Skip to main content

J&K continues to be haunted, as parts of India 'degenerate' into quasi-Kashmir situation

By Rajendran Narayanan*, Sandeep Pandey**
“Jab har saans mein bandook dikhe toh baccha kaise bekhauf rahe?” (How can a child be fearless when she sees a gun in every breath?) remarked Anwar, a gardener from Srinagar, when asked about the situation in Kashmir. On November 30, 2019, a walk through an iron gate in a quiet neighbourhood of Srinagar took us inside a public school. It was 11 am when typically every school is abuzz with activity. Not here though.
We were met with an eerie silence as we went past locked classrooms to the staff-room that had ten teachers. The teachers of this school -- and several teachers of other schools and colleges we met -- told us that no classes have been held since August 5. When we tried taking a photograph of a locked classroom, the teachers panicked. They came running and would not let us leave until we deleted the photograph from our mobile phone.
We realised that the 98% attendance that the Home Minister Amit Shah was claiming is that of teachers and not students. We are also told by Amit Shah that examinations have been conducted in schools. Reality is, that question papers, for all except the Board examinations, were taken by teachers to homes of students and answer sheets brought back to schools. Many parents now have to spend up to Rs 5,000 per month on private tuitions at home.
Imran, an apple tradesman of Kulgam district recounted the horror faced by his friend around November 23. The friend, a taxi driver, was returning to Srinagar from Banihal after sunset. He was first made to wait in his taxi for over 4 hours outside the city limits because an army convoy had to pass. The army at the check post asked him to turn on the lights inside his car but the light wasn’t working.
This mechanical glitch in his car became the reason for him being brutally beaten up by the army. He returned home with blood spurting out from his nose and forehead. Feroze, a baker from Ramban in the Jammu region, was threatened with arrest for asking the local authorities to reconstruct a broken bridge. With much exasperation he said “I was not raising any so-called anti-national slogans. I was merely asking them to build a bridge.”
These are just a handful of testimonies from our recently attempted ‘Restore Democracy March’ from Jammu to Srinagar. The marchers weren’t allowed to interact freely with the press or with the local community in many places. The police stopped the march at Ramban, midway between Jammu and Srinagar.
Indeed, a police vehicle followed us and ensured that we crossed the Ramban district border on the way back to Jammu. Nevertheless, six among us continued our journey to Kashmir the following day from Jammu around the 4 months completion of the abrogation of Articles 370 and 35A. The clampdown on Kashmir, the poster child of subversion in India, still continues.
Youth, who continue to be detained in Kashmir, are released on a condition that some community members sign a bond that the person being released will not speak against the abrogation of Article 370. “Effectively, for every detainee, 10-15 others are being held as virtual hostages”, said Khurram Parvez of the Jammu Kashmir Coalition of Civil Societies. “Kashmir has been a laboratory for military adventurism for the sake of winning elections. Has India been able to win the heart of even a single Kashmiri with the barrel of a gun?” he lamented.
Another senior Kashmiri man said with a mix of pain and agony, ‘Unofficially more than 40,000 innocent civilians are languishing in jails without trial for no fault of theirs. After being subjected to such harsh injustice, how does the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party government expect them to support India? Majority in Kashmir have now turned against India after 5th August. Even I am deeply hurt by the decision as it is akin to snatching away my identity.’
This sentiment was not limited to Kashmir alone. Anand, a Kashmiri Pandit, in Udhampur employed with a telecom company said “Article 370 for the residents of J&K was like the peacock feather on Lord Krishna’s head. Now we have been reduced to being slaves of Delhi.”
As per news reports, there are less than 300 “militants” in Kashmir. To counter them there are 8 lakh military and 1.5 lakh local police. This roughly translates to one security person for every 10 civilians and close to 2,700 security persons for every “militant”!
Reportedly close to 500 security persons have committed suicides owing to the tortuous psychological conditions. While a few army men we spoke with expressed their work as “duty where right and wrong don’t matter”, some were annoyed at the manner in which they were brought to J&K prior to 5 August on the pretext that they would be on election duty and could leave soon after. But they’ve been ordered to stay till the situation becomes 'normal.' This, in itself, contradicts the government’s claim of situation in J&K being normal.
Government employees, all within a day, were coerced to sign an agreement making a choice to serve either of the two Union Territories -- J&K or Ladakh, implicitly endorsing the government's decision. People, reportedly, have to sign a similar agreement saying that they abide by the government’s decision of abrogating Article 370 even to get a broadband connection at home in Kashmir.
A Kashmiri Pandit said: Article 370 was like peacock feather on Lord Krishna’s head for  J&K residents. We've been reduced to slaves of Delhi
The local cable channels are barred from showing local news about Kashmir. Some college students in Jammu region expressed much anguish about the disruption of internet facilities. They aren’t able to apply to other places to study and some of them had to go to Punjab just to download their admit cards.
About 3.5 to 5 lakh migrant labourers were sent back to India before August 5. “It may not be a surprise that after some time Kashmiris may be blamed for this just like they are blamed for driving out the Kashmiri Pandits, even though they were evacuated then, initially only for several months, on the pretext of some planned action against militants, both of which have now prolonged.” said Khurram Parvez.
We saw vacant houses near Pulwama belonging to Kashmiri Pandits, keeping open the option for them to return. Additionally, we also saw a colony established for Hindu government employees here. “We Kashmiris are proud of our culture, Kashmiriyat, which is inclusive and syncretic” said Ghulam Mizrab of the Communist Party of India.
J&K is enveloped in a ministry of fear. The overarching impression everywhere was one of anguish, uncertainty, loss of rights, and financial loss. Mir, an elderly gentleman, speaking eloquently about the history of J&K, referred to the abrogation as the biggest betrayal so far. With much anger he remarked “I have lived all my life here. Everybody knows me and yet some outsider in uniform from Madras, Bombay or Delhi comes and asks for my identity?” Everybody in Kashmir was scared of being recorded on video or audio, lest they be arrested under Public Safety Act.
On our way back from Srinagar to Jammu, we were stuck in traffic for nearly 5 hours in Qazigund. Amidst heavy army patrol, vehicles were made to stand in a single file so that if required army convoy can pass. A jeep tried to overtake and occupy an empty spot behind a standing lorry. This angered an army man who broke the window and shattered the glass panel of the jeep. A taxi driver standing there asked, “Does this also happen in the rest of India?”
Given the recent State sanctioned violence and police brutality in Uttar Pradesh against protestors of the patently discriminatory Citizenship Amendment Act, the answer to the rhetorical question of the taxi driver has changed dramatically in a month. For a purportedly democratic country, it is a matter of shame and condemnation that Kashmir continues to be haunted while some other parts of the country are rapidly degenerating into a quasi Kashmir situation.
---
*Teaches at Azim Premji University, Bangaluru, **socio-political activist

