Eid-ul-Adha

Karnataka: How Two Friends Became the Target of Hindutva Polarisation on Eid

When Kavya was on her way to her friend Shamsheena’s house to eat biryani on Eid ul Adha, she had no idea that the police would get involved.

Shamsheena (22), a Muslim, and Kavya (21), a Hindu, became friends four years ago while working at a garment shop. They live in Karnataka’s Dakshina Kannada district in Golthadi and Ramnagar villages, around 20 km apart, respectively. They visit each others’ homes frequently and their families are also acquainted.

On July 12, the second day of Eid ul Adha, Shamsheena invited Kavya for a biryani feast. What followed has left both the women and their families shocked and revealed the efforts by Hindutva groups to actively discourage inter-community relations.

Usually, Kavya’s brother would drop her at Shamsheena’s home. But on that day, he had some other engagement and dropped Kavya mid-way to Shamsheena’s house, at Uppinangady town. Shamsheena came to pick her up from there. They got on a bus and travelled to Athoor town, where they got down to buy chicken. Then they hired an autorickshaw to go home.

On the way home, they noticed that another auto was following them. About five minutes away from their home, they got down from the auto – the diver said he had something else to attend to. The second auto – which had no passengers – continued to follow them. They also noticed that some men were following them on two-wheelers. When they stopped at a shop, they found a man gazing at them “oddly”.

After they reached Shamsheena’s home, more than 20-30 people associated with the Bajrang Dal gathered a few metres away.

At around 1 pm, three police officers (two males and one lady) arrived at the Shamsheena’s home. They asked for her brother Ziyad. They told the cops that he was not there.

The police officers told Shamsheena that they have information that her brother has “brought a Hindu girl” home. Kavya told The Wire that she was informed by the police later that someone had “informed” them that Shamsheena’s brother had brought her there.

“You are lying. Where is his auto? Ask him to come out,” the police asked. Ziyad works in Bengaluru and had not been home for months.

“We were puzzled by these questions from the police,” Shamsheena said. She explained to the police that her brother was in Bengaluru. She and Kavya had hired an auto and her brother was not the driver. He did not ride an auto.

She told them that Kavya was her friend and she had come to their home with her family’s permission and that she was a frequent visitor.

The cop, who was in civilian clothes, then asked, “Why was the window of the auto covered?” Shamsheena reasoned that since it was monsoon, the drapes are down in case it starts to rain. The cops also accused them of not paying the auto fare – which the two women denied.

Shamsheena had to call up her brother and put him on the loudspeaker. Ziyad confirmed to the police that he was not in town, let alone at home. A series of exchanges followed between the police for more than an hour. Shamsheena said the police also spoke to the Hindutva mob gathered outside the house.

The police demanded that Kavya should come with them. Kavya, Shamsheena and their families opposed this. Kavya’s brother was already on his way and will pick her up, they said.

But the police did not relent and pressured the family. “The police forced me to go with them, even as I told them I’ll go with my brother. But they didn’t listen to me,” Kavya said. She budged because she thought Shamsheena’s family would be in trouble if she stayed there any longer.

“We gave her a packed biryani while she was leaving with the police,” Shamsheena told The Wire.

According to Kavya, the police took her in a private car to Aditya Hotel in Uppinangady town. They had called her brother to pick her up from there. They collected her personal details including her name, age and phone number and even her brother’s phone number. Moreover, the lady constable took a photo of her in the car and later another photo with her brother at Uppinangady.

When Kavya asked the police why they took her along, they answered, “We feared that the Hindutva group would create trouble and in that case, we cannot give protection.”

Illustration: Pariplab Chakraborty

Since then, Kavya claims that she gets calls from unknown numbers from different places. Some were from Mangaluru and some from other regions. She said she shared her number only with the police and doesn’t know how her number was leaked. She said that some members of the Bajrang Dal called her family on July 13 and threatened them. They would face the consequences for Kavya giving their names to the police. They also abused her for going to a the house of a Muslim for biryani.

Kavya denies the allegation that she gave names to the police. “I have informed the police about these developments, to which they said if I get any more calls, I should lodge a complaint,” she says. According to Kavya, the police also advised her that the next time she plans to go to Shamsheena’s home, she should take a family member along.

“My family knows Shamsheena’s family well. I have their support,” Kavya said. Her family told her she should not worry because she has done nothing wrong.

