Kashmir Affairs - Security & Conflict Analysis of Kashmir

Kashmir Diary: OF violence and the violations
Tanveen Kawoosa
21 November 2008

The atmosphere of violence and intimidation has once again descended upon the Kashmir territory. Amarnath land row and severe economic blockade, has just fuelled the existing undercurrents of resentment among people against New Delhi. Civil unrest and resulting gross violations of human rights in Kashmir during the period of crisis once again exposed India so ignominiously and so widely.
As goes the saying, “the tiny ripple of hope builds a current that can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression”. The anti-India agitation in Kashmir is a real and there for everybody to see. The mass uprising has opened to public gaze the reality of political crisis in Kashmir. And it is no surprise that every nook and corner of the valley resounded with the popular slogan of 1990’s ‘Azadi’.
It is not a case in which the government is on one side of the divide and the separatists on the other. Instead, mainstream political class, besides common people seems to be on the side of separatists. Even if mainstream politicians have their own interests; it was a move that left India seething and APHC euphoric.

State terrorism
The overarching loss of human security reinforced by the massive presence of forces has resulted in a culture of suspicion and mistrust. Even worse, Indian military have been licensed to kill Kashmiri which is why we observe that during current peaceful demonstrations even deadly tear gas shells were lobbed at unarmed protestors.
Teargas shells(Rudra) exclusively manufactured and permitted for use only in military operations were used to disperse peaceful protestors which caused the death of innocent people.(Greater Kashmir, Aug 9,2008 ).
More so, the recent incidents of killings in Kashmir by CRPF troops are blatant examples of war crime. The crackdown by the government on peaceful demonstrations revealed the brutal face of the administration. Security forces while using excessive force continue to massacre people. In order to damp down the public outcry, government started unprecedented curfew wherein terror tactics both physical as well as psychological were resorted to.
The height of irony is that during the period of stringent curfew imposed across the valley, paramilitary forces fired on ambulances, thrashed the civilians despite having curfew passes. Even pregnant women were not spared and beaten ruthlessly by CRPF troopers.
Although spate of agitations began in both the parts of the state. It is a shocking state of affairs that more than 50 people lost their life and almost thousands got injured In Kashmir as against the two people in Jammu.
If acidic statements of Indian politicians, who denied economic blockade and subsequent attack on Kashmiri in Jammu during the crisis, are to be analysed, it appears to be deliberate and systematic use of coercive intimidation in order to cause fear and helplessness in the minds of the people of Kashmir.
This deliberate strangulation of Kashmiri people is in defiance of all international law and civilized norms. Yet the New Delhi is unblushing. They have made it clear that there was dire need to teach the people of Kashmir a lesson.
A closer look in to the subject exposes unsavory realities. The land row crisis ended with compensation for law breakers in Jammu and untold miseries to Kashmiri.The accord between J&K government and the Shri Amarnath Yatra Sangharsh Samiti has been aptly described by AG Noorani as an immoral and illegal accord which clearly indicates that government has surrendered to communal forces in Jammu.

Stubborn assault on local media
More seriously, there has been calculated move to silence the voices of dissent. Apart from the harassment, intimidation and killing of common masses, the government has been trying to destabilize the local media sector in Kashmir. Attacking media persons during the time of political crisis has now become routine affair in Kashmir. Government had gone a step further by imposing ban on the local cable channels and even circulation of newspapers during recent crisis. With the effective blockade of any information from filtering out of valley, government allowed the practice of torture and ill-treatment with near total impunity. Yet in the face of immense repression, the journalists of Kashmir gave the fair news of victims enduring suffering on an unspeakable scale.

How long the injustice?
How long New Delhi will muzzle the voices of people who tried to bring forth the hard reality that Kashmir is a disputed territory? Two decades of conflict has brought to focus the distressful account of gross and persistent violation of human rights of large number of people of the valley.
Even international community cannot shy away from it. If the figures are to be believed, the atrocities inflicted upon the Kashmiri has been the most violent in South Asia since 1990.Above 80,000 Kashmiri lost their life, around 10,000 has been subjected to enforced disappearance,80,000 has been rendered orphans ,70,000 are grappling with stress disorders, the list is indeed long.
The resolutions pending on Kashmir indicates clearly that the future status of Jammu and Kashmir shall be determined according to the will of people.However,New Delhi is using brute force to subvert Kashmiri people to accept occupation as a final solution for their future. This makes occupied territory a mega army camp. Intimidation and authority are forced upon civilians. The numbers of the military is excessive and swell up year after year in to a formidable figure of more than 600,000.
What is the need of such a huge army when New Delhi claims that it has brought down the number of militants in Kashmir? Prolonged deployment of armed forces in Kashmir and the blanket powers being conferred on the army under the ‘Armed forces special powers Act’ has resulted in gross violations of human rights. The period of two months witnessed recurrent acts of ruthless atrocity: midnight knocks, enforced disappearance, torture and house breaking.
The horror list of atrocities can go on endlessly, deadening the mind and heart with stupendous figures. The only positive sign is that people of Kashmir have refused to be taken in by India’s rhetoric. And more importantly, come out on the streets to demonstrate their skepticism.
There is dire need to speak out against injustice and tyranny and in this case too, the onus is on everyone to take the lead.