India’s Blood-Filled Kashmir Policy

Ishaal Zehra

Indian Occupied Kashmir continue to witness bloodshed as Indian forces are indiscriminately and incessantly hunting down the innocent people in the name of so-called search operations. Though the Indian government announced to suspend these operations during the holy month of Ramadan, however, on the second Friday of the Ramadan, heavy shelling was used to disperse protesting crowds outside Srinagar Jamia Mosque. Resultantly, many Kashmiri people were injured and the Jamia Mosque was filled with blood and empty shells.

Since last four months, Indian occupation troops have unleashed extreme terror and killed more than 75 innocent Kashmiri people in fake encounters or by firing straight on peaceful protestors. It may also be recalled that at least 20 Kashmiris were martyred in Kachdoora village, Shopian district of IOK on a lone gory day of April only.

For over 70 years, unarmed Kashmiris including men, women, school-going boys and girls and aged people have continued to witness mental, psychological as well as physical humiliation and torture at the hands of Indian military personnel merely for being Muslim Kashmiris and the residents of IOK. Every alternate day there are incidents of gashing of eyes, chopping off vital body-parts, use of ever-new methods of persecution during unending curfews including gang-rapes, burning of the agitators alive, torching of their villages along with crops and destruction of their business as well as economic life in utter defiance of international human rights laws. India is also attempting to change the demography of Kashmir and resorting to killing the Muslim population and allowing settlements of non-Kashmiris in IOK especially Hindus.

The Kashmiri youth is retaliating by pelting stones on the aggressors as the poor youth is unable to afford the terminal weapons they are being killed by. The Indian media and government both are convinced by the view that those pelting stones are pro-Pakistan elements. They are either being instigated by Pakistan or they may be doing this for money. As such stone pelting has been used as a method of protest in Kashmir since ages but has become glaringly obvious from last few years. Intimidated by the brutal Indian security forces, these young men have been resorting to pelting stones as a form of protest and anguish. One can see the clear pattern in worsening repression and an increase in their activities after every major act of hanging-murder of their freedom fighting leader such as Maqbul Butt (1984), Afzal guru (2013) and recently Burhan Wani (2016).
The turmoil in Kashmir, which got intensified after the fake encounter of Burhan Wani in July 2016, does not seem to abet after that. It has been worsening ever since. Post Burhan Wani murder, the Kashmiri political leadership gauged the intensity of the situation. Mahbooba Mufti, the Chief Minister of the ruling coalition, wanted to go for a dialogue with the dissenters, but her coalition partner and the party leading at center BJP shot down the idea. Mahbooba Mufti felt that dialogue is the only way out but BJP feels that dialogue is a way to befool the people. It seems the ruling BJP wants to take a hard line to deal with dissidence by intensifying the suppression, as they only view the dissidents as pro-Pakistan elements not humans.
But the real question is that who are these boys who pelt stones? Are these merely Pakistan inspired and funded youth? In the after math of state crackdown, hundreds have died, thousands have been wounded and many more have lost eyesight. The whole of Indian media is going hammer and tongs about the role of Pakistan and the funding these stone-palters receive. The point to ponder is that will young people risk their life, loss of eyesight or other harm to body just for someone’s bidding or some money? Many of them are teenagers, tech savvy and they are so much full of deep hatred that they are willing to risk their lives, not caring about their future. Showing the horrific level of degree of frustration among them.
Only a small section of media has gone deeper into the issue and have interviewed some of them. The stories of their experiences and feelings shatter one’s perceptions about law and order in Kashmir. Many belong to families which have given up hope of any type. Most of these young boys have experienced torture, beating, harassments of sorts and often humiliation. For many of them stone throwing comes as sort of catharsis, a feeling of having taken revenge of what has happened to them. It is the only strong way of protest they must be feeling is left for them. Many of them are pro-Pakistan for sure but the basic point remains political alienation which is seeping in deepening. This in turn is due to the suffering and pain to which Kashmir has been subjected due to the prolonged military presence in the area.
The Indian leadership of post-partition was probably more genuine to the cause of partition. Their own press history shows the morale of those leaders who admitted that they will leave J&K the moment people of J&K will ask them to leave. The Hindustan Times of October 31, 1948 is on record quoting their then Deputy Prime Minister Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel as, “Vallabhbhai Patel said at a public meeting in Bombay on October 30, 1948 that some people consider that a Muslim majority area must necessarily belong to Pakistan. They wonder why we are in Kashmir. The answer is plain and simple. We are in Kashmir because the people of Kashmir want us to be there. The moment we realize that the people of Kashmir do not want us to be there, we shall not be there even for a minute… We shall not let the Kashmir down”. Ram Puniyani, the researcher, argues that there can be two approaches one is to recall the treaty of accession and gravitate towards that and take the recommendations of interlocutors seriously. Nearly seven decades after the accession of Kashmir to India, there is a need to recall that forcible merger; repression of dissent was never the idea of founders of Indian nation.
In the burgeoning literature of the Kashmir studies, Christopher Snedden, an Australian researcher and politico-strategic analyst, made a major contribution in 2012 with his, let’s say, most authoritative modern history of Jammu and Kashmir. In his book, Understanding Kashmir and Kashmiris, Snedden while putting forward an empirically-backed argument corroborated that it was actually the JaK-ites who activated the dispute over the status of Jammu and Kashmir. Gen Asad Durrani, in his latest book, also suggests the same.
Snedden also provided suggestions on how to resolve the Kashmir conflict. For him, the blame equally lies with India and Pakistan both, because they are intransigent states who are obsessed with Kashmir though he cites fourteen events in between 1950 – 2005, which (he claims) could have altered the status quo but unfortunately couldn’t. The international powers have no compelling reasons to intervene either. So, the best way is to let the people decide, as the first party to the Kashmir dispute. Let them discuss the issue among themselves and arrive at a solution; this approach is reasonable and in conformity to the UN resolution also.