By Rouf Dar for TwoCircles.net
A story regarding the infamous pellets attracted my attention a month back. People For Animals (PFA), a non-governmental organisation involved in legal fight against the use of pellets on animals, yielded positive result when their use was restricted. The legal system of India accorded assent to the petition and finally accepted the plea to prohibit the use of pellets.
In a strange yet unsurprising contradiction, pellets have been the national weapon of Indian forces versus Kashmiri protestors this year. These dreaded micro-bullets have claimed at least 20 human lives while injuring thousands. Their rampant use on unarmed, protesting civilians propelled the induction of various methods to quell agitating crowds a notch higher.
This is Kashmir. The above-mentioned two samples can help gauge the disparity in violence used by the state towards different species. The loss and paralysing of human lives seems inept to spur an adjudication prohibiting the use of pellets on humans, or say Kashmiris. No legal arrangement calls for a permanent moratorium even as they continue to kill, maim and blind.
Even Mehbooba Mufti government pestered the High Court to halt any possible ban on pellets. She termed any possible ban on pellets to be “unconstitutional”. An Indian army official publicly declared that use of pellets cannot be stopped and that fieldwork was on to use them in a possible manner to cause minimum damage. The “fieldwork” has, sadly, been the streets of Kashmir where such “modern methods of crowd control”, are tested and tried at the cost of our bodies.
Braving pellets, for the umpteenth time Kashmir has revolted against the presence of Indian footprints in the valley. And every time, the state’s response has been similar to how states all over the world are supposed to respond — use of brute force to calm those who dissent against them. Our struggle is not only against a state but an occupier state. This is doubly oppressive. And doubly difficult too.
The state-sponsored murder of around 100 youth since July 9, when top militant commander Burhan Wani was killed in an encounter, managed to garner some serious concern from the world that is preoccupied with the ding-dong elections in USA and ISIS in the Middle East. The joy of oppressed Kashmiris knew finite bounds when the New York Times, Al Jazeera and other leading news agencies provided space to the slain commander and ensuing bloodbath.
Thanks to Pakistan, Kashmir again grabbed spotlight at the UN forum drawing considerable attention from nations of the world. But still, as Kashmiris, as a people who have witnessed more than six decades of continued foreign occupation, we feel this has not elicited a responsible behavior on the part of contemporary superpowers in an age hallmarked by developed countries claiming to be the champions of democracy and human rights.
However we can not afford to complain either. For our attempts of mobilization of political support for our movement coincide with the times of drones, missiles and poisonous gassing of entire masses. In these heinous crimes against humanity, hundreds fall prey to selfish state interests each day in Syria, Yemen, Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya and elsewhere. Thousands are driven homeless far off from their homes.
In such despicable times of human history, 100 youth killed in a year, in a forlorn valley, is obviously bound to be overshadowed by larger massacres. And when our occupier rings in its complex of media, military, intelligence and civil society to shield itself from war crimes and sugarcoat all perpetrations, any expected cognizance of the problem remains a distant mirage. Some don’t want to strain their friendship with India, others may not be well aware with the ground reality.
This is an unfortunate setting when Assad and Sisi outrun Modi in the crony race of authoritarian dictatorship. Modi, who presided over the largest pogrom against Muslims in independent India, has rivals like above to thank for the apparently liberal image that he carries to different parts of the world. The tag of a mass-murderer has remained though.
After two months of unabated killing spree, an >a href=”http://http//m.firstpost.com/india/uri-attack-17-soldiers-4-terrorists-killed-combing-operations-in-progress-3009124.html”>attack in Uri claimed the lives of 17 soldiers and four attackers. A vicious media campaign enabled India to transcend the raging situation in Kashmir and tighten the noose on Pakistan for sponsoring terrorism in the region. In the follow-up to Uri attacks, India claimed to have conducted surgical strikes across the Line of Control which was refuted by Pakistan and the UNMOGIP. Again, media was the main culprit in escalating tensions.
These cross-border skirmishes transforming into ceasefire violations and flashing the imminence of a nuclear war attracted all power brokers to soothe tensions between the two nations. Though Indo-Pak cordiality is vitally important for Kashmir issue, this warlike euphoria altogether buried the daily reportage of crimes of Indian forces in the valley. We were reduced to mere footnotes when we should have grabbed headlines.
Modi then confessed to remembering the 17 soldiers killed in Uri but all along has been ignoring what his “jawans” have been perpetrating on us. Not that we expect or want him to condemn the killing, or speak for us, but the basic premise of humanity is absent in the state that oppresses us, of which Modi happens to be the premier. If the state humanises itself, the issue can find resolution without hiccups in little time. But then, even such an expectation is an exaggeration.
I would not declare us to be innocent. Yes, we are unarmed but still “convicted”. We are absolutely “guilty”, of rebellion, which is called sedition in Indian parlance. Right from 1947, when the echelons of power transferred from Dogras to Indian state, we have been opposing this foreign rule deploying all possible means. We are criminals for them in totality by virtue of our belonging, our identity of a nation that fights a forced occupation.
Replicating her bosses in New Delhi, Chief Minister of the “colony” quantified only 5% Kashmiris to be demanding Azaadi — those who are on the streets, while rest want to live in peace. Though her conception of peace is faulty, she chose to un-count the number of attendees at Burhan Wani’s funeral. Or for that matter the public participation in protests and rallies. After imprisoning several percentages of Kashmiris, the agitation has been difficult to contain which busts the 5% myth.
Also the state is trying to concoct facts by symbolising that the only thing wrong in Kashmir is 5% of its population while sidelining neo-tactics of resistance. Artists who paint portraits of destruction, musicians who sing tearful eulogies or writers who pen down horrific tales of oppression are silently whisked away from the mainframe. In modern times, art has proven to be a powerful medium of expressing revolt and present generations of Kashmiris have been putting such tactics into effective use.
The state does not consider these methods as a protest. Even people don’t. Closed schools, deserted bazaars or empty roads are manifestations of people refusing further submission and dissenting in a very transparent manner but they arrive to a dismal ignorance of the state. When the whole valley, including all the institutions and businesses, shuts down for more than three months, accomplishing a world record, can it be attributed to the presence of just 5% protesting people?
By far the most striking feature of Indian understanding of Kashmir has been their reluctance to accept the existing reality in Kashmir. Indian experts on Kashmir are part of the ideological apparatus that the state uses to sugarcoat on-ground factuality. This has sprung up problems for the state as well as the people. Every time an attempt is made to suppress popular aspirations, the latter seem to erupt with more fierceness.
Humans, who have advanced a lot in upholding animal rights, have forgot to secure their own brethren and put to death a chunk of them each day. We profess to be benefactors for dumb creatures but turn monsters for our own kind. We, Kashmiris, as humans are well gifted of communicating our choices and demonstrating our will. We have been reiterating our demands for quite long now. But the occupier does not hear or care.
This world can find its pinnacle only in its people’s freedom. Freedom is obligatory for each human. The same is true in case of Kashmir. Our future is latent in our freedom. India has a choice to make — make or break our future.
Rouf Dar is a student of political science at KU and a storyteller resisting the forgetfulness of Indian crimes in Kashmir