When The Wire asked Kavya how she felt about these events, she said she was “very upset” with the whole episode. “They are Hindus but I don’t know why they did this. If they had any issue, they could have asked me directly but they created such a scene. The police were asking for my friend’s brother, and it seems like they were looking for him. They behaved rudely with me while I was trying to convince them that I had come to see my friend,” she said.

Kavya said she will not let the extremists succeed in their ploy to polarise her relationship with her friend.

“I had been to their house last Eid also and that too in the evening. Neither Shamsheena nor I believe in caste or religious hatred. I will continue to go to her house. Her parents are warm and welcoming. My sister is pregnant and she asked Shamsheena for biryani and hence on this Eid, Shamsheena invited me for the feast.”

Shamsheena’s family lodged a police complaint against the Hindutva men who had gathered outside their home. They have named four persons. The family said that the police did not register a case and instead claimed they had visited their home based on misinformation.

When The Wire called sub-inspector Anjanappa Reddy, who is in charge of the Kadaba police station, he said, “I can not give you a statement over the phone on this matter.”

Shamsheena, asked about the plausible motivations of the Hindutva group, told The Wire, “It emerged to us that it was a planned attack on my brother. The Hindutva groups wanted to target him because he usually makes anti-BJP posts on social media.”

The Wire spoke to Shamsheena’s brother Ziyad. He said, “I fear for my life now. My sister has said that there is news spreading that the members of the Bajrang Dal are saying, ‘Let Ziyad come back to town, we will not spare him’.”

“I had recently posted articles questioning the anti-people policies of the BJP on Facebook and my WhatsApp status. Because of this a Hindutva group in my town is targeting me and even tried to file a complaint against me. When that did not work, they tried to implicate me using such false allegations,” Ziyad said.

He added that had he been in town when the police came, the story could have ended differently.

Hindutva groups are very active in coastal Karnataka and their members frown upon inter-community relationships of any nature. Though in the past, Kavya and Shamsheena’s friendship would have been considered normal, the communal polarisation has made sure that these relationships are not encouraged by large sections of society anymore.

Mohammed Irshad is an independent journalist. He tweets at @shaad_bajpe.

Bangladesh Rawhide Traders Hit by US-China Trade War

During FY 2017-18, when the trade war began, leather exports from Bangladesh suffered a 12% drop.

Dhaka: Seasonal traders – who have varied occupations but become rawhide traders during Eid-ul-Adha – help meet about 60% of the annual demand of rawhide for Bangladesh’s burgeoning leather industry.

These traders visit people’s homes, bargain, collect rawhide skinned from sacrificial animals and then sell it to leather wholesalers and tannery owners. Middlemen like them help collect skins from over 8-9 million cattle sacrificed each year during Eid in the South Asian country with over 90% Muslim population.

During this year’s Eid-ul-Adha, while the common man expressed anger over the price of rawhide, the seasonal leather traders said they had fallen between the devil and deep blue sea.

They are unable to sell the procured rawhide or preserve it owing to the high maintenance cost. Meanwhile, wholesalers and tanners are unwilling to buy animal skins from small traders.

They said demand in the international leather market has hit an all-time low due to the China-US trade war. The dillydallying in establishing effluent treatment plants (ETP) in the leather industrial city of Savar, at the outskirts of Dhaka, has also played a part in keeping large export order at bay, traders added.

These factors have collectively resulted in a grim situation for rawhide trading in Bangladesh this year. Local media reported that the price of the rawhide has hit a 30-year low.

In the absence of viable options, the government has decided to allow rawhide export, which was banned in the 90s due to a large chunk of it being trafficked to India. This decision has received mixed reactions in the South Asian nation.

Decreasing prices of rawhide

“What is the point of selling rawhide at petty Tk 350 ($4.12) to a middleman? The government has fixed the price but no one seems to care,” said Hasib Mohammad Ahsan, a retired university teacher living in a middle-class neighbourhood in Dhaka.

Ahsan said that 20 years ago, he sold the rawhide of his sacrificial animal at Tk 550 ($6.48) whereas he bought the cow at Tk 15,000 ($178.80). “Now I bought my cow at Tk 80,000 ($942.68) but was offered Tk 350 ($4.12) for its skin. It’s becoming a joke,” said an enraged Ahsan.

