Giving Cause To Separatism
By M Shamsur Rabb Khan
12 June, 2009
Countercurrents.org
What happened at Shopian two weeks ago is not the first instance of cruelty by the security forces and shows how men in uniform, instead of protecting people, continue to indulge in the serious human rights violations. Which why the Kashmir valley has once again erupted with violent protests with slogans of separatism renting the air. Killing, abduction, torture, rape and fake encounters have been the routine affairs in J&K that the army and other security agencies have been found to be involved eve since terrorism took root in the valley 17 years ago. Time and again national and international agencies have accused security forces of human rights violations, including rape and extrajudicial killings. The Shopian incident has put the human rights issue back to the centre stage with lots of questions on the seriousness of the governments – both the central as well as the state – to work towards bringing normalcy.
Is the Indian Government making effort to bring peace and development in Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) or continuing with a policy of repression, subjugation and inhuman torture by our security forces? Is the government aiding and abetting causes for the separatist tendencies among the people of the valley to continue via inflicting barbarous act like rape? Is the government not guilty of enraging the honour of the people and disrupting the peaceful environment of the valley and creating cause to show that there is problem in the state? Are the policy makers, leaders, demagogues, experts and activists who lauded the people for turning to democratic and peaceful ways through their active participation in the recent elections not guilty of keeping mum over the crime of our security forces as well as maintaining indifferent attitude towards the plight of Kashmiri women?
But this highly condemnable incident has come up at a time when the people of J&K have shown strong willingness to peace and development via active participation in elections – both Assembly and the Lok Sabha. On May 30, the two women – Neelofar Jan (22), and her sister-in-law Asiya Jan (17) of Shopian district – were abducted, raped and killed by the CRPF men, who, after chasing the unfortunate women before committing the crime, dumped them the stream. And now since the forensic report confirmed that the girls were raped and murdered, it is highly shameful for the guardian of law and order not to accept the heinous act. It is also embarrassing for J&K government, especially the chief minister Omar Abdullah, who said the women had drowned. In fact, a police statement in Srinagar earlier had said that the post mortem conducted on two women revealed no marks of violence. Nothing could be as blatant a lie as this when the administration tries to hush up the case, letting the criminals go scot free. More than that this is a glaring instance of mishandling of a sensitive issue by the young CM, who demanded repealing of the Armed Forces Special Powers (AFSP) Act just last month
Instances are many where the security forces have used rape as a convenient tool of subjugation, in addition to usual encounters in which innocent people have been killed. The women of J&K have been facing gargantuan task of saving themselves from the terror unleashed by men in uniform. This is simply a well calculated aggression by the security forces to inflict as much pain on the psyche of people as they could. While the government in Delhi, along with countless experts and analysts on situation in the valley, is working to restore peace and normalcy so that development process could be put on the track, the security forces are creating a situation that would easily be turned into massive anti-establishment protests. Focusing on a single aspect of terrorism, media’s role has been step-motherly towards the plight of the people. Remember the economic blockade of the Valley, ‘imposed by the stone-pelting agitators by attacking and burning Valley-bound trucks during Amarnath Shrine Board controversy’ (As Hindus, We Were Expected To Further The Cause With Our Stories, Tehelka 6 June 2009). What scar did it leave on the hearts of the people in the valley? Will not they be right in thinking that the Government of India, along with people in Jammu region and in close collusion with media, is totally hostile to their genuine rights and plights?
We have cases of young women of the state becoming pregnant, committing suicide, preferring to die rather than to dishonor their families. All human rights enshrined in The Charter, The Universal Declaration of Human Rights and The Human Rights Covenants have been flagrantly violated by the Indian security forces. The 17 of militancy in J& K has left a trail of rape victims, who are living a miserable life. For example, over 9800 women have been raped and molested, 22100 women have been widowed till April 2007. Interestingly, these figures are much higher than Sierra Leone, Chechnya and Sri Lanka Let us remember the nights of 22-23 February 1991, when 5th Rajputana Rifles raped 53 women in Kunan-Poshpura (known throughout Kashmir as the “raped village”) aged between 13 to 85 years (including ill and mentally challenged) in disguise of a search operation, While Amnesty International says that on 18 May 1990 some of the soldiers dragged a new bride and her heavily-pregnant aunt from a bus and raped them in nearby fields in Anantnag. A study done by ‘Medicins Sans Frontieres’ in mid 2005 reveals that Kashmiri women are among the ‘worst sufferers of sexual violence among the world’.
The advent of terrorism proved a wrath for the people of J&K due to which the government provided special powers to armed forces through AFSP Act whereby they can shoot, arrest, search, seize, occupy and even kill when they deem it. Since AFSP Act contains no guidelines for ensuring effective control of the forces by the civil authorities, serious violations of human rights have been the daily phenomenon that has alienated the people and shaken their belief in them. While we can agree that armed forces are faced with tough circumstances, it does not mean they can not differentiate between innocent people and the terrorists. Cases of human rights violations have been reported from north states, especially Manipur where AFSP Act has been in operation since 1980, yet we see no sign of insurgency being ended. Hence, the AFSP Act has become more of a ‘reason less of a solution’ for insurgency in Manipur. Similar seems the case with J&K. It is high time New Delhi took drastic steps in checking highhandedness of the armed forces, with immediate prosecution of culprits of the Shopian incident. Else, the magnitude with which protests are on in the state may well turn into a full fledged separatist movement.
