[Reader-list] 'Men in uniform are Kashmir's problem, not solution'

Mon Jun 15 19:39:50 IST 2009

Dear Inder

Something has been troubling me about your pics from http://indersalim.livejournal.com/37697.html . I thought it best to ask you.

You have titled the panel " A short story in four images from Kashmir" and found in your "story" echoes of the Shopian Rapes.

1. You are suggesting that the Army Men (security guys) were responsible for the Shopian Rapes. I thought guilt had to be established by evidence. Or, are there varying ethical standards for different situations?

2. Pardon my asking this about your "story board". Where in Kashmir is this? The one you call a 'local' does not appear to be a Kashmiri. The "girls" do not appear to be "Kashmiri" girls. Would appreciate your feedback

Kshmendra

--- On Sun, 6/14/09, Inder Salim <indersalim at gmail.com> wrote:

From: Inder Salim <indersalim at gmail.com>
Subject: Re: [Reader-list] 'Men in uniform are Kashmir's problem, not solution'
To: "reader-list" <reader-list at sarai.net>
Date: Sunday, June 14, 2009, 4:27 PM

thanks  for forward Mr . kapoor

... with army jawans it is a must to teach the enemy a lesson. the
lessons are usually carried out by SPECAAL OPERATION GROUPS who are
beyond the purview of Law or a simple enquiry. So needless of say
that why we have witnessed a large scale disaappearances of Men in
Kashmir, eliminated without trail often.

A  HoD of Kashmir University , a close friend, was picked once by Army
in Anantnag and released after three days, that too because he managed
to arrange a meeting with a senior officer in Bahinal prison who
accidentally hapened to listen to his request, and was  subsequenlty
released. .Normally, it is the angry Jawan in uniform who controls the
street or an area and decides on the spot about the the person in
sight.  Rape is one such lesson.

I was once myself caught by Army jawans in Srinagar, it was cufew
time, and even after showing my I.card i was punished to perform Murga
( chicken ) and then made to run..  The 'run' word those days meant to
shoot the runner from behind and label him as offender of curfew or a
terrorist etc.

The men in uniform are supposed to be orderly, a friend in kashmir
told me once, while he agreed that militants usually come from weired
backgrounds and can do many bad things,.But, unfortunately Army record
in kahmir is very very poor in this regard,

Few years back i happened to photograph two army jawans, a local man
and two girls, I could not dare to go near, and photographed them from
a distance. may click to see:

http://indersalim.livejournal.com/37697.html

Ir echoes what has happned in Shopian, recently,  alas.

The Army should withdraw from towns and villages, without a second thought

Kashmir issue has nothing to do with this unwanted  amry presence in
each and every corner of  kashmir.

