A Lawless Law in A Lawless Land

What does one do for revenge? Or for wanting something from someone against his will? Or for hating someone’s guts? Or wanting to ‘teach a lesson?’ Or for bullying someone at school? One can either act on them or just be content without doing anything. A lot of them appear vague reasons, meriting no response. (Some of these reasons are stronger than what our government uses to arrest people (it uses no reason) as you will read later on).

How does one act to fulfil these wishes, if one can not be merely content? A person may kidnap another to ‘teach him a lesson,’ or ‘demand money’ or  ‘ just kill him.’ This person then will be considered a kidnapper or a killer, as the case may be. A sane democratic government will hunt this person down and then put him on trial and then behind bars.

Q. But what if a state wants to do ‘all of the above’, and get away with it? What can the state do?

Of Hunger Strikes and Yasin Malik

In the early 90’s whenever there were plans by leaders to fast unto death or go on a hunger strike – a majority of the population would fast with them. Kashmir saw itself as one homologous unit, there were supposed to be no differences. Everyone had one goal: Azadi. There were no contours of this Azadi. It was crystal clear and above all, no one doubted the intentions of the leaders.

Today a hunger strike is seen more as an attempt to make ones presence felt than a tool of non-violent protest, as it is made out to be. And our iconic Hunger Striker is Yasin Malik, who has once again vowed to go on hunger strike for human rights abuses and etc.

Why do these symbolic gestures result in nothingness?

Symbolic gestures are essential, but have to be an extension of

Inception, Introspection

There one skill that we, the Kashmiris, as a nation, can always claim to have: protesting.

We protested the Gujarat riots, the hanging of Saddam Hussein (who, as India’s ally and friend, always stood against Kashmir & Pakistan. 98% of the Iraqis won’t even know what or where Kashmir is). Global events or not, news or rumors, true or wrong, by our own free will or under the cloud of threats and warnings, with or without consequences for Kashmir, we have stood up for every invitation to protest by anybody and everybody who either is somebody or a nobody. We have emerged as one of the finest protesting nation in the history of the world. Kashmir, let alone the issue of Kashmir, might not be well known globally, but we have given the world the Islamic Rage Boy. In the early 90’s

JacKal Police

As Srinagar burns protesting the killing of a 17 year old by the JacKal Police (formerly the JK Police); how far the government has reigned them in, is obvious from this picture:

A policeman carrying an AK rifle is stopped by his colleague from CHARGING AT A WOMAN who was raising anti-police slogans on seeing policemen committing ‘atrocities’ against the protesting youth in Chattabal area of Srinagar. Srinagar remained under siege and angry youth defied restrictions and clashed with police to protest against the killing of teenager Tufail Ahmad Matoo. At least 15 persons including eight policemen were injured in fresh clashes. (Courtesy of Rising Kashmir)

This picture is a testimony of the powers they have courtesy of the state government. If the government was really serious about the innocent deaths in the valley, we would see restrain from the JacKal Police, but that obviously is not the case. We rather hear ridiculous statements from the government. They really are losing grip of their senses.

From a previous post on the JacKal Police:

The Jammu and Kashmir Police has turned over the past decade and a half from an organization supporting the freedom struggle to a people more than happy to kill innocents and it will continue to grow evil. It has already graduated from beatings innocents to killing them, now they just need to expand their reach and increase the innocent death toll. Once India is confident that the police have been trained well to behave as colonial masters, as is the attitude of the army at present; it can reduce the presence of the army, flash a happy face to the world, confident and satisfied at the thought that the same role is being played by someone else. Lessons from the colonial masters, the British, has always inspired India: import officers who can act and behave as colonial masters, obtain the major chunk of the force from the local population and impose evil through them…more

And, the meaning of JacKal in the context of the JK Police:

Old World nocturnal canine mammal closely related to the dog; smaller than a wolf; sometimes hunts in a pack but usually singly or as a member of a pair.

Bells And Bullets

Bells

Bullets

They said the “leaders are human beings with personal problems.” (greater kashmir)

I was always made to believe that leaders are not ordinary human beings. I was told wrong.

But there is something that resonates true every time:

“…remember that as resistance decreases, suppression increases and the peace offered by suppressive regimes is often no more than the peace of prison or of the grave…” (niccolo machiavelli)

 

Then The World Would Mourn, Then It Would Forget

–Farhat Rukhsar–

A minute mourns and then forgets

My heart to my Kashmir indifferent seems

And while thou native were riddled with bullets

My long dead soul was chasing dreams

While blood oozed and they watched unconcerned

While thou were gasping for each labouring breath

While we joked in colleges in Mughal gardens sauntered

In Dalgate youth approached its untimely death

Riddled by Central Reserve Police Force

Then dropped a grenade in thy bag

This is the Heaven’s secret curse

An Angel given terrorists tag

How long on that pavement thy body bled?

How long resembling humans had their fun?

Thou went left dreams, parents half dead

Dark earth and sky, gone is their sun

Time has ceased what Happy New Year?

Mirth has left the home in paradise

Home were empty eyes look for their dear

Home where walls still echo with painful cries

Home where mere pain Eid would bring

Home where sacrifice already has been done

Home where thy memories forever would cling

Home where celebrations for Eid would be none

But killing innocents has a reward of its own

One lakh rupees and promotion I fear

And in my time conditions have honed

And protesters get killed everywhere

Thou college student and so am I

Though thou shot dead, I am not – yet

Tomorrow they might then they will lie

Then the world would mourn then it would forget.

(In Memory of Ghulam Mohammad Sheikh, 22; Riddled With Bulets on 9th August 2006, click here to read the post)

(poem courtesty of greater kashmir)

Liquid Baron To Represent Kashmir!

Days after a visit to Kashmir, which was followed by denial of interest in Kashmir politics; Vijay Mallaya, the Liquor Baron has been nominated by the National Conference for the Rajya Sabha seat. Surprisingly, some local newspapers, forgot or chose not to publish this news.

UN, We Are Not Indian

A message for the world, all Kashmiris already know this:

Rhetoric, notwithstanding.

Two more fall prey to the bullets of India’s Army, as India’s Prime Minsiter visits the occupied state of Kashmir.

 

Rail Mubarak, a new greeting in Kashmir, wonder whether we will soon have a railway public holiday!

And someone, somewhere was shown his rightful place.

Mere Rhetoric

The Prime Minister of India while speaking in Kashmir:

“We cannot change the borders, we can make them irrelevant,”

“We seek the normalization of our relations with Pakistan. A solution of all issues that cause estrangement, including Jammu and Kashmir, through dialogue and peaceful negotiations in an atmosphere free of violence.”

“There are real winds of change in the subcontinent today. Economics, technology and travel are altering older mindsets of suspicion, fear and hostility. It is undeniable that much has changed between India and Pakistan in past few years,” Dr Singh said.

“I feel sad that curfew had to be imposed on many occasions causing lot of problems to the people.”

“If any separatist group wants to meet us we are ready. I have already met them earlier. Kashmir is an integral part of India.”

