[Reader-list] Little Kashmiri boys arrested

[Junaid]

Dear Tara,

I quote you: "But isn't it time to move to specifics. What solution?
Which Kashmiris?" End.

I absolutely agree that it is time to move to specifics. But your two
follow-up questions, asked perhaps in good spirit, aren't the ones
that will lead us to specifics. If anything they will further push us
into a metaphysics of denial. I assume you know enough about Kashmir
and are aware that there is no shortage of solutions. Indian
government isn't even acknowledging that Kashmir is a political issue,
and they have convinced its citizens that the only issue that remains
is the elimination of "terrorism" i.e. people's resistance. The "right
solutions" emerge in a democratic process of engagement in a free and
fair environment. As you called them, the "chosen" representatives for
Kashmiris, it is clear, have no legitimacy in Kashmir, which has made
it clear again that a democracy stripped of its substance cannot be
forced down the throats of people to gloss over the crisis of state's
legitimacy and authority. (I somehow believe that UN, if India allows
that is, can go to "each Kashmiri" to figure out how to solve the
problem). The first step would be to give Kashmiris the "ownership" of
their problem, that is allow them to find the right solution with a
guarantee that it will be accepted.

The second question is a little mischievous--"Which Kashmiris!" Can we
really keep telling a suffering people that they don't exist? By
asking this question, are you suggesting that there are no Kashmiris?
If you believe that "the people" have to elect their representatives,
how can you in the same breath deny the existence of those same
people?

I guess the first "concrete suggestions" would be the dismantling of
the draconian military and police apparatus from Kashmir: i.e. 1.
remove the incredibly large and intensive build up of military and
police forces from Kashmir; 2. remove draconian laws like AFSPA and
Disturbed Areas Act etc, which give immunity to security agencies
involved in HR abuses; 3. Release political prisoners from jails; 4.
Allow Kashmiris to peacefully express their dissent (remove
restrictions on free speech and assembly of people); 5. Dismantle the
stranglehold that the security agencies have over the everyday life of
people through technics of surveillance and proliferation of threats.

Once these steps are taken, we can move to the next ones. At least it
will show that the Indian government is sincere in its efforts to
solve the problem, and is not simply bidding time, hoping to tire
people out.

