by Ru’ya Wani

Kashmir is a disputed territory. When Partition happened in 1947, and Pakistan was created, Muslim-majority states were supposed to become part of Pakistan, and Hindu-majority states were to remain with India. The state of Jammu & Kashmir was a unique case – it was a princely state in British India, and, even though it had a Muslim majority, it was ruled over by the Hindu Maharaja Hari Singh. To make the history lesson very very brief, he signed an Instrument of Accession, acceding Jammu & Kashmir over to India. So today, the Indian federal government presides over Jammu & Kashmir and Kashmiris hold Indian passports. But the legitimacy of their rule has always been questioned, and Pakistan claims Kashmir is rightfully theirs. The UN has passed multiple resolutions calling for India to allow a plebiscite in Kashmir so that Kashmiris can follow in the spirit of democracy and decide their fate for themselves; but India, although it initially had also promised Kashmiris the right to self-determination, has ignored all of them. India’s position on the matter is that Kashmir is theirs and there is no question of revisiting that. The Indian government does not recognize Kashmir as a dispute.

In 1989 an armed insurgency began in the Kashmir valley, fighting against Indian rule. The movement was largely Pakistan-sponsored. In recent years it has waned. Since the insurgency started, India has posted hundreds of thousands of troops in the Kashmir valley for security – Kashmir is now the most heavily militarized region in the world. The army has conducted massive human rights violations in Kashmir, shooting and beating civilians to death and raping women.

The last couple of years have seen huge tension in Kashmir. In the summer of 2009 two girls, 17 and 22, one of whom was pregnant, were found dead in a lake in Kashmir. A medical examination found them to have been raped and killed by police officers. The Chief Minister of Kashmir, under pressure from the Indian federal government, hemmed and hawed on the atrocity – at first he outrightly denied what had happened and said they drowned in an accident; then wouldn’t let a medical examination take place; doctors were bribed to not tell the truth, etc etc…finally, after three weeks of massive demonstrations and outrage, the truth came out. The officers were not charged.

And now, this summer, Kashmir has been at a standstill for two months. There are regular anti-India protests, but at one in June, armymen shot a 17-year-old protestor dead. This is also not new, but this time demonstrations flared up against that – at which more people were shot dead. From then until now, Kashmir has been caught in this vicious cycle of protesting and killing. Tens of thousands of people have been coming out every day, pelting stones at the army. It is a fight of stones vs bullets – in the past two months, 49 civilians, mostly children and teenagers, have been shot dead by the Indian army. Pro-freedom leaders have been put under house arrest. The Indian government says their officers are under seige by violent mobsters – the reality is they are youth with nothing but stones. The youngest victim was a 9-year-old boy, who was not just shot but beaten to death. One girl who was watching the protests from her window was shot in the face. No army officer has been killed. The Indian government, styling itself as the world’s largest democracy, does not seem to appreciate the expression of dissent. The Indian media has also played up the unrest in Kashmir as Pakistan’s doing, saying Pakistani agents are behind it all. They do not recognize at all the fact that Kashmiris themselves are wildly bitter and resentful.

The Indian government has called in even more armymen to patrol Kashmir. Everything is shut down, the situation is so volatile. Either demonstrations will flare up, local separatist leaders will call for everyone to go on strike, or the army will put the entire region under curfew, banning anyone from coming out on to the street. They have said they will now shoot on sight anyone defying the curfew. Children have not been to school and adults have not gone to work and earned any income in two months. It is difficult to go out and get medicine for the sick and elderly. Everyone is confined to their homes. Some food items are hard to come by. The Kashmiri diaspora is not even able to check on their relatives back home because the government has blocked most phone lines and text messages to prevent the spread of information.

This is just the crux of it. There are many many other issues and injustices e.g. the Armed Forces Special Powers Act passed in the Indian parliament in 1990 which allows army officers to kill five or more people assembled together, arrest people without a warrant, and search property and premises at will. The act means that they have full legal immunity and will not face any inquiries.

The killing of civilians by armymen are big events…but there is also just the daily humiliation of being under occupation. Kashmiris are stopped at every checkpoint by armymen and questioned, their cars searched; they are screamed at and beaten by officers on power trips; they are sycophantic and smile slavishly at officers so that they won’t be given too much trouble at checkpoints; women are leered at and harassed. I just go to Kashmir once a year, and i can’t stand it- I hate how I lower my eyes, cover my head and hurry past army officers; I hate how we have to move to the side of the road when an army convoy of 10+ tanks and trucks is behind us because we have to let them go first; I hate how I am shushed by relatives and told to not draw any attention to myself when walking past armymen. I can’t even imagine living my whole life there. It’s all just a sad, disgusting situation.

But Pakistan is not much better either- they are pushing their own agenda in Kashmir and spreading terror. Militants have killed more Kashmiris than anyone else in bomb attacks, and destroyed people’s homes. In the early 90s, at the height of the militancy, thousands of Kashmiri Hindus in fear for their lives fled the valley and now live in exile from their ancestral home. Kashmiri leaders in cahoots with the Pakistani government, or just generally hardline separatists, regularly call ‘hartaal’, or strike – shops, schools, businesses, banks, are all shut down in a show of agitation. This has only resulted in the stagnation of the Kashmiri economy and an entire generation of children bereft of a decent education. The militants’ aim is just to create instability and keep the Indian government on edge. The Pakistani government doesn’t care what Kashmiris want, they too just want our land.

In all this, Kashmiris themselves are ignored. Its a fight between two nuclear-armed rivals, and Kashmir is really a pawn. If you asked Kashmiris in the valley today what they want, most would tell you independence from these two puppeteers who find Kashmiri human life so disposable.

Related posts:

1. Occupation of Kashmir – A Deteriorating Condition
2. Shoot to Kill
3. Civilians we don’t regret killing
4. US Afghan Strike so Bloody, Karzai Begs for Mercy; Pakistan Joins the Act.
5. How liberals are able to sleep at night while Gaza burns