love
is

On Sun, Jun 14, 2009 at 5:27 AM, Harsh Kapoor <aiindex at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> http://tinyurl.com/muga5v
>
> 'Men in uniform are Kashmir's problem, not solution'
>
> by Sanjay Kak
> (The Times of India, 14 Jun 2009)
>
> Those who use the media filter to try to understand what is happening
> in Kashmir should realize they're looking at a shadow play. A curtain
> lies
> between events and us. What is played out on the screen depends on who
> manipulates the sources of light.
>
> Last summer, the Valley was overwhelmed by several months of
> unprecedented non-violent public protest. It was triggered by the
> complicated Amarnath land issue, but on the streets the people were
> saying "Hum kya chahte? Azadi!" We are hearing this again this summer,
> triggered by the rape and murder of two young women from Shopian in
> south Kashmir. Only the stone deaf could miss the cry.
>
> Between these two summer uprisings came the Assembly elections of
> December. As everyone braced for a boycott, people did turn out to
> vote. This surprise turnout was presented as nothing short of a
> miracle and we were informed that this was "a vote for Indian
> democracy". Those who wondered why people who had braved bullets only
> a month ago should suddenly queue up to vote were reminded that
> Kashmiris were an unpredictable, even contrary, people.
>
> In fact, there is a frightening consistence about the Kashmiri chant
> for decades: "Hum kya chahte? Azadi!" Protests have begun for all
> sorts of reasons but they are a manifestation of the simmering anger
> always close to the surface.
>
> The current round of protests were given a head-start by the
> distinctly amateur vacillations of the state chief minister, not least
> his puzzling shifts on what may have actually happened to Nilofar, 22,
> and her sister-in-law Asiya, 17, on the night of May 29.
> Well-intentioned though he may be, Omar Abdullah seems very badly
> advised, or else possessed of a political death-wish.
>
> In its election campaign the National Conference made a point of
> underlining that it was seeking a mandate for development, for bijli,
> sadak, pani. It made no claim to settling masla-e-Kashmir or the
> Kashmir issue. But once the elections were over, they went along with
> the Indian establishment, which trumpeted the turnout as a decisive
> mandate in India's favour. The inability of Omar Abdullah's government
> to reach out to the people of the Valley in the past fortnight is a
> timely reminder of the dangers of that delusion. In just a little over
> 10 days, the protests have damaged the patina of normalcy that the
> election 'success' painted on a deeply troubled situation.
>
> In the middle of all this, but almost buried by events, the J&K police
> announced the arrest of Constable Nazir Ahmed of the India Reserve
> Police battalion for allegedly raping a minor girl in Baramulla in
> north Kashmir. (They admitted the constable was a former Personal
> Security Officer of Ghulam Hassan Mir, legislator and former
> minister). Days after the incident, a scuffle between the families of
> the victim and the policeman led to the tragic killing of the victim's
> grandmother.
>
> Both incidents of the past fortnight must be placed next to one from a
> few years ago, when the infamous "sex scandal" led to huge protests,
> bringing Srinagar to a grinding halt. That was a tawdry tale of the
> sexual exploitation of vulnerable women, including the prostitution of
> minors. It was on a massive scale, with the involvement of politicians
> , senior bureaucrats, police and paramilitary officers. The scandal
> exposed the ugly networks of power and oppression, which prop up the
> structures of control in Kashmir. It also laid bare the vulnerability
> of women all over the Valley, prey to the brutal arrogance unleashed
> by 20 years of intense militarization and unbridled power.
>
> It's a good time to remember that the acquisition of land for the
> Amarnath yatra was only the spark that set off last summer's protests.
> But the real fuel was widespread resentment about the fact that
> thousands of acres of agricultural, orchard and forest land is under
> occupation by the army and paramilitary forces, housing their feared
> camps and cantonments and vast logistics bases. The Kashmiris'
> behaviour then turns out to be underpinned by a fairly straightforward
> political reason: we don't need to delve into their fragile 'psyche'.
>
> This week, the lights behind the curtain are being moved around to
> give the illusion of change: the CRPF's duties are to be handed over
> to the J&K police. If true, this will need massive local police
> recruitment and give a disturbing new twist to the Indian government's
> promise of employment to young Kashmiris. (However, from the
> Establishment's point of view, a policeman in every home may well be a
> solution to Kashmir's troubles.)
>
> But this change of guard will not alter the lives of ordinary people.
> They do not care if the oppressive figure of the soldier wears the
> uniform of the Indian Army, its paramilitary forces, or is their
> neighbour in brand new fatigues. Such shallow transformation is not
> new: people remember the 'disbanding' of the dreaded Special
> Operations Group, which was simply merged into regular police
> operations; or the highly public way in which the CRPF replaced the
> BSF in Srinagar, leaving the countryside in the Army's iron grip.
>
> This summer's protest is not just about the rape and murder of two
> women, the violation of human rights, or even the repeal of some
> draconian law. The shadow play must not distract us from the real
> issue, which is the extraordinary and intolerable militarization of
> Kashmir.
>
> Sanjay Kak is a filmmaker whose most recent documentary
> 'Jashn-e-Azadi' explores the conflict in Kashmir
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