Ahmed Ali Fayyaz
SRINAGAR: The July 8 encounter at Bamdora, Kokernag, in southern Kashmir, turned Hizbul Mujahideen’s terrorist Burhan Wani so much important for the Valley’s politically bankrupt separatist camp that even the tallest of its leaders, namely Syed Ali Shah Geelani, began feeling proud of the 22-year-old insurgent having spoken to him on telephone days before his death. Around the same time, even the Lashkar-e-Tayyiba patron Hafiz Sayeed bragged to his followers in Pakistan that Wani had a telephonic conversation with him before meeting his destiny.
As dozens of the ‘protesters’ got killed, hundreds injured and the separatist-sponsored shutdown continued without break, Geelani claimed that the Kashmiris had never been “so close to Azadi”. Contrary to the groundswell of support witnessed in the first two months, the shutdown is now holding primarily because of the fear of the vigilantes who damaged over 15,000 civilian vehicles, torched trucks and houses, felled orchards and left thousands of their own people injured and fractured.
Even as more than 80 civilians have died in the firing of Police and security forces, at least seven are those who died after sustaining injuries in stone pelting or meeting with an accident or were attacked like a Special Police Officer at Sangam, near Bijbehara. One full academic year of the Kashmiri students was destroyed and thousands of them escaped to Jammu and other peaceful places.
Hartal or shutdown is a purely democratic way of protest but anarchy is not permitted in any system of governance in the world. Sad for the separatists, they failed to provide leadership to the people they claim are their followers. On the contrary, it were the teenagers who resorted to lawlessness, humiliated those defying the shutdown call for compelling reasons and attacked whoever came their way.
It would have been in the best interests of the separatists to lead from the front rather than forcing the Kashmiris to shut schools, colleges, businesses and all services to infinity. Logical conclusion of a leaderless movement is anarchy that does not benefit any stakeholders in a conflict.
It is now for the third time running that Jammu and Kashmir has been witness to a street turbulence in the last 10 years. In the year 2008, it triggered off when Kashmir was calm and quiet, the people were reconciling to the post-9/11 realities, militancy had almost completely ended and large number of the voters were participating in the elections. Allotment of a piece of land for smoothly running the annual Amarnath yatra to Shri Amarnath Ji Shrine Board turned catastrophic as the Valley’s separatist and the mainstream politicians, in tandem with each other, created an atmosphere of mistrust and communal disharmony, pushing Ghulam Nabi Azad to the precipice of the receiving end and bringing his Congress-PDP government down.
November that year turned out to be a watershed as hundreds of thousands of the Kashmiris participated in the Assembly elections and put an epitaph on the agitation that spoiled a flourishing trade and tourism season.
Next year, when Omar Abdullah was presiding over the National Conference-Congress coalition, an attempt was made to trigger off a street turbulence that was perhaps calculated to bring down his government in its 5th month. The separatists, tactfully followed by some mainstream political parties, raised a hullabaloo over the mysterious death of two young women in Shopian with the allegation that they had been “raped and killed” by Police and security forces.
By the time CBI established the allegations of rape and murder as false and motivated and established after exhumation and post mortem of the bodies that the unmarried woman had not been even touched and her virginity was intact, at least six civilians had got killed and hundreds injured in the clashes with forces. Omar Abdullah’s government received a shot in the arm when CBI established in its exhaustive investigation that a group of lawyers and doctors had been taken for a ride to defame the Police, the security forces and the Indian State.
Third successive move to bring down Omar’s government and create a ‘ragda’ against India was enacted next year, in 2010, when the death of a 12-year-old boy during a clash with Police was used as the trigger. Four months of shutdown that summer crippled everything in Kashmir. Sustained efforts were made by the Valley’s separatist leadership, again in tandem with some mainstream opposition parties, to abort the NC-Congress coalition. Yet again, a bustling trade and tourist season was ruined and the State’s economy suffered colossal damage.
Over a hundred people, mostly teenagers, got killed and thousands injured in innumerable incidents of clashes and arson for four months. In November, the Kashmiris had been told by the separatist, American President Barack Obama would urge India, during the course of his speech in the Parliament in New Delhi, to concede the right of self-determination and hold a Plebiscite in J&K in accordance with the UN resolutions of 1948 and 1949. Obama didn’t utter a word on Kashmir. He rather indicated his country’s support to India in her permanent membership in the UN Security Council. That proved to be the turning point. Over 80-90% turnout in the Panchayat elections in 2011 put an end to the culture of shutdown, rioting and clashes for several years. Kashmir witnessed the best of peace and tranquillity in 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2014. Everybody from separatists to militants was marginalised and the government ran smoothly, though the scope for better governance and delivery existed. The stability in Kashmir came across some serious challenges in 2013. The Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru, who had a decade of fame and popularity among the separatists, was hanged to death on February 9. Even the best experienced of the political observers feared the death of hundreds and destruction of the pubic properties. Nothing happened. Omar imposed strict curfew on Kashmir for about 10 days and did not allow anybody to take to the streets. When the curfew was lifted, things had stabilised. Later that year, death of six civilians during their attack on a BSF camp in Gool, Ramban, surfaced as another challenge to peace. Again, the situation was handled well and the tension did not spill into the Valley. In August that year, a communal strife on the day of Eid in Kishtwar sprang yet another challenge to the peace as also to Omar Abdullah’s government. It subsided with good application of mind and management of the security and law and order scenario. Nobody died either in the Hindu-dominated Jammu or the Muslim-dominated Kashmir. On one point of time, Omar did not allow the senior BJP leaders like Arun Jaitley to enter Jammu and sent them back to Delhi by a plane to ensure that none of the politicians exploited the Kishtwar riots for vested interests. Admittedly, there were lapses and loopholes in the handling of post-Burhan scenario by the PDP-BJP coalition that failed to impose and enforce curfew on the night intervening July 8 and 9. Terribly incompetent or disinterested Police officers in South Kashmir failed to deal with the situation. Within days, the separatists froze the system completely and the Valley’s counter-insurgency grid grounded to halt for the first time in 27 years. Now that the separatist leadership has itself failed its agitation with diktats of anarchy and let the teenagers train their stones on their own people, normalcy does not seem to be far away. Once again, November is coming as the turning point.
