6 MANUSHI

We reached Srinagar on theafternoon of 25th May. Theatmosphere at the airport seemedrelatively relaxed. As soon as we satin the taxi we had hired to take us toour hotel, the taxi driver asked us:“Aap press walle hain? (Are youpress people?). We said “yes” andadded that we were a human rightsteam. “Then you must know myclients Tavleen Singh and HarinderBaweja?” he asked. “What do youthink of their reports?” was mycounter question to him. “Harindertheek, theek likhti hai , par Tavleen,to baapre! Main to uske sath jane sebahut darta noon. (Harinder’s writingis alright, but Tavleen! My God! I amscared of taking her in my taxi). Thelast time she came, I took her to adistant village where some womanhad been raped. The Border SecurityForce (BSF) tried to stop us fromproceeding to that village. She reallygave it to them. She is not afraid ofanyone. I shudder to accompany heranywhere because if she picks up afight with the security forces againwhile travelling in my taxi, I will befinished.”

That a Delhi based womanjournalist could get away bychallenging the security forces,whereas a local Kashmiri would beafraid of even being her chauffeurgives one an insight into therelationship the security forces todayhave with the ordinary people ofKashmir.

“How are things now as comparedto the last couple of years?” we asked.“Much better. There are far fewerconfrontations between the militantsand security forces. But the numberof people being killed has not gonedown. Things are likely to improvenow that Yasin Malik has beenreleased. He is among the mostrespected leaders of Kashmir. The dayhe was released from jail and broughtback to Srinagar, the entire route fromthe airport to his house was lined up

During the last week of May 1994,1 visited Jammu & Kashmir alongwith Mr.Kuldeep Nayar and Justice Tarkunde of Citizens For Democracy. This wasnot an enquiry team out to document cases of atrocities and human rightsviolations, even though wherever we went, by and large, this is what mostKashmiris wanted to talk about. &ur purpose was mainly to assess forourselves whether instances of excesses by security forces had lessened andwhether there existed any scope for a negotiated solution to the Kashmirissued The focus in this report is mainly on Kashmiri Muslims in the valley.We have not dealt with the point of view of people in other regions of Jammu& Kashmir or of Kashmiri Pandits not because their view point is any theless important, but because a peaceful solution to the problem cannot befound unless we build bridges of communication with people in the valley.

Voices From Kashmir

REPORT

Madhu Kishwar

with people who had come out to greethim. It took him nearly seven hours toreach home from the airport —adistance normally covered in half anhour.” Even though our driver wasclearly sympathetic to the JKLFdemand for azadi(freedom), he made

no bones about his own priorities:“My politics is my rozi roti (dailybread). The day I have no customers,no one is going to come and feed meand my family. There are ten peopledependent on me, including my twoyounger brothers. One of my brotherswas picked up for interrogationbecause one of his friends who wasarrested had given his name to thesecurity forces. He was detained forinterrogation and then let off. But theyleft him in such a bad shape that hewas confined to bed for 20 days. Hewas released as he was able toconvince them that he was not amilitant.”

Militants Vs InnocentsOne of the most noteworthy

aspects of our interaction withKashmiri Muslims of the valley wasthat every time we heard a tale of woeabout arrest, torture or killing by thesecurity forces, people did not try tohide the fact that the person targetedwas a militant. I got the impressionYasin Malik

No. 83 7

that the information we got on thiscount was by and large reliable. Theywould even tell us whether the personconcerned had given up militancy orwas still a militant. For instance, wewere told that one of the young boysarrested in Delhi on charge of tryingto plant a bomb in Plaza cinema hadgiven up militancy and had gone toDelhi for mazdoori (working as alaborer)--but he was arrested andmade out to be an active terrorist. Thesame group of people had nohesitation in telling us as to who weregenuine terrorists. People’s anger andindignation was much strongerwherever an innocent person wastargeted. Arrests of actual militants didnot evoke strong indignation. Mostpeople agreed that though thesituation was in some ways returningto “normal”, the feeling of alienationis stronger than before.

Even though on the surface thingsappeared more “normal”, yet it wouldbe wrong to assume that normalcyhas returned. There has been no letup in crackdowns, whose frequencyhas actually increased. For instance,one of the localities called Batwal inSrinagar had recently gone throughits 125th crackdown. However, thereis a perceptible change in the pattern.Till recently, the security forcesseemed not able to distinguishbetween ordinary people andmilitants; killings and arrests weretotally indiscriminate. In recentmonths they seem to have focussedmore on getting at the militants.

The word ‘crackdown’ refers to thesecurity forces’ cordoning off a citylocality or an entire village with thepurpose of conducting searchoperations. All the men, includingyoung boys, of the area are asked tocome out. Often the men are beaten,humiliated and many even tortured. Forinstance, in a village near Anantnagthe security forces asked the menincluding very aged ones to come outand made them to roll in mud and filth.

The security forces then go fromhouse to house ostensibly to searchfor arms or hiding places. But on mostoccasions they just loot the houses,vandalize and break up whatevercomes in their view. Every now andthen, they misbehave with women.There have been some instances ofrape. We were provided details of onlythree cases and met one rape victim.

We reached Sopore on the 27thMay, a day after a major crackdownby the BSF. The town is supposed tobe a stronghold of pro-Pakistan HizbulMujahideen. This was the only placewhere we were faced with a hostiledemonstration. Within minutes of ourreaching Sopore, a large group ofwomen gathered outside the housewhere we were having a meeting withlocal residents. They were excited andkept shouting pro-Pakistan and anti-India slogans like “Yeh tamasha nahinhai, yeh matam sahi hai (This is not afarce, this mourning is for real) andyahan kya chalega - NizameMusalmeen (What will apply here?the rule of Muslims)” were shouted. Icould not tell whether it was a stagemanaged show or a spontaneousdemonstration. However, the moodwas far more angry than at otherplaces we visited probably becausethey had been subjected to a majorcrackdown on the previous day.

On the morning of the 26th May,all the men and young boys wereordered to gather at one place around7 am. and were subjected to anidentification parade. A young boysitting in a Gypsy van was acting asthe informer. Twenty three men werepicked out and taken to a makeshiftinterrogation centre one by one. Wemet several of them in Sopore medicalcollege hospital later in the day.

The first one to be picked upwas a 45 year old man whose sonwas a militant but had been killed incross fire four years ago. They askedthe father to hand over his deadson’s gun. When he told them thathe did not have the weapons usedby his son, he was tortured. FeyazAhmed Antoo, a 34 year oldshopkeeper described his ownordeal thus:

“I was the third one to be calledin for interrogation. They wanted meto tell them the hiding places ofmilitants. I told them that I didn’tknow of any hiding places and thatthe militants had stopped cominghere ever since the BSF establishedits bunkers around Sopore. Theythen stripped me naked and tied myhands behind my back. One of themkicked me and I fell down. They thenplaced an iron rod on my thighs. Fourof them climbed on top of it. Theystuffed my mouth with my ownbanian (vest). One of them caughthold of my head with one hand andwith the other he began to pour waterinto my nostrils. Another jawan wassimultaneously giving me electricshocks. After fifteen minutes of this,they asked me to accompany themto our old house. There they begananother torture session. After a whilethey took me to the third story of ourhouse asking me to show them thehiding places. When I said there wereno hiding places to show, theytortured me a third time. When finallyI was brought down, my mother wasstanding outside our new house. She

8 MANUSHI

had a bag containing Rs. 6,37,000 incash, several fixed deposit receipts(FDRs) and jewelry. They snatchedthe bag from her. I protested sayingthat this was our hard earned money,our bank has all this in its record.My brother-in-law also tried arguingwith them. Consequently, he too wastaken for interrogation and tortured.Later they returned the jewellery buttook away the cash and FDRs. Butthey gave the FOR numbers andreceipt for the cash. Our family runsa leather business. One of those theyarrested was a young employee ofours. He was tortured the most. Ashe tried to run away they fired at himand injured him in the leg.”Everybody agreed that this youngman was totally unconnected withmilitancy. The next day’s newspapersin Delhi carried the governmentversion of this incident whereby theyannounced that the BSF hadrecovered Pakistan currency duringa raid in Sopore town. Feroze Ahmedcomplained that the security forcesnot only looted their belongings butthey drank liquor in their house,misbehaved with women, even bittheir faces and threatened to kill allthe young men of Kashmir.