“Meanwhile, I now have to pay Tk 3,500 ($41.66) for a pair of decent leather shoes whereas the price of the same was not more than Tk 550 ($6.48) 20 years ago. How do you explain that?” he asked.

Also read | The Unmaking of Kanpur’s Leather Industry

Rawhide price has been undergoing a downward trend over the last few years with wholesalers and tanners forming a syndicate with which they control prices. The country’s main opposition, Bangladesh Nationalist Party even alleged that a ruling Awami League leader is behind the syndicate, without naming names.

Traders say they fix the rate to avoid facing losses. Statistics of the Bangladesh Export Promotion Bureau (EPB) indicate that the export of leather products has increased three-fold in the last 4-5 years – except during 2017-2018 when it witnessed a drop from the previous year.

This year, before Eid, wholesalers and tanners, in association with the Ministry of Commerce in Bangladesh, had fixed the rate of rawhide at Tk 45-50 ($0.53-$0.59) per square foot in Dhaka and at Tk 35-40 ($0.41-$0.47) outside the capital. Goat rawhide price was fixed at Tk 18-20 ($0.21-$0.23) across the country, the lowest in the world.

Tanners plan to collect as much rawhide as possible at a lower price during this time of the year.

Seasonal traders are forced to buy rawhide at the rate pre-fixed by the government. However, when wholesalers and tanners do not buy rawhide at the scheduled time, these small businessmen are forced to spend additional money for preserving animal skin.

Rashed Jitu, a seasonal rawhide trader from the capital’s Lalbagh neighbourhood, told this correspondent that he had collected over 2,000 pieces rawhide but hadn’t been able to sell even one-thirds of it due to the reluctance of wholesalers to purchase.

“This has put me in trouble as now I have to preserve these with my own money,” said Jitu.

Jitu, an Institute of Leather Engineering and Technology graduate – the premier institute for leather processing technology in the country – said he faced the same problem last year as well.

“The US-China trade war has created a serious problem for the leather business over the last two years. During the last Eid-ul-Adha, I couldn’t sell half of my rawhide collection and was compelled to dispose of a large chunk of it.”

Low export orders from China

The wholesalers and tannery owners meanwhile said that despite the low prices the middlemen and seasonal businessmen offer, they have been reluctant to buy rawhide as they haven’t received new export orders over the last few months.

Sakhawat Ullah, general secretary of Bangladesh Tanners Association (BTA), told this correspondent that in the last eight months, exports to China – Bangladesh’s largest leather export destination – have been close to zero.

Ullah said tanners export crust leather to China since it doesn’t buy rawhide. To prepare crust leather, they need to process rawhide, which costs around Tk 60-65 ($0.71-$0.77) per square foot. In FY 2017-18, Bangladesh exported 150 million square feet of crust leather to China, comprising over 50% of the total crust leather export, said Ullah, referring BTA data.

Also read | Global Economy Will Pay the Price of Escalating US-China Trade War

“We sold per square feet of crust leather to China at Tk 100 ($1.20). Now, after the US-China trade war started last year, Chinese buyers are not offering us more than Tk 80 ($0.95),” Ullah said. China takes crust leather from Bangladesh and produces high-end finished leather products including footwear, clothes and bags. The US is one of China’s largest export destinations for such products. The US footwear import from China stood at a staggering $11.4 billion before the start of the trade war.

Ullah said the Chinese buyers are now saying that they need to pay an extra 25% tariff for the US market, so they don’t have an option but to pay us a lower price.

Shahin Ahmed, president of the BTA, told this correspondent that aside from the China-US trade war, the demand for leather-based products has been hit by the invention of leather alternatives across the world.

Bangladesh’s export earnings from leather also suffered a drop of over 6.06% in FY 2018-19, with manufacturers blaming the forced relocation of the centre of the country’s tanning industry from Dhaka’s Hazaribagh area to Savar, an industrial town outside the capital.

During FY 2017-18, when the US-China trade war began, leather export from Bangladesh suffered even a bigger drop of 12%.

Due to the relocation of tanneries from Hazaribagh area of the capital to Savar, “Around 225 tanneries are closed down,” Ahmed said. “In the leather industrial city of Savar, there are 155 factories, of which only 115 are now capable of processing leather. The rest of the factories haven’t completed their infrastructural set up yet.”

