[Reader-list] A cruel joke called elections in Kashmir

[Aditya Raj Kaul]

Taraprakshji,

Shivam must have been on a holiday. So, He probably missed it.

Forgive the Journalist.


On 12/17/08, taraprakash <taraprakash at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> I wonder if the army could ensure such high voter turn out throughout the
> election cycle, what went wrong in Anant Naag? the poling has not been that
> strong there.
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Shivam V" <lists at shivamvij.com>
>
> To: "SARAI" <reader-list at sarai.net>; <foil-I at insaf.net>
>
> Sent: Wednesday, December 17, 2008 6:53 AM
> Subject: [Reader-list] A cruel joke called elections in Kashmir
>
>
>
> > The Indian media has been expressing surprise about the high voter
> > turnouts in the Kashmir elections. The expression of surprise sounds
> > genuine. I am not sure how genuine it is. Nationalism must be coming
> > in the way of truth. How can we not see what a Wall Street Journal
> > reporter can?
> >
> > EXCERPT: In the village of Samboora, residents said that Indian Army
> > troops went from house to house on Saturday morning, rounding up
> > families and taking them to a polling station. As a reporter drove
> > into the village Saturday afternoon, an army vehicle with several
> > soldiers stopped by the walled compound of Ghulam Mohammad, pulling
> > the 59-year-old retiree onto the road. Seeing a foreign reporter, the
> > soldiers jumped into their vehicle and quickly drove off. "They asked
> > me why I'm not voting, and I said that's because I don't like any of
> > the candidates," Mr. Mohammad said moments later. "They said, if I
> > don't vote, I'll be sorry later." [Must Read]
> > And wasn't this predicted anyway? Didn't we tell you about Gentle
> > Persuasion? Oh, and they already know who the CM is going to be.
> >
> > Wasn't this predicted anyway?
> > [1] http://kafila.org/2008/10/05/gentle-persuasion-in-kashmir/
> > [2] http://www.dawn.com/2008/11/15/op.htm#1
> >
> > shivam
> >
> > o o o
> >
> >
> >
> > A New Tack in Kashmir
> > Peaceful Protest Gains in Separatist Fight
> >
> > By YAROSLAV TROFIMOV
> >
> >
> > DECEMBER 15, 2008
> > SRINAGAR, India --
> > http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122930169820005503.html
> >
> > Lashkar-e-Taiba, the presumed perpetrator of last month's Mumbai
> > attacks, sprang up from the bloody insurgency against Indian rule in
> > predominantly Muslim Kashmir. While the plight of Kashmir has
> > galvanized Islamic radicalism across South Asia, the decades-long
> > armed struggle is waning in the disputed region itself.
> >
> > India now largely faces a different, and potentially more challenging
> > foe here: peaceful campaigners for self-determination, who borrow from
> > Mahatma Gandhi's rule book of non-violent resistance.
> >
> > "India is not scared of the guns here in Kashmir -- it has a thousand
> > times more guns. What it is scared of is people coming out in the
> > streets, people seeing the power of nonviolent struggle," says the
> > Muslim Kashmiris' spiritual leader, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, a key
> > organizer of the civil disobedience campaign that began earlier this
> > year. The number of armed attacks in the valley, meanwhile, has
> > dropped to its lowest since the insurgency began in 1989, Indian
> > officials say.
> >
> > The former princely state known as Jammu and Kashmir was divided
> > between India and Pakistan since 1947, and has been claimed in its
> > entirety by both ever since. It has long been the main axis of discord
> > between the two neighbors, now both nuclear-armed.
> >
> > Since the early 1990s, Pakistan's intelligence services trained and
> > financed Kashmiri militant groups such as Lashkar, helping fuel a
> > conflict that has cost 60,000 lives. Mr. Farooq's father was gunned
> > down by suspected jihadi militants in 1990 for seeming too
> > accommodating to India.
> >
> > Mr. Farooq, who heads the All-Parties Hurriyat Conference, an umbrella
> > group of Kashmiri parties that want independence or merger with
> > Pakistan, has been kept under house arrest. Kashmir's Grand Mosque in
> > Srinagar, where Mr. Farooq usually delivers the weekly sermon, has
> > stood empty for several Fridays, its gates ringed by barbed wire and
> > its perimeter patrolled by troops.
> >
> > The rest of Srinagar, Kashmir's tense capital city, has been under
> > curfew for days. Fearful of mass demonstrations against Indian rule
> > and controversial elections, troops blocked the roads. Every few
> > hours, small clashes broke out with stone-hurling teenagers.
> >
> > Fading Attacks
> >
> > Earlier this year, unarmed protests organized by Mr. Farooq and other
> > separatist campaigners rocked Kashmir, causing the downfall of the
> > state government as demonstrators thronged the roads waving green
> > banners of Islam and chanting "Azadi" -- "Freedom."
> >
> > Militant attacks, once a daily occurrence that drove out 300,000
> > Kashmiri Hindus, have become much less frequent. Indian officials say
> > as few as 600 armed insurgents remain in Jammu and Kashmir.
> >
> > Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, a key organizer of a Kashmiri civil-disobedience
