By Dr. Ajay Chrungoo

The headlines of local newspapers in Kashmir valley have been blaring these days with a relentless intensity…July 09-Woman’s rape, murder rocks; Kupwara…July 08…Asrar’s killing sparks massive protests in Srinagar.
July 07—Bomb hurled at Baramulla police station, 3 grenade explosions in 2 days…. July 06--explosions rock Srinagar, Spore..July 05-Army had abducted Basharat: Family…. July 04..Larkipora teenager released—Protests in Islamabad….. July 02—Protests in curfewed Varmul; youth succumbs, Varmul toll 4…… July 01—Police fire smoke shells at mourners—thousand attend funeral of 19 year old Amir”. The public mobilization campaigns and demonstrations reflecting seditious and secessionist intensity more than the anti-government sentiment, have been going on in Kashmir Valley since the police recovered bodies of two ladies Neelofar and Aisya at Shopian in Pulwama district since May 30. The separatist mobilizations have reflected strange over eagerness which needs to be understood and placed in proper perspective.

The spate of hartals and orchestrated violence on the streets left a large section of people on the ground bewildered contrary to the propaganda unleashed by the local media. This bewilderment of the public at the ground both with the methodology adopted by the separatist leadership and the response of the government is not a fiction as many Kashmir experts sitting in Delhi would like us to believe. It involves a significant section of population in the Valley and once in a while their voices have found expression through the columns of other wise partisan local media. Syed Rafiuddin Bukhari a columnists in Rising Kashmir provides a glimpse of this aspect, “Is Kashmir really fragile or has it been made to behave like that, Does this question boggle the mind of those who cover, analyze and interpret the political perceptions! This week’s incidents in Baramulla have shown that no one controls Kashmir but only those who want to keep the pot boiling…in Baramulla where the police was handling a simple case of kidnapping of a 15 year old girl from Binner. The accused in the case was identified and one of the accomplices was rounded up. His wife went to police station to seek his release but was not obliged. She came, out and alleged that she was misbehaved and the police passed indecent remarks at her. This worked like jungle fire and the whole town was up in flames….it needs an explanation as to why the young Kashmiris should fall prey to such a situation in which four young boys give their blood for something which is not part of the struggle”. The culprit and this lady had links with a local political party is well known.

The over eagerness of the separatist formations to go for an overkill was manifest from the very day of the recovery of dead bodies of two ladies Neelofar and Asiya in Shopian and the initial bungling of the government to respond to it. In Shopian local discourse reflected that the people never believed the role of CRPF or Army in the killings. People in the street there asked questions as to why should the bodies of the ladies be left just outside the CRPF camp if the personnel of the same organization had committed the crime. People also suspected the moral integrity of the husband of Neelofar. The relations of Neelofar on her home side were less enthusiastic about the public exposure of the affair. Justice Jan commission brought out this facet in the open. The report has undermined separatist mobilization more than anything else in Shopian because it has struck a note of resonance with the common perception of the people.

The Justice Jan Commission has recorded the rift between the two families from Tukru and Bongam areas of Shopian district. The Commission records that in April May 2007, Neelofar eloped with Shakeel Ahmad Ahangar against the wishes of her family. Commission puts down that, “It will be in place to mention here that Neelofar Jan belongs to a “Peer” family which is treated in the society with the degree of respect and honour for their upper class status, where as Shakeel Ahmad Ahangar belongs to “Khaar” family which is included in the other backward classes of the society. This marriage had given birth to a serious hatred of Peer family towards Ahangar family. It is reliably learnt that Zeerak Shah (brother of Neelofar) along with his friends had even threatened the Ahangar family of dire consequences if Neelofar is not handed over to her family” The Commission also recorded that after the burial of Neelofar and Asiya, Zeerak Shah pitched a tent at Tukroo and gathered his friends relatives and other villagers who used to block the road at Tukroo, smash the window panes of the civil, government vehicles and raise anti-India and pro-freedom slogans to attack the passersby”. The commission has also taken notice of the fact that Shakeel was known for his immoral activities and had amassed assets disproportionate to his known sources of income. “Shakeel Ahmad Ahangar was working with his brothers at welding workshop at Shopian. He eloped with Neelofar Jan in 2007 and went outside Shopian. After this return he started his own business by opening a shop of readymade furniture items near police station Shopian…in October 2008, Shakeel purchased an orchard (1 kanal 16 marla) in Nagbal-Dehgam for about 5.30 lakhs. He also owns a Maruti car and maintains a good living standard. Further it is learnt that he does not carry a good reputation among the society and is being known for his immoral activities”. It can be safely presumed that these facts would have been known to separatists’ think tanks. They latched upon the twin murders to unleash the frenzy as if they were in desperate search for incidents or accidents to cling to. They cared less about the loss of face and credibility in case the facts they were projecting about the gruesome incidents proved wrong. They seem to be in a strange hurry to use incidents even at the risk of eventually exposing the rot within the society for which they have been more responsible than the government. The cracking of the Asrar’s murder case, showing that it was nothing more than the outcome of the jealousy of a love triangle, exposed the separatist indulgence in matters which shamed one and all.

A strange hope seems to pervade the thinking of separatist echelons that if they build public pressures something dramatic may happen. The Hurriat leader and the main force behind the public upsurge betrayed his feelings when he commented, “People should make a difference between right and wrong and follow the right path. New dawn is awaiting us and it is the crucial juncture that demands patience and consistency.” He said this in an appeal to Kashmiri Muslims amongst whom confusion was taking roots about the legitimacy and rationale of endless hartals and demonstrations. Another Hurriat leader Mirwaiz Umar Farooq had described this confusion among people as‘anarchy’, ‘we should not look like a divided house, that separatist organizations should not be in a rat race to issue strike calls….we need to think of creating alternative ways of protest. We have to carry on the movement and lives of the people as well.”

The roots of this hope lay in certain recent developments involving the region as well as the experience of last year’s agitation against the land transfer to Shri Amarnath Shrine Board.

India Ragdo-II and the Catalysts

The agitation on Amarnath land row had exposed the cleavages in the polity in rest of India. A section of high profile liberal elite in rest of India came out brazenly supporting the separation of Kashmir from India one way or the other. Likes of Arundhati Roy, Shabana Azmi, even Veer Sanghvi not to speak of Prem Shankar Jha, and AG Noorani through their spoken or written words created an impression in the Valley amongst separatist rank and file that ‘Azadi’ was round the corner. ‘Ek Dakka Aur Do’, (just one push more) was the common refrain of the separatist campaigners then. The public mobilization had less to do with the actual land row and more with wrecking Indian sovereignity over Kashmir. The campaign was not called India Ragda/Ragdo-I for only sloganeering. It reflected the underlying motivation of the public mobilization. Carrying the experience forward this year’s campaigners unleashed, after the recovery of dead bodies of two ladies in Shopian allegedly raped, the India Ragda/Ragdo-II.

Dr Sheikh Showkat Hussain, who teaches in the department of Law in Kashmir University says unambiguously on the recent public unrest in the Valley which he describes as the ‘resistance beyond the armed struggle’, about the spirit of underlying India Ragdo-II as, “Indian state needs to realize that it is confronting a highly informed and educated young generation of Kashmiris, they know the direction in which right of self determination is evolving and has evolved. It has definitely evolved in a direction which is advantageous to Kashmir not against it. East Timor and Eritrea availed it despite being non colonial possessions. Montinegro enjoyed the right of self-determination in spite of having forty five percent opponents to independence”.

The separatist mind articulates its position vehemently. It describes the expressions of separatism as the expression of a ‘Resistant Kashmir’, and demeans the political engagement and the democratic process in the state as ‘collaborating Kashmir’. The manifest disenchantment of the common man at the ground with separatist leadership and the sway of confusion is trivialized by calling it ‘vacillating Kashmir’.

The India Ragdo-II intifada in Kashmir is being guided by such a mindset. This mindset would have certainly taken note of the admission in early May towards the fag end of Parliamentary elections by none other than Prime Minister of India Dr Manmohan Singh when he said, “…I have always believed a strong peaceful moderate Pakistan in India’s interests. We worked very had on that and in fact I and General Musharraf had reached nearly an agreement a non territorial solution to all problems but then General Musharraf got into many difficulties with the Chief Justice and other fronts and therefore the whole process came to a halt”. Separatist think tanks in Kashmir have been relentlessly searching a way to circumvent the predicament in which Pakistan is caught up and chart out a course to bring a halt to the ‘halt’.

The comments of local columnist Syed Rafiuddin Bukhari in Rising Kashmir are revealing in this context, “…Pakistan Government is grappling with the worst ever crisis, the Kashmiri leadership should stop looking towards Islamabad and think independently to charter their own course.” The India Ragdo-II is the course which separatists have embarked upon. Their hope lies more on the support which they generate amongst a section of entrenched liberal class in India be it Arundhati Roy or Prem Shankar Jha etc.- the people who advocate a concession on sovereignty not to bail out India from some international pressure but more out of an ideological outlook which recognizes Muslim communalism as a progressive secular imperative for India to reconcile with.

Separatists rank and file realize some space in the new foreign policy of USA. Comments of the nominee of US President as ambassador to India, Timothy Roemer that Kashmir “has been an extremely sensitive hotspot for the world and for the region. Where we have almost experienced thermonuclear war on several occasions,” has been music to the separatist rank and file as has been the earlier statements by Assistant Secretary of State William Burns or even that of the secretary of state Hillary Clinton.

Separatists have also not missed the success of Pakistani government to tone down India’s assertion on 26/11 Mumbai attacks. The release of Hafeez Syed is seen as gradually stiffening stance of Pakistan or Kashmir. Keeping the pot boiling in Kashmir through a non violent intifada serves Pakistan to preserve its Kashmir Policy with reinforced moral legitimacy.

Last but not the least the Indian Ragdo-II intifada as per separatist thinking delegitimises the democratic process in the state. Mr. Arjimand Hussain Talib brings out this aspect as brazenly as possible in his column. “It should now be clear to India’s political and media establishment that high voter turn out in Assembly elections does not mean an end of Kashmiri Movement for self determination. Kashmir needs a real political settlement which goes beyond the pre-1989 military status quo”.

The Paradox

The Central government if it has any inclination to diffiuse the situation on the ground has to resolve a paradox. The main component NC of the ruling Alliance in J&K shares and identifies with the common minimum agenda of the campaigners on the street in the Valley. In a full page advertisement, the state government declares its three main and primary achievements since assuming power as – i). Bold decision taken after 20 years to replace CRPF by locals police; ii) First CM to plead eloquently for withdrawal of AFSPA, Union Government flags the issue; iii) Presence of Magistrates with police/security forces now made mandatory while dealing with law and order problems and iv) Bomai (Army) camp re-located within a month. The main opposition PDP, both factions of Hurriat and the local Bar Council all have revocation of AFPSA and demilitarization as their main demands. We have a piquant situation where in principal, the opposition, mainstream as well as separatist, and the state government is politically on the same side.
The situation becomes bizarre when a section of the Government of India chooses to identify with this consensus. The incidental or accidental remarks of none other than the Vice President Mohammad Hamid Ansari, while reffering to the PM’s Working Group on Confidence Building Measures of which he was then the Chairman, only justified the key demand of the separatists during the present unrest. The Vice President observed that implementation of its recommendations was considered by the Prime Minister as the key to retaining confidence of the people. In his own report then as the chairman of the Working Group, ignoring the dissent within, Sh. Ansari had recommended the revocation of Armed Forces Special powers Act. The entire report did not at all address anti terrorism measures as a vital component of confidence building in the state.
Even though in all the incidents which lead to protests in the recent times the suspected culprits were locals working in local police or territorial army or the government officials, yet the foremost demand of everybody of consequence has been the removal of paramilitary forces and army from the state.

India Ragdo-Intifada has nothing to do with the incidents which caused public resentment. It essentially uses the incidents to lacerate symbols of Indian sovereignity. It seeks to project an extremely permissive, conniving and inactive state as a demonic police state. Government unwilling to defend its security establishment takes a totally defensive position and allows public mobilizations by the most regressive and fundamentalist regimes operating on the ground. It declares its lack of intention to act publicly by either withdrawing its security forces or ordering them not to intervene whatever the provocation. India Ragdo seeks to project the total impotence of authority to nail the sovereignty of the nation.

The ruling National Conference has an ideological resonance with the common minimum programme of agitationists to force demilitarization but an existential need to preserve the military presence. The central government knows that any laxity in the security operations in the state may lead to catastrophic results given the situation in Pakistan yet it seeks to maintain the stance of a neutral player while its security forces are described and lampooned as an occupation force in the valley. The civilians in the valley know it very well that the very survival of the civil society depends upon none other than security forces and yet they join to demonize them. The paradox is deep and powerful.

Inside The Present Turmoil

Most of the events which lead to the public resentment have invariably a sexual angle. Separatists have been trying to bring home to public that organs of Indian state are not only indulging in extra-constitutional violence but are also perpetuating a moral debasement of Kashmir society. The mobilization by Dukhtaran-e-Millat earlier had the same purpose when sexual scandal involving government officials and politicians came to the fore some time back. In actuality we are witnessing in Valley the glaring signs of social disorganization caused by militarization of social milieu. Local papers have time and against brought to notice the proliferation a sexual cartels and flesh trade. Special correspondent of Daily Excelsior, Ahmad Ali Fayaz, brought out the magnitude of increase in the number of brothels in Srinagar city a few years back. Well known ideologue and lobbyist of the separatists not in the distant past referred to ‘prostitution cartels’ operating in the valley in his columns in the local media recently.
The alarming aspect of the situation is the manifest evidence of penetration of flesh trade into the government and security establishment rather than government promoting moral debasement in the society. The concerns of a significant section common Kashmiri is still unheard. He is not sure of the integrity of his kith and kin and he is unsure to raise a hue and cry about it not because of the fear of government but because of fear of militant.

The Jihadi militarization brought along with it the evil of temporary marriage-the Mutah. Mutah became eventually a social sanction for debauchery. The dreaded terrorist Akbar Bhai is reported to have married 83 locals girls. One Shakeela Bano was abducted from her houseboat by terrorists and subjected to mass rape before killing her by burning. Al Umar terrorists outfit did this thing with Shakeela because she refused to marry a terrorist for two years of her captivity. During captivity she was raped regularly. After running away from her captors she escaped to Jammu where a women NGO looked after her. After sometime she ventured back home where she was again abducted and burnt to death. Security forces then destroyed the prostitution cartels of the terrorists of Al Umar and paved way for freedom of 150 women held in captivity. Around the same time security forces succeeded in freeing 10 women held captive by terrorists in Dacchan Marwa region of Kishtwar in Jammu.

Numerous such incidents can be quoted. The introduction of promiscuity into society by the terrorists has taken its toll on the society. Militarization of social milieu in Valley has played havoc with age old traditions and values. Government establishment and security forces are face to face with this menace and yet to devise a counter response to prevent penetration of flesh trade into its rank and file.

The situation becomes very alarming when we factor in reports that Kashmir tops the world in the list of opium abusers as per research of ‘Community Drug Abuse Study Survey Kashmir” done by the well known psychiatrist Dr. Mushtaq Margoob. His evaluation has produced astounding statistics. 47.77 percent of population in Kashmir consumes some types of drugs including tobacco and its allied products as per this report. There are 24.32 lakh substance abuses (including tobacco abuses) in Kashmir which includes 2.11 lakh opioid, 1.37 lakhs cannabis and around 38,000 alcohol abuses. The number of female drug addicts is also alarming. The NGO Hindustan National Social Security (HNSS) conducted a deaddiction programme in 2008-2009 amongst females. The female drug addicts were literates and belonged to an age group of 18-33 and from urban as well as village back ground.

Around the time agitation was going in Shopian a national electronic channel showed how army was involved in destroying the poppy fields around Shopian. Police also reported recovering quintals of Bhukki-the locally produced poppy husk sold in north India.

Conclusion
Through the current Intifada, the separatists seek a moral legitimacy. They seek to accord respectability to a regressive anti-freedom movement. They are calibrating its interventions to remain relevant even if Pakistan continues to vacillate or even collapses. They intifada is a targeting the weakness of both Indian and American policies to fight militarized pan Islamic fundamentalism. The moral of the story is to delegetimise this Intifada by educating public about the impact of the militarization of society. Another imperative is to stop fiddling with dangerous ideas of self rule or Musharaff plan. These plans essentially undermine the ideological foundations of India even if they may be non-territorial. Government legitimacy to these plans keeps the pot boiling in Kashmir. We have also to realize that ideological compromise eventually leads to crippling territorial consequences.