Junaid


On Tue, Feb 16, 2010 at 8:07 PM, Tara Prakash <taraprakash at gmail.com> wrote:
> "Kashmir is a political issue that needs to be solved, with the full
> involvement of Kashmiris."
> Agreed. But isn't it time to move to specifics. What solution? Which
> Kashmiris? A democratic exercise requires people to elect their
> representatives who can talk on their behalf. But those who are chosen, are
> found to be going "to any extent to please their masters in Delhi"
> I don't think the Indian govt or UN can talk to every Kashmiri on this earth
> for the resolution of the problem.
> It will help people like me if there are some concrete suggestions towards
> resolution of the issue. One way of garnering support is to educate people,
> so that they can start suggesting their leaders and build a climate towards
> resolution of the issue.
>
> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Junaid" <justjunaid at gmail.com>
> To: <reader-list at sarai.net>; "Junaid" <justjunaid at gmail.com>
> Sent: Tuesday, February 16, 2010 5:57 PM
> Subject: [Reader-list] Little Kashmiri boys arrested
>
>
>> Dozens of young boys have been arrested across Kashmir under draconian
>> laws over the last few weeks. The charges that have been filed against
>> them range from "waging war against the state" to defiling "state
>> honor". In recent months Indian military and police commanders have
>> described protests in Kashmir as "agitational terrorism" and
>> "non-violent terrorism" in order to justify violent clampdown on
>> protests by Kashmiris. In the same period around 8 people, mostly
>> teenagers, have been either shot to death or fatally injured by
>> indiscriminate use of tear-gas shells. Over the last two years the
>> number of dead in shootings is more than a hundred. Meanwhile
>> thousands of people have been injured. Many of them will be  left with
>> permanent physical disabilities. The police authorities have banned
>> any peaceful assembly of people. Many places in downtown Srinagar and
>> other towns have reported police brutalities. Even the villages are
>> not being spared. Only yesterday, mourning villagers were attacked by
>> CRPF troopers in Redwani in South Kashmir. Dozens of them were injured
>> by CRPF's indiscriminate firing. Most of the injuries were inflicted
>> above the waist showing an intention to kill.
>>
>> India's dirty war in Kashmir has been going on for many years now, but
>> in the last two years it has acquired a particularly cruel dimension.
>> The systematic nature of brutal tactics is meant to discipline and
>> demoralize Kashmir's struggling masses. At the same time, the Indian
>> state has kept up the rhetoric of confidence building measures to
>> deceive its own citizens. In this light, the move to allow Kashmiris
>> in Azad Kashmir to return home is nothing new. This surrender policy
>> has been there for many years, but is ceremonially dusted and brought
>> back every few years to earn brownie points.
>>
>> National Conference government which has proved its inability to
>> function without authorization from New Delhi, and can't even remove
>> an erring official without Delhi's explicit approval, has sought to
>> play it safe: i.e. to stay in power they will go to any extent to
>> please their masters. In photo-ops Omar Abdullah is seen begging for
>> leniency from Chidamabaram, but at home he has reinvigorated the cruel
>> police apparatus his father put into place in mid-1990's. CRPF and
>> Kashmir police has increased their level of savagery in recent months,
>> perhaps in a bid to show that they can handle Kashmir without Indian
>> army's help.
>>
>> Indian media has mostly blacked-out the grim news from Kashmir (apart
>> from the few and far in between stories, like the ones below). It is
>> time, the conscientious and rational Indian citizens form a solidarity
>> with Kashmiris, disseminate widely the stories about Indian state's
>> inhuman tactics in Kashmir, and build pressure on their government to
>> stop human rights violations in Kashmir. And to accept the fact that
>> Kashmir is a political issue that needs to be solved, with the full
>> involvement of Kashmiris.
>> _____________________
>> Stone-pelting an act of war: J-K gov;
>>
>> Riyaz Wani
>>
>>
>> http://www.indianexpress.com/news/Stone-pelting-an-act-of-war--J-K-govt/580232
>>
>> The Jammu-Kashmir government has decided to arrest stone-pelters for
>> ‘waging war against the state’, a crime punishable with death or life
>> in jail.
>>
>> The state has already slapped the Public Safety Act against eight
>> stone-pelters, all between 15 and 18 years old, over the past week
>> while 16 youths from downtown Srinagar are being tried under section
>> 121 of CrPC (waging war against the state). Sources in the state Home
>> Department told The Indian Express that the government was ready with
>> PSAs against “20 more such youths”.
>>
>> The 16 youths were produced before a Srinagar Court on Monday. Police
>> sought their remand for eight days, which was soon granted by Judge
>> Masarat Jabeen.The boys, the investigating officer told the court,
>> were directly involved in pelting stones at police and security
>> forces.
>>
>> However, counsel for the accused Rafique Joo said the youths were held
>> in random raids across the city and were not involved in
>> stone-pelting. He opposed booking of youth under Section 121 of CrPC.
>>
>> J&K first started booking stone-pelters under the Public Safety Act
>> during the 2008 Amarnath land row agitation. The first person to be
>> booked was Nayeem Ahmad of Rainawari, Srinagar. Though he was released
>> shortly after, Ahmad was again picked up in June last year during
>> protests over the death of two women in Shopian.
>>
>> IGP, Kashmir, Farooq Ahmad said he was not in a position to give “the
>> exact number of youths” booked under PSA or Section 121 of CrPC. “I am
>> out of station and don’t have the exact number,” Ahmad told The Indian
>> Express.
>> Police say waging war against country, judge not impressed
>>
>> _____________
>> Police say waging war against country, judge not impressed
>>
>> Peerzada Ashiq
>> peer.mushtaq at hindustantimes.com
>>
>> Srinagar: Who is Zahoor Ahmad? shouted Masrat Jabeen, sitting on a
>> raised platform in 14X14 room with three rows of chairs. “Yes madam.
>> Present madam”, replied a boy standing among 16 jostled youth with red
>> cheeks and red hands because of cold.
>>
>> This is no classroom but a court hearing of 16 boys arrested on Sunday
>> in downtown Srinagar for allegedly pelting stones at policemen. The
>> police presented them before the court on Monday for extending their
>> police remand. But after hearing the two sides, judge Jabeen sent the
>> boys to judicial remand for 15 days.
>>
>> “How did you know all the names of the arrested youth in advance?”
>> judge Jabeen asked the investigation officer of the police. “Through
>> reliable sources,” replied the investigation officer.
>>
>> “How is it possible? I don’t know anyone of these boys. Who are these
>> reliable sources?” asked judge Jabeen. To which the investigation
>> officer, looking at the floor, said: “They are active stone throwers,
>> and involved for the last five years.”
>>
>> There was sudden commotion in the court room, when Zahid, one of the
>> accused, interjected saying, “This is for the first time we are in the
>> lock up,” adding he was just 16 year old and a school-goer, who was on
>> the bike when the police arrested him.
>>
>> The boy, wearing a pair of jeans and jacket, started crying and are
>> joined by others in the room, with the lawyer, Muhammad Rafiq Joo,
>> requesting them to wipe tears and be mum. “Don’t worry justice will be
>> done,” said Joo adding since Chief Minister Omar Abdullah told the
>> media we are launching a crackdown against stone-pelters, the police
>> are picking up anyone who comes in the way.
>>
>> The boys --- in the age group of 15 to 22 and brought to the court in
>> heavy chains --- are facing the charges like the waging war against
>> the state and insulting the national honour. The punishment includes
>> life imprisonment. The boys have been arrested from downtown Srinagar
>> and were presented before the court by the Nowhatta Police Station.
>>
>> Lawyer Joo contested that the police cannot impose the waging a war
>> against the nation unless a magistrate has done an investigation in a
>> case and the police cannot do it on their own.
>>
>> While the weeping boys in chains left the court room in a row, their
>> relatives shake their hands. The boys keep pleading their innocence:
>> “We were not involved. They let go who do stone pelting and arrested
>> us,” they said.
>>
>> While a policeman shouted back: “They have snatched our peace.”
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