a smokescreen to hide the real picture and then dole out
camouflage as reality. Nowhere is this more visible than in the Kashmir Valley.
The perception is that Kashmiris in the Valley, especially the youth, is
alienated with India and that Indian security forces—the CRPF and the Army are
inflicting numerous atrocities on the local Kashmiris. This needs to change.
Understanding the Kashmiri psyche
At an individual level Kashmiris come across as soft spoken. But this soft-spoken Kashmiri transforms into a completely different entity when part of a large crowd. Individually a Kashmiri may be a dove but in a mob they definitely are hawks. As part of a mob even the most rational Kashmiri flows with the tide and rarely speaks up against the Azadi chants, feeling too overwhelmed to think beyond the collective mentality of the mob. For several individuals, this transformation is forced upon them.
Several Kashmiri youths confide in hushed tones that
oftentimes they are forced to come out of their homes to be a part of the
crowd. This could be either a call to attend the funeral of a slain terrorist, to
pelt stones or to be part of a procession chanting Azadi slogans. “The
window panes of our homes are smashed and doors damaged if none of the male
members come out when a clarion call is made by these brokers of Kashmir’s Azadi,”
a young entrepreneur at Srinagar’s Lal Chowk confided in me during my visit to
the Valley. His friend, who was preparing for the administrative service
entrance exams, added that these Azadi brokers shout provocative slogans
that clearly imply action against their family if one refuses to back them.
Slogans such as “jo Bharat kaa yaar hai, woh kaum kaa
gaddar hai” (whoever is on a friendlier term with India is the enemy of Islam)
are repeatedly yelled at forcing everyone to come out. If someone stays back
the family is earmarked, their women harassed and men roughed up. For years
Kashmiris have willy-nilly been forced to be a mute spectator in such staged
events. The net result is that a large section of Kashmiris now behave like
zombies. The Azadi brokers understand all of this and exploit by making
them cannon fodder for stone pelting or as passive bystanders at the funeral
processions of terrorists or any such unlawful activity. “As part of the crowd and
on our leader’s command we can and we will do anything. For instance, we all
may go ahead and pull down an electric pole for no rhyme or reason and after a
few days when better sense prevails, we will write to the municipality for its
re-installation,” the young entrepreneur said with a tinge of sadness in his
eyes.
This youngster had a point. Around ten percent Kashmiris, who
most likely are also Azadi brokers, dominate every aspect of ordinary life
in the Kashmir Valley. They are present in plum postings at government jobs and
in businesses4. An average
Kashmiri just cannot bypass this broker class and act on his free will. A dearth
of quality jobs or income avenues other than tourism has affected the behaviour
of Kashmiris. Rationality, critical thinking and analytical abilities have gone
for a toss and most of the Kashmiris are willing to be a part of any activity
if it guarantees a few extra bucks5. This behavioural flaw is
shrewdly exploited by Pakistan and its network of Azadi brokers. In one
of the audios6 slain terrorist Burhan Wani can be clearly heard begging
the LeT terrorist Hafiz Muhammad Saeed for funds. In return for the cash Wani
promises to step up terrorist activities in the Valley.
Lack of entertainment options or other avenues to creatively
engage the young and restive crowd complicates issues further. The absence of creative
entertainment options has led Kashmiri teenagers and young adults into
substance abuse. Psychotropic substances, injectable drugs, syrups that induce
drowsiness are slowing creeping into Kashmiri homes and gnawing away whatever
was left of the analytical faculties of the youth, leading them further into a
bottomless abyss.
Yet these issues are rarely reported and talked about.
Concocted stories, falsehoods and canards spread by
Pakistan-based news outfits that are readily lapped up Left-leaning media
institutions in India have also resulted in utterly false stories being fed to
the teens and youth to flare up their passions. One of these is the unfortunate
but infamous rape of Neelofer Jan and Asia Jan. Despite all evidence to the
contrary the average Kashmiri still talks about involvement of Indian security
forces especially the Army personnel in the rapes of two sisters-in-law7
in 2009. The impressionable mind of a teenager is easy prey to this propaganda who
then talk of seeking revenge for the wrongdoing to their sisters.