Another one of those torturedwas 35 year old MohammadMubashir Naik who is employed as awork supervisor in the RuralDevelopment Department of theState Government. He admittedcandidly that he was interrogatedand tortured because his saala(brother-in-law) Tariz Ahmed Mimais a Hizbul Mujahideen militant.Mubashir was stripped naked andgiven the roller treatment. A metalrod was inserted in his penis and hisanal portion cut up with a knife. Hehad bled for three hours through hisanus till he was brought to theSopore hospital and stitched up.They had also given him electricshocks through his fingers.

Each one of those admitted to

the hospital had a similar story totell. Sopore has experienced nearly30 to 40 such crackdowns in recentyears. The area has pronouncedIslamic fundamentalist politicsbecause this is the constituency ofthe Jammat-e-Islami leader Sayed AliGilani. However, the crackdown onthe 26th May was not in retaliationagainst any provocation by theterrorists, though this time the BSFhad targeted those families whoserelatives were operating with themilitants.

Back in Srinagar, MohammadJawad of Baghwanpura, Lal Bazar inSrinagar brought to us a whole casefile pertaining to the continueddetention of his son MohammadYusuf Lone, aged 25, who he insistshas been wrongly implicated by thepolice. Yusuf was arrested in Delhion the 25th April, 1992. His father wasconsumed by grief and kept askingus to look at the photos of his sonsaying: “Does he look like a militantto you?” He told us that he had sentoff his son to work in Delhi becausehe wanted him far away from the

troubles of Kashmir. He was marriedon the 26th October, 1991 in Srinagarand returned to Delhi, just 15 daysafter his wedding. He was employedwith Gulshan Carpets in Delhi since1989, and lived at F-100, Lajpat Nagar.On the 25th April, 1992 there was araid at the M-27 Lajpat Nagar office-cum-residence of the owner ofGulshan Carpets and MohammadYusuf was arrested along with sixother people. He has been in policecustody since then. Yusuf’s fathercomplained that his son’s bailapplication has been rejected fourtimes even though the police has notpressed any charges against him. Incontrast, one of the seven arrested,Mohammad Akhtar Dar who is thenephew of the owner of GulshanCarpets, has been released eventhough there are serious chargesagainst him. The implication was thatthe latter had bribed his way out.Yusuf’s father also showed the manydiscrepancies in the paper workassociated with his son’s arrest. Thedesperation of the family unable toget a proper hearing against the high

Mohammad Yusuf Lone (centre) with his family in Srinagar

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handedness of the police, as avenuesof redressal had been shut off,explained why even those who areunsympathetic to militants areturning against the Indiangovernment.

Army Needs DiscipliningIt is not so much the brutality and

torture which made people so despisethe security forces. It is their utter lackof discipline and self respect whichhad made the armed forces appear anobject of contempt rather than fear.We saw one of the houses which hadbeen converted into an interrogationcentre. The BSF had vandalizedeverything that crossed their sight.They broke the T.V. and crockery andwhatever else they could lay theirhands on. Even the wooden staircasehad been chopped into pieces. Onehad to hang one’s head in shamewhen we heard outbursts like: “Unkato haldi mirch khatam ho jaye to raidkarne aa jaate hain. Jo khana pinadikha kha liya—bachon ka doodhtak bhi. Purane joote tak hamare lejaate hain. Ghar mein aurton kedoodh ke liye bachaye paise bhichura lete hain. Jo log ande takchura lein aap soch sakte hain unkilevel kya hogi. Bade bahadur bantehain! Militants ko dekh kar to bhagjate hain, per innocents ko aakarmoor jate hain. Jung lado, to jung keusoolon ke sath.” (They come to raideverytime they run out of rations oreven spices. They eat and drinkwhatever is in sight — even children’smilk. They take away anything theycan lay their hands on—even our oldshoes. They even steal the littlemoney women keep in the kitchen forthe supply of daily milk. You canimagine the level of those who evensteal eggs. They call themselvesbrave, but they run away at the sightof militants. And later they come andbeat up the innocents. Fight a war ifyou will, but observe the rules of war.)

This role of behaving like a lowlevel occupation army towards the

general population has reduced thearmed forces’ efficacy in combatinggenuine terrorism. Men who behave

like petty thieves and marauders arenot likely to inspire awe or confidence.This is, unfortunately, not a newphenomenon for Kashmiris. Ever sinceKashmir became a part of India, it hasbeen denied free and fair electionsbarring once in 1977 and the state hasrepeatedly come under the CentralGovernment’s rule. Moreover, it is aborder state whose future wassupposed to have been decidedthrough plebiscite in both India andPakistan controlled Kashmir.Consequently, the state hasexperienced a heavy dose of armypresence. The Indian army, like mostarmies in the world, has a tendency totreat civilians with contempt even innormal times. During the last few years

Seeds of RevoltYasin Malik, the celebrated

JKLF leader narrated an experienceof his childhood years, which, hesays, made him acutely sensitive todie “slavery” imposed on Kashmiris.

“It was in 1976. Sheikh Abdullahwas still the Chief Minister of Jammuand Kashmir. This happened in themonth of July when Muslims wereobserving rozas. 1 was about eightyears old then. I live in Lal Chowkarea which is in the heart of the city.A big army vehicle driven by a drunksoldier drove straight on to thefootpath. Even though no one waskilled, people felt extremely angry atthis irresponsible act

They were provoked notbecause this was an army vehiclebut because the driver was drunk.Anyone who drives in such a stateof intoxication is bound to provokea similar reaction. So people beathim up. That very evening a wholecontingent of Shaktiman vehiclesof the army descended on the area.The soldiers were dressed inknickers and vests and carryingbatons in their hands. I was a smallkid then but I had this habit of

rushing out of the house to seewhat was happening wheneverthere was a noise in theneighbourhood. So I witnessedhow the army began by beating uppeople on the street and then wenton a burning spree. They set fireto several vehicles, a taxi stand aswell as several buildings aroundthe area. Whatever came in theirway, they looted, vandalized andset on fire. While all this washappening, I had taken shelter inthe ticket booking office near theBroadway bus stop. It was a smallwooden structure on the road side.

Luckily for me, the army justbroke that wooden structure insteadof setting it on fire. Otherwise, I toowould have been roasted alive. Itwas a miracle indeed that I survivedthat day. Witnessing that entireepisode from so close made me forthe first time, deeply conscious ofour gulami (slavery). Even thoughI was aware of it even earlier, fromthe time of that incident the feelingof alienation kept strengthening inme as I witnessed more instancesof such high-handedness.”

10 MANUSHI

it has become even more unrestrained.This has been the single mostimportant factor for the alienation ofKashmiris who feel that they werenever trusted with full citizenshiprights and have been treated like asubject population under imperial rule.

Collapse of AdministrationToday it is just not ordinary

citizens who are complaining againstthe behavior of the security forces.Many senior bureaucrats feel no lessaggrieved at being totally sidelinedwith the army taking over not onlylaw and order from the police but alsowanting control over day to dayadministration. Two officials narratedthe following incident as an exampleof how the army men are behaving asthough they are a law untothemselves.