“The recent incidents in the state show that there is some resentment towards the government among a section of the youth here on certain issues. It has always been our belief that even the most difficult issues can be resolved through dialogue. We started a series of round table conferences and government will welcome dialogue with all sections of people.” Rediff

Mere rhetoric!

 

Stay In Or Face Bullets

India Dares Kashmiris To Face Bullets

In an unethical and immoral tone, the state’s Principal Secretary (Home) Anil Goswami went on state run television and warned the people that if they attempt to violate the curfew, security forces would have to respond to ensure that they do not so.

Indirectly Goswami is stated to have hinted at security forces being empowered to shoot at sight any one trying to march towards Lal Chowk.

Etalaat

Israeli Made Tavor Assault Rifle – 21st Century (TAR-21, called Zittara in India) Now Being Used In Kashmir.

The End Of Hurriyat

Indefinite curfew has been imposed in Kashmir today; this follows the imposition of section 144 yesterday. Yasin Malik has been arrested, while as Geelani was hospitalised. Authorities claim that UPSC roll number slips and Air Tickets will be considered as Curfew Passes, though such consideration was not shown the last time when even a pregnant women on way to the hospital was beaten ruthlessly by India’s Army. A local cable channel has again been banned.

The Hurriyat is failing the people, they have sold-out, and their acts (what made them believe that the government would not impose the curfew?) if seen in a critical manner would lead to one conclusion: that the Hurriyat is exhausting the spirit of the people so that the struggle falls back to its own slow pace, which comforts all but the common Kashmiri people. Last time when the rally was planned; people were hopeful, supportive and full of energy; today they are upset, dismayed and undermined in spirit. This October may not see the withdrawal of the Army from Kashmir; however it might see the end of Hurriyat and the emergence of a new leadership. The Hurriyat may have proved their importance to India and Pakistan, but they are definitely going to fall in front of the people. Emotional fools we may be, but idiots we are not.

Tomorrow may decide a lot of things for Kashmir, I just hope tomorrow does not see the end of more innocent lives. Hurriyat, against my better judgement, may prevail and win their battle, and we the people, will have to continue fighting ourbattle.

Earlier Posts on the land row, the gagging of the people and the spirit of Kashmiris:

Was It Just A Few Hectares Of Land? – I

Yes, I Am A Daemon, But Kashmir Scares Me

No Photoshop This!

Kashmir Strikes Back

I Shot Him Because His Name Incensed Me

From a reader’s words

…I was reminded of a conversation with a major in the Indian army whom I met at a friend’s place in Delhi, recounting how he killed a Kashmiri driver during a routine check because he was incensed at the driver’s Muslim name and how this was listed as yet another “encounter” death. That was about eight or nine years ago at the height of the BJP’s rule at the center. Gruesome as it was listening to his slow- motion account of that “encounter”, what struck me at that time was that the man felt no shame or remorse. Instead there was a sense of bravado. That was the first such “encounter” he had had and remembered it as one would remember a first love.

This major went on to join the elite Black Cat commando force set up to counter terrorism.

Read the complete post here

Innocents are killed, killers are rewarded, this is the story of life in Kashmir!

• We need a kill , operations have dried up, the shocking story of India’s army in Kashmir.
• A young student was shot point blank , instead of an investigation, the killers were rewarded.
• Does a 19 year old deserve to be tortured, burned and then killed ? India’s Army thinks he does.

I Will Not Quit…

…since I am just a humble henchman of India, a hypocrite, a chameleon and in unholy matrimony with India.

Omar Abdullah’s lie:

I WILL QUIT IF unbridled force IS UNLEASHED ON MY INNOCENT PEOPLE!

Source

This still isn’t unbridled force for Omar Abdullah, but wait, he wasn’t speaking anything he means, he never does.

Is This NOT Unbridled Force?

Killer Roaming Free – Henchman Of India, No Different Than Abdullah

Shot In The Neck By Indian Forces

Tear Gas And Kill

Is This NOT Unbridled Force?

Youth Shot In Nowhatta, Srinagar POINT BLANK.

Ready To Fire, Finger On Trigger

Beaten For Daring To Buy Food!

Woman SHOT POINT BLANK By CRPF Troopers!

Stop Me If You Can!

No Unbridled Force All This!

Welcome To Indian Kashmir!

Alistair Scrutton on Reuters

Might Of The State

The world’s largest democracy locks up protest leaders without charge, shoots dozens of demonstrators dead, beats and intimidates ordinary citizens and raids homes without warrants.

Welcome to Indian Kashmir, where the biggest separatist protests in two decades have clashed with the might of the state.

Anger Against India

The crackdown may also be counter-productive. Residents say the deaths and violent crackdown have fuelled anger against India and boosted the separatist cause after years of relative peace.

Coercion

“The government of India does not have a strategy,” said Siddharth Varadarajan, diplomatic editor of The Hindu newspaper.

“It is relying heavily on coercion, arresting top and middle-level leaders in the hope it will break the back of unprecedented protests.”

Most Militarised Region

For decades there has been simmering resentment at the hundreds of thousands of Indian troops stationed in Kashmir, making it one of the most militarised regions on earth.

Target Killings

One surgeon, who asked to remain anonymous because of fear of retribution from Indian authorities, said he has received around 400 wounded people in three weeks, 150 of them hit by bullets.

“These are target killings. It’s simple to see,” said the doctor, explaining that many of the chest wounds were from weapons such as AK-47s. “Most of these were intended to kill. They were not to disperse a crowd.”

For complete article click here.

6 Million Men, Women And Children Caged!

Nothing Biting And Bitter, Perhaps The Bitterest, Leaf Was Added To The 60 Years Somber And Traumatic History Of Kashmir On Sunday Midnight.

Not only were many a Kashmiri leader who had led peaceful public rallies over a week earlier were arrested in an overnight crack down but announcement piercing the deathly silence of the night proclaiming curfew in all the 10 districts of the valley were made from megaphone fitted police vans. There is nothing new in the imposition of restriction on public movement in the state. In fact, Kashmir and curfews for indiscriminate use of the later have become synonymous. In the 60-year history, there has hardly been a year when there have not been restrictions on the assembly of people or section 144 has not been in force or when curfew has not been imposed in one or another town.

The curfew in force all over Kashmir for the past seven days is unprecedented. Terming the caging of 60 lakh men, women, children, young, old, toddlers and infants and denying them food and medicine, as curfew can be a misnomer. It will be too mild to call it even an emergency. Martial law in no way is different than the situation that has been prevailing in Kashmir during the past week.

Humanity was torn to shreds when hundreds of patients suffering from serious ailments could not be shifted to hospitals. Stories instilling awe and fear about many pregnant women gasping for breaths on roadsides and even breathing their last have been galore.

Reports about men in uniform beating doctors have disturbed the entire medical fraternity. It was for the first time that restrictions had been imposed even on the movement of hospital ambulances.