The leather sector, the second-largest export earner after apparel products, contributed $1.01 billion of the total national exports of $40.53 billion in FY 2018-19.

According to EPB data, however, Bangladesh earned $1.23 billion from the sector in FY 2016-17. That strong performance had even prompted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to announce leather as the ‘Product of the Year’ for 2017, saying the government would “boost this industry to reach its full potential”.

The last fiscal, however, shows a grim picture of this promising sector.

Faisal Mahmud is a journalist based in Dhaka.

In a Ravaged Kashmir, One Woman’s Fight to Give Birth

“I tried to explain to them [security personnel] that we had an emergency, but they had clear orders to not allow any vehicles.”

Srinagar: As dawn broke over Srinagar, a sense of gloom hung in the air. An ominous silence, evocative of the multiple calls to prayers from the city’s various mosques, was palpable after the menace that the night before had meted out to the people.

On Thursday, August 8, widespread protests, which turned into violent clashes between the military and protestors, erupted in Kashmir. Witnesses reported that the police opened fire on numerous protestors that included unarmed men, women and children – some as young as six years old. Many were wounded, whilst some were sprayed with buckshot in their eyes, resulting in blindness.

A heavily pregnant 26-year-old woman, Insha Ashraf awoke to this momentary silence. Her water had just broken, and she was going into labour. Amidst one of the most repressive moments in Kashmir’s history, Insha, who was at her mother’s home in Bemina on the outskirts of Srinagar, experienced panic before the delivery of her firstborn. She wondered if she would be able to reach the hospital in time for the safe delivery of her child.

Her mother, Mubeena, rushed Insha and her sister Nisha to their neighbour’s home at around 5:30 am. The neighbour, an autorickshaw driver, agreed to take the distraught expectant mother and her family to Lal Ded Hospital, about 7 km away.

A few meters ahead, they were stopped at a security checkpoint and not allowed to proceed further.

Also read | Stuck in Hospital After Losing a Child, Waiting 3 Days for 1 Call: Life in Kashmir Today

“I tried to explain to them [the security personnel] that we had an emergency, but they had clear orders to not allow any vehicles,” said Insha, adding that she was asked to walk to the hospital through a different route.

“As we started walking, we encountered checkpoints every 500 meters and we were told to keep taking different detours every time,” she said. The security forces ignored all their pleas.

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A pregnant woman on the streets of Srinagar. Photo: Zubair Sofi

Around 11 am, while she was still 500 meters away from Lal Ded hospital, Insha started experiencing severe contractions. She had already travelled over 6 km on foot, unaware of what state her child would be delivered in. When it became evident that Insha would be delivering her child on the roadside, her mother and sister took her to Khanams, a private hospital nearby.

Within 15 minutes of reaching the hospital, Insha delivered a healthy baby girl. The baby was taken out of the delivery room naked, since there were no clothes available in the hospital due to the lockdown in the Valley.

“I took my granddaughter into my arms and wrapped my scarf around her,” said Mubeena. In the meantime, Insha’s sister Nisha went out of the hospital premises and managed to get some clothes for the baby after over an hour.

Insha’s husband, Irfan Ahmad Sheikh, an autorickshaw driver, is yet to be informed about the birth of his child because all means of communication – telephones, cellular phones, internet, leased lines, broadband – are banned and no civilian movement is being allowed in Kashmir.

Also read | ‘I Am More Afraid Than I Have Ever Been’: A Personal Account From Kashmir

His daughter is yet to be named – a birthright that is given to the father, and his relatives.

Insha, her mother and Nisha faced a critical moment that day. But did they really need to endure such gruelling circumstances?

Restrictions on movement

Things are far worse at Lal Ded Hospital where mothers, who have already delivered their children and have been discharged from the hospital, are not able to leave. Hospital authorities claim they weren’t given any proper directions on how to function under such circumstances.

The courtyard and corridors are filled with relatives of patients who have no place to sleep or eat because they are confined to the hospital premises due to the curfew outside.

Companions of the patients sleeping in the corridor of Lal Ded Hospital, Srinagar. Photo: Zubair Sofi

Thirty-eight-year-old Rashid Ali, a resident of Uri, a town north of Kashmir in Baramulla district, has been at the hospital for a few days now. His wife, Jana Begum, delivered a boy on August 2, and they were scheduled to leave the hospital on August 5.

