Shopian: In a modest single-storey house in Zainapora village, Bashir Ahmad Sheikh reminisces about previous elections in Kashmir. To help his family financially, the retired private school teacher recalls how his son, in 2014, was leading the poll campaign for his neighbour Aijaz Ahmad Mir, a People’s Democratic Party candidate. Five years later, his son Aadil is now at the forefront of the campaign against elections.
Sheikh says Aadil was Mir’s star campaigner, and devised unique pro-PDP slogans for the party’s election rallies.
As fate had it, Mir emerged victorious and Aadil became his trusted aide. As a reward, Sheikh says Mir helped Aadil secure a job as a special police officer. Later, Aadil was deputed to Mir’s security, where he remained until September last year.
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Now, as the 2019 parliamentary elections take place, Aadil is on the opposite end of Kashmir’ s political spectrum. He is among the young men who resorted to arms after the 2016 agitation in the Valley.
Late in the evening on September 28 last year, the security apparatus of the state was left in a tizzy. Seven AK-47 rifles and a licensed pistol were stolen from the highly guarded Srinagar residence of a legislator. As the picture became clearer following viral photographs on social media, it emerged that it was Aadil who decamped with rifles from Mir’s posh Jawahar Nagar residence. Later, Aadil was seen brandishing the rifles along with militants somewhere in the jungles of south Kashmir.
A twist in fate
Sheikh isn’t able to comprehend what exactly led his son Aadil to switch over to the gun. “He had never shown any inclination towards militancy. I wouldn’t have allowed him to do so,” he says.
Sheikh remembers how a day before joining the militants, Aadil received a call to go back to his duties. “He had come home to earn some money by packaging apples in orchards. There is a huge demand for labourers during that season. It was for about 15 days. This is when I guess something changed him. But then I am not sure. This is my guess.”
Sheikh claims that his son had never been involved in protest demonstrations. However, police records state that Aadil had charges of stone throwing and militant links against him even before joining the militancy.
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“No agency harassed me. They understood my position, and that I had nothing to do with this. He simply went away. I want him to bring back, but then I know that he decamped with those rifles. Is there someone who can help him bring back?” asks Sheikh.
Cases like Aadil’s coule explain the low voter turnout in the ongoing polls in south Kashmir. This time, separatist leaders have not been allowed to carry out their poll boycotts. Sheikh says though in their village people used to cast their votes, this time it is unlikely. “This is the situation we are living in. You can understand. I can’t say more,” says Sheikh.
Pellet scars remain cause for anger
The face of teenager Insha Mushtaq, marked by a number of pellet wounds, had generated rage across the globe. And now, regional parties are using the her plight, and that of other pellet victims, to further their cause. The National Conference, for instance, is attempting to remove the PDP from the contest.
This was evident at the NC rally in Shopian’s Chowgam village on April 30. Omar Abdullah launched a scathing attack on Mehbooba Mufti’s and the PDP. “…where was the sympathy (of Mehbooba) when bachhi (child) Insha was shot with pellets?” he asked, generating applause from the crowd of a few hundred workers.
Insha’s father. Credit: Ubeer Naqushbandi
In fact, it was during Abdullah’s tenure as chief minister that pellets were introduced as “non-lethal” weapons, in 2010. Rights groups claim that many have been left maimed and others dead due to the use of this weapon.
About six km away from Abdullah’s rally, in Sedow village, Insha’s family holds him and Mehbooba equally responsible for what happened.
“He (Abdullah) should have come to me, I would have made him understand how it feels for a parent to see her daughter losing her eyesight at young age. My daughter cries in silence, mourning for her lost sight. These politicians only know bayaan baazi (issuing statements). All these years, he (Abdullah) never came to see her. Suddenly, to garner votes he remembers my daughter,” says Insha’s mother Afroza.
A litter later, Insha’s father Mushtaq Ahmad Lone enters the room. Lone has just dropped Insha and her brother Waseem to a taxi going to Srinagar.
“She has to go to school tomorrow. Also, she was feeling restless here. Quarrelling with me. This is what she has been like after the tragedy,” says Lone.
Over the phone, Insha speaks softly, seeming older than her age. “I have decided to become writer to pen down Kashmir’s story, which is my story,” she says.
Back at home, Lone says the violence has led to a forced separation for his family. “My wife has to run between home and rented accommodation in Srinagar (about 50 km away), since Insha has admitted to a school in there with a facility children with disabilities. Insha likes it there, so it’s for her happiness.”
Like Afroza, Lone curses politicians who use people’s tragedies for electoral gains.
The stories of Aadil and Insha give a glimpse into how south Kashmir districts are facing a political vacuum, particularly after the PDP allied with the BJP in 2014. One PDP strongholds, south Kashmir districts now symbolise dissent.
Ubeer Naqushbandi is a reporter currently working in Jammu and Kashmir.