[Reader-list] Have you seen this face of the world's largest democracy?

Shivam Vij शिवम् विज् mail at shivamvij.com
Tue Sep 2 19:17:44 IST 2008


Rage in Kashmir meets India's brute force

http://in.reuters.com/article/topNews/idINIndia-35279820080902

By Alistair Scrutton

SRINAGAR, India (Reuters) - 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.

"They are ruthless, trigger happy," said Ghulam Rasool Bhat, a
labourer who says he was beaten by federal police after he tried to
buy milk for his two nephews under a curfew in Srinagar, the summer
capital of Indian Kashmir.

He lay in a bed, both legs bandaged where a soldier, shouting "Get
your milk from Pakistan" had smashed a rifle into his shins. His legs
felt, he said, as if in a continuous cramp.

Police have shot dead at least 35 Muslim protesters in the
Muslim-majority Kashmir Valley after a row over land for a Hindu
shrine spiralled into marches and strikes against Indian rule.

More than 1,000 people have been wounded in clashes over three weeks,
hospital officials and police say, with the Kashmir Valley often under
curfew. Hundreds of people have suffered police baton beatings and
bullet wounds, doctors say.

The Indian government says its security forces have been fired upon by
protesters on several occasions, and said authorities had "acted
within the law and with restraint".

Witnesses said some protesters had thrown stones at police, but said
that most were marching peacefully. India's hardline response to the
protests has highlighted what critics say is its lack of strategy to
find a solution to a problem that has already sparked two wars between
India and Pakistan, who both claim the region in full but rule it in
parts.

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.

"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."

In rare criticism last week, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights
called on India to avoid using excessive force. It drew a rebuke from
India for interfering in its affairs.

SIMMERING RESENTMENT

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.

Roadblocks, verbal abuse from soldiers and raids on homes have long
been a part of daily life. But as protests spiralled in August, the
government sent in battalions of the Central Reserve Police Force
(CRPF), a federal police force of mainly Hindus who do not speak
Kashmiri. Strangers to Kashmir, most residents appear to despise them.

In interviews in Srinagar and nearby villages, tales were similar:
CRPF beatings, night raids on homes, verbal abuse and smashed windows.
Life has been worse than in previous years.

"They are not human," said Raja, a villager from Newtheed less than an
hour's drive from the city. She said soldiers smashed up her home,
shouting "We'll show you what freedom is".

In Srinagar, the CRPF has taken over from the local Kashmiri police to
enforce curfews and riot control. Residents complain of abuse at the
slightest provocation -- selling bread, buying milk.

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."

Shabir Ahmed Dar, 22, lay in one hospital bed after three operations.
He was shot in the abdomen during a protest march to the Pakistani
Kashmir border.

"There was no warning from the police. They just fired."

The police firings drew criticism from Human Rights Watch. "To end
this cycle of tragedy, the government should order security forces to
act with restraint," it said in a statement.

It is not just a hardline response to street protests. Authorities
have detained several separatist leaders without charge. Other
leaders, many committed to democratic change and who publicly reject
militant violence, were in hiding.

Asiya Andrabi, chief of Kashmir's women's separatist group
Dukhtaran-e-Milat (Daughters of the Muslim Faith) who had led some of
the protests, has been detained under the Public Safety Act that
allows for a year in jail without trial.

The violence still pales in comparison with previous years when
officials say more than 43,000 people have been killed in clashes
involving Indian troops and Muslim militants since 1989. Human rights
groups put the toll at about 60,000 dead or missing.

Some analysts say authorities were in a difficult situation.

"This is a place where security officials are getting attacked every
second day," said Brahma Chellaney, professor of strategic studies at
the New Delhi-based Centre for Policy Research, referring to the years
of militant insurgency.

For Shameema, a 35-year-old woman who sells bread, the fear of police
was clear. She talked about how police smashed her and her family with
batons for selling bread under curfew. Her husband displayed a wound
to his head.

She fell silent for a moment as a federal policeman official walked up
to her shop, ominously tapping his baton. Then, realising he could not
speak Kashmiri, she talked again.

"I am scared," she said "But we have nowhere to go."

(Additional reporting by Sheikh Mushtaq; Editing by Simon Denyer and
Megan Goldin)


More information about the reader-list mailing list