On the contrary, one of the darkest kept secrets of
Kashmir’s society is the systematic rape of thousands of Kashmiri women during
nineties, when terrorism first came to Valley. It was a time when foreign-funded
radical Islamic mercenaries from across the world were exported into Kashmir
Valley to wage jihad against infidel India. These mercenaries sought refuge in the
homes of Kashmiris and raped their girls and women at will. Scores of Kashmiri
girls and women became pregnant due to these daily rapes. It was concerted
efforts by Indian Army and their doctors who secretively conducted thousands of
abortions for these hapless women in order to save their honour and societal
stigma. Most often these abortions and clinic visits happened during night or
wee hours of the day. The Valley’s elders know about this ugly truth of “freedom
struggle in Kashmir”. It is probably for this reason that they remain passive
onlookers in this current era of unrest that is being led by teenagers and
youth in their early twenties. This uncomforting truth has remained hidden for
too long. The Kashmiri teenagers pelting stones at Army convoy needs to know
that the same Azadi broker who nowadays directs them to pelt stones or
wield a gun were instrumental in getting mass rapes of Kashmiri women. It were
these Separatists who had facilitated the entry of mercenaries who raped the sisters,
mothers and aunts of their village and now they are eating up the youth’s adolescence.
Terrorist versus Militant debate
It’s an opportune time we officially start calling the gun totting men in Kashmir as terrorists. It should be India’s overt stance to call these trigger-happy Kashmiri youth as terrorists. Designating them as militants only gives a legal and moral credibility to mindless violence in Kashmir Valley. The shrewd Pakistanis are able to brand this violence as an ongoing ‘freedom struggle’ in Kashmir.
We need not fall into the UN trap of coming to a universally
agreed “definition of terrorism” because these definitions are often changed at
will. The recent United Nations
Human Rights Council report on gross human rights violations in Kashmir is a
case in point. The report appears to have been written by compromised UN
executives who camouflage themselves as human rights activists and continue to
dole out fictitious but blatantly lopsided accounts of human rights violations
in the Kashmir Valley. How else can the UN human rights body fail to
acknowledge the cold blooded killings that continue week after week? Shujaat
Bukhari, Editor of Rising Kashmir was shot dead in Sringar along with his
security guards just days after the release of this report. Bukhari’s crime? He
advocated peace and wanted normalcy to return in Kashmir within the framework
of Indian Constitution.
It’s time India puts its foot down and brands all killing of unarmed people by
mercenaries in Kashmir as terrorist acts.
We need to tell the world in unequivocal terms that nothing can justify the
killing of unarmed Lt. Gen. Umar Fayaz in cold blood. Fayaz’s killing was
indeed a blatant act of terrorism and so was the indiscriminate firing on the
bus ferrying Amarnath Yatris last year. How can the abduction and killing of unarmed Rifleman
Aurangzeb be justified? Aurangzeb was on his way to celebrate Eid when a bunch
of terrorists abducted him from Pulwama and shot him in cold blood. This indeed
is an act of terror. We need to tell the world in no uncertain terms.
This list of people killed in cold blood is quite long and should
be the justification for calling gun wielders in Kashmir as terrorists. In fact, BJP did right by calling off
the unnatural alliance with PDP and imposing Governor’s rule in Jammu &
Kashmir. The agenda of alliance had forced nationalist government led by Prime
Minister Narendra Modi from talking tough to the hooligans and irritants in the
Valley. The first thing that the government can now do, is to officially call
these mercenaries as terrorists.
A mere
change in the taxonomy would mean a sea change at how the world looks at ‘Kashmir
issue’. Calling them militants means that the international media, human rights
groups and think tanks across the world consider the state of Jammu &
Kashmir as the flashpoint of dispute between India and Pakistan. They regard
Kashmir as some kind of unfinished agenda of India’s partition. In other words it
justifies the killings as Kashmir’s ongoing freedom struggle, thus playing into
the hands of Pakistan.
The terrorism angle in Kashmir will also let the world know
that Kashmir struggle is a part of global conspiracy to establish Islamic
caliphate. This was being done discreetly but it’s time to pull down the masks and decisively so. Let the world know
that the “Kashmir struggle” has nothing to do with Kashmir and is a subset of
global Islamic terrorism that was always talked about and discussed, albeit in
hushed tones, for lack of evidence. As radical Islamic extremism spreads its
tentacles across the globe there is a growing realisation of the dangers of the
thoughts of establishing an Islamic Caliphate. The concept of Islamic Caliphate
dates back to seventh century wherein the newly formed Islamic kingdom in
Middle East (West Asia) was ruled by a Caliph according to Sharia laws who
enjoyed absolute power. This Caliphate persisted in various forms across the
Middle East (West Asia) and frittered away by the 19th Century. Radical Muslims
have always dreamt of re-establishing the Caliphate and bringing new lands
under Caliphate rule and consider this as Jihad. The set of laws under
Caliphate include severe restrictions on a woman’s freedom and dissent to the
Caliph is almost always punishable by death.
Even in Kashmir the façade
has fallen thanks to a flurry of audio and video messages by the zealots of Islamic
Caliphate. It was last year when Hizbul’s erstwhile India commander Zakir Musa
openly advocated for Ghazwa-e-Hind and exhorted Indian Muslims to rise up in
revolt against the Indian state8. Terrorist organisations such as al-Qaeda, IS
(Islamic State), Lashkar-e-Taiba and Hizbul Mujahideen, among several others
have for decades recruited youth into their ranks for the Islamic holy war and to
fight for establishment of Caliphate. Politically they put up the mask of
fighting for oppression and injustice and hence try to turn the international
opinion in their favour. This mask has slipped and should now be ripped off
completely to let the world know about the danger that Kashmir’s terrorists
pose to India and to the world.
It is in our interests that
the global audience now realises that Kashmir struggle is no freedom struggle
and all talks of plebiscite is farce. Pakistan has been drumming up plebiscite
issue for the last seven decades, it’s time for us to do the course correction.
As the world recognises that Kashmir’s struggle is all about establishing the
Islamic Caliphate all support to them would eventually end. The international
media will look at the Kashmir issue with a different prism.
And this is not wishful
thinking. Outlawed terror outfits such as Hizbul Mujahideen understand this. It
is for this reason that they quickly distance themselves from all such
suggestions, at least publicly. They brushed aside Musa’s comments and forced
Musa to quit as its India chief. Musa, on his part, remained defiant. He stood
by his comments and reiterated that Mujahids like him are fighting only for
greater Islamic Caliphate and Kashmir struggle is a cog in this grandiose plan.
There are several other
Mujahids who are coming out of their closets and are saying that all the
killings is only to establish Islamic Caliphate. India needs to present these
facts before the world and establish that the unrest in Kashmir is terrorism.
Fighting the scourge of Wahhabism
It’s a fact that only four-five districts of South Kashmir
Valley in the entire state of Jammu & Kashmir is infested with a Separatist
feeling. It’s also a fact that there is a widespread support for stone pelters
and terrorists in these districts.
Of late, a thinking has evolved that isolating the
population of these districts while carrying out development works in the rest
of Jammu Kashmir will to an extent restrict the Separatism sentiment. With time
the teenager stone pelters and terrorists will be quelled, neutralised or will
simply run out of steam.
This reasoning is fundamentally flawed, simply because the
ongoing unrest in South Kashmir is driven by radical Wahhabi Islamists. There
is a need to understand and recognise that a very large section of Kashmiri
population is under the influence of radical Wahhabi thoughts of Islam. The
youngsters who are picking up guns have been indoctrinated into fighting for
the larger cause of establishing the Islamic Caliphate. The inherent ideology
of Wahhabis is to increase their sphere of influence through any means. Wahhabi
literature and poisonous propaganda material can be readily found in prisons of
Kashmir.
And Wahhabism is akin to cancer that spreads much faster
than one can imagine. Already there are reports that Kashmir Valley’s
relatively peaceful districts are being infiltrated by these radicals who are
using the most lethal and erroneous interpretations of Islam to indoctrinate
Kashmiri youth. Reports of disturbance have begun pouring in from the hitherto
quaint Northern parts of Kashmir Valley.
There is an urgent need to tackle the menace of Wahhabism
anywhere in Kashmir Valley. Interlocutors sent from New Delhi must talk to the
state administrative machinery to keep a close watch on Friday sermons in the
mosques. It’s here that most of the radicalisation takes place. Any
secessionist preaching and incitement against India must be taken note of and
the mullah must be immediately booked. Recording of the sermons should be done
through discreet cameras to build a fool-proof case against them. Several of
the madrasa teachers and maulvis at the Wahhabi mosques in Kashmir Valley have
travelled from Uttar Pradesh, Bihar or other parts of India. There should be a
proper background check of these maulvis and mullahs and all those with dubious
linkages should be immediately deported from the Valley and booked under
appropriate charges.