“Around mid-April on a Sunday,some army men had gone for a picnicto Mansal lake near Jammu. Thoughthis is a popular picnic spot, there is asanctity attached to this place,especially the lake. It is a known,popularly accepted taboo that no onewill fish or drink liquor in that lake.However, these soldiers carried liquorbottles with them and they wanted tocarry their drinks with them while theywent boating. The local tourist officertried to stop them from doing so. Thearmy men got so annoyed that theytook out their belts and started beatingup the tourist officer. The localpolicemen on duty at the spot tried tointervene and stop the violence. Thisfurther enraged the army men. Theybeat up the policemen, tied them up,and bundled them into their jeeps andtook them to their base at Udhampurwhere the army men gave themanother thrashing. Next day theybrought them back to the thana (policestation) these policemen wereattached to and handed them over tothe officer in charge. So confidentwere they of getting away with it that

they even insisted on taking receiptsthat the abducted policemen ‘had beenhanded over!”

When the complaint reached thecivil administrator in charge of thearea, he wanted to order an enquiryand send the facts to the Governorasking for his permission to hold anenquiry into this incident. TheGovernor plainly refused. That iswhere the matter ended. Accordingto a senior IAS officer (his name ispurposely kept back), this isinevitable if you have a former armygeneral head the civil administration.“He is not likely to accept that thearmy could be wrong. It gives thearmed forces the feeling that they aresupreme.”

placed under them. According tosome responsible senior officials,“After the army was bestowed withunified command, both the number ofcasualties and militancy has gone up.Even very senior IAS officials haveno say in the administration. In fact,they have been made answerable tothe army. Given the total politicalvacuum, and the fact that evenpanchayat elections have not beenheld for so very long, people have noreal channels of grievance redressal.”The lack of discipline in the army hasbecome a serious menace. We weretold that even the officers seem afraidof their men, who have become usedto running amok and getting awaywith it. Even senior police officials are

Even though the army is supposedto aid the civil administration, inKashmir, the army is actually runningthe show. A senior administratorcomplained: “In Kashmir, the army hasbeen given special powers ever since1947. Consequently, army officershave come to consider themselves asspecial creatures, altogether abovelaw.” The army has been entrustedwith unified command. The BSF andall other security forces have been

Armoured Personnel Carrier patrolling Srinagar on Republic Day

kept in dark about anti-insurgencyoperations not just in the Kashmirvalley but also in Jammu area. This,despite the fact that some of therecent “successes” of the army innabbing militants have been on thebasis of information provided by theJammu and Kashmir police. The armyis hampered by the fact that, unlikethe local police, they don’t know thelocal languages. Their “interrogation”often consists of no more than torture

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sessions interspersed with thestandard questions: ‘Where are thearms? Where are the militants hiding?’

The sidelining of the bulk of localpolice is justified on the ground thatthey are sympathetic to militants. Oneof the senior government officials isknown to have declared that all Jammuand Kashmir policemen are Pakistanis(agents of Pakistan). If there is truthin this, then they should have beenput on trial and fired from their jobs.But that is not what has happened.The state police continue to drawtheir salaries while stripped of allresponsibility. This has led to greatdemoralization and a sense ofhumiliation for being so mistrusted.

The existing political vacuumcombined with the paralysis of thestate government machinery hasmeant a total alienation between thearmy run administration and the localpeople. Nothing symbolizes it betterthan the life-style of the Governor andother senior army officials. TheGovernor’s residence is an old colonialmansion situated miles away from thecity and its suburbs. Built onsprawling acres of land between twomountains, it provides an idyllic viewof the Dal Lake. But no human beingsor human habitation are visible fromthis palatial mansion. Sitting in theGovernor’s drawing room, listening tohis monologue on the successes ofthe army and his plans for the state,one was transported back a hundredyears. His mannerisms, his style andthinking would have done any BritishViceroy proud.

One heard this charge repeatedlythat one reason why the armyindulges in such frequent and largescale identification parades is that itprovides an avenue for makingmoney. There is a rule that wheneverpeople are gathered for anidentification parade, they are to beprovided refreshments at the rate ofRs 6 per head. In actual fact this isseldom done. This rule provides the

incentive to gather as many men asthey can — often the number runsinto thousands at a time — so thatthe money meant for refreshments canbe pocketed.

The methods used to nabmilitants are often counterproductivebecause the forces do not distinguishbetween collaborators and ordinarycitizens. Jamshid, a lawyer practicingat Anantnag courts, gave thefollowing account of a crackdownaimed at pure humiliation of the entirelocal population: “My house issituated a few kilometers outsideAnantnag. Last year around the 12thJuly 1993, some terrorists planted amine on the road. When the newsspread in our area, people began toflee their homes fearing an armycrackdown. Only the elderly peoplewere left behind. During the nightthere was a crackdown by the army.My old father was pulled out of thehouse at 3 am. along with other elderlypeople of the village. They strippedthem naked, made them lie down in adirty pool of water and beat them upruthlessly till they were unconscious.Then they dumped them into trucks,still naked, and took them to

Khandura headquarters. When theywere released in the evening becausethey were found innocent, my fatherand others were in such a state thatthey could not even talk.”

Because of such ham-handedoperations, the security forces arecompletely alienated from the localpopulation. Consequently, theirintelligence sources have also driedup and this has led to still crudermethods of interrogation andcrackdowns.

Far from telling exaggeratedstories of rape, I found that the peoplewere as cautious while narratingincidents of sexual violence as theywere when describing whether theperson killed was actually a militantor not. There were no wild allegationsof large scale rape of women. In thefew places we held discussions, wewere always given names and datesof specific incidents. For instance, theAnantnag lawyers mentioned onlytwo recent cases of rape. One tookplace in early April. In a crackdownon village Vailnagbal of Anantnagtehsil, the daughter of an old freedomfighter, Mohammad Rajabwani wasraped by the army while she was alonein the house as the men had beendragged out. Another lawyer, M.Y.Shehardar, gave the followingaccount: “In my village Sailia, therewas a crackdown in the early hours ofthe morning. The BSF jawansransacked a number of homes. Myneighbor Ahmed was locked in a roomand his wife Zainab was dragged intoanother room and gang raped. Thehusband pretended he had managedto save his wife, but the villagers knewhe was merely putting on a brave facebecause she was bedridden for threedays.” People alleged that thoughhundreds of women have been raped,only a handful of cases have beenregistered because of the social stigmaattached to being identified as a rapevictim. Mohammad Sultan Butt,another lawyer, testified to the

One of the victims of torture inSopore Hospital

12 MANUSHI

following incident: “Some days ago amine was planted by terrorists some 3kms. from Anantnag which killed somesoldiers. In retaliation, the RR9 armycamp soldiers raided a house around4 am. They did not find any militantsthere nor were any weaponsrecovered. They, however, took a ballof gunpowder and blew up the house,roasting seven people alive.” Thelawyers were no less upset about thefact that their elite status got them noconcessions. “They force us to comeout of our homes and work for themlike coolies. They don’t spare us evenwhen we show our identity cards.”

In Anantnag, a special bone ofcontention is the Muslimfundamentalists’ insistence on callingthe city Islamabad. The use of theIslamic name is seen as proof of theirpro-Pakistan sympathies. The armypersonnel go around defacing signboards which say Islamabad. The useof crude methods make people morefirm in their defiance. A common refrainone heard was that militancy came onthe heels of the BSF. People point toBijbehara which was a fairly peacefulzone till not long ago. “As soon asthey established a BSF camp in thearea, incidents of terrorism begancropping up. As soon as the army/BSF is posted anywhere, the areabecomes a problem zone.” We wererepeatedly told: “Their very presenceis a provocation and a humiliation.”

Personal Enmities Settledthrough Army

Armed with a whole range ofdraconian laws and estranged fromthe local people, the security forcesfeel no need to be discreet ordiscerning in their anti-terroristoperations. For every genuineterrorist they nab, there are dozens ofinnocent, unconnected peoplebrutalized, tortured, maimed and killed.Despite the much publicized humanrights abuses in international fora, inmost cases the “excesses” go

unchallenged. As inevitably happensin such situations, a lot of personalenmities are being avenged by thelocal people through the army.

In the Baramula Courts, youngGulzara Bano narrated a harrowingtale of what appears to be not anatypical case of ham-handed anti-militancy operations by the army.Gulzara was married about two year

ago to Bashir, a resident ofLacchhipura in Uri district borderingPakistan Occupied Kashmir (POK).Bashir is the only son of his parentsand has three sisters. His mother isdead. Apart from his own father’sland, he has also inherited the landof two of his paternal uncles whodied without leaving a direct heir. Inaddition, he runs a small business inChannawadi. He is considered oneof the most well off persons in hisvillage where most families have verysmall land holdings. According to hiswife, this has caused much jealousyand resentment. In particular, he hashad a long standing enmity with aman called Lassa, a neighbor ofBashir’s family. Lassa has inheriteda very small piece of land becausehe has five other brothers to sharethe family property with. Since Bashir

has had no child in the two years hehas been married, Lassa and someother neighbors had threatened himopenly that they were going to getrid of him and take over his land.

Instead of bloodying his ownhands, Lassa apparently told thearmy that Bashir and his sister’shusband were both militants.Consequently, both of them werearrested by the army and taken forinterrogation, around the 9th of May.The wives of the two men were toldnothing of their whereabouts,despite their best efforts to find outwhere their husbands were detained.On the 27th May, the day before wemet Gulzara, the dead body of hersister-in-law’s husband, Ali Asghar,who had been arrested along withBashir, was handed over to the family.According to Gulzara, there werevisible marks of torture all over hisbody. As soon as she saw what hadbecome of Ali, Gulzara fled her homein panic and sought shelter with heryounger sister who lives in astudents’ hostel in Baramula. Thenext morning she came to plead forher husband before the DeputyCommissioner of Baramula as also toseek help from local lawyers. That ishow we chanced to meet her inBaramula courts where we had goneto meet members of the local BarAssociation. “As soon as they wentto bury Ali, I ran to Baramula When Isaw his dead body, I had lost allsense. I only have an old father-in-law who is half blind. There is no oneto help or protect us among ourneighbors because others too wantmy husband out of their way so thatthey can grab his land. Lassa hadmade a few attempts on my husband’slife even earlier and would openlythreaten to kill him. When that didn’twork, they resorted to mukbari(informing) and got my nanad’s(sister-in-law’s) and my husbandarrested by the army.” People settlingpersonal enmities, property disputesand fights over women through the

Gulzara Bano of Uri

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army is becoming a frequentoccurrence.

Gulzara says: “Our area is not amilitant stronghold. In fact, themilitants mistrust the people of Uriaccusing them to be mukhbirs(informers). We can’t even come toBaramula openly. We have to keephiding from the militants and theirsympathizers. Otherwise they’d attackus for being mukhbirs. Once myhusband and I came to this placetogether. My uncle’s son who wasstudying in Srinagar had failed in class10 exam. He asked us to accompanyhim to Srinagar so that he could gethis paper rechecked. When wereturned and reached the Baramulabus stand, the militants caught holdof my husband and beat him upbecause somebody told them we wereUri residents. The people of Uri havethis reputation because we are nearthe border. Both sides suspect us ofbeing informers.”

Dilshad’s account seemed moregarbled than Gulzara’s and lessreliable. She used to live with herhusband Mohammad Ashraf Khan inSrinagar and the family owns a bakeryin Jawahar Nagar. He was arrestedsoon after Id in May this year. Theyhave been married for 12 years andsupply bread from their bakery toSrinagar’s Medical Institute. Shealleges that her husband has beenburnt all over his body and face andthe army is trying to get him toconfess that his wife is also a mujahid(militant). “I have small children tolook after. What kind of majahidgi(militancy) can I do?” she asksvehemently. She says all this hasbefallen them because her husbanddivorced his first wife and marriedDilshad. “The first wife is a Gujjar fromUri. These Uri people are all badpeople. She took her revenge on meby giving my photo to the army sayingthat I am a militant and I have hiddenlots of arms and ammunition. On theone hand they have implicated us with

the army saying we are mujahids,earlier they got us into trouble withthe militants saying we are armyinformers. Before the army took awaymy husband, the militants hadabducted us both and subjected usto physical torture at the behest ofmy husband’s first wife.” She showedme a number of photographs of herbody displaying torture marks. Theyhad stubbed burning cigarettes allover her body apart from other

members arrested, tortured or killed.In the first round people were alloweda few minutes each to present theircase. All we heard were standardstories of army atrocities. I thenrequested that I be allowed to talkprivately to some women. They sentone of their women colleagues to sitwith me. She became very uneasybecause stories that began unfoldingseemed far less stereotyped. As soonas the organizers realized that when

beatings. She was accused ofinforming on one of their comrades,Hamid Sheikh, leading to his arrest.According to Dilshad, the first wifefelt let down by the fact that themilitants did not torture her enoughand let her off after a day or two.Therefore, she got them in troublewith the army as well. Dilshad’shusband is in the army’s custody andshe says he is being badly tortured. Iwas not able to figure out how sheherself has managed to escape arrest,though she says the army is on thelook out for her.

We met Gulzara, Dilshad andothers at a meeting organized by theBaramula Bar Association where theypresented some victim families tocome and give details of their family

Women students protest against army operation

allowed a proper hearing these womenhad more complex stories to tell —stories that indicted the militants asmuch as the army, they beganobstructing me on the pretext that Ihad to go for lunch. Despite my bestefforts to say that lunch was notimportant, I was not allowed to talk tomore than three-four women and waswhisked away for lunch. I requestedthe women to wait for us and promisedthat I would return soon after lunch.But I found our hosts had no intentionof allowing me to go back. I had tostruggle hard to come back to wherethe women were still waiting for me.But I was really surprised to find thata couple of women had changed theirversion altogether. The very sameDilshad who earlier seemed desperate

14 MANUSHI

to talk to us began shouting andscreaming that we Indians shouldleave Kashmiris alone. “You onlycome to see whether we still have anyfighting spirit left in us. Please don’tcome here.” I got the feeling she hadin the meantime been tutored by someof the lawyers.

At Baramula we were feasted witha sumptuous lunch at the house ofone of the lawyers—Khwaja SarwarShah. As we entered his prosperouslooking home, he pointed to a bullethole in the glass pane of his drawingroom window. He told us the story ofhow this bullet had been fired at theirhouse about a year and a half ago froma nearby army bunker. They hadpreserved the bullet mark like a proudmedal to be displayed to all importantvisitors even though the rest of thehouse was freshly painted andspruced up. This lawyer and hisfriends indulged in militant anti-Indiarhetoric which I found amusingbecause earlier he had proudly shownme pictures of his maternal uncleprominently displayed in his drawingroom because his uncle was once aMember of Parliament and had alsobeen appointed as an ambassador ofthe Government of India. When Iasked him why he was proud of anuncle who had been a collaborator ofa government which he said hehated—he pretended he had notheard my question. But he could notsimilarly evade my question as to whyhe himself continued practicing lawin the Indian courts instead of takingthe gun since he was so enamoredwith the politics of pro-Pakistanmujahidins. His answer was notconvincing: “When the time comes, Iwill also take up the gun. Right now Iam serving the movement through thelaw courts.”