Comments

TRENDING

Insider plot to kill Deendayal Upadhyay? What RSS pracharak Balraj Madhok said

By Shamsul Islam*  Balraj Madhok's died on May 2, 2016 ending an era of old guards of Hindutva politics. A senior RSS pracharak till his death was paid handsome tributes by the RSS leaders including PM Modi, himself a senior pracharak, for being a "stalwart leader of Jan Sangh. Balraj Madhok ji's ideological commitment was strong and clarity of thought immense. He was selflessly devoted to the nation and society. I had the good fortune of interacting with Balraj Madhok ji on many occasions". The RSS also issued a formal condolence message signed by the Supremo Mohan Bhagwat on behalf of all swayamsevaks, referring to his contribution of commitment to nation and society. He was a leading RSS pracharak on whom his organization relied for initiating prominent Hindutva projects. But today nobody in the RSS-BJP top hierarchy remembers/talks about Madhok as he was an insider chronicler of the immense degeneration which was spreading as an epidemic in the high echelons of th

Central pollution watchdog sees red in Union ministry labelling waste to energy green

By Chythenyen Devika Kulasekaran*  “Destructors”, “incinerators” and “waste-to-energy (WTE) incineration” all mean the same thing – indiscriminate burning of garbage! Having a history of about one and a half centuries, WTE incinerators have seen several reboots over the 19th, 20th and 21st centuries. 