Jana Begum – and other women like her – are being kept in a hall on the top floor of the hospital, while their companions occupy the courtyard and corridors. Many of them have run out of money to buy food and are on the verge of begging for basic necessities.

“I ran out of money on August 8 and have nowhere to go to seek help. All the phone lines are dead and I cannot call any family member for money,” said Rashid, a day labourer. “I have meagre savings, and my funds for the journey back home have been utilised to buy food here. I am now begging to collect some money to eat,” he said.

Dr Samreena, a resident physician at the hospital, said that there were many doctors who were working day and night and weren’t being allowed to go home. She also added that other staff members were following the same orders. “Doctors and staff members, who live far away and were off-duty on the day curfew was imposed, are unable to travel and come for work,” she said.

“Ambulances are being used to transport doctors and staff members who live nearby. The hospital has also made arrangements to accommodate members who live far away, in a couple of rooms within the hospital,” said Dr Samreena.

Also read | ‘Even My Call to Almighty Could be Interpreted as Subversion’: Kashmiri Scholar

Relatives and companions of the patients have nowhere to eat apart from the hospital canteen, which they believe does not serve good quality food. An employee at the canteen, Aqib, said that while they usually served about one hundred rice plates in a day, they now distribute about 800-1,000.

Since the intervening night of August 4 and 5, the Valley has been under a tight curfew as per the Central government’s directions following the proposal to revoke Jammu and Kashmir’s special status.

Several political analysts concurred that the manner in which the Indian government scrapped these two Articles was undemocratic and unconstitutional. Soon after the news of the revoking of the special status was made public, protests were carried out and the Centre’s decision attracted significant criticism.

In the meantime, in a hospital in Srinagar, wrapped up in new clothes, a new-born girl greeted a world entirely different from that of her mother.

Zubair Sofi is a Jammu and Kashmir-based journalist whose work has been published in international, national as well as local news organisations. He tweets @zubairsofii.

Watch | For Kashmiris, No Wishes From Home This Eid

Kashmiris gathered at Jantar Mantar on August 12 not to celebrate but to ‘observe’ Eid on an unhappy note.

People of Jammu and Kashmir, those who are based in Delhi, gathered at Jantar Mantar on the occasion of Eid -Ul-Adha on August 12. The gathering was not to celebrate but to ‘observe’ Eid on an unhappy note, they said.

Those from the region, including a young woman from Ladakh, said that they are not happy with the government’s lockdown in the state. With a blanket ban on communication, Kashmiris have not been able to make any contact with their families for over a week. So on the occasion of Eid, they gathered together to share food with fellow Kashmiris.

Organisers of the gathering said they were not affiliated to any political group.

With Curfews Affecting Livelihood, Migrant Workers Trickle Out of the Valley

“I earn Rs 18,000 a month – much more than what I was earning in Bihar. But I decided to leave as the situation is very serious and all the shops are closed.”

Srinagar: On August 3, the Central government asked all tourists and Amarnath yatra pilgrims to leave the Valley in the wake of intelligence inputs of ‘specific terror threats’.

On August 5, it was revealed that the authorities had actually been preparing the ground for the abrogation of Article 370 and 35A in Jammu and Kashmir.

Initially, migrant workers living in Kashmir thought the August 3 orders were specifically for tourists and pilgrims. But with their livelihoods being affected by the indefinite curfew across the Valley, many have decided to leave the state.

Across Kashmir, there is a huge movement of armed vehicles, with checkpoints every 500 metres. In Srinagar, large numbers of migrant workers could be seen trudging towards the Tourist Reception Centre (TRC) – many of whom travelled with their families from various districts to catch a bus to return to their respective states.

From Jammu towards Srinagar, all commercial as well as private taxis are being stopped at Udhampur by the police, who aren’t allowing anyone other than locals to travel further into the Valley. Taxis from Srinagar to Jammu are only being allowed to leave late at night.

Also read: ‘I Am More Afraid Than I Have Ever Been’: A Personal Account From Kashmir

Ghulam Sarwar, 40, from Mansi, Bihar, who has been living in Kashmir for the last 19 years, walked almost 9 kilometres from Soura to theTRC along with his wife, six daughters and mother-in-law. His 38-year-old brother Mohamad Shabdin, also a labourer, came with his wife and four sons with the initial plan of getting a bus to Jammu.