There are reports about the paramilitary forces firing on ambulances which were not contradicted. It is not an overstatement but a hard reality that because of scarcity of baby food in the valley and restrictions imposed by the government many crying infants were lulled to sleep by their mothers’ empty stomach. Many chronic patients depending on daily medication had to go without medicines during the unparalleled curfew.

Kashmir, particularly during past two decades, has seen many a grave situations when not only the law enforcing agencies but the entire state as such had gone out of gear. But during those tough times too, newspapers continued their publications. In recent history, it was for the first time when no newspaper was published because of strict restrictions on the movement of newsmen and other newspaper staff. It was nothing but muzzling the media when the government, besides banning private news and current affairs cable channels, very tactfully prevented publication of newspapers. The situation as has been obtaining in Kashmir since Sunday mid-night is reminiscent of the 1976 Emergency in India.

The question arises what prompted the government to create a situation which reminds one of primitive times when human values were almost irrelevant.

Ostensibly, there was no reason for placing entire Kashmir under an undeclared emergency. The All Parties Hurriyat Conferences and other allied organization were holding absolutely peaceful rallies in support of their known political demands. True, the APHC rallies attracted hundreds of

thousands of people and about a million had responded to the call of conglomerate at Eidgah but these rallies were so disciplined and orderly that not a brickbat was thrown on the security forces at any place.

This has been acknowledged even by the known critics of Kashmiris. There was no law and order breakdown anywhere in the valley. Instead, if one looks dispassionately at the law and order situation in Kashmir in the backdrop of the months gone by, it was much more peaceful. Instead of reacting harshly with strong arm methods to the violence-free political scenario, the government should have capitalized over it and given peace a chance to strike deeper roots. It is high time for New Delhi to reassess the Kashmir situation and find out ways and means for a lasting solution to the nagging problem which cost the Indian nation no less.

Source: Greater Kashmir

Gujrat In Kashmir

“I pleaded before the troopers that I am expecting a baby and have to immediately reach the hospital. But they hit my stomach and private parts with rifle butts and batons. I helplessly cried for mercy but they continued to thrash me. Finally I started to bleed profusely and fell unconscious,” she said and broke down.

Source Greater Kashmir

What can you say about a woman eight months pregnant who begged to be spared. Her assailants instead slit open her stomach, pulled out her fetus and slaughtered it before her eyes.

Source Boloji

But this then is the character of the Nation called India, it matters not whether the assailants are wearing government approved uniforms or not, they have the approval from the corridors of power. Be it the blue turbaned Manmohan Singh or the poet Atal Behari.

Yes, I Am A Daemon, But Kashmir Scares Me

India, the largest Daemon-cracy of the world, continues it repressive, suppressive and oppressive policies in Kashmir, not realising you can’t kill a Kashmiri – he will live and continue demanding his right – that of freedom!

Here is a Round up of latest news reports from Kashmir, or rather of news that can be reported since there is an embargo on news in Kashmir, Ambulances are being targeted by the Army, Little Kids beaten to death and Water is a scarce commodity!

Yes, We Want People To Die Of Starvation

They said the team wanted to distribute about 5000 litres of apple juice to people at Dalgate this afternoon, but the troopers stopped them from doing so saying that distribution of any eatable or beverage amounts to violation of curfew.

Addressing the troopers, the group of journalists shouted, “Do you want people to die of starvation?”

And pat came the reply: “Yes”

The Peace Of Graveyard

Any conceivable object that came the way of the troopers formed the road blockade. From logs of timber on Jammu-Srinagar highway at Khanabal, Botingoo, Bijbehara to CI pipes at different places along the road at crossings, to Concertina wire and CGI sheet fencing on different openings to Lal Chowk in Srinagar and between Khwaja Bagh and Khanapora in Varmul town, has been used to prevent the milling crowds, or call it swarms of people, from reaching the historic Lal Chowk, the venue of the sit-in called by pro- freedom parties last Monday.

Ban On Ambulance Movement

A woman from Bapora in south Kashmir’s Shopian district died last evening after the police and paramilitary CRPF troopers didn’t permit her to proceed toward a hospital.

Indefinite Curfew Continues

With the death of one more person in the hospital Tuesday morning, the toll in Monday’s firing by Police and CRPF troopers on processionists in the valley mounted to eight. Authorities didn’t give any relaxation in curfew on third consecutive day,today,leading to massive shortage of essential commodities in the Valley. Uneasy calm prevailed in Kashmir as there were reports of people trying to defy curfew in some parts of south Kashmir.

Trust No Kashmiri

Sleuths of Counter Intelligence Kashmir (CIK) Tuesday raided posh areas of Hyderpora, Peerbagh, Rawalpora and Airport Colony to get a clue about the absconding leaders including Shabir Ahmed Shah and Nayeem Ahmed Khan.

The Murder of A six Month Old

“CRPF troopers barged into our home yesterday night. After breaking all the windowpanes and abusing the inmates they beat us with bamboos. My wife was trying hard to save Muskan in her lap. She took several hits on her shoulder to avert any assault on the child but somehow Muskan received a powerful bamboo smash. She cried fiercely and then fell unconscious,” Tariq Ahmad of Pandach, a suburb in Ganderbal district, told the doctors attending the tender Muskan on Tuesday.

Die, O Ye Kashmiri!

A senior consultant in SKIMS said an ambulance that actually belonged to Wakaf Board, a government body to look after Muslim religious estates, which was ferrying the injured persons from Pulwama to SKMS, was damaged on way by the “unruly” CRPF personnel. Since Sunday morning, when the curfew was clamped across Kashmir, nearly a dozen ambulances have been damaged by CRPF.

Dr Mir wondered why the troopers manhandled doctors, beat up attendants of the injured and damaged the vehicles. “The authorities had already made it public through official TV and Radio that the ID Card of doctors or paramedics would be considered as curfew pass. But the way our people have been treated is shocking.”  He expressed concern over the ban on ambulance movement and said the persons injured in far off areas are treated locally and not being shifted to Srinagar for fear of CRPF. “It’s dangerous because we don’t have such an advanced surgical facility in peripheries.”

Begging For Water

Most worrying part of this tragedy is that dozens of orphanages across Srinagar and in parts of Islamabad, Baramullah and Kupwara are in a pitiable condition. The girls-only orphanage at Gopalpora used to get daily dose of water supply through a water tanker of state’s Public Health Department. “We are begging for drinking water. The area is already facing shortage of drinking water. Some neighbours are helping right now but the problem is grave,” said a warden at the orphanage, which is managed by the famed Yateem Trust.

Hear! Ye India, You Can’t Cow Us Down!

Jammu Kashmir Coordination Committee (JKCC) on Wednesday said the arrest of pro-resistance leaders will not cow them down. Condemning the arrest of pro- resistance leaders Muhammad Ashraf Sehari of the Tehreek-e-Hurriyat and Duktaran-e-Millat (Daughters of Faith) Chairperson Asiya Andrabi, JKCC spokesperson Masrat Alam said: “The arrest of our leaders will not break us. Our resistance will continue. Freedom movement is not dependent on individuals.”

And Scared Ye Are!

Sakooter, A Kashmiri Blogger Writes:

The world’s largest democracy is scared. The irony of it, it isnt scared of armed gunmen, but of unarmed peacefull protestors who would just want to go out in the streets and tell the world that they want “Azadi” or freedom from India.

Kashmiris want their right to freedom. That is what they wanted to tell the world and that is what the curfew imposed stopped them from doing — partially, for there have been men who dared the gun and got gunned.

Maybe the world is scared. But what makes me glad for once is the fact that India is scared. Scared that the truth will come out…

Source: Sakooter Speaks

[News Sources: Greater Kashmir, Kashmir Observer, Rising Kashmir]

Peace Of Grave

“…remember that as resistance decreases, suppression increases and the peace offered by suppressive regimes is often no more than the peace of prison or of  the grave…”

“…who has the public as a whole his enemy can never make himself
secure and the greater his cruelty the weaker his regime becomes.”

Niccolo Machiavelli 

Countless Kashmiris are being offered the peace of the grave by India as the fake encounter killing  epidemic continues in Kashmir. Ever since the Congress took over power from the Peoples Democratic Party in Kashmir, the number of Fake encounters has drastically increased, also on the rise is the number of innocents killed point blank by the Indian Army. The probes and inquiries promised and sometimes ordered are a mere eyewash.

 Maybe the Indian Prime Minister’s daughter should visit Kashmir and take on the Indian Army and question the government about the thousands of missing Kashmiris and the unlawful, custodial and fake encounter killings that are a norm rather than the exception in Kashmir, but maybe Kashmir is too far!

Subjugation And Torture That Thrills And Excites

Suffering humiliation at the hands occupying forces is a part and parcel of the Kashmiri life be it in Kashmir or a railway compartment somewhere in the plains of India. Kashmiris have realized and understood well that all Indians (with rare exceptions) are oblivious to the sufferings of Kashmiris even though the same Indians share the pain and are even over sympathetic to the issue of Kashmiri Pandits, who when they migrated from the Valley in 1989 formed not more than 3% of the total Kashmiri population.

The Indians cry hoarse about the Kashmiri Pandit issue but they are quite, as if someone pressed the mute button, when it is proved beyond doubt that the Indian forces do kill innocents in Kashmir.

The reasons have baffled many a Kashmiris for long, one reason could be that the Indians feel ‘thrilled’ and ‘excited’ about the presence of guns-and-goons in the form of Indian security forces in Kashmir.

An Indian woman who had recently traveled to Kashmir had this to say about the presence of security forces in Kashmir:

the security presense (sic) is there everywhere it is thrilling and mostly exciting.

This is what The Toronto Star wrote on 25th January, 1991, about the Indian armed forces.

“Subjugated, humiliated, tortured and killed by the 650,000-strong Indian army, the people of Kashmir have been living through sheer hell for more than a year, the result of an increasingly brutal campaign of state repression. India hides behind its carefully-crafted image of “non-violence” and presents itself in international forums as a model of democracy and Pluralism.”

The role, behavior and actions of the security forces has not changed much since 1991, it’s just that today their presence is ‘thrilling’ and ‘exciting’ to the Indians.

A further look at what the Indian security forces who thrill and excite Indians do to the Kashmiris, as documented by the Human Rights Watch.

I was only a boy at that time. They would strip me, make my lie naked on the floor, kick and beat me, split my legs wide apart and leave me tied up like that for hours. When I thought I could not bear any more pain, they would give me electric shocks. Then they would let me go and a few weeks later, again. The same thing.

The men were from the army but they were in plainclothes. I was taken to a Rashtriya Rifles camp near my house… My hands were always tied behind my back. I was beaten and kicked. Twice, I was made to lie down on the floor with my hands and legs stretched out and tied up. I was badly beaten.

The soldiers were brutal. I was kept blindfolded most of the time, unless I had to go to the toilet. My hands were tied with rope at night. I was tied to a chair and questioned. They asked if I knew this militant or that. I kept saying I was innocent…I wish I could tell you how much I suffered. They cut my thighs open with a knife and then they would keep poking at the wound to try and make me talk.

The thrills and the excitement!

Technorati Tags: Kashmir, Indian Army, India, Srinagar, Army, Torture, People, Politics, Conflict, Jammu and Kashmir, Human-Rights, Torture in Custody, Terrorism, State-Terrorism

Is Hope Still Alive?

The surfacing of the reality behind the recent fake encounter was not news for Kashmir. It’s been happening since 1989. The wounds of the Gaw Kadal massacre, the Sopore massacre and the Paribas Killings are still fresh in the minds of Kashmiris. Though Indians have shown sympathy towards the exodus of Kashmiris Pandits, which was a human tragedy, but they have always considered the wailings of the Kashmiris as propaganda. We are not talking about militants killed in an encounter. We are talking about innocents like Ghulam Hassan Padroo and the 19 year old boy who have been killed for the crime of being Kashmiris. In India it has become a crime to be a Kashmiri. God save a Kashmiri if he is unlucky to be at the wrong place at the wrong time. A year back, on 24th February, four innocent children aged 8, 10, 18 and 18 were shot dead by the army in Kupwara. Somehow, as usual, the Indian media missed the news and as usual the army tagged the deaths as mistaken identity? How can a four year old be mistaken for a militant in broad day light? Quite recently a handicapped singer was shot on spot, without any provocation, by an army personnel, who later on claimed something to the effect that it was his (the singer’s) time to die! Just like Bush, God spoke with him too. This is the reality that Kashmiris have to live with and they do.

Sakooter writes about the epidemic of fake encounters that plagues Kashmir:

Over the past 18 years in Kashmir, thousands of people — civilians, who had no arms, vulnerable and weak — have disappeared. Many many amongst these have been killed in the so called “fake encounters” where in lieu of promotion, pride, power — men have killed men.

And the ones that are killed die.

Leaving dead and dying lives

What if the dead could rise up and open up the dark secrets that the murderers keep?

A sense of despair overwhelms one on seeing an entire nation turn blind to the sufferings of millions of people. However, somewhere in the dark, sometimes, one sees a tiny glimmer of hope. Hope indeed is never dead.

Pamela Philipose, of Indian Express, in her article J&K’s bodies of evidence has dared to pose a question to India

If Nithari, a village in Noida, has today become a byword for evil and institutional culpability, why should the anonymous villages of south Kashmir not hold a similar resonance?

She writes about the Gaw Kadal massacre and also nullifies Azad’s claim that Paddar’s killing was revealed because the government had already promised to punish all those found involved in innocent killings

The Azad government boasts that it took these vows extremely seriously and that is why incidents like the Paddar murder have come to light. In actual terms, if it weren’t for the persistence of Paddar’s family in trying to trace him, and the overconfidence of his killers who sought to pocket his mobile phone, this case too would have rested quietly in the grave.

On the Indian blogosphere also there are now quite some Indians who are daring to be different. Who are seeing beyond what the government would want them to see. Sujai has blogged extensively about Kashmir and has also come up with a solution to the Kashmir problem. Horizon Speaks and Manas are actively discussing Kashmir the way it should be: with an open mind.

Horizon Speaks writes about the recent fake encounter

The news of Fake Encounters really shaked my heart. From today onwards, I won’t be at the same mood seeing ‘routine’ killing of militants in Kashmir. As it was in the case of ‘Abu Hafiz’, the LeT Commander. Army sources told us that he was killed an ‘encounter’ with SOG (Special Operations Group) on 8th December. And the person who actually killed him, got an award of 120,000Rs (almost US$ 2700).

The conflict in Kashmir has been dragging on for 17 long years and very rarely have we seen an Indian feeling the pain of Kashmir as Pamela observes

Events in Jammu and Kashmir are perceived by the rest of the country as if through the wrong end of the telescope. The existing distance between the country and the state always ends up magnified, and crucial developments playing out in the region appear emptied out of their significance.

This has held true for Kashmir for too long. Maybe it will change. Maybe the change will remain limited to a small minority. Another Indian Blogger, Pr3rna , has also blogged about Paddar’s fake encounter. Even though Pr3rna has condemned the incident but Pr3rna expresses the same view, which most Indians, wrongly, hold.

The root cause of Kashmir issue was and we still believe, is- foreign militants or militants trained by Pakistan.

The present state of Kashmir is a consequence of its history. If the root cause of the Kashmir problem were the militants trained by Pakistan, the 0.7 Million strong army of India should have had no problem in containing and terminating the 2000 or so militants that presently operate in the valley; as Paul rightly comments in response to Pr3rna

I think the ‘root cause’ of Kashmir problems is not militants, that is an effect of the cause

Kashmiris Propaganda?

Pr3rna thinks that Manas has fallen into the Kashmiris Propaganda trap.

You have also fallen to the Kashmir propaganda.

For quite some time now, the term Kashmiris Propaganda has become popular. This blog has been branded a propaganda machine for highlighting the innocent deaths. Maybe Kashmiris should suffer the death of their people in silence, maybe that’s what a lot of people want. But it is not going to happen. This blog (and blogroll) is an attempt to tell the truth, to whoever is listening.

According to wikipedia the techniques of propaganda transmission include

Common media for transmitting propaganda messages include news reports, government reports, historical revision, junk science, books, leaflets, movies, radio, television, and posters.

Let us ask some questions and attempt to answer them.

How much time does an Indian spend on reading newspapers published from Kashmir in a day?

Not a second. Majority won’t know of the existence of newspapers published from Kashmir, let alone read them. If they did, they would know a lot more about the army in Kashmir than what the Jai Jawaan program tells them. They would know a lot more than just knowing that Shah Rush Khan was performing in Kargil. They would know about the bullets that destroy innocent homes.

How much time does an Indian spend on listening to the news blasting from Kashmiri/separatist owned radio stations or watching the propaganda ads, movies and documentaries playing 24X7 on Kashmiris separatist owned television channels?

Not a second, since the Kashmiris/separatists own/control no such media.

W hen was the last time an Indian student read about the history of Kashmir doctored by the Islamists Militancy Inc. of Kashmir?

Never. None exist.

H ow many leaflets and posters does an Indian come across that spoke of the atrocities of the army in Kashmir?

Never.

All an Indian reads, watches, discusses is what that the Government presents to him. The Indian newspapers, the Indian media, the Indian Bollywood, the Indian channels and the Indian books! We can also safely make the observation that an Indian never comes across Kashmiris propaganda through the aforementioned sources. What could then be the source of this Propaganda? It could either be the sixth sense that the Kashmiris have or the Kashmiris could be capable of producing invisible waves which infect the minds of Indians with Kashmiri propaganda. Take your pick!

Tags: Freedom Struggle, Human Rights, India, Indian Army, Innocent Killings, Jammu and Kashmir Police, Kashmir, Kilings, Massacre, Militants, News, Police, Terrorism, Terrorism in Kashmir

Fake ‘Encounter Killings’ Epidemic

Fake killings an ‘epidemic’ and ‘standard procedure of the police’

“This epidemic of fake ‘encounter killings’ by the security forces has plagued Kashmir for too long,” said Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “The police must stop their standard operating procedure of killing people in custody.”

“Too often we find that India’s security forces are deemed ‘above the law’ and are spared criminal prosecution despite committing grave human rights abuses.”

Extrajudicial executions by Indian security forces are common.

courtesy of Human Rights Watch

Revelations confirm what Kashmiris have been alleging all along

“Recent revelations have confirmed what families in Kashmir have been alleging all along,” said Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “The Indian security forces have ‘disappeared’ countless people in Jammu and Kashmir since 1989 and staged fake encounter killings while fabricating claims that those killed were militants.”

When there are public demonstrations protesting a fake encounter killing, the official response usually is to offer an oral assurance of an inquiry, though these rarely happen. If such inquiries do take place, the findings are seldom made public. If any action is taken against those found responsible, that too is rarely made public.

courtesy of Human Rights Watch

Human Rights Watch September 2006 report

Previous related posts

The Largest Daemon-cracy

I Can Kill Everybody

And A Family Cries

Kill A Kashmiri, Win 100,000 Rupees

Act Two: The Slave Of Delhi Unleashes Terror

Tags: Freedom Struggle, Human Rights, Indian Army, Innocent Killings, Jammu and Kashmir Police, Kashmir, Kilings, News, Police, Terrorism, Terrorism in Kashmir

The Largest Daemon-cracy

Daemon-cracy

India might claim to be the largest democracy of the world, an economic super power on its way to become the next super power of the world but for Kashmir and Kashmiris it is a state that rewards killing of innocent Kashmiris with money, more power and commendations. The fact that India does indeed reward its forces for killing innocents was reflected in an earlier post and now we have official endorsement that indeed innocent Kashmiris are being killed for rewards.

For long the people of Kashmir have been claiming oppression at the hands of Indian Forces. However this fact is fiction for the majority of Indians, who in their naivety sitting and living miles away from the reality of Kashmir believe or want to believe that the army is stationed in Kashmir for the protection of Mother India. For them, it is the 700,000 troops which will sanctify the land from terrorists (read Kashmiris). It is the Muslim Kashmiris who are evil, it is the Kashmiris who threw out and murdered the Hindus of Kashmir. It is the Muslims of Kashmir who are the reason for all the evils of India, everyone else and everything else is holy but Kashmiris. The Indians want us to wail and cry for the Hindus who were allegedly prosecuted a thousand years back by Muslim invaders and ignore the killings of our brethren in our courtyards.

Indian Army, the people of India would want you to believe, is one of the most disciplined armies of the world, they are re-incarnations of the Gods, thus can not commit wrong. If you were to prove that the army does commit atrocities, they would call it collateral damage! Collateral damage they say is unavoidable. They say. We suffer. How can our death be collateral? Indeed, it is easy to label innocent deaths as collateral damage or better still brand innocent people as Foreign Terrorists and there you have the world endorsing your view. The world might endorse it, but the Kashmiris will not. They know the truth, the reality of the Indian state. India and Pakistan might buy our so-called leaders, but they can never buy a Kashmiri.

The blindia media

The Indians are not interested in the realities of Kashmir. When told the reality of Kashmir, they call it anti-national. For long the Kashmiris have seen the Indian Media distort the truth of Kashmir for their own cause. For long we have seen the Indian Media create false stories of prosecution by militants and for long we have seen the atrocities of the Indian Army brushed under the carpet.

Does the blind Indian Media (blindia) feed lies to the Indians because that’s what the Indian media (aka Government) wants or is it because the Indians are unwilling to accept the truth? It could be both ways or it is possible that after years of tuning the minds to think in a particular way (that a Kashmiri is a militant till and until proven otherwise) the government has succeeded and the Indians can no longer accept anything other than what they have been tuned to think and that is what the media will keep on feeding them. The people in India want to hear good things about their country. They can not even fathom the idea that the Indian Army can do any bad. For them, the Indian Army is a re-incarnation of God and whatever it does is right. It is always the Kashmiris, the God-damned Muslims who are evil. Kashmiris deserve death. Whether or not we Kashmiris deserve death, we sure are getting it.

The burnt black bear

The burning of a wild bear by some people in Kashmir revealed the hypocrisy and obsession with anything that is ant-Kashmiri of the Indian media and people. A wild bear was burnt by some people in a village in Kashmir. The reaction of the media and the people of India was enormous. The India media and the people wanted answers; they wanted to know how such a ghastly act could be committed by people. It reinforced and justified their already pre-tuned minds that Kashmiris are anything but humans. The Indian Media played its part by covering the ‘atrocity’ extensively. The people asked, they shouted and they wanted the people who committed the gravest of gravest atrocities behind the bars. Syed Ali Shah Geelani sometimes speaks total sense and this was one of those times:

“A month ago when a wild animal was killed by the people at Pulwama, people in Delhi resented the killing of the wild animal and said that wild animals in Kashmir are not safe, but the on other hand the innocent Kashmiris are being killed on the orders of the same people who are worried about the safety and security of wild animals in Kashmir,” he said adding that the series of the custodial killings are “worst kind of state terrorism.”

The Killing of a bear shocked India, the killing of innocent Kashmiris lulled India to sleep.

We need a kill, operations have dried up

“I am a carpenter. Farooq (Constable Farooq) knows. Please don’t kill me,” Abdul Rehman Padroo shrieked in fear, his hands folded. “Don’t listen to him. He is a dreaded Pakistani terrorist,” shouted Deputy Superintendent of Police Bahadur Ram. Then Padroo was shot.

courtesy of indian express

And the kill was Ghulam Hassan Padroo , a carpenter murdered by the forces since the killing fields had dried up.

Quite accidentally, an investigation into a missing man, revealed the truth about the security forces in Kashmir. The truth of murdering Kashmiris and branding them as foreigners. The truth that killing a Kashmiri and branding him as a foreigner does reward . The truth that the thousands of Kashmiris who have disappeared might have been killed by the army.

The accidental investigation and the consequent revelation that innocents were being murdered by the government in Kashmir opened the Pandora’s Box, many more bodies were exhumed and more graves were uncovered. The killing fields of Kashmir were revealed and 18 more fake victims identified. Graves were found in abandoned army camps and somewhere in Kashmir, 30 people lie nameless in a graveyard. The opposition claimed that 6 more encounters were fake and the police discovered another scam within its rank. The families demanded death to the killers; the government suspended four cops, arrested two senior officials and ordered an investigation. An investigation in which the Indian government run BSNL is not cooperating. The army and the CRPF have started separate investigations. Investigations in Kashmir mean cover up and a continued license to the forces to kill.

It’s tough to put into words the feelings of living in a piece of land occupied by foreigners. It is tough to see our brethren getting killed for the crime of being a Kashmiri. It is tough to see people getting murdered in the most terrible manner for a few hundred thousand rupees and a few promotions.

In a post Kill a Kashmiri Win 100,000 Rupees, many Indians claimed that the person killed was indeed a terrorist. They needed proof that it was otherwise. We have answers and the proofs and what we see now is just the tip of iceberg but this will not change the reality of living in Kashmir. These revelations will in no way change the thinking of the Indian people who are busy worrying about the burnt black bear. These revelations will not change the government policy of repression and occupation as the revelations were accidental very much like the sex scam in Kashmir. The investigations in the sex scandal led to nothing as will be the case with these investigations.

Chief Minister agrees that innocents are killed for rewards

The Chief Minister of Kashmir has accepted the fact that killings do indeed happen for promotions and rewards. The Chief Minister, perhaps unknowingly, has accepted that the government rewards murders. Indeed the murders are shrouded in the cover of terrorism.

If any security person found guilty of killing any innocent for personal reasons like promotion, rewards, or appeasement of bosses, he won’t be spared in any case, as no body is above the law

courtesy of greater kashmir

Update

DNA test confirm charge, Army not cooperating

With a DNA report confirming that the man killed by troops as Lashkar militant Abu Zahid was in fact Abdul Rahman Padroo, a carpenter, the focus of investigations into the killing of six villagers in fake encounters on Thursday shifted to the Army.

J-K Police officers say the Army is not co-operating in the investigations into the fake encounter.

The J-K Police have already arrested 13 of their own men, including the then Senior Superintendent of Police, Ganderbal, Hansraj Parihar, and his deputy DSP Badur Ram.

courtesy of indian express

More from Indian Express

Where disappearance history began, in 1990

Taja’s search continues, for son and justice

Tags: Human Rights, India, Indian Army, Kashmir, Kilings, Pakistan, Terrorism

New Strategy: The Solution Of Kashmir!

The end of armed struggle

As a good will gesture for the increased army deployment, continuing human-rights violations, custodial and enforced disappearances, massacres , rapes, daily humiliation and increased frisking of the Kashmiris (even women) by the Indian forces in Kashmir, the Mirwaiz has offered ‘to end the armed struggle.’

“We have already seen the results of our fight on the political, diplomatic and military fronts which have not achieved anything other than creating more graveyards.”

courtesy of greater kashmir

A bold and unpopular decision

Earlier, in a meeting breakfast with the APHC leaders, PML chief Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain said: “Time has come for a bold decision, even if it is an unpopular one.”

courtesy of greater kashmir

An unpopular decision for whom? An unpopular decision for the people of Pakistan and India will be acceptable but an unpopular decision for the people of Kashmir is not a bold decision but a sell out. A sell out which will have far reaching consequences.

The new strategy

The Mirwaiz has claimed that political, diplomatic and military fronts have yield nothing. True. By saying so, the Chairman has accepted the failure of Hurriyat as it is Hurriyat which has always been claiming to be the political and diplomatic front of the Kashmiri struggle. A graceful solution for their failure would be to step down but since their personal interests reign supreme they won’t do that, instead they have offered a new solution. The solution is packed in a box called ‘new strategy,’ earlier it was packed in a box called United States of Kashmir.

He said with their new strategy they would convince India to arrive at a more agreeable settlement.

courtesy of greater kashmir

The new strategy involves forming of two working groups on both sides of the loc to facilitate the peace process.

The All Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC) and the government of Pakistan administered Kashmir (PaK) on Saturday decided to set up two working groups, one each on both sides of the Line of Control (loc), to facilitate the peace process.

courtesy of greater kashmir

Forming of working groups does not sound like a military solution but it sure does sound like a political and diplomatic method. So, what’s different in it? Confidence Building Measures are already in place between India and Pakistan and those have brought no respite to the common Kashmiri. Even a cursory look at the events will show that life for a Kashmiri has become tougher ever since India and Pakistan have shook hands. Not only is life tougher for a Kashmiri in Kashmir but it has also become difficult elsewhere in India with a Kashmiri being arrested for every possible ‘terrorist’ crime and that goes well with the Indian media and the people of India, who have chosen to blind their eyes to the truth about Kashmir. The only truth about Kashmir they are ready to listen to is the Indian Army’s version of the truth in Kashmir.

The Mirwaiz has already declared the failure of these methods in the past and the same should be expected of the latest strategy, as it is just another road map for the solution of Kashmir. India can never be convinced without massive opposition from the people of Kashmir. Kashmir needs a powerful mass uprising from the people to end this debacle.

The opposition

The UJC has voiced some sensible opposition. What is surprising about the UJC is that they have chosen to rope in Sheikh Abdullah and have even called him the most popular and towering personality of Kashmir. Forever he has been called a traitor by these people, why a change of heart? Maybe they now realise that Kashmir has never and probably will never see a leader like Sheikh. Maybe now they understand that Sheikh was not the traitor they have always painted him as.

When GoI could push the most popular and towering Kashmiri politician like Sheikh Abdullah to the wall, then what is the worth of Hurriyat (M)

courtesy of greater kashmir

Shabir Ahmad Shah, Chairman of Democratic Freedom Party (DFP): “I don’t agree with Mirwaiz Sahib saying that gun has not given anything to us. It is due to the sacrifices of Mujahideen that Kashmir issue has been highlighted.”

The kudos

Chief minister Ghulam Nabi Azad Sunday congratulated Mirwaiz Moulana Umar Farooq and his colleagues for ‘their bold statement against violence and in favour of peace and dialogue’

Ali Muhammad Sagar, former minister and senior National Conference leader: “ It seems they have realized that nothing will come out from the game of death and destruction, and Kashmir issue can only be resolved through a dialogue.

Ghulam Hassan Mir, former minister and senior leader of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP): “We welcome Mirwaiz’s statement. It is definitely a positive change and it will prove fruitful for the people of Kashmir. We have always maintained that gun won’t solve the Kashmir issue and it seems separatists too have realized it.

India’s continued hypocrisy

Pointing towards the Sunday’s statement of the chief minister Ghulam Nabi Azad wherein he had hailed Mirwaiz’s statement asking militants to give up arms, Sagar said, “If some one is showing sincerity and honesty, he should be responded with honesty and sincerity. He has given number of statements which are correlated and you should not pick and choose the statements in accordance with your own interests.”

courtesy of greater kashmir

The euphoria

In his euphoria, the Mirwaiz has forgotten the Gaw Kadal Massacre in which fifty-two unarmed civilians were shot dead by the Indian forces and nearly 250 were wounded. One young man, Abdul Rauf Wani, took the bullets of an entire magazine from a soldier in a heroic attempt to save a few lives.

Elsewhere, the state BJP chief has asked that the flag of Kashmir be brought down . The flag of Kashmir is the last symbolic proof of Kashmir’s special status.

Kashmir needs a Shiekh Abdullah!

A Kashmiri Videoblogger

TearingBytes is a Kashmiri videoblogger, capturing the reality of Kashmir on video. His videoblog on Cruxy can be found here.

The description on his home page is an excerpt from Arundhati Roy’s article, which poses a very important question: how can we talk of solutions when we deny the reality?

The reality of India, however, to every ordinary Kashmiri, is an ugly, vicious reality they encounter every day, every ten steps at every check post, during every humiliating search. According to the Indian army, there are never at any time more than 3,000-4,000 militants operating in the Valley. But there are between 5,00,000 – 8,00,000 Indian soldiers there. An armed soldier for every 10-15 people. By way of comparison, there are 1,60,000 US soldiers in Iraq. Clearly, the Indian army is not in Kashmir to control militants, it is there only to control the Kashmiri people.In totally misrepresenting the truth of what’s really going on. How can we even talk of ‘solutions’ when we simply deny the reality?

TearingBytes has also been featured in the official blog of the creators of Cruxy, who write:

The works of TearingBytes are sad, touching, and often disturbing. They are as powerful as any hollywood feature film, but offer no fiction. The most prevalent topic is that of “half-widows”, women whose husbands have been disappeared, and cannot remarry since their spouses aren’t officially deceased.

Having this type of content available on Cruxy is a real breakthrough. While we love indie music and comedic short films, we also built Cruxy to give a venue for those without a traditional means of commercialization. The work of TearingBytes is a perfect case.

It is heart warming to see that Kashmiris are waking up and talking about Kashmir – their homeland. It’s the Kashmiris who matter, the people, those who have to live everyday in Kashmir, far away from those who sit in Casablanca and talk about the solution of Kashmir. Kashmiris have had enough of Indians and Pakistanis talking about them. Thanks to the power of blogging, we can finally talk about the facts, as they are.

There Was Something Oppressive About The Security Presence

K Alan Kronstadt’s interview with Rediff .

K Alan Kronstadt is a point man for South Asia in the Congressional Research Service, the United States Congress’ research arm which is often called the legislative branch’s own think tank.

On Kashmiris and Pakistan

Q. Was there anything else that really surprised you, helped calm your fears?

K Alan:

Another thing that surprised me on the ground there was how positive a view many people had of Pakistan’s role, and how President Musharraf’s role was not viewed with the negativity I had expected.

Many, many people in Kashmir were actually very positive about the role that Pakistan is playing and used the word flexibility in talking about Musharraf’s role. The word came up again and again that he, more than any other Pakistani leader, had (exhibited flexibility).

Q. Why did you go in with a perception that Musharraf’s role would not be viewed favourably? After all, the Indians have always accused Pakistan of supporting and arming militants in Kashmir. Musharraf has always tried to give the Kashmir people the assurance that Pakistan would always be there for them and that Kashmir and the aspirations of its people is an issue always close to Pakistan’s heart.

K Alan:

I think it was because of the so-called cross-border terrorism — the message that comes from Delhi. Of course, we did talk to security people in Kashmir, and they were very clear that terrorists came across with the assistance of some elements in Pakistan. So they weren’t optimistic or positive about Pakistan’s role. But many of the people on the ground — who I didn’t get a chance to talk to when I was in Washington but only when they visit — had a very different perspective about Pakistan’s role.

On the large security presence in Kashmir

Q. And, what about the Indian government’s role? Did you feel that when you spoke to the people on the ground, there were positive vibes — anything on par of what they felt for Musharraf and the government of Pakistan?

K Alan:

Not necessarily on par. That was, I think, a little more mixed. Some people felt that Delhi was taking the complaints of the Kashmiri people more seriously. (But) it was very jarring to see the large security presence in Srinagar. This is something I hadn’t expected.

I knew about it intellectually, but when I got on the ground, there were soldiers and police everywhere — the police , of course, were like paramilitary troops, so they looked like soldiers.

There was something oppressive about the security presence in Srinagar and even out in the countryside. You really couldn’t get away from it. It’s like you were reminded, everywhere you looked, that there was a security problem. I could see how the people there might even feel like there was an occupying army because I do know some people feel that way.

A significant reduction of this overwhelming security presence is what the Kashmiri leadership and international human rights groups have always been calling for as an important good-faith, confidence-building measure to get the peace process going. But Delhi argues it has to put down the militancy and counter cross-border terrorism which it says continues unabated and for which it blames Pakistan.

I heard a lot of stories about the impunity with which some of the security forces can act. (I heard) anecdotal cases of extortions on the street. I also happened to run into Brad Adams of Human Rights Watch while I was there. And so some of these stories really did come out.

On the role of United States in Kashmir

K Alan:

The United States playing a mediating role is out of the question. It’s a non-starter, and I don’t think it’s necessary. In general, the approach needs to be between India and Pakistan and in some manner incorporating the wishes of the Kashmiri people.

It’s important to not view this as a strictly bilateral issue. The United States in whatever way it acts, it needs to do so quietly. So it has to be mostly behind closed doors. I think good offices, some encouragement, diplomatic patting on the back, to bring this to a resolution, because everyone understands that a resolution of this is good for everyone. So if we can find a resolution that everyone can live with, it would do wonderful things for the subcontinent.

Q. When you say diplomatic patting on the back, does this also mean simultaneous nudging?

K Alan:

Sure. I mean there can be a carrot and stick. But it needs to be very subtle and very understanding of and sensitive to the problems on the ground, which, to some extent, I have encouraged. And the administration understands this. Again, I just hope that we don’t see the Kashmiri people feel left out of whatever comes out (with regard to the peace process). It can’t be settled as government-to-government alone.

This interview gains significance in the light of the recent claims by Mirwaiz Omer that America is mediating in the Kashmir issue and that the next two years would be very crucial for Kashmir. It is interesting to see that Alan refers to the Indian claims of cross-border terrorism as ‘so-called cross-border terrorism,’ and subtly calls it the Indian propaganda (‘the message that comes from Delhi’). He has, to a large extent, gauged well the feelings of the Kashmiri people and has indeed felt the oppressive nature of the massive security presence in Kashmir. A solution, if one is near, should never be government to government alone, as that would be no solution at all.

I Can Kill Everybody

A father and a son were killed by a speeding police vehicle, which was driving on the wrong side, a day before Eid.

I can kill everybody

“I am from SOG, not an ordinary cop, I can kill everybody, I will teach you a lesson,” a visibly frustrated cop shouted at women, firing tear smoke canisters towards them. (greater kashmir)

I’ll not spare them

Superintendent of Police (South) Uttam Chand rushed to the spot with a large contingent of police and caught hold of youth from the group, saying, “Why did you burnt our vehicle. Those who have burnt it, I have seen them, I’ll not spare them,” the SP shouted.(greater kashmir)

Killing in Kashmir is not uncommon but gradually it appears that the police and the army see themselves as reincarnations of God on earth. Be it the illiterate gun totting policeman or his superior office, they both think that they are the Greater Beings, created to maim and kill the children, the young, the old and the women of Kashmir. The Jammu and Kashmir Police has turned over the past decade and a half from an organisation supporting the freedom struggle to a people more than happy to kill innocents and it will continue to grow evil. It has already graduated from beatings innocents to killing them, now they just need to expand their reach and increase the innocent death toll. Once India is confident that the police have been trained well to behave as colonial masters, as is the attitude of the army at present; it can reduce the presence of the army, flash a happy face to the world, confident and satisfied at the thought that the same role is being played by someone else. Lessons from the colonial masters, the British, has always inspired India: import officers who can act and behave as colonial masters, obtain the major chunk of the force from the local population and impose evil through them.

It is not just in Kashmir that the armed forces see themselves as reincarnations of God, as far away as Christiana, the army is playing as murky a role as it can, but shouldn’t. Pakistan even though with a long history of military dictatorships is not as cruel and inhumane to the innocents as is the Indian army. With the kind of role that the army is playing in Kashmir and in places like North East and even in Christiana, one can not imagine what would happen to India if a military dictatorship was imposed. India would probably turn into the world’s largest killing field, where every innocent would get killed for 20 rupees.

Somewhere in Kashmir, a mother cries

“Why did you leave me alone?” Imtiaz’s mother Jana yelled on seeing blood and pieces of human flesh on the mangled motorcycle. She tore her clothes and tried to bang her head on the bike, but fainted after seeing the shoes of her husband and son near the bike.(greater kashmir)

And Kashmir keeps on bleeding.

And A Family Cries

Does a 19 year old boy deserve to be tortured with hot iron rods? Does
the brother of a 10 year sister old deserve to be burned? Does the only
bread winner of a family deserve death at the hands of an occupational
army for the sole crime of being a Kashmiri?

Not he doesn’t, no one does.

However, the Indian army stationed in Kashmir, as occupiers, go all the
way to satisfy their cannibal and sadist tendencies.

People do what they can, they protest

Thousands of people staged massive demonstrations for second day Sunday against the custodial killing of a 19-year-old labourer Muhammad Maqbool Dar on the Shab-e-Qadr on Friday night by the soldiers of 53 Rashtriya Rifles of Army at Pakharpora. (courtesy of greater kashmir)

Doctors do what they need not to, confirm the death by torture

A team of doctors who performed autopsy of Maqbool at Charari Sharif Hospital on Saturday told Greater Kashmir that “he died due to cardiac arrest caused by extensive torture and multiple burns. His private parts had been damaged.”

This graffiti says the truth about Kashmir: “You murder us without explanations because we are aware of Dignity and Justice!”

Opposition does, what it has to, it speaks strongly against

Abdur Rahim Rather, the former Finance Minister and leader of the opposition in the state legislative assembly, addressed the protesters, and condemned what he termed the brutal killing of Maqbool.

Police does, what will never yield a result, files a report

However, the SSP Budgam Ashiq Hussain Bukhari said the accused have not yet been named in the case though a case of abduction and murder has been filed against the troops.

Government does, what it always has, expresses deep concern

State government on Sunday expressed “deep concern” on the killing of Muhammad Maqbool of Pakharpora.

The Army never does what it should: Quit Kashmir!

Somewhere in Kashmir, a family cries

“We had just broken our fast on Friday and were preparing for the Shab-e-Qadr (the holiest night of the Holy month of Ramazan) when a group of soldiers (from Kanidajan RR camp) dashed into the room and took him along. Today they returned his body.” (courtesy of greater kashmir)

And Kashmir keeps on bleeding.