[Reader-list] Kashmiri Voices for non-violent soultion

[SJabbar]

Kashmiri Voices: Activist Khurrum Pervez advocates a non violent resolution
to Kashmir

By Dheera Sujan
Created 1 September 2010 15:23


In June 2010, the police shooting of 17 year old medical student, Tufail
Ahmed Mattoo in Srinagar sparked off mass protests around the state. The
police have responded with violence and with the imposition of curfews.
Since then, Kashmir has virtually shut down and it seems to be at an
impasse. Is this a turning point for the region? Where does Kashmir go from
here? Is anyone listening to Kashmiris?

South Asia Wired asked a few Kashmiris to share their thoughts on the
current crisis:

Khurrum Pervez is a human rights activist and co-founder of the Jammu and
Kashmir Coalition of Civil Society. He lost his grandfather (shot by Indian
forces during a peaceful demonstration), a close friend, and his own leg (in
a landmine planted by militants) during the years of conflict, but continues
to advocate a non violent resolution to Kashmir.

Kashmir is not a part of India

If the whole world calls it ³Indian controlled Kashmir² ­ how can you indict
everyone who says that Kashmir is not part of India? But the Indian forces
arrest Kashmiris for saying that ­ they¹re arrested under the PSA, the
Public Security Act which means they can be kept without a trial for two
years ­ just for saying that Kashmir isn¹t part of India. Yet, until 1951,
Kashmiri had its own Prime Minister, it¹s own Parliament and its own flag?

Security Forces

The Indian government is on record saying there are not more than 1000
militants still active in Kashmir ­ so why do we need 667,000 troops here?
They¹re here to control the lives of ordinary people, and not just fight
armed militants. You can¹t blame the ordinary soldier who¹s shot someone ­
he¹s been sent here to do it. It¹s no use punishing him. It¹s about the
structures of governance, the mindset of India in Kashmir continues to be
militaristic ­ that¹s what has to change.  India has to think of Kashmir
politically ­ until now, its been thinking of it militaristically. Frankly,
India has just overused its strongest weapon ­ force. And in so doing,
they¹ve empowered Kashmiris to overcome their fear.

Why India Won¹t let Kashmir go

For the ordinary Indian, it¹s the Hindutva mindset that is responsible for
their tight grip on this land.  They believe that Kashmir is theirs since
Vedic times. And even though there are other voices in the Indian media,
amongst the intellectuals and opinion makers, they¹ll never be able to
change this majority Hindu mindset.

Kashmiris, the Young Generation

Kashmir has changed since 1947, even since 1989. In the 90¹s it was militant
and the Indians used that to build up their own military here.  They¹re
still using it.  But things have changed here ­ a turning point came in 2008
-  in August 2008, we had a couple of million people turning out for a
single march.
The boys now don¹t want to join the militants. Education has helped.
Kashmiri boys on the street are reading Foucault, Martin Luther, about the
Palestinian intifada, about Northern Ireland. They¹re trying to equip
themselves with knowledge whereas in 1989 they wanted to equip themselves
with guns. The mood on the street here is changing but India has not changed
its attitude towards Kashmiris ­ India refuses to see that the earlier
militancy has died down and been replaced by a peaceful movement.

Are the demonstrations peaceful?

Civil society groups have been working hard to keep them peaceful, to
advocate non violence. Our argument is that because we are weaker, we can¹t
afford to use violence because a bigger violence will be turned against us.
We can¹t outfight the Indian war machinery. If Pakistan couldn¹t do it, how
could we?
Most of the demonstrations start off as peaceful but when the police fire
into the crowds, they become violent. (Syed) Geelani (separatist leader from
the Hurriyat Conference) has asked the people to refrain from violence.  You
have boys throwing stones sure, but the police reply with bullets. And now
what you¹re seeing is the image of boys and young men going right up to
armed police and tearing off their shirts, yelling ³shoot me, shoot.² And
the police can¹t do it. I¹ve seen it myself, policemen crying when they¹re
confronted with that ­ they can¹t do it.  The J&K police are from here after
all, our people.

Who is leading the current wave of protests?

What¹s been happening here since June (massive state wide protests sparked
by the police shooting of 17 year old medical student Tufail Ahmed Mattoo)
is a continuation of the demonstrations of 2008. It¹s not that local leaders
are pushing the people, but the other way around. In fact, some of the
leaders call for a respite of the protests ­ just to give people a break
from it all ­ but the people won¹t have it. The people are pushing the
leaders now to be more hardline.

Omar Abdullah (scion of Kashmir¹s ruling family, who won a landslide victory
in elections which saw him become Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir)

He may have had the support of a majority of Kashmiris in 2008, but he¹s
lost it now. The people feel he¹s not much more than a puppet of the central
Indian government. Just recently, he was going to a hospital to visit some
of the victims of the violence, and it was only 12 kilometres from his home
but he had to have a helicopter take him there because he didn¹t feel safe
on the streets. And then in the hospital a woman lunged at him and screamed
³your sons should die, it¹s the only way you¹ll understand.² And though she
was pulled off by his security people, all the doctors and patients in the
ward started applauding. It wasn¹t reported in the Indian media, and this
kind of thing would have been unthinkable even a few years ago, but this is
the extent to which the tide has turned against him. He promised to solve
the Kashmir dispute, to get Kashmiri voices heard in Parliament and he
hasn¹t done it.

How do you Solve Kashmir¹s problems?

They are here (he puts his hands in a strangling motion on his neck), and
you¹re asking me what should we do?  India has to loosen its stranglehold
before we can even begin speaking.