“A few police officials came to our home and asked us to leave as the situation is getting worse. I earn Rs 18,000 a month – much more than what I was earning in Bihar. But I decided to leave as the situation is very serious and all the shops are closed. We won’t be able to work, so we decided to leave,” says Sarwar.

Sarwar’s family sleeping in a park at the TRC. Photo: Zubair Sofi

After walking for almost two hours, they reached the TRC but had missed most of the buses. They kept wandering in search of buses and taxis, but all of them were full to the roof.

“There are not many government buses in the TRC yard, people are being taken to Jammu mostly in taxis. There is no preparation from the government to provide us proper transportation,” Sarwar says.

For Sarwar’s 23-year-old daughter Yasmin, leaving just the Valley has also put a full stop to her impending marriage to a Kashmiri boy. The two had been in a relationship for a year when the families agreed to their marriage.

But instead of a September wedding, Yasmin did not even get to say goodbye. With her family deciding to never return to Kashmir, she says its unlikely she’ll ever see him.

Also read: Stuck in Hospital After Losing a Child, Waiting 3 Days for 1 Call: Life in Kashmir Today

Sarwar’s landlord had tried to convince him to not leave, but Sarwar, worried about his family back in Bihar as he was being unable to communicate with them, and facing a shortage of money, made the decision to pack up.

In a few cases, some landlords helped their tenants reach TRC safely.

Due to the curfew, the availability of food at the TRC has been meagre. A few drivers started a langar for the passengers and some workers have also established makeshift food stalls to help feed the stranded travellers.

A migrant with a makeshift food stall at TRC. Photo: Zubair Sofi

Due to a lack of accommodation, passengers are sleeping on the roads. With each passing hour, the number of the passengers is on the rise, with many waiting in long queues to get their hands on tickets.

As per the details provided by the authorities, since August 5, at least 90,000 migrant workers have been safely moved to Jammu. “We are trying our best to facilitate every passenger, but many more keep coming,” an official at the TRC said.

Zubair Sofi is a Jammu and Kashmir-based journalist whose work has been published in international, national as well as local news organisations. He tweets @zubairsofii

CRPF Helpline Flooded With Calls From Kashmiris Seeking to Know About Families

The helpline number – 14411 – has received over 870 calls over two days.

New Delhi: A Srinagar-based CRPF helpline which was restored on Sunday has been inundated with calls from Kashmiris living across the country and abroad seeking to know the wellbeing of their kin in Jammu and Kashmir, officials said on Monday.

The helpline number – 14411 – has received over 870 calls over two days and over 55% of the callers wanted to know about their families, they said.

The five-digit landline number was revived late Sunday night despite the ongoing communication clampdown in the state post the government revoking its special status under Article 370.

As per official data compiled till Monday evening, the helpline had received over 470 calls from Kashmiris based in India and abroad who were anxious to know about the wellbeing of their parents, other family members, relatives and an update on the situation in their respective areas.

Also read: Stuck in Hospital After Losing a Child, Waiting 3 Days for 1 Call: Life in Kashmir Today

Many of them also expressed their desire to talk to their families and asked CRPF personnel manning the helpline to help them out, the officials said.

The helpline has received about 17 calls from the UAE, 11 from Saudi Arabia, three each from the US and Russia, five from Israel, four from Singapore, two from France and one each from Australia, Kuwait, Belgium, the UK and Canada among others, according to the data.

Also, since Sunday night, more than 410 calls were received from Kashmiris living in various parts of the country wanting to know about their families, they said.

Also read: ‘Even My Call to Almighty Could be Interpreted as Subversion’: Kashmiri Scholar

About 200 calls were received from the family members of various security forces personnel who are posted in the Kashmir valley for law and order and counterterrorist operations duties.

A similar number of calls were received from non-Kashmiris who wanted to know about the wellbeing of their friends and colleagues, they said.

The helpline, that operates from a CRPF base in Srinagar, has also rushed its troops to address the problems of locals in distress.

‘Even My Call to Almighty Could be Interpreted as Subversion’: Kashmiri Scholar

“How would you feel if you were barred from speaking to your children, parents, friends and co-villagers on a festival – and still the rulers say that you are their own?”

