“Following are the contents of the paper presented by Shafi Ahmad(author of novel The Half Widow)on 7th oct, 2018, at Pracheen Kala Kendra Chandigarh in connection with discussion of the book ‘Blood Censored; When Kashmiris become the “enemy” organized by Sayatya Chintan Punjab.
Respected guests in the presidium , ladies and gentlemen.
At the outset, on behalf my brothers and sisters , I thank the authors of the book ‘Blood Censored; When Kashmiris become the “enemy” for standing behind the oppressed , for supporting the persecuted.
I will not quote the statistics you have recorded in your book about the deaths caused and the number of injured because New York Times summed it up as ‘ epidemic of dead eyes’. This epidemic was the result of unbridled use of pellet showers wherever the uniformed men wished . Be it a road side bus stop, a stone throwing mob, a college campus or the second story of houses along the road. The forcible entry of security men into the Pulwama College campus has found space in your book. The irony is that the principal of the college, who tried to stop the entry of gun wielding, khakhi clad men, to save his students, was later attached with the directorate and hardly any tangible action was taken against the erring policemen.
There is no doubt that the fear of Khakhis or olive green has vanished from the minds of the youngsters. The continuous presence of security men over three decades has given the idea of India as bullets and gun wielding men . Peace is hardly known to youngsters in the age bracket of 20s. Your observation that “ treated with insolence and suspicion ,robbed of their dignity and humanity, they are not afraid of guns and proudly proclaim their readiness to make supreme sacrifice of dying for the cause .”
In the novel “Red Maize” authored by senior IPS officer Denash Rana, Major Rathore feels the remorse on some of his actions .“While we go about trying to eliminate the terrorists it also becomes our duty not to create terrorists .“ But the ground situation is quite contradictory. It is widely believed locally that Burhan Wani in 2010 at the age of fifteen was humiliated , beaten up and forced to fetch cigarettes by the men in Khakhi on duty in the area. Nowadays known as Salah u Din , Mohmad Yusuf Shah was the candidate for assembly polls and Yasin Malik and Ishfaq Majid were his polling agents in 1987. The trio were beaten up in the lock up is an open secret and written about widely.
It acts in two ways : one that unarmed youngsters become fearless and the security men guarding streets, lanes and by lanes feel petrified on the sight of belligerent populace. Still I will like to point to various photographs in which Kashmiri people have been offering water to quench their thirst and offer yellow rice (Tehar in local parlance) to the paramilitary men on guard against the same people.
Page 15 records that Zakir Rashid Bhat ,also from HM was killed by the security forces. This is factually wrong .Despite the fact Indian Home minister time and again declared that there is no presence of ISIS in Kashmir but Zakir in fact has been presented by security establishment as the face of ISIS. Musa Musa Zakir Musa is often used as a slogan by youngsters in favour of the man. And the irony is that ISIS flags have been exhibited time and again in the processions around Jamia Masjid. Recently some cops in civies were caught on camera to be part of stone pelting crowds who later took out weapons to overpower others in the crowd. Wild belief is that these policemen actually waved ISIS flags first and then acted as per their chalked out strategy.
Use of pellets in millions , 1.3 million accepted by the CRPF, has been the subject of discussion, both in local and foreign papers and then the supreme court . Asking the bar of J&K to ask the people to desist from stone throwing before the court asks the government to stop use of pellet guns is troubling. The response / verdict of supreme court has been astonishing in the case of Afzal Guru.The court records that to satisfy the collective conscience of the majority of country men Afzal will be put to gallows. The prosecution had not able to put up a strong evidence but circumstantial evidence was used to get him declared as the criminal in the parliament attack case. Not only political and security setup, Kashmiris have lost faith in the judicial system also.
Your observation recorded on page 29 is both heart wrenching and disturbing . “Even when the patients are being treated in the hospital , policemen visit the ward to register cases against them as stone pelters. Many families we met in south Kashmir said they had not taken their injured children to public hospitals for fear that the police would charge them with crimes and their lives would be ruined further.” An interesting feature in this episode has been missed that all the victims recorded their names as Burhan wani in the hospital admission tickets.
Dr. Arshad Hussain, the psychiatrist’s, estimation that at least 11 % of the population suffer from mental health morbidity currently is disturbing. The state of mental disturbance is explained by famous Kashmiri writer Akhtar Mohidin. In his short story “New disease” he presents the story of a young man who, subjected to daily frisking, gets obsessed with the practice. And when nobody searches his body on the door of his personal house ,he waits a while ,then frisks himself and only after that enters his home.
The dreaded law AFSPA has been used rather misused to shield the erring uniformed men from punishment. There have been instances of its misuse which resulted in the forced disappearance of thousands of men. According to human rights activists there are around eight thousand half widows. Half widow is a term coined in Kashmir to identify a woman whose husband’s whereabouts are unknown as the people picked up by forces personnel did not return. Killing of five men at Pathribal after Chitisinghpora massacre turned out to be a fake encounter. The investigation was carried out by CBI and the premier investigating agency indicted senior and junior army officers. But the court martial absolved the accused. Another incident happened at Machil where three people were killed in fake encounter. This incident resulted in widespread violence in 2010. Although military court awarded the culprits various sentences but a review court absolved them all. The interesting defense in favour of the accused was put forth as the victims were wearing Pathani suits so dubbed as foreign militants.