Human Rights as a tool
Perhaps nowhere else has the phrase “human rights” been more
abused than in the context of Kashmir Valley. Pakistan-trained foreign
mercenaries and Kashmiri terror groups commit all kinds of atrocities on unsuspecting
but patriotic Kashmiris. They forcefully enter the homes, demand food and seek
refuge for days at length. Almost always the women and young girls in these
houses are sexually assaulted by these terrorists. These blatant rapes are
never discussed and debated by the human rights watch groups and think tanks. But
when our security forces conduct a cordon and search operation and neutralise
terrorists hiding in village homes, these umpteen think tanks, journalists and
human rights watchmen come out of their burrows and shout their lungs out about
human rights abuses in Kashmir.
The need of hour is to conduct a thorough audit of funds
received by these self-proclaimed champions of human rights. Their
international appearances, hypothesis driven studies on various facets of
Kashmir, speeches at the international forums should all come under scanner and
must be audited. When income tax and enforcement directorate raids can happen
all across India then why spare a few rich and powerful traders of information
in the Kashmir Valley? Several such people have amassed wealth in a short time.
It’s time to make them accountable.
Issues of PoJK (Pakistan-occupied Jammu Kashmir)
Coverage of Pakistan-occupied Jammu Kashmir is almost negligent in Indian media. This needs to change. Social media is flooded by instances of high handedness by the Pakistan military and repeated incarceration of PoJK activists demanding basic facilities. The more the world knows about atrocities in Gilgit-Baltistan, Mirpur and Muzaffarabad the more will it become easier to deal with trouble mongers on this side of the LoC. Active efforts need to be made to make news from PoJK available in Kashmir Valley. The people in Valley need to see for themselves the stark contrast in the quality of life on both sides of the LoC.
It will be overly ambitious if we believe that all these
issues can be resolved within a fortnight or so. The issue has been brewing for
decades that has been compounded by historical wrongs and requires deep
thinking.
Also, when all strategies to stop stone pelting are not
yielding desired results then the need is to sit back and introspect. There is
an urgent need to audit the funds sent to various district headquarters of
Kashmir Valley to stop stone pelting. Loads of cash is spent by local
administration in the Valley, as per their discretion, in the name of
maintaining law and order and under several other heads. This needs to be
properly accounted for10.
Even at the peak of terrorism in the nineties there were scores
of Indian supporters within the Kashmiri society who are often at the receiving
end. There is still a sizeable chunk within Kashmir who are fed up with this
mindless violence and want to live peacefully. The least that the Indian
government can do for them is to provide them security and build a perception of
empathy towards them. At present there is a perception in the Valley that whoever
sides with Indian government gets a raw deal. Villagers often cite the example
of ex-terrorist Kukka Parray9 who was killed by his former comrades
and the Indian government remained a mute spectator. This perception needs to
change and the government needs to do much more for people whose family members
are killed by terrorists.
Active efforts need to be made to alter the state’s demography.
The nation cannot wait endlessly for the abrogation of Article 370 or the
Article 35 (A). We need to make changes in byelaws to allow people from other
parts of the country to settle across the state of Jammu & Kashmir. Any
delay on this issue means playing into the hands of Pakistani establishment
that says Kashmir is partition’s unfinished agenda.
Yet another peculiar phenomenon of Kashmir Valley is directing
all kinds of dissent and dissatisfaction with administration and government into
demands for Azadi. Dissent and dissatisfaction are the bedrock of any
democracy. Protests and demonstrations happen in other parts of India as well, without
any secessionist feelings. The Kashmiris should be led to believe that their
grievances can be solved within the constitutional and democratic paradigm. This
can easily happen if people from other parts of India settle in Kashmir who will
bring a fresh whiff of thinking into the society.
Over the years Left-leaning media organisations and human
rights groups have branded Azadi chants amidst cocktail of money and Pakistani
guns as Kashmiriyat. The time is ripe for a re-definition of Kashmiriyat
that is correct and reflects the ethos of Kashmir.
(Vivek Sinha is a Journalist and Author of the Novel
“Chip in the Madrasa”. His twitter handle is @VivekSinha28)
(This article was first published in the India Foundation Journal)
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