Jalandhar: Tariq Sheikh, a scholar and teacher of modern Indian history living in the suburbs of Punjab’s Jalandhar, is shocked at the revoking of Jammu and Kashmir’s special status. He is still unable to fathom what has happened in his native state.

“How would you feel if you were barred from speaking to your children, parents, friends and co-villagers on a festival – and still the rulers say that you are their own?” Sheikh – who was in a pensive mood – shot back when I asked him what he thought of the situation in Jammu and Kashmir.

Sheikh is from Kulgam in Qazigund district, adjacent to Anantnag in Jammu and Kashmir. He holds a PhD from Aligarh Muslim University. He completed his master’s degree at Srinagar’s Kashmir University in 2008 before moving to Uttar Pradesh to pursue his research and settling down in Punjab’s Kapoorthala district as a teacher and researcher.

Also read | Stuck in Hospital After Losing a Child, Waiting 3 Days for 1 Call: Life in Kashmir Today

“The dilution of Articles 370 and 35A, and robbing Jammu and Kashmir of its special status are, apparently, a final and irretrievable blow to whatever trust a miniscule section of the residents of J&K had in the constitution and democracy that the Indian state practices. We are away from our native place. But given my upbringing in the atmosphere at my locality, I can very much say that the Indian occupation force has caged each and every citizen of the Kashmir Valley under house arrest at the barrel of the guns,” 33-year-old Sheikh, several of whose research papers have been published in the Indian History Congress and other journals, said.

Tariq Sheikh

He further added: “I am afraid that my villagers might be undergoing pangs of starvation even on Bakrid. There is total information blackout as nothing is coming due to cordons of gun-wielding forces dotting every nook and corner of our settlements.”

He says he was born into somewhat unusual circumstances. “When I was growing up in our village, I saw the military men – belonging to different parts of India – intermittently carrying out raids in our homes”.

“I still remember an incident from the mid-1990s when I was travelling in a school bus. The bus was stopped by an army man. Other army men pulled the driver out and thrashed him. Then they freed him. Bruised, the driver took us to school, but we were late. Over months and years, such incidents kept growing. The forces used to stop students, farmers and workers at ubiquitous checkpoints, asking for identity cards and abusing and thrashing the people without reasons – these were very normal with the forces. The people of my generation – getting their dignity mauled day in and day out – began growing up on the feeling that military men were their enemies. The rulers in Delhi seldom cared to listen to the young and old”.

What happened on August 5, Sheikh says, was like a ‘nuclear blow’ to whatever little trust and respect that some people had in the Indian state. “Let me clarify, Kashmiris have a little problem with Indian citizens. See, we are working in Punjab. When we go to marts or other public places, people welcome us. We also find sukun (solace) in the company of the general masses away from Kashmir. But the rulers in Delhi – through their relentless hate campaigns pushed by media they control – paint us as villains, spread poison about us in the minds of people and make the situation difficult for us even elsewhere”.

Also read | ‘I Am More Afraid Than I Have Ever Been’: A Personal Account From Kashmir

Sheikh lives with about a half dozen teachers, scholars and students at a rented accommodation in the suburbs of Jalandhar. He was wary of naming his parents, children and friends and also his colleagues. “You never know. Even talking about my feelings to you might be taken as subversive activity and we might be subjected to harassment… who knows?” he said. He also rejected the J&K governor’s claim that over 300 telephone lines have been opened to allow people to speak to their relatives on Eid.

“Check the calls on my phone. A Sikh driver had taken his truck to Jammu and Kashmir on August 9 or so. Somehow, my brother found him and gave him my number, requesting him to call me and inform that everything was fine at home. Next day, the driver came back to Jalandhar and called me. It was a big relief as it was the first time I had learnt something about my family after August 5,” Sheikh said, adding, “Our connection – be it through internet or phone – with our near and dear stands totally snapped”. He was extremely grateful for that man’s help.

“My five-year-old niece had asked me to come a day ahead of Bakrid. I had promised to bring her clothes. I am very sad that I have failed to fulfil my promise to my little niece,” Sheikh said, his eyes getting moist. “It’s not that I used to visit home every Eid. But we were able to see the pictures of our children and parents on mobile phone, talk to them and enquire what they were wearing and what they were eating etc.”

