Blood in the Valley: State Terrorism in Kashmir in the 90s

Sidharta Guha Roy

The Kashmir valley just retorted again. The dispute began after the Kashmir government promised to give forest land to a trust that runs Amarnath, a cave shrine visited by Hindu pilgrims. At least 23 people have been killed and over 500 injured in clashes between Muslim protesters and police till now, hospital records show. The government then rescinded its decision, which in turn provoked BJP backed Hindus in Jammu who attacked lorries carrying supplies to Kashmir valley and blocked the region's highway, the only surface link with the rest of India. BJP and RSS making mess of situation, turning the communal riots and whipped up Hindu emotions. We are focusing on the historical expansionism of Indian State over Kashmir, to understand the inherent dissent of Kashmir people--The early days of the 1990s saw the beginning of a militant insurgency in Kashmir. The insurgency had immersed few years before it exploded fully. In November 1947, immediately after Kashmir's accession to India, Jawaharlal Nehru; the Indian Prime Minister, declared that, “the question of the state's accession should be settled by a reference to the people.” But the proposed plebiscite did never take place. The Indian state, for the next 40 years, not only denied the right to self determination of the Kashmiris, but also by constitutional manipulations transformed the status of Kashmir like that of any other Indian province. In 1987, five youths in jail, with a view to liberate Kashmir from Indian hegemony, formed an organization, Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF). They were Yasin Malik, Asfaq Wani, Abdul Hamid, Sheikh Ijaj, Ahmed Dar and Javed Mir. They declared that, in order to establish the right of the Kashmiris, popular discontent should be turned into an armed struggle for liberation. The demand for 'Azadi' echoed everywhere in the valley. The days of peaceful protest int
hevalley came to an end and the situation became rife for an armed insurrection. Brutal state repression had been unleashed by the Indian state to suppress the protagonists of the right to self determination. Ruthless violation of human rights has, in fact, questioned the civilized entity of India.
The Indian state had legalized its brutality by introducing a number of repressive laws in the valley. Public Safety Act, 1978, was extensively used throughout the 1990s to curb the activities of the supporters of 'azadi'. It is a kind of preventive detention act which allows two years detention without
trial. The years between 1990 and 1995 saw the indiscriminate use of the Terrorist and Disruptive Activities Act (TADA), 1985 in the valley. This draconian act had the provision of appointing designated courts, where victims were tried not in a public place, but in absolute concealment. The designated courts framed under TADA could even pronounce the death sentence. The valley also saw the rampant use of the Armed Forces Special Power Act. The Act empowered the armed forces to use force “to the point of causing death' to any person inspected for committing any “cognizable offence”. These undemocratic and repressive acts encouraged the Indian army as well as the paramilitary forces to commit thousands of extra judicial murders in the valley. An Amnesty International Report (January 1995) observed, “The brutality of torture in Jammu and Kashmir defies belief. It has left people disabled and mutilated for life.” An army officer proudly stated in April 1993 “We don't have custodial deaths here, we have alley deaths.” Even the women and the children were not spared. A Women's Fact Finding Commission observed in October 1997, “The atmosphere prevalent in the valley is that of fear and gloom. Women face constant humiliation and insecurity.” It has been roughly estimated that about 60,000 people had been killed in the 1990s by the Indian Security Forces in Kashmir. The state terrorism fell heavily on the human rights activists as well Hriday Nath Wangchoo, Dr. F.A. Ashai, Dr. Abdul Ahad Gun and Jalil Andrabi were among the prominent victims. Wangchoo, a trade unionist and a retired IAS officer tiled a writ petition against extra-judicial execution in Kashmir. On 5 December, 1992, he was killed. It was reliably believed that
BSF was behind his murder. Dr. Ashai and Dr. Guru were the physicians who had treated thousands of torture victims. Both of them supplied necessary information on terror and atrocities perpetrated by the Indian Security Forces. They were murdered in 1993. Jalil Andrabi, a prominent lawyer worked for the families of hundreds who mysteriously “disappeared” after being taken to the custody. He was killed in March 1996, when he was detained by Rashtriya Rifle soldiers. “He was so successful in his dangerous and difficult work that he had to be savagely silenced.” Read the obituary of Jalil Andrabi in the pages of Kashmir Times.

In reality, stern and human attitude of the Indian armed forces,encouraged by the rulers, has absolutely alienated the people of Kashmir. Pro- Pakistani militants have come forward to exploit the situation. Battle for 'Azadi' launched by the Kashmiris has three phases. In the early 1950s, Sheikh Abdullah and his National Conference tried to achieve right to self-determination way of a peaceful protest. The Government of India refused to ascribe any importance to this peaceful demand of the Kashmiris. Waiting for about 40 years, the Kashmiris took arms to fight the Indian armed forces and their atrocitites. They raised the banner of 'Kashmiriyat' in their fight for the right to self determination. But excess of the Indian armed forces committed against the fighters for Azadi as well as against the Kashmiris in general. The alienation of the Kashmiris became so crucial that pro Pakistani elements, backed by Islamic fundamentalists came to dominate the movement. The activities of the Islamic fundamentalists, in fact, provided the Indian state with an opportunity of calling the upsurge of Kashmir an antinational movement.

Use of force in the valley by the protectors of law and order is often sanctioned by a persistent campaign on behalf of the Indian state that Pak sponsored terrorism forms the crux of the problem in Kashmir. But this presents only a part of the entire picture. The valley is actually confronted with the problem related to unfulfilled hopes and aspirations of the Kashmiris. The Indian rulers should give up the policy of perceiving the people's protest in Kashmir as a mere law and order problem instigated by Pakistan and alight from the high pedestals of military might to recognize the popular will of the valley.