First-of-its-kind? 'Eco-friendly, low cost' sewage treatment system installed in Gujarat

Counterview Desk Following the installation of the Unconventional Decentralized Multi-Stage Reactor (UDMSR) for sewage treatment, a note on what is claimed to be the  first-of-its-kind technology said, the treated sewage from this system “can be directly utilized for agricultural purposes”, even as proving to be a “saviour in the times of water crisis.”

A Hindu alternative to Valentine's Day? 'Shiv-Parvati was first love marriage in Universe'

By Rajiv Shah*   The other day, I was searching on Google a quote on Maha Shivratri which I wanted to send to someone, a confirmed Shiv Bhakt, quite close to me -- with an underlying message to act positively instead of being negative. On top of the search, I chanced upon an article in, imagine!, a Nashik Corporation site which offered me something very unusual. 

Indo-Bangla border: Farmers facing 'illegal obstacles' in harvesting, transporting yields

  Counterview Desk  In a representation to the chairperson, National Human Rights Commission, human rights defender Kirity Roy, who is secretary, Banglar Manabadhikar Suraksha Mancha (MASUM), has said that Border Security Force (BSF) personnel are creating "illegal obstacles" for farmers seeking to harvest their ripened yields and transport them to the market in village Jhaukuthi of Cooch Behar district.

Wasteland, a colonial legacy, being used to 'give away' vast tracts to Ratnagiri refinery

By Fouziya Tehzeeb* William D’Souza, a 55-year old farmer from Kuthethur, Mangalore, was busy mixing cattle feed when we arrived at his doorsteps. Around 25 km from the bustling city of Mangalore, Kuthethur is a lush green village with thick vegetation. On the way to William’s house the idyllic view gets blocked by the flares and smoke arising from the Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Limited (MRPL).

'Flawed' argument: Gandhi had minimal role, naval mutinies alone led to Independence

Counterview Desk Reacting to a Counterview  story , "Rewiring history? Bose, not Gandhi, was real Father of Nation: British PM Attlee 'cited'" (January 26, 2016), an avid reader has forwarded  reaction  in the form of a  link , which carries the article "Did Atlee say Gandhi had minimal role in Independence? #FactCheck", published in the site satyagrahis.in. The satyagraha.in article seeks to debunk the view, reported in the Counterview story, taken by retired army officer GD Bakshi in his book, “Bose: An Indian Samurai”, which claims that Gandhiji had a minimal role to play in India's freedom struggle, and that it was Netaji who played the crucial role. We reproduce the satyagraha.in article here. Text: Nowadays it is said by many MK Gandhi critics that Clement Atlee made a statement in which he said Gandhi has ‘minimal’ role in India's independence and gave credit to naval mutinies and with this statement, they concluded the whole freedom struggle.

CAA disregards India's inclusive plural ethos, 'betrays' ideals of freedom struggle: PUCL

Counterview Desk    "Outraged" at the move of the Central government to implement the Citizenship Amendment Act, 2019 (CAA 2019) weeks before the election, the top rights group, People's Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL), has demanded that the law be repealed. 

Buddhist shrines were 'massively destroyed' by Brahmanical rulers: Historian DN Jha

Nalanda mahavihara By Our Representative Prominent historian DN Jha, an expert in India's ancient and medieval past, in his new book , "Against the Grain: Notes on Identity, Intolerance and History", in a sharp critique of "Hindutva ideologues", who look at the ancient period of Indian history as "a golden age marked by social harmony, devoid of any religious violence", has said, "Demolition and desecration of rival religious establishments, and the appropriation of their idols, was not uncommon in India before the advent of Islam".

Sections of BSF, BGB personnel 'directly or indirectly' involved in cross border smuggling

By Kirity Roy*  The Border Security Force (BSF) of India and the Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) of Bangladesh met for 54th Director General level meeting at Dhaka, Bangladesh, on 5th to 9th March, 2024 to discuss on minimizing killings at border area, illegal intrusion, trafficking of drugs and other narcotics, smuggling of arms and ammunitions and other crimes at bordering areas. Further, the summit had an agenda to discuss on overall development in 150 yards area at both sides of the border and design an activity plan for the same.