There was a distinct difference inthe tenor of discussion in ourmeetings with Kashmir! lawyers andpolitical leaders and those withordinary Kashmiris. The anti-India

sentiment of the latter was based ontheir personal suffering whereassome of the politicians and lawyersindulged in far more exaggeratedrhetoric than their collaborationistpast justified. Every mistake theIndian army made provided grist totheir mill. These lawyers were far fromwilling to tackle the atrocities andhuman rights violations beingcommitted by their supposedliberators. For instance, in a meetingheld in the home of one of the victimsof army killings in Dabrana villagenear Anantnag, people talked quietlyand in measured tones as comparedto the militant rhetoric of manylawyers. In the village there was nohysteria, no exaggerated politicalstatements nor an inflated accountof atrocities—just plain matter of factdescription of how the army hadbeen behaving with them. Describinga crackdown which took place on the25th April, 1994, the villagers told usthat at night they heard sounds offiring.

The next morning at 8 a.m. thearmy told them that militants hadfired at the army and they had cometo search the village. All the men wereordered to come out foridentification. Four men were takenout of the identification parade — AliMohammad, Feyaz Ahmed, FarooqAhmed and Javed Ahmed Shah —and were shot dead. The villagerswithout any coaxing told us thatFeyaz Ahmed and Farooq wereindeed militants, but Ali Mohammad,a 35 year old tailor by profession, waskilled simply because they suspectevery Muslim with a beard. Anothervillager Mohammad Amin told us thathe shaved off his beard after thatincident because the army speciallypicks on men with beards. AliMohammad’s brother, MohammadIbrahim is employed in the BSF, buteven that could not save him. Asusual, during the crackdown, thearmy people looted a lot of stuff from

people’s homes, including usedclothes, tape recorders, boots,watches etcetera.

The people openly admitted thatthis village had produced threeterrorists. Javed Ahmed was a firstclass first graduate in the mid 80’s. Heapplied for admission the in theengineering college. They asked himfor one lakh Rupees as a bribe foradmission. He then began lookingaround for a job but could not findone. He ran away and became aterrorist. We were told that anothermilitant of the village has left for someforeign country. The third one,Farooq, has given up militancy andjust whiles away his time. With a laughwe were told “ab woh kabutar paltahia”(Now he rears pigeons!) while hisold and poor father does mazdoori(labours).” The young man waspromptly produced before us whenwe expressed the desire to meet him.

Farooq was candid about his 3-4year involvement with Al Jehad. “Ijoined them in 1990 because I did notget a job even though I was a matricpass. Therefore, I picked up the gun.My parents are very poor and myfather supports the family bymazdoori —reda chalata hai (pulls acart). I left a year ago because myparents are old and very poor. Theywere being constantly harassed by thearmy. If they don’t stop harassing us,I may pick up the gun again.” Wouldhe give up militancy if he got a job, Iasked. “No, I will not take up a job.Now I want to throw out Hindustanfrom Kashmir (Hindustan ko bhaganahai).” What exactly does he meanwhen he refers to Hindustan? “Thearmy,” came the unhesitating reply.

That is essentially the tragedy ofKashmir. An average Kashmiriidentifies his affiliation with India interms of army presence. Repeatedspells of Central rule supported by aheavy and high-handed presence ofthe army has made them associateIndia with the arrogance and tyranny

No. 83 15

of armed forces and near totalsuppression of democraticinstitutions.

However, despite the all pervasivehatred Kashmiris feel for the Indiangovernment, many young menconfess to having turned towardsterrorist politics because they couldnot “get a job”. The job refers not tojust any employment but specificallyto government service. For instance,the waiter in charge of my room atAahdoo hotel told me that he had “nojob”. When I pointed out that he wasemployed as a waiter, he said “Yeh tokoi naukri nahin hoi, yeh to case hithoda bahut kama lete hain.”(Thisis no job. This is just a way to earn alittle money). He gets a salary of Rs800 and makes another Rs 1500 amonth on an average by way of tips,but it is “not really a job” like the oneshis two brothers have with thegovernment. It is probably becauseas in the rest of the country, even alowly government job implies not onlya substantial, regular salary for no orlittle work but also unlimited avenuesof money making through corruption.Kashmir has been notorious for itscorrupt governance because thedemocratic checks and balances havebeen altogether missing. Kashmirismanning the government have madea lot of money. The army soldiers whogo on a looting spree in towns andvillages are often heard saying: “Youhave amassed a lot of wealth fromIndia. First we will get that out andthen talk to you about azadi.”

Unbridled CorruptionThe lack of professionalism is one

of the most important reasons for theinability of security forces to isolatethe terrorists and bring the situationunder control. It is not just a matter ofcertain number of mistakes or lapsesthat are inevitable in a counterinsurgency operation. Nor are the“excesses” by security forces a resultof provocations by militants because

of the former having to work underextremely stressful conditions, as isoften presented in our newspapers,magazines, television and now evenpopular cinema - such as in the filmRoja.

The unprecedented success ofRoja all over the country has beenattributed to the realistic portrayal ofhow the security forces andgovernment employees are riskingtheir very lives out of sheer idealismin order to protect the unity andintegrity of India. Unfortunately, theground reality is substantiallydifferent. Many people in Kashmir,including the respected editor ofJammu based Kashmir Times, Mr. VedBhasin, told us that the security forcesand certain sections of thebureaucracy have acquired a vestedinterest in prolonging the disturbancerather than seeing an end to it. Thereason is simple — the scope forcorruption and amassing huge wealthgets enhanced manifold when thereis army rule and the officers have beengiven unchecked powers. Since alldemocratic institutions which canmediate between the state and thepeople have been wiped out in Jammuand Kashmir and as the army enjoys

unquestioned authority, securityforces at all levels are indulging inopen loot and extortion under thecover of anti-insurgency operations.

To begin with, despite thegovernment propaganda about theirtrying at great risk to control theinfiltration from across the border,people in Kashmir openly talk aboutthe going rate paid to the BSF forcrossing the border. Thus, thesharper and more jingoistic therhetoric about stopping infiltration,the higher the rate demanded by theBSF for letting militants go across theborder or come back with arms.Likewise with the much publicised“arrests of militants”. Ofteninnocents are arrested solely for thepurpose of extorting money out oftheir families. We were told that theminimum rate of letting an arrestedperson off is Rs. 20,000 and could bemuch much higher depending on thepaying capacity of the family.According to reliable persons, therehave been numerous instances of therelease of even known militantsthrough bribes. Similarly theweapons seized are often sold backto the very same militants from whomthey were captured. The process is

16 MANUSHI

simple. For example, the securityforces capture ten guns, they showonly three “seized” in the records andthe other seven are given back to themilitants for a consideration. Evenshopkeepers are constantlythreatened with arrests if they do notpay bribes.

Apart from tyrannizing even theinnocent people, the very largepresence of security forces is causingunprecedented damage to the ecologyof Kashmir. Forests are being cut andwood is being sold illegally on a largescale by the security forces. Barrenmountains are a testimony to therapacious theft of forest resources thathas escalated in the last few years. Weheard stories of how senior officialsget the famous akhrot (walnut) treescut illegally to get the renowned carvedfurniture of Kashmir made throughlocal craftsmen, who mostly have towork free for the army. People talk ofofficers carrying back truckloads ofsuch furniture when their term comesto an end in Kashmir. One of the mostcommonly cited instances ofcorruption and vested interest of theparamilitary forces is that of a CentralReserve Police Force (CRPF)commandant who had been posted inKashmir upto 1991, after which he wassent to Punjab. There he received abullet injury in an encounter withterrorists. After that he was told thathe would be given a posting of hischoice. Normally people are expectedto opt for a peace station, but he askedto be reported to Kashmir andmanipulated his transfer in such a waythat he was sent back to Padgaon,exactly where he had served earlier.The reason was obvious—he hadmade a lot of money there.

