BANGALORE - Kashmir is on the boil again. Some 15 people, mostly teenagers,
have died in police firing over the past month. In an attempt at quelling the
unrest, the government called out the army last week in Srinagar, the summer
capital of the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir. This is the first time ever
that the army has been called out in Srinagar for crowd control.
The decision to send in the army was taken when even the imposition of curfew
on an angry city failed to get protesters off the streets. The curfew, imposed
last Wednesday, was lifted on Sunday.
According to Home Minister Palaniappan Chidambaram, the army has been sent in
to Srinagar to act as a "deterrent". Confrontation of protesters on the streets
will continue to be tackled by the
paramilitary Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) and the state's police.
The Kashmir Valley has been caught in an ugly cycle of violence and
counter-violence since a month ago, when the first of many civilian deaths took
place following the CRPF's firing on protesters. A 17-year-old boy returning
home from school was killed when a tear gas shell landed squarely on his head.
Since then protests have become a daily occurrence with stone-pelting mobs
fighting pitched battles with police on the streets of Srinagar and other
towns. Over the past fortnight, at least one civilian death a day has been
reported.
The CRPF has come under fire for trigger-happy handling of pebble-pelting mobs
and criticized for shooting at unarmed protesters. Several of those who fell to
CRPF bullets were not even participating in the protests. A 25-year-old woman
who was watching the protests from the window of her house was shot dead. Many
of the victims were boys; one just nine years old.
While an uneasy calm has descended over Srinagar following the deployment of
the army, the rest of the valley remains restive.
The Kashmir Valley is the main bone of contention in the India-Pakistan dispute
over the former princely state of Jammu and Kashmir, which both countries claim
in its entirety. India is in control of two-thirds of the territory, including
the valley. The valley has been in the grip of a powerful armed uprising
against Indian rule since 1989.
Militancy has been on the decline since 2001. But mass protest have broken out
in the state periodically as, for instance, in 2008, when an agitation erupted
in the Muslim-dominated valley over a decision of the local government to
transfer some land to a Hindu religious trust. More often than not, such
protests have been triggered by the killing of civilians in "encounters" faked
by the security forces.
In May, for instance, protests broke out in several towns over the killing of
three youth in Kupwara by an army major and his subordinates. The army had
claimed that the three were "terrorists" and had been killed after a gunfight.
It emerged subsequently that the three had been abducted and shot at point
blank range.
Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has repeatedly spoken of his government's
"zero tolerance of human-rights violations" by the security forces. However,
the extra-judicial killings continue. Protected by special laws giving them
extraordinary powers to deal with terrorism, the security forces are acting
without accountability to civilians.
Anti-India sentiment in the valley seemed on the decline following public
disgust with militancy, but is now gaining ground. The CRPF killing of civilian
protestors has fueled public rage.
Even at the height of the insurgency in the early 1990s, the paramilitary
Border Security Force (BSF), not the Indian army, was responsible for
Srinagar's security. The army was called in a couple of times, but these were
to deal with crisis situations - as in 1993 when militants took control of the
Hazratbal mosque, which is believed to house a strand of Prophet Mohammed's
hair, and in 1999 when militants took control of the offices of the Special
Operations Group, an anti-terrorism wing of the Jammu and Kashmir state police
in Srinagar.
The decision to summon the army now indicates that Delhi now views the protests
as a serious crisis. Some have questioned the wisdom of calling into Srinagar
army personnel who have been trained to shoot to kill rather than to quell
unrest. Others see the army as the "most disciplined force", more effective in
dealing with the crisis than the overworked, under-equipped and excessively
stressed CRPF.
Memories of the mass protests that preceded the armed uprising in 1990 remain
vivid in the Indian establishment. Decision-makers in Delhi and Srinagar do not
want a repeat now. "Calling in the army is as much about deterring the stone
pelters as it is about preventing the emergence of an environment conducive to
militancy raising its ugly head again in the valley," a Home Ministry official
told Asia Times Online.
Stone-throwing as a form of protest has a long history in the valley going back
to the 16th century. In parts of downtown Srinagar, stone-pelting at police has
been a bit of a ritual. Especially after Friday prayers, youth coming out of
mosques in downtown Srinagar would hurl stones at police posts. A cat and mouse
game would ensue, with police chasing the boys through the maze of lanes in
crowded neighborhoods like Maisuma and Batmaloo. Police would refer to these
confrontations as "limited-over cricket matches"; the two sides would fight it
out on the streets and it would end before long. After the brief confrontation,
"Kashmir's Gaza Strip", as these areas are called, would return to normal.
That is no more the case. Over the past two years and especially over the past
month, the stone pelters haven't gotten off the streets easily. They held their
ground and it has taken the curfew and the army's presence to clear them.
The pebble protests present India with a huge dilemma. The participants are
angry youth, not terrorists. They are armed with stones, not Kalashnikovs. But
they have used stones with lethal effect. Over 1,200, including cops and
civilians, have been injured by the stones. An 11-day-old infant was among
those killed by stone pelting.
Besides, the protests are not all spontaneous. They are believed to be
orchestrated by leaders of the hardline, pro-Pakistan faction of the separatist
Hurriyat Conference. The protests are being funded with stone pelters
reportedly receiving around US$3-$6 for a day's "work".
The home minister has accused the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba of fomenting
the protests. Intelligence intercepts of conversations between members of
terror outfits, Hurriyat activists and protesters indicate that protesters are
being instructed "to martyr a few civilians" during demonstrations to fuel
further unrest.
That the separatists, the militants and their handlers in Pakistan are brewing
up trouble and could be behind at least a few of the killings in recent weeks
cannot be ruled out. These sections have had a long history of fishing in
Kashmir's troubled waters. Certainly for the Hurriyat, which has been sidelined
in Kashmiri politics for some years, the ongoing protests present an
opportunity for a fresh lease of life.
Yet the rage evident on the streets of Srinagar cannot be blamed on them alone.
Those out on the streets today belong to a generation born during the
militancy. All they have seen is violence by state and non-state actors. The
face of India they have seen in Kashmir is that of its coercive apparatus. It
is true that they have also seen a bit of democracy - when politicians make
grand promises during elections. But democracy has brought them no jobs, no
security, and no future. That frustration is exploding on the streets in such
circumstances is not surprising.
Angry boys are picking up pebbles to hurl against the Indian state and its
functionaries. They could reach out for the gun soon.
India measures the seriousness of the militancy in terms of militancy-related
fatalities. This has fallen steadily in recent years. It celebrates the return
of normalcy by looking at tourist arrivals. What it needs to look at is the
depth of discontent, especially among youth. This is serious. Mass discontent
should worry the Indian state far more than militancy.
Sudha Ramachandran is an independent journalist/researcher based in
Bangalore.
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