“Do You remember Kunan Poshpora” a book authored by five girls in their 20s finds place on page 74of your book. The incident of mass rape is a blot on the face of armed forces where no justice has been done even after the lapse of 27 years.
On page 79 you have mentioned Lal bagh which actually is Lal chowk, the Red square. This historical place was used by Mr.Nehru to promise Kashmiris that they will be asked to put their preference for their future. This place was used by M M Joshi to hoist Tiranga in early nineties to exhibit his ultra nationalism and in a way threaten the Kashmir population despite the fact his parent organization does not hoist Tiranga over its Head Quarters.
A hyper nationalist, former army officer, Major Arya, threatens likes of Burhan Wani with death. This assertion is laughable in the wake of phone calls that have gone viral with trapped militants talking to their parents. Threatening someone with death to a person who is not ready to surrender when trapped is hilarious. A senior journalist Yusuf Jamil on hearing one such conversation remarked on twitter Yeh kis mitti k banay hain (What stuff are they made of ). This is the story of Gen next who are engaged in a war of attrition but our worry is about Gen next next , I mean the school going kids. A little boy with stretched face muscles, aiming his slingshot on the uniformed men, forced Sanjiv Bhat IPS, the staunch Modi critic, tweet ,” if this is the anger brewing in a little boy what can be in store for future?” Another video viral on FB shows a little boy kicking a paramilitary man asking Gun Deu(give me the gun). On second anniversary of surgical strikes school boys in Srinagar painted ‘beautiful valley transformed into a battle field’, blood soaked Kashmir, barren land guarded by military men and helicopter hovering above. The incident forced Governor S P Malik to remark , “ India’s mistakes have alienated people of Kashmir.” The anger of little kids has been subject of two important short stories. One ‘Aatank wadi’ by Akhtar Mohidin and ‘Ajadi’ by Abhaie Singh’s friend Gulam Nabi Shahid. In Atankwadi a military officer asks the kid’s parents the reason for his sobbing. He is asking for gun fetches the response from officer “Saala Atankwadi”. In Shahid’s Ajadi , on a curfewed day paramilitary officer arranges eatables like chips, banana et all for the hungry weeping child . “Do you want anything more?” question fetches him the reply “Yes Ajadi “ from the little kid.
Mention of veteran journalist Hilal Mir’s article in Scroll titled “Why does India consistently push the false narrative of radicalization in Kashmir?” is on page 85. I want to put some other observations by him. With his presentation before KCSDS(Kashmir Centre for Social and Development studies) on 3rd Feb, 2018 at a Srinagar hotel Hilal Mir explained how army was grabbing state and private land under one pretext or the other. The event was organized by KCSDS, a think tank, under the banner “Need Of Demilitarization and Restoration of civil liberties.” He said that the army first entered the premises of Agriculture University’s Cattle Breeding Farm Mansbal which was spread over 352 acres. Over a period of time the expansion of its barracks continued and now only around only 800 Kanals of land remain with the University. Eventually Head quarters of 3RR(Anti militancy Unit of army) was established on the premises. In an other incident Curfew was imposed in Dragmula area and 105 Kanals of Paddy land were leveled with bulldozer. When protests were held police beat up the villagers of Chana pora and Metipora suburbs .One interesting fact of this land grab is a strip measuring around 13 marlas was left alone as it belonged to a migrant Kashmiri Hindu.
Your assertion that “this was not a fact finding visit but a journey of solidarity with the suffering people of Kashmir.” is heart warming for the inheritors of the land. Your first hand experience and findings about disproportion of use of state response resulting in injuries on the faces and upper bodies of the protestors peels off the curtain of lies spread by government agencies through the so called national media .We feel encouraged by your demand that pellet guns be banned and leadership of both state and central governments publically express regret for the manner in which they were used against children and civilians .This statement puts a soothing balm on the injuries of the local populace who were extremely hurt by the statement of no less than the chief minister asking “whether these children had gone to fetch milk and toffees .” This statement shows how the injured were mocked and humiliated publically.
I know Kashmir is part of a geo strategic game and solution of the vexed problem will not come easily but if you can’t make it a lovable place at-least make it live-able. You started your book with Aga Shahid’s stanza, I finish my paper with Aga’s another line ,” ‘They make a desolation and call it peace’
Thank you, thank you all.
ABOUT REVIEWER
Shafi Ahmad is the author of “The Half Widow” and can be mailed at wanishafi999@gmail.com
The dreaded law AFSPA has been used rather misused to shield the erring uniformed men from punishment. There have been instances of its misuse which resulted in the forced disappearance of thousands of men. According to human rights activists there are around eight thousand half widows. Half widow is a term coined in Kashmir to identify a woman whose husband’s whereabouts are unknown as the people picked up by forces personnel did not return. Killing of five men at Pathribal after Chitisinghpora massacre turned out to be a fake encounter. The investigation was carried out by CBI and the premier investigating agency indicted senior and junior army officers. But the court martial absolved the accused. Another incident happened at Machil where three people were killed in fake encounter. This incident resulted in widespread violence in 2010. Although military court awarded the culprits various sentences but a review court absolved them all. The interesting defense in favour of the accused was put forth as the victims were wearing Pathani suits so dubbed as foreign militants.