Sheikh was very critical of television debates on the Kashmir issue. “Most of these debaters don’t belong to Jammu and Kashmir. Few Kashmiri people are involved in these debates. The debaters by and large spew venom against the Kashmiris, painting them as militants and terrorists. Generally, I am opposed to the ban on media. But in such a situation, if there is a ban on media in Jammu and Kashmir, there should also be a complete ban on media across India, so that there is no one-sided discourse. Let the people interact directly through their own means, however, limited there are. At least, there will be no misinformation campaigns against the Kashmiris”.

“Tu Raheem hai tu Kareem hai, Mujh-e Mushkilon se nikal de (You are all-powerful, get me out of trouble)” Sheikh summed up, quoting Allama Iqbal’s couplet and saying, “Who knows. Even my call to Almighty could be interpreted as subversion… These are dark time”.

Nalin Verma is a senior journalist and co-author of the book Gopalganj to Raisina: My Political Journey, Lalu Prasad’s autobiography.

Stuck in Hospital After Losing a Child, Waiting 3 Days for 1 Call: Life in Kashmir Today

“We want to go home as early as possible. I feel like I’m choking here [in hospital].”

Srinagar: In the din inside the corridors of Srinagar’s Lal Ded maternity hospital, Bilal Mandoo sits on the floor. Occasionally, he turns his eyes towards a cardboard box on his right. He touches it gently and heaves a deep sigh before running his hands through his unkempt hair.

“All our dreams have come crashing down,” a pale Mandoo says softly. “It was Allah’s will, but we hadn’t expected this at all.”

Inside the box is Mandoo’s stillborn baby. He and his wife, Raziya, were excited to welcome their first child next month and had made all the preparations, before things turned ugly on August 9.

Since August 5, when parliament scrapped Article 370 and voted to divide Jammu and Kashmir into two union territories, Kashmir is reeling under a curfew. All means of communication, including mobile and landline services and the internet, have been blocked.

Raziya developed “some complications” on August 8. In the absence of transport facilities, the couple waited for 12 hours before deciding to visit the Kupwara district hospital, covering most of the distance on foot. Their home is around 17 km from the hospital, says Mandoo.

After a preliminary check-up, Raziya was referred to the Lal Ded hospital, the Valley’s tertiary care maternity institute. “By the time she arrived here, it was too late,” said a doctor at the hospital.

Also read: As Eid Arrives, People in Kashmir Still Don’t Know What the Future Holds

Heartbroken, the couple is desperate to return home, where nobody has any inkling about the tragedy that has befallen the family. “My parents are waiting to welcome their first grandchild. I don’t have the courage to hand them this dead body,” said the young man, his eyes brimming with tears.

The couple was waiting for an announcement on the hospital’s public address system about an ambulance leaving for their home district on August 10. “We want to go home as early as possible. I feel like I’m choking here,” Raziya said.

An ambulance is the only means of transport for patients and attendants to go back home. As an ambulance arrives from a particular district carrying a patient, an announcement is made for patients from the district to prepare to leave. Then there is a race among the patients. Those who can’t make it have no option but to wait for the next announcement.

Though private traffic had increased in the civil line areas of Srinagar on Friday and Saturday, and people were coming out to buy essentials and make preparations for Eid, there is hardly any information available about the situation in rural Kashmir owing to the communication blockade.

Security forces personnel patrol a deserted street during restrictions after the government scrapped special status for Kashmir, in Srinagar August 9, 2019. Photo: Reuters/Danish Ismail

There are numerous stories of how people are struggling under the prevailing situation. Since Friday, Wajahat Nabi and his wife have been making rounds of the deputy commissioner’s office in Srinagar to try and contact their only son, Faizaan Nabi, who is studying medicine in Bengaluru. The administration has set up a telephone booth inside the deputy commissioner’s office for people to talk to their children and relatives living in other parts of the country.

This lone communication facility is a paradox in itself. “We stood in the queue for more than four hours on Saturday. Late in the evening, the man handling the service abruptly closed down the booth saying ‘no more phones today’,” sighed Maimoona, Nabi’s wife. “We pleaded with him, begged him to give us one chance, but he wouldn’t listen.”

Hours before mobile and landline services were blocked and internet suspended in Kashmir on Sunday night, Maimoona had spoken to her son on the phone. Faