[Reader-list] Challenge of New Fundamentalist Intifada

[Pawan Durani]

Challenge of New Fundamentalist Intifada
Ajay Chrungoo
23 Jul 2009



 Separatists go for the Overkill
The headlines of local newspapers in the Kashmir Valley have been
blaring with relentless intensity… July 09 - Woman’s rape, murder
rocks Kupwara; July 08 - Asrar’s killing sparks massive protests in
Srinagar. July 07 - Bomb hurled at Baramulla police station, 3 grenade
explosions in 2 days; July 06 - explosions rock Srinagar, Sopore; July
05 - Army had abducted Basharat: Family; July 04 - Larkipora teenager
released, Protests in Islamabad; July 02 - Protests in curfewed
Varmul; youth succumbs, Varmul toll 4; July 01 - Police fire smoke
shells at mourners, thousand attend funeral of 19 year old Amir.


Public mobilization campaigns and demonstrations reflecting seditious
and secessionist intensity more than anti-government sentiment have
been going on in Kashmir Valley since the police recovered the bodies
of two ladies, Niloufer and Aisya, at Shopian in Pulwama district, on
30 May. The separatist mobilizations have reflected strange eagerness
which needs to be understood and placed in a proper perspective.


The spate of hartals and orchestrated violence on the streets left a
large section of people bewildered, contrary to propaganda by the
local media. This bewilderment of the general public with the
methodology adopted by the separatist leadership and the response of
the government is not a fiction as many Kashmir experts sitting in
Delhi would like us to believe. It involves a significant section of
population in the Valley, and occasionally their voices find
expression in the columns of an otherwise partisan local media.


Syed Rafiuddin Bukhari, columnist, Rising Kashmir, provides a glimpse:
“Is Kashmir really fragile or has it been made to behave like that?
Does this question boggle the mind of those who cover, analyze and
interpret the political perceptions! This week’s incidents in
Baramulla have shown that no one controls Kashmir, but only those who
want to keep the pot boiling… in Baramulla where the police was
handling a simple case of kidnapping of a 15 year old girl from
Binner. The accused in the case was identified and one of the
accomplices was rounded up. His wife went to the police station to
seek his release but was not obliged. She came out and alleged that
the police passed indecent remarks at her. This worked like jungle
fire and the whole town was up in flames… it needs an explanation as
to why the young Kashmiris should fall prey to such a situation in
which four young boys give their blood for something which is not part
of the struggle.” The culprit and this lady had known links with a
local political party.


The over-eagerness of separatist formations to go for overkill was
manifest from the day of the recovery of the dead bodies of Niloufer
and Asiya in Shopian and the initial bungling of government response.
In Shopian, local discourse reflected that people never believed the
role of CRPF or Army in the killings. People asked why the bodies of
the ladies were left just outside the CRPF camp if CRPF personnel had
committed the crime. People suspected the moral integrity of the
husband of Niloufer. Her own relatives were less enthusiastic about
the public exposure of the affair. Justice Jan Commission brought this
facet into the open. The report has undermined separatist mobilization
more than anything else in Shopian, because it has found resonance
with the common perception of the people.


The Justice Jan Commission recorded the rift between the two families
from Tukru and Bongam in Shopian district. In April-May 2007, Niloufer
eloped with Shakeel Ahmad Ahangar against the wishes of her family.
The Commission noted, “It will be in place to mention here that
Niloufer Jan belongs to a “Peer” family which is treated in the
society with the degree of respect and honour for their upper class
status, where as Shakeel Ahmad Ahangar belongs to “Khaar” family which
is included in the other backward classes of the society. This
marriage had given birth to a serious hatred of Peer family towards
Ahangar family. It is reliably learnt that Zeerak Shah (brother of
Niloufer), along with his friends, had even threatened the Ahangar
family of dire consequences if Niloufer is not handed over to her
family.”


The Commission recorded that after the burial of Niloufer and Asiya,
Zeerak Shah pitched a tent at Tukroo and gathered his friends,
relatives, and other villagers, blocked the road at Tukroo, smashed
window panes of civil and government vehicles, and raised anti-India
and pro-freedom slogans. The commission took note of the fact that
Shakeel was known for his immoral activities and had amassed assets
disproportionate to his known sources of income.


“Shakeel Ahmad Ahangar was working with his brothers at welding
workshop at Shopian. He eloped with Niloufer Jan in 2007 and went
outside Shopian. After this return he started his own business by
opening a shop of readymade furniture items near police station
Shopian… in October 2008, Shakeel purchased an orchard (1 kanal 16
marla) in Nagbal-Dehgam for about 5.30 lakhs. He also owns a Maruti
car and maintains a good living standard. Further it is learnt that he
does not carry a good reputation among the society and is being known
for his immoral activities.”


It can be safely presumed that these facts would have been known to
separatists’ think tanks. They latched upon the twin murders to
unleash frenzy, caring nothing for loss of face and credibility in
case the facts about the gruesome incidents proved wrong. The cracking
of Asrar’s murder case, which was nothing more than the outcome of
jealousy in a love triangle, exposed separatist indulgence in matters
which shamed one and all.


A strange hope seems to pervade the thinking of separatist echelons
that if they build public pressure, something dramatic may happen. The
Hurriyat leader and main force behind the public upsurge betrayed his
feelings when he said, “People should make a difference between right
and wrong and follow the right path. New dawn is awaiting us and it is
the crucial juncture that demands patience and consistency.”


Another Hurriyat leader, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, described confusion
among people as ‘anarchy’, ‘we should not look like a divided house,
separatist organizations should not be in a rat race to issue strike
calls… we need to think of creating alternative ways of protest. We
have to carry on the movement and lives of the people as well.”


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


India Ragdo-II and the Catalysts


The agitation on Amarnath land exposed cleavages in Indian polity. A
section of the high profile liberal elite in India came out brazenly
supporting separation of Kashmir from India one way or other. The
likes of Arundhati Roy, Shabana Azmi, Vir Sanghvi, Prem Shankar Jha,
and AG Noorani, through spoken or written words created an impression
amongst the separatist rank and file that ‘Azadi’ was round the
corner. ‘Ek Dakka Aur Do’, (just one push more) was the common refrain
of separatist campaigners then.


The public mobilization had less to do with the actual land row and
more with wrecking Indian sovereignty over Kashmir. The campaign was
not called India Ragda/Ragdo-I for only sloganeering. It reflected the
underlying motivation. Carrying the experience forward this year’s
campaigners unleashed, after the recovery of the dead bodies of two
ladies in Shopian, India Ragda/Ragdo-II.


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


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


The India Ragdo-II intifada in Kashmir is being guided by such a
mindset. This mindset would have taken note of the admission in early
May, towards the fag end of parliamentary elections, by none other
than Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, “…I have always believed a strong
peaceful moderate Pakistan in India’s interests. We worked very hard
on that and in fact I and General Musharraf had reached nearly an
agreement, a non territorial solution to all problems, but then
General Musharraf got into many difficulties with the Chief Justice
and other fronts and therefore the whole process came to a halt.”


Separatist think tanks in Kashmir have been relentlessly searching a
way to circumvent the predicament in which Pakistan is caught up and
chart out a course to bring a halt to the ‘halt’.


Columnist Syed Rafiuddin Bukhari, in Rising Kashmir, commented,
“…Pakistan Government is grappling with the worst ever crisis, the
Kashmiri leadership should stop looking towards Islamabad and think
independently to charter their own course.”


India Ragdo-II is the course separatists have embarked upon. Their
hope lies more on the support which they generate amongst a section of
entrenched liberal elite, be it Arundhati Roy or Prem Shankar Jha,
people who advocate a concession on sovereignty not to bail out India
from international pressure but out of an ideological outlook which
recognizes Muslim communalism as a progressive secular imperative for
India to reconcile with.


Separatist rank and file see some space in the new American foreign
policy. The new US ambassador to India, Timothy Roemer, statement that
Kashmir “has been an extremely sensitive hotspot for the world and for
the region where we have almost experienced thermonuclear war on
several occasions,” has been music to the separatist rank and file. So
have previous statements by Assistant Secretary of State William Burns
or Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.


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


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


The Paradox


The Central government if it has any inclination to diffuse the
situation on the ground has to resolve a paradox. The National
Conference which leads the ruling alliance in J&K shares and
identifies with the common minimum agenda of campaigners in the Valley
streets. In a full page advertisement, the state government declared
its three main and primary achievements since assuming power: i). Bold
decision taken after 20 years to replace CRPF by locals police; ii)
First CM to plead eloquently for withdrawal of AFSPA, Union Government
flags the issue; iii) Presence of Magistrates with police/security
forces made mandatory while dealing with law and order problems and
iv) Bomai (Army) camp re-located within a month.


The main opposition PDP, both factions of Hurriyat and the local Bar
Council all have revocation of AFPSA and demilitarization as their
main demands. We have a piquant situation where the opposition,
mainstream as well as separatist, and the state government are
politically on the same side.


The situation becomes bizarre when a section of the Government of
India identifies with this consensus. The incidental or accidental
remarks of Vice President Mohammad Hamid Ansari, while referring to
the PM’s Working Group on Confidence Building Measures of which he was
then Chairman, justified the key demand of separatists during the
current unrest. The Vice President observed that implementation of its
recommendations was considered by the Prime Minister as the key to
retaining people’s confidence. In his own report then as chairman of
the Working Group, ignoring the dissent within, Ansari recommended
revocation of Armed Forces Special Powers Act. The entire report did
not address anti- terrorism measures as a vital component of
confidence building in the state.


Even though in all incidents which lead to protests in recent times,
the suspected culprits were locals working in local police or
territorial army or government officials, the foremost demand of
everybody of consequence was removal of paramilitary forces and army
from the state.


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


The ruling National Conference has an ideological resonance with the
common minimum programme of agitationists to force demilitarization,
but an existential need to preserve the military presence. The central
government knows that any laxity in security operations in the state
may lead to catastrophic results, given the situation in Pakistan. Yet
it seeks to maintain the stance of a neutral player while its security
forces are described and lampooned as an occupation force in the
valley. Civilians in the valley know well that the very survival of
civil society depends upon the security forces, yet they demonize
them. The paradox is deep and powerful.


Inside The Present Turmoil


Most events which lead to public resentment invariably have a sexual
angle. Separatists are instigating the public that organs of the
Indian state are not only indulging in extra-constitutional violence,
but are perpetuating moral debasement of Kashmir society. The
mobilization by Dukhtaran-e-Millat had the same purpose, when sexual
scandals involving government officials and politicians came to the
fore. We are witnessing in the Valley glaring signs of social
disorganization caused by militarization of the social milieu. Local
papers have time and again highlighted the proliferation of sexual
cartels and the flesh trade. Ahmad Ali Fayaz, special correspondent,
Daily Excelsior, brought out the magnitude of increase in the number
of brothels in Srinagar city a few years ago. A well known ideologue
and lobbyist of separatists also referred to ‘prostitution cartels’ in
the valley in his columns in the local media.


Most alarming is the penetration of flesh trade in the government and
security establishment, rather than government promoting moral
debasement in society. The concerns of a significant section of common
Kashmiris are still unheard.


Jihadi militarization brought along with it the evil of temporary
marriage – Mutah – which soon became a social sanction for debauchery.
The dreaded terrorist Akbar Bhai is reported to have married 83 local
girls. One Shakeela Bano was abducted from her houseboat by terrorists
and subjected to mass rape before being burnt to death. Al Umar
terrorists did this to Shakeela because she refused to marry a
terrorist for two years of her captivity, during which she was raped
regularly. After running away from her captors, she escaped to Jammu
where an NGO looked after her. But when she ventured back home, she
was again abducted and burnt to death.


Security forces then destroyed the prostitution cartels of the
terrorists of Al Umar and rescued 150 women in captivity. Around the
same time, security forces succeeded in freeing 10 women held captive
by terrorists in Dacchan Marwa region of Kishtwar in Jammu.


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


The situation becomes alarming when we factor in reports that Kashmir
tops the world in the list of opium abusers, as per research of
‘Community Drug Abuse Study Survey Kashmir,’ by well known
psychiatrist Dr. Mushtaq Margoob. His evaluation has produced
astounding statistics. 47.77 percent of population in Kashmir consumes
some type of drug, including tobacco and its allied products.


There are 24.32 lakh substance abuses (including tobacco abuse) in
Kashmir, which includes 2.11 lakh opioid, 1.37 lakhs cannabis and
around 38,000 alcohol abuses. The number of female drug addicts is
alarming. The NGO, Hindustan National Social Security (HNSS),
conducted a de-addiction programme in 2008-2009 amongst females. The
female drug addicts were literates in the age group of 18-33, from
urban as well as village backgrounds.


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


Conclusion



Through the current Intifada, separatists seek moral legitimacy. They
seek to accord respectability to a regressive anti-freedom movement.
They are calibrating its interventions to remain relevant even if
Pakistan continues to vacillate, or even collapses. The intifada is
targeting the weakness of Indian policy to fight militarized
pan-Islamic fundamentalism.


The moral of the story is to de-legitimise this Intifada by educating
the public about the impact of militarization of society. Another
imperative is to stop fiddling with dangerous ideas of self-rule or
the Musharraf Plan. These plans undermine the ideological foundations
of India. Government legitimacy to these plans keeps the pot boiling
in Kashmir. We have to realize that ideological compromise eventually
leads to crippling territorial consequences.


Dr. Ajay Chrungoo is chairman, Panun Kashmir

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