I still remember a message I received last year. Vacations had begun and a friend of mine went to Kashmir in the holidays. That morning, around 7am they were on their way to a place called Banjusa—if I remember the name correctly. It’s been so long but I still remember the vivid description she gave of the place. The smell of pine cones….the fog….the weather, even in my mind it seemed like glorious Heaven. Can’t even imagine how splendid it must have been in real life for her.
This is the Kashmir we know. This is how it was supposed to be. World-famous tourist spot—the Switzerland of Pakistan as it has been called. Beautiful view. Amazing weather. Lakes and mountains all around. So what happened? Mountbatten seriously screwed up didn’t he!!
At the time of independence, Muslims of the subcontinent were relentlessly persecuted and no respect for life, homes, place of worship was shown. It was heartless, but at least it was finite. Once they had all been shepherded into the newly-created Pakistan they found a sanctuary. Those who continued living in India prolonged their state of misery, but eventually everything settled down. Things weren’t ideal, not at all, but the intensity and scale of hardships was reduced at least by some measure for the people. That is much more than we can say for the Kashmiris. They have been stuck in the vortex of Indo-Pak conflicts for the past 63 years now, with the last 2 decades peaking in terms of atrocities and bloodshed. The body count for innocent lives brutalized in senseless murder is rising ominously. Since 1988, over 80,000 civilians including women and children have died at the hands of the Indian army and paramilitary forces. All for the cause of their freedom.
We live only half a day’s journey at the max from the troubled land of Kashmir, and yet we fail to comprehend the half of what the Kashmiris are made to suffer and have been suffering for so long; in terms of life, dignity & honour and commerce. These are some reports of acts of terrorbeing perpetrated in Kashmir back in the early ‘90s. It makes us realize the intensity of the acts and how long they have been going on without any notice of the world.
Early Tortures in Kashmir
“Subjugated, humiliated, tortured and killed by the 650,000-strong Indian army, the people of Kashmir have been living through sheer hell for more than a year, the result of an increasingly brutal campaign of state repression. India hides behind its carefully-crafted image of “non-violence” and presents itself in international forums as a model of democracy and Pluralism. Yet, it is unable to stand up the scrutiny of even its admirers. All journalists, especially television crews, were expelled from the Valley. With no intrusive cameras to record the brutalities of the Indian forces, the world has been kept largely in the dark.” (The Toronto Star, January 25, 1991)
“The security forces have entered hospitals, beaten patients, hit doctors, entered operating theaters, and smashed instruments. Ambulances have been attacked, curfew passes are confiscated.” (Asia Watch, May 1991)
“(On February 23, 1991), at least 23 women were reportedly raped in their homes at gunpoint (at Kunan Poshpora in Kashmir). Some are said to have been gang-raped, others to have been raped in front of their children … The youngest victim was a girl of 13 named Misra, the oldest victim, name Jana, was aged 80″. (Amnesty International, March 1992)
“The most common torture methods are severe beatings, sometimes while the victim is hung upside down, and electric shocks. People have also been crushed with heavy rollers, burned, stabbed with sharp instruments, and had objects such as chilies or thick sticks forced into their rectums. Sexual mutilation has been reported”. (Amnesty International, March 1992)
The notorious Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) is being used as a shield by Indian authorities to validate their war crimes committed in the ‘line of duty’, or so called good faith. Bloodshed, economic terrorism and fallacious accusations continue to be hurled at the Kashmiris as we continue watching. Here are some recent reports now:
Present Killings—Auschwitz in Kashmir
Indian armed forces have resorted to another policy of “Catch and Kill” which means that no sooner a person is taken into custody, within minutes he is brutally tortured and killed. The dead body is then thrown into the street. In other cases, innocent civilians are arrested and taken to border areas where they are shot. The Indian government then publicizes that these people were militants killed in armed encounters with the troops. It is common practice for the paramilitary forces to walk into a quiet village/town and start shooting indiscriminately, killing innocent and unarmed civilians–all under the pretence of crack-down operations against the Freedom-Fighters. In most cases, innocent civilians are killed, women gang-raped and properties set on fire.
The past month has seen11 persons, at least eight of them children between 13 and 19 years old, allegedly killed in shootings by the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) paramilitary personnel stationed across the Kashmir valley, as protestors defied curfew regulations, held violent demonstrations and often clashed with the security personnel in Srinagar, Sopore and other towns which were put under curfew.
It was reported on 11 June, that 17-year-old Tufail Ahmed Mattoo of Srinagar was killed, according to initial reports, by a teargas shell fired by the police at the protestors. However, later reports said he was shot in the head. On 20 June, as protests over the killing of Tufail Ahmed Mattoo turned violent, a 24-year-old carpet weaver of Srinagar, Rafiq Ahmed Bangroo, sustained serious head injuries and went into coma. He died on 19 June at the hospital. Some reports suggest that he was beaten by the CRPF personnel during the protests.
In a recent incident in which a serving India Army Major from 4 Rajput Regiment assigned a Special Police Officer (SPO) to trap three unsuspecting youth from Nadihal village to Indian Army Camp in Jammu & Kashmir, on the promise of jobs and money but were murdered. Later they were projected as hard core militant.
Pertaining these killings, Amnesty International has commented, “Authorities in India should avoid excessive use of force while dealing with demonstrators in the Kashmir valley, Amnesty International said today.”
Indian Brand of Democracy in Kashmir
Last week, top Kashmiri leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani, Chairman of All Parties Hurriyat Conference (G), was arrested from special prayer meeting convened by him at Hazratbal Shrine and is booked under section 151 and 107. He was also arrested last month and released under court orders. He was indicted for “…allegedly making a provocative speech. He was arrested minutes after he had given call for Kashmir bandh on June 21 against the killing of two youths Mohammad Rafiq Bangroo and his cousin Javid Ahmad Malla.” It is worth mentioning that Indian authorities are waiting for the deaths of top Kashmiri leaders like Syed Ali Geelani so there is no one to take the name of Kashmir Movement.
Non Muslims are safe in Kashmir as Kashmir Muslims believe in real communal harmony. The Kashmiris have never targeted non-Muslims during their agitation. In fact, they even provided food and lodging facility to the Yaatris and tourists during the 9-day agitation against the land transfer. They did this magnanimous gesture even while they are under constant attack from occupying forces from India, suffering from Indian torture, genocide and destructions. [Source]
Economic Terrorism in Kashmir
The Hindus in Jammu region have resorted to what is called economic terrorism against Kashmiris particularly in Srinagar sector. They have blocked the national highway from Jammu to Kashmir, the main vein of JK trade.
The Valley’s fruit growers suffered losses to the tune of Rs.60 Crore during the frequent blockades of the Srinagar-Jammu highway by the rightwing Hindu activists. The valley fruit growers, most of them from north Kashmir’s Baramulla district said that they had decided to send their fruit to Muzaffarabad, the capital of Pakistan administered Kashmir as the government had failed to protect the trucks carrying their goods from the attacks of the fanatic Hindus. the fruit especially apple and cherry waiting to be taken to the outside market have rotted in the trucks which has caused huge losses to the fruit growers and people associated with the trade.
All of this is just the tip of the iceberg. What the Kashmiris have and are continuing to go through is barbaric, inhumane, senseless. Can you imagine being a cancer patient and having military people barge in your hospital room and roll you around so that your I/V lines and catheters are ripped out from your veins and you slowly die as they stand there and laugh their moronic heads off? Have you thought about bare wires being attached to your legs and then being doused with water? How about officers storm your school, you’re 11-years old and the only Muslim kid so you end up getting murdered? Perhaps you are an 18-year old bride who got gang-raped and shot before she could even make it to her husband’s home for the first night. You could also be her 7-months pregnant 45-year old aunt who was also gang-raped and then disappeared without a trace. Then there was the 20-year student who was shot in the throat as he was walking to his school, and the 19-year old boy who was pushed up against a tree by the Border Security Forces and suffered 3 waves of shots—a total of 10 bullets to both thighs, both arms, chest, neck and head along with electric shots and severe beatings. Remained alive but with the prognosis of “permanent disability.”
I don’t know much about politics, but I do know that after spending so many decades in purgatory, they deserve the attention of the world and whatever it is they want, it is high time that it should be granted to them. Or else the Indian wish of the demise of all the Kashmiri leaders might come true and the carnage will reign on in the absence of any voices of freedom
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