The army is still consideredrelatively more disciplined than theBSF or the CRPF but if the army iscontinuously used for crushinginternal rebellions, it might becomeindistinguishable from the notoriousBSF. To quote Ved Bhasin: “Ourexperience in the past is that wherever

BSF was posted, the situationdeteriorated.” He feels that though thearea has been handed over to thesecurity forces on the ground thatthere is a serious law and orderproblem created by the militants, thelawlessness of the security forces isadding fuel to the fire rather thanquelling it. Even though India has sofar avoided going the fate of Pakistanwhere the army has gotten used todominating the political life of thecountry, the situation in Kashmir islike an army ruled state. The armygenerals and the top officials of theBSF are constantly making politicalstatements. They are also working atcross purposes, with BSF giving oneversion and the army or the CRPFgiving an altogether different oneabout the same event. To put it verymildly, they all seem to be functioningat cross purposes in pretty much thesame manner as the Home MinisterChavhan and his junior Rajesh Pilotwho are more often than not singingcontrary songs on Kashmir andsabotaging each other. The situationat the ground level is not verydifferent from the situation at theHome Ministry level — one hand doesnot know what the other is doing. Andwhen it does know, the attempt is topull down the other rather than workas a coherent team.

The corrupt among thebureaucrats also seem happy at thestate of affairs. In the prevailingatmosphere, the crores that arepouring in as development funds canbe more easily pocketed becauseeven the minimal checks on theirauthority that operate under ‘normal’conditions, are absent at the moment.

Fear of TerroristsThe militants too, are a sadly

divided lot especially since Pakistanbegan arming rival outfits to theJKLF. Apart from political rivalriesbetween groups owing allegiance todifferent ideologies and political

interests, there is a great deal ofmutual mistrust and hostility towardseach other. As inevitably happenswith groups pursuing undergroundpolitics, these outfits have all beeninfiltrated with intelligence agentsfrom both India and Pakistan.Consequently, the level of mutualmistrust is very high. No one, noteven their most celebrated heroes arespared. For instance, Yasin Malik hasa very high level of credibility andrespect at the popular level, for hewas among the first to have crossedthe border when he was a mereteenager and started this phase ofsecessionist movement. Yet, when hewas released from jail after four yearsand began publicly admitting thatthe solution to the Kashmir problemcannot come through guns alone,one heard several people includinghis colleagues in the HurriyatConference (a platform of diverseKashmiri organizations) suggest thathe had made a “deal” with the CentralGovernment. His open criticism of thecriminal elements within the liberationmovement and resolve to isolate andpurge them seems to have causedfurther suspicion. In fact, someprominent people even hinted thatthe visit of our team was linked tothe “deal” made in Delhi to co-optYasin. Two attempts have alreadybeen made on his life and mostpeople fear that his life is in seriousdanger from rival militant groups nowthat he is emphasizing the need for anegotiated settlement rather thancontinue with the earlier warlikeconfrontation.

Those resisting takeover of themovement by criminal elements aswell as those who wish to put an endto the mindless violence that hascome to dominate in Kashmir face thegreatest threats to their lives.However, the Pakistan backed outfitslike Al-Jehad, Hizbul Mujahiddin,Harkat-ul-Ansar have come toacquire disproportionate gun powerand it has become almost impossible

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to restrain them just as it is impossibleto restrain the provocative acts bygovernment planted agentprovocateurs.

The situation reminded me of theatmosphere of mistrust in themovement for Khalistan during theheydays of Sikh separatism. It 1986,I was invited to address a series ofmeetings in gurudwaras in the U.S.and Canada at a time when theoverseas Sikhs had become veryactive in supporting Khalistan. TheNorth American gurudwaras werethen almost completely under thesway of Sikh terrorists. In themeetings I addressed, some peoplewould adopt very aggressivepostures and say the most militantthings. After the discussion, I wouldhave people sneak upto me andwhisper in my ear, “Madhuji, don’theed so and so who took suchextremist views. He is actually aCongress agent.” There was a strongsuspicion that many of those whowere loudest in justifying bloodshedto achieve political ends were agentprovocateurs. No one knew whom totrust. I found suspicion evenbetween close relatives. People wereafraid to talk sensibly because themilitants would dub them as sarkariSikhs. Thus, even those who hadstrong reservations about the pathbeing pursued by Khalistanis wouldeither keep quiet altogether or joinedin supporting militants for fear ofbeing dubbed government agents.

In Kashmir too, I found it hard tofigure out, especially when talking toelite sections like lawyers andjournalists, as to who was speakingout of genuine conviction and whowas just adopting militant posture toremain above suspicion with theextremists, especially the pro-Pakistanelements whose gun power is as fearedas that of the security forces, becauseneither of the two seem to befollowing any rules in their respectivewarfare. In all our meetings with

lawyers’ associations, for instance,the pro-Pakistan lobby was the mostarticulate. They were seldomchallenged as vigorously, thoughmany people let it be known quietly,that pro-azadi sentiment was farstronger than pro-Pakistan sentiment.Those in favor of merger with Pakistanare a small minority, but they seemeda determined lot. They successfullydrowned the voices of those opposedto Pakistani interference because pro-Pakistan outfits are far better armedand far more determined to kill.

For instance Zafar Meharaj, aSrinagar based journalist, who isvery close to the JKLF politics todaysays that he was known for beingpro-India till not very long ago buthad now come to the conclusionthat coexistence within India isneither possible nor desirable. Fromthe manner in which he expressedhis politics, I got the feeling that hewas bitterly anti-India. I was,therefore, surprised when I was toldby someone who knew him well thathe was put on the hit list of terroristsa couple of years ago for taking amoderate line. Consequently, he hadto leave Srinagar and move to Delhifor a few years. I could not tell,therefore, whether his supposedly

moderate pro-India politics gaveway to strong secessionist politicsunder threat, or whether thetransition was due to progressivedisenchantment with the Indianstate, or both. In fact, during thecourse of an interview, when he toldme that he had shifted to Delhi in1991 looking for a job in a Delhinewspaper, I had expressed mysurprise saying: Why wouldsomeone who strongly believed inseceding from India move to Delhi— the capital city of the nation statewith which Kashmiris were waginga virtual war? And that too at theheight of the secessionistmovement in Kashmir! Why did nothe stay on and contribute activelyto the cause he believed in?

His answer was: “I want topropagate the cause of Kashmiristhrough the national press. That iswhy I have left Srinagar.” Theanswer did not sound convincing,even at that time. But when I heardthe story about his being on the hitlist of militants at that point, thingsfell in place.

Despite the routine abuse ofpower by the army and the BSF, peopleare not afraid to talk against the Indiangovernment. However, they are far

Syed Salahuddin of Hizbul Majahideen

18 MANUSHI

more scared to talk against the high-handedness and atrocities beingcommitted by the terrorists. Even menlike Zafar Meharaj do not dare openlycriticize them. In fact, they go out oftheir way to defend them. He goes nofurther than saying that militants havecommitted some “mistakes”. “Theydon’t forcibly extort money frompeople, they merely ask us for help.But such instances of extortion arevery few.” When asked to give aninstance of their “mistakes”, he says,“Maybe they should not come topeople with guns when asking formoney. They should send someunarmed person.” Today, the fear ofthe terrorist’s gun is far greater thanthat of government guns because theterrorist movement is totally hijackedby Pakistan trained mercenaries andsome foreign elements who areextremely intolerant of anydissensions and altogetherunscrupulous about whom they kill.Therefore, only a handful ofcourageous men dare condemn themopenly. Sannaulah Khan, editor ofDaily Aftab in Srinagar, is amongstthe few who admit that the people donot like the doings of terrorists butthe behaviors of security forces issuch that they still are unwilling tocondemn and confront the terroristsopenly. He admits that though hepersonally disapproves of theirpolitics, even in his paper he dare notrefuse to print the militants’ hand cuts.It is in this context that Yasin Malik’sopen condemnation of criminal actsof terrorists, his resolve to purge suchelements from the movement and anopen acknowledgment that gunsalone will not provide a solution—provides a major breakthrough forresolving the Kashmir crisis.Sannaulah echoes a popularsentiment when he says that theGovernment of India will becommitting a blunder if it does notrespond sensibly to his offer forunconditional negotiations. He hastaken a big risk — both personally

and politically — in saying that weare not fighting a religious war andalso declaring that he has friendsamong human rights activists in India.His statement that the Dogras,Buddhists and Kashmiri Pandits areour brothers and that the problem canonly be solved by taking their wishesalso into account has annoyed theIslamic fundamentalists no end. Butsince he enjoys tremendouscredibility and respect, he can changethe political atmosphere provided thegovernment of India acts sensibly.

infiltrators to the Indian securityforces. But the Indian rulers have letus down badly. They did not trust usnor allowed us to have any free andfair elections right from 1951, whenelections to the ConstituentAssembly were held. Sheikh Abdullahdid not allow even one seat to becontested. People who dared standagainst NC candidates werekidnapped, beaten and had theirnomination papers rejected on bogusgrounds. Sheikh Sahib never believedin democracy. He felt he was sent byGod to rule Kashmir and felt outragedat the presumption that people shouldelect their own government.”

In the subsequent elections, asimilar story was repeated. BakshiGulam Muhammad and Sadiq behavedno different from Abdullah. “Why doyou then blame the CentralGovernment for the doings of Kashmirileaders?” I asked. “Far from stoppingsuch misdoings, the CentralGovernment encouraged this fraud onKashmiri people because it did nottrust us. They should have openlyexpressed their disapproval anddispleasure at this state of affairs andensured that such corruption andrigging did not happen.” As angry asthey are with the Indian Governmentand the national political parties, onehears the same people talk of MorarjiDesai with glowing respect becausehe was one politician who preventedhis party and government from riggingthe elections. “In 1977, all the leadersof the Janata Party, which was then inpower at the Centre, had agreed thatthat time too the election would berigged in favour of the Janata Party.Morarji Desai, however, put his footdown and insisted on a fair election.However, he could not prevent SheikhAbdullah from rigging the votes infavour of the National Conference —which was totally needless because hewould have won anyway.” As theCentre was not involved inmanipulating and forcing a government

As in Punjab, there are allegationsgalore that the government hasunleashed its own criminals in theunderground movement. Prior toseparatist terrorism, criminalsroutinely got patronage from allpolitical parties and money throughanti-social activity and black-marketing. They used to be called theRice-Brigade because many of themwere involved in the broken rice trade,though most of their money came fromillicit activity. It is alleged that thesepolitical goondas are being injectedinto the terrorist movement to give abad name to militancy.

All Politicians MistrustedPoliticians — of both the

Congress and the NationalConference (NC) and other smallerparties — are seen as havingcollectively created the mess.Sannaulah Butt gave a relativelynonpartisan account of the Kashmircrisis: “In 1947, we Kashmiri Muslimsdrove out Pakistani invaders. Onceagain in 1965, we thwarted Pakistanmoves by handing over Pakistani

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Shabir Shah, the most respectedKashmiri leader, known as the

Nelson Mandela of Kashmir. He hasbeen in prison for nearly 20 years.We were denied permission by theKashmir Governor to meet him in

Jammu jail.

of its choice on Kashmiris, they feltreally elated and to this day rememberthat one election and Morarji Desaiwith respect and fondness. It is nottoo far fetched to say that if the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty had half the goodsense and political integrity thatMorarjibhai displayed, today thePakistan held Kashmir would be inrebellion and not Indian Kashmir.

Kashmir Valley DominatesAfter his release from jail, JKLF

leader Yasin Malik has been reiteratingthat his outfit will initiate a dialoguewith not only Kashmiri Pandits livingin refugee camps but also people ofJammu and Laddakh who cherishdifferent ethnic identities thanKashmiri Muslims, that he will try tocarry them along in the movement forazadi , recognizing the fact that thedemand for azadi is currently beingsupported only by Kashmiri Muslims.The Kashmir valley and KashmiriMuslims have so far dominated thepolitics of Jammu & Kashmir. Theirconflict with the Centre came tooverride all other politicalconsiderations. Those talking ofplebiscite to decide the future ofKashmir cannot for long ignore thefact that Jammu and Ladakh occupy alarger territory, have a largerpopulation than that of Kashmir valleyand that people in these regions donot share the political aspirations ofKashmiri Muslims. Of the total areaof 1.01 lakhs sq.kms. in Jammu &Kashmir state, Ladakh is the biggestdivision with in area of 59,146 sq.kms.Jammu division comes next in size with28, 293 sq.kms. while Kashmir valleycovers only 15,948 sq.km.

As per the 1981 census, Muslimsin all three divisions account for 64.2per cent of the total population out ofwhich Kashmir valley Muslims are49.7 per cent of the state population.Hindus account for 32.3 per cent ofthe state population. Most of themare concentrated in the Jammu

division where they constitute 66.3 percent of the total population. Ladakhdivision is predominantly Buddhistwho form who 51.87 per cent of thepopulation.

The Muslims in Jammu andLadakh regions are of a differentethnic stock than the KashmiriMuslims. JKLF leaders admit thatJammu & Kashmir is “like a mini-India”in so far as its population is not”ethnically or linguisticallyhomogeneous. Even KashmiriMuslims are politically divided, with

free plebiscite, the majority areunlikely to vote for Pakistan. That iswhy Pakistan government is rulingout azadi as an option available toKashmiris. But when KashmiriMuslims insist on azadi, they risk notonly annoying the Pakistan rulers, butalso unleashing a similar demand fromthe Jammu and Ladakh regions. YasinMalik is one of the few leaders toacknowledge the dilemma inherent inthe situation.

My impression was that theaverage Kashmiri’s anger and hatredis focussed on the CentralGovernment and its armed forces.They display very little anti-Hindufeeling and would not be in favour ofdriving out Kashmiri Hindus.However, sections of the educatedelite among the Kashmiri Muslims hateKashmiri Pandits with a fair degree ofgusto because in matters of educationand employment it is they who comeinto direct conflict with the Panditswho are far better educated and,therefore, get jobs more easily. Theliteracy rate among the Pandits is 80per cent in a state where the overallliteracy rate was 26.7 per centaccording to the 1981 census. Theresentment of educated KashmiriMuslims is due to the fact that thePandits had gotten used todominating on account of beingeconomically and educationally betteroff and never reconciled to the spreadof education among KashmiriMuslims.

Whatever the reasons for theirmutual antipathy, I got theimpression that the educatedsections among the Muslims wouldpose the real hurdles in the way ofKashmiri Pandits returning to theirhomes. The matter is furthercomplicated by the fact that KashmiriPandit leaders have followed self-harming politics at the behest of theBharatiya Janta Party (BJP) and theHome Ministry. The Pannun Kashmiroutfit started at the instigation ofHome Ministry have been

only a small section supportingsecession to Pakistan. The Ladakhand Jammu regions would wantautonomy more from Srinagar controlthan from the Central Government.The separatist movement in Kashmircan easily trigger off counterseparatism in Jammu and Ladakh. In a

20 MANUSHI

demanding a separate homeland inthe valley for Kashmiri Pandits. Thishas made them even more suspect inthe eyes of the Kashmiri Muslims.

So far, only Yasin Malik is talkingof making efforts to get the Panditsreturn to the valley. He announcedthat he would visit the refugeecamps and initiate a dialogue withthem. However, he has not yetcarried out this promise. It may wellbe due to the fact that if he were todo so the pro-Pakistan militantswould intensify propaganda againsthim that he has become aGovernment of India agent. Evenerstwhile liberals like Zafar Meharajsay, ‘This is no time for the returnof Kashmiri Pandits. Theydissociated with the ‘Kashmiricause’ by siding with the formerGovernor, Jagmohan. They canreturn only if they publicly admittheir mistake and apologize for it.”This statement gives an idea of howdeep the communal divide hasbecome.

However, his wife Naseem spokein a different tenor indicating that allis not yet lost. She described howpassing through one of the Srinagarbazars recently, she saw a lone sareehanging from a balcony. She felt goodat the sight and wished more suchsarees would become visible. Sincesarees symbolize Kashmiri Pandithouseholds, more such sarees on thebalconies would indicate that thingshave become normal and Hindus havereturned to the valley.

I was reminded of our meeting withthe Bar Association in Anantnag,where several Muslim lawyersrepeatedly pointed to Motilal Bhatt, aHindu lawyer, who had continuedstaying in Anantnag even after allother Hindu families left the town.This was to “prove” that the Muslimshad not driven the Pandits out ofKashmir. They kept emphasizing thathe was absolutely safe. Motilal Bhatthimself was most unwilling to saywhether the situation was indeed safe

for Hindus, though he said that hisfamily had not been attacked. Butsurprisingly enough in a hugegathering of his Muslim colleagues,he ventured to say: “We cannot freelyexpress what the militants do becauseif we do, we will be killed the very samenight.” Very few Muslims were willingto say even this much openly, thoughin private conversations they didindicate that the pro-Pakistanterrorists were committing atrocitiesbrazenly, including rape andabduction of women.

More Muslims KilledAs in the case of terrorist killings

in Punjab, people outside Kashmir areunable to recognize the fact that aswith Khalistanis, Kashmiri militantsare killing more Muslims than Hindus.Of the nearly 5000 civilians killed bythe terrorists, only 360 were KashmiriPandits. The rest were all Muslims.The militants thus represent an evengreater danger to the Muslims thanto the Hindus because the latter canat least count on government supportwhereas Muslims cannot expect to besimilarly protected.

Most people we met wereextremely sceptical about thepossibility of an acceptable solution,though there was a widespreadconsensus that the problem cannotbe solved through guns. Even thoughvery few Kashmiri Muslims are willingto talk against terrorism as they areafraid of terrorist guns, yet there is nodoubt about a growingdisenchantment with terrorism. Asenior Muslim bureaucrat said it all:“While Kashmiris are fed up withmilitancy, the army excesses arepreventing the people from opposingthe militants unequivocally.” Hethinks that though the alienation isdeep, the situation is not hopelessand that the Kashmiri leaders wouldbe willing to settle for genuineautonomy of the type envisaged inthe arrangement worked out underArticle 370 plus a credible commitment

that the Indian Government will notbehave so badly in future. We heardfrequently: “Even as we begin to gettired of militancy, your forces comeand instigate us to come back to thebattle field. Our movement has notgained as much due to the hard workof mujahideens as it has from themisdoings of the Indian Army. Theyhave succeeded in estranging us fromIndia better than the propaganda ofmujahideens.” However, even in thepresent polarized political situation,people were open and willing in theirpraise of a few army officers andbureaucrats who behaved withresponsibility. Several such personswere openly named during the courseof our stay in Kashmir. Thecriminalisation of the movement andthe coming in of foreign mercenaryterrorists trained by Pakistan to curbthe influence of the pro-azadi JKLFhas disillusioned even many of thediehard supporters of azadi. Thetransformation of Yasin Malik from agun wielding militant to someonewho is adopting Gandhiantechniques of protest reflects awidespread recognition that violencewill only breed more violence.Therefore, most leaders arebeginning to talk of a negotiatedsettlement. However, there is a greatdeal of misapprehension even if asettlement were reached, theGovernment of India would then startdragging things. To quote MaulanaAnsari: “Both sides will have to comewithout preconditions to thenegotiation table. But we will haveto set a time limit. Not like whathappened with the ShimlaAgreement.”

One of the biggest grievancesKashmiris have is that the IndianGovernment is unwilling to include theKashmiris when negotiating asolution with Pakistan. While mostIndians are familiar with the termPakistan occupied Kashmir (POK), itis not fully, understood that the forcedpartition of Kashmir is something

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Kashmiri Muslims have not madepeace with. There are enough politicalsymbols to remind them that this issupposed to be a temporaryphenomenon. For instance, the stateassembly is supposed to have 100seats out of which 25 are reservedfor the POK region. Likewise, themigrants who came to Jammu regionafter the forced partition, have notbeen given citizenship rights norallowed to own property, hold jobsor vote in state elections underthe specious plea that whenKashmir is finally united, theywill go back to their homes.Likewise, the property of thosewho left for POK from the Jammuregion has been kept reserved forthem (as also their assemblyseats) and not used for resettlingPOK refugees as happened withrefugee property in other partsof India. Moreover, many Muslimfamilies are divided on both sidesof the border, which is in any casean unnatural border and has,therefore, remained porousthrough the decades followingpartition. Thus for a KashmiriMuslim, “crossing the border”into POK does not have the samekind of connotation of illegalityand anti-state activity that it hasfor the rest of mainland Indians.

Therefore, one majordemand is that people fromboth sides, or at least politicalleaders, be allowed to interact witheach other and find a mutuallyacceptable solution for unificationof the two Kashmirs and to opt fora system of governance of theirchoice. Just as Indian KashmiriMuslims are divided in three camps(those who favour azadi, those whowish to merge with Pakistan andthose who wish to stay with India),likewise there is an equally seriousconflict in POK.

It is a mistake to think that allow-ing a free flow of people between the

divided Kashmir valley will endan-ger India’s security. Pakistan standsto lose much more. As Zafar Meharajput it, ‘Those who are now pro-Paki-stan should be especially encouragedto visit that side so that they can seethe reality for themselves.” If theGovernment of India were to make aunilateral declaration of this kind, itcan put the Pakistan government onthe defensive. The social and politi-cal scenario is far more bleak in Paki-

Muslim state of Pakistan not so muchfor religious reasons as because theIndian Government mistrusts them onaccount of their being Muslims. Oth-erwise there is very little in commonbetween the Pakistani version of Is-lam and the benign Islam that theKashmiris have evolved.

Towards SolutionsVarious suggestions came up dur-

ing our talks with different sectionsof Kashmiri leadership. Broadly

speaking, there was awidespread consensuson the following:

Release of imprisonedleaders like Abdul GhaniLone, Shabir Shah, andSyed Ali Gilani as a pre-cursor to starting a politi-cal process.

Sending the armyback to the barracks be-cause it is a big irritant andis legitimizing militancy.The army should becalled only if a distur-bance on incident takesplace.

Starting a dialogue forsettling the Kashmir dis-pute without precondi-tion or either side.

Allowing free flow ofpeople between the twoKashmirs.

Including Kashmirirepresentatives in dialogues with Pa-kistan to settle the Kashmir disputebetween the two countries.

Allowing the various regionalgroups—the Kashmiris, Dogras,Ladakhis, Buddhists, Punjabis,Kashmiri Pandits, Gujjars and so onto work out a mutually acceptablepolitical settlement for the governanceof Jammu & Kashmir.

All these are fairly reasonable de-mands and can easily pave the wayfor a solution provided the CentralGovernment behave responsibly andin a trustworthy manner.

stan than in India and the ongoingconflict between various ethnic com-munities in Pakistan is far more mur-derous just as their democracy is farmore fragile than India’s. If India triesto compete with Pakistan in au-thoritarian measures, as we seem tobe doing with regard to Kashmir, weare bound to lose the battle. How-ever, if we build and strengthen demo-cratic institutions in Kashmir ratherthan act as an occupation force, Pa-kistan is not likely to win the Kash-mir battle. The Kashmiri Muslims arebeginning to gravitate towards the