> > campaign that began earlier this year, is now kept under house arrest
> > by Indian troops. Here he leads a 2007 protest in front of his
> > ancestral home.
> >
> > The changing nature of the separatist struggle makes it increasingly
> > difficult for India to portray the conflict over Kashmir as a
> > clear-cut fight between the world's largest democracy and murderous
> > terrorists. Unlike Lashkar's jihadis, unarmed protesters in Kashmir
> > can muster sympathy from sections of Western, and Indian, public
> > opinion.
> >
> > "It's justified when you kill a militant, but it's not justified when
> > you kill a demonstrator," says Kashmir's leading pro-Indian politician
> > Mufti Muhammad Sayeed, India's home minister at the peak of the
> > Kashmiri insurgency and Kashmir's chief minister in 2002-2005.
> >
> > Many among the new generation of Kashmiri protesters say they are
> > happy that the insurgents no longer prowl the streets, demanding
> > shelter and food from civilians, enforcing rigid Islamic observance --
> > and attracting army reprisals. "It's good that the militants are gone.
> > What we need is to fight for our freedom in a peaceful environment,"
> > says 22-year-old farmer Tanha Gul from the town of Pulwama south of
> > Srinagar, who says he has participated in every demonstration in his
> > area.
> >
> > Indian officials acknowledge the change in popular attitudes. "People
> > want peace. Nobody wants to be disturbed in the evening - not by the
> > militants, and not by the forces," says Kashmir's chief of police, B.
> > Srinivas.
> >
> > Still, responding to recent demonstrations, Indian troops often
> > resorted to lethal force, killing more than 50 Kashmiri civilians.
> > Scores of protesters and separatist politicians have been thrown
> > behind bars or placed under house arrest. Indian officials say these
> > detentions are necessary to preserve public peace, and that the troops
> > have to use force to maintain law and order.
> >
> > Some half a million Indian soldiers and policemen remain deployed in
> > the Indian-administered part of Jammu and Kashmir, home to 10 million
> > people. (About 5 million people live in Pakistani-held Kashmir.)
> > Indian laws grant troops in Kashmir almost total immunity from
> > prosecution, including in cases of civilian deaths. Srinagar, once
> > India's prime tourist destination, is dotted by checkpoints, its
> > indoor stadium, cinemas and hotels surrounded by sandbags and
> > converted into military camps. Broadcast media are censored.
> >
> > New restrictions have been added in recent months, such as an order to
> > disable mobile-phone text messaging -- a key method of mobilizing
> > protesters -- on cellphone networks that operate in Kashmir.
> >
> > The event that sparked these protests, bringing Kashmiri civilians
> > into the streets, was a decision last May by the state government to
> > transfer land near the Amarnath to a Hindu religious organization.
> > This land near the shrine -- a cave in which an ice stalagmite forms
> > every winter -- has been used for years to shelter pilgrims. But large
> > tracts of the region already are requisitioned for army and police
> > use, and the formal transfer stoked fears of a widespread land grab.
> >
> > Snowballing Protests
> >
> > In June, snowballing Kashmiri protests over the issue prompted Mr.
> > Mufti Muhammad's People's Democratic Party to withdraw from the state
> > government. The following month the collapsing state government
> > revoked the land transfer decision. As federal rule was imposed, fresh
> > riots broke out in Jammu, the predominantly Hindu part of the state.
> >
> > While the plight of Kashmir has galvanized Islamic radicalism across
> > South Asia, the armed struggle is waning in the disputed region.
> > At the peak of Kashmir's peach and pear season, Hindu protesters in
> > Jammu blocked the only highway linking the valley with the rest of
> > India. With the fruit harvest -- the valley's key export -- rotting
> > away, Kashmir's fruit growers' union called for opening an alternative
> > trade route -- through Pakistani-held Kashmir. Defying curfew orders,
> > on Aug. 10 thousands of fruit growers and separatist activists marched
> > towards the cease-fire line. The protest column was met with gunfire
> > from Indian forces. Fifteen marchers were shot dead, including a
> > prominent separatist.
> >
> > As Kashmir descended into chaos after these killings, India responded
> > with increasingly severe curfews and lockdowns that continue. Often
> > they come without prior warning or formal announcement, as in Srinagar
> > over the past weekend.
> >
> > "Common people like me are made to suffer continually," says Ghulam
> > Rasool Sailani, a milk merchant who has been sitting at home in
> > Srinagar, unable to trade, over the past three days. "It's hard. Our
> > losses are huge because our incomes are so low."
> >
> > One of Mr. Sailani's regular clients was Mohammad Yacoub Jaan, a
> > 35-year-old father of three. On Aug. 24, as he carried home a metallic
> > milk container, Mr. Jaan encountered three policemen a few yards from
> > his doorstep. As they beat Mr. Jaan with bamboo sticks for violating
> > the curfew, the milk spilled from the container and soiled the
> > officers' uniforms, according to Mr. Jaan and neighbors who say they
> > witnessed the incident. They say an enraged officer opened fire with
> > his assault rifle, shooting Mr. Jaan through the throat and the side.
> >
> > Hearing the shooting, Mr. Jaan's relatives rushed outdoors. As Mr.
> > Jaan's 65-year-old father Ghulam Qadir tried to plead with policemen
> > to stop beating his son, they shot at him too, the witnesses said. He
> > was instantly killed. "After that, everyone just scattered away, their
> > caps falling into the drains," recalls Mr. Jaan's wife, Asmat. Mr.
> > Jaan, who remains paralyzed, says no representative of the authorities
> > has contacted him since the shootings.
> >
> > Mr. Srinivas, the Kashmir chief of police, says that curfews and other
> > restrictions are needed to prevent greater violence. "I don't want the
> > peace-loving people of Srinagar to be disturbed by rogue elements," he
> > says in an interview. As for allegations of abuse, he adds,
> > investigations are under way.
> >
> > Anger Over Disparity
> >
> > Some pro-Indian Kashmiri politicians have been angered by the
> > disparity they say security forces have shown when dealing with Hindu
> > protests in Jammu and the Muslim demonstrations in Kashmir. "Lives are
> > cheap in Kashmir," says Omar Abdullah, president of the National
> > Conference party and India's former federal minister of state for
> > external affairs. "I'm still struggling to understand how the same
> > chain of command had two completely different approaches to crowd
> > control."
> >
> > Kashmir's information secretary, K.B. Jandial, says there was no
> > disparity, and that every individual incident has to be considered
> > separately.
> >
> > Mr. Abdullah's party, the biggest in the previous legislature, is
> > currently battling for the right to form the next state government in
> > elections that began last month and end on Dec. 24. Even though
> > separatist parties have called for a boycott, the turnout so far is
> > among the highest on record. Indian officials view such high
> > participation as a rebuke to Pakistan and Pakistani-backed
> > separatists.
> >
> > But many voters who lined up at the polls Saturday in south Kashmir,
> > for example, also turned out at anti-Indian protest marches weeks
> > earlier. In the town of Tral, 20-year-old student Manzur Ahmad said
> > that he was voting for an incumbent candidate because, in recent
> > years, the lawmaker had managed to curb the harassment of local youths
> > by government forces. "We vote because this makes our lives easier -
> > but this doesn't mean we don't want freedom," he said.
> >
> > In the village of Samboora, residents said that Indian Army troops
> > went from house to house on Saturday morning, rounding up families and
> > taking them to a polling station. As a reporter drove into the village
> > Saturday afternoon, an army vehicle with several soldiers stopped by
> > the walled compound of Ghulam Mohammad, pulling the 59-year-old
> > retiree onto the road. Seeing a foreign reporter, the soldiers jumped
> > into their vehicle and quickly drove off. "They asked me why I'm not
> > voting, and I said that's because I don't like any of the candidates,"
> > Mr. Mohammad said moments later. "They said, if I don't vote, I'll be
> > sorry later."
> >
> > In another south Kashmiri village, Koeil, a similar police effort to
> > round up voters degenerated into clashes with stone-throwing youths.
> > As a reporter arrived on the scene, dozens of police officers charged
> > along the main street, firing tear-gas volleys. Many policemen also
> > picked up rocks and hurled them into villagers' homes, breaking
> > windows.
> >
> > "My boys are irritated. They just want to let them know we're here, to
> > scare them," the district senior superintendent of police who oversaw
> > the operation, Ali Mohammad Bhatt, said when asked about the
> > window-breaking. "Ultimately, if you restrain your force and don't
> > kill anybody, your job is done," Mr. Bhatt added.
> >
> > Half an hour later, Indian forces in the village opened fire at the
> > protesters, killing a 20-year-old student and seriously injuring three
> > others, including a 14-year-old boy whose arm and intestines were
> > pierced by high-velocity Kalashnikov bullets. "Once you take the law
> > into your hands, the forces or police have to take action," the Jammu
> > and Kashmir information secretary, Mr. Jandial, said when asked about
> > the shootings.
> >
> > As for allegations of voter coercion, he said he wasn't aware of any:
> > "If ever there is a coercion, it's on the part of people pressing for
> > a boycott."
> >
> > Continuing bloodshed may end up reversing Kashmir's recent shift
> > towards unarmed campaigning. Sitting on the porch of a shuttered store
> > near Srinagar's Grand Mosque, two former insurgents bristled with
> > anger this weekend. Then, one of them, Iqbal Sheikh, spat on the
> > ground and said: "When the small kids who throw stones are met with
> > bullets, many people want to take up guns again."
> >
> > Write to Yaroslav Trofimov at yaroslav.trofimov at wsj.com
> > _________________________________________
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-- 
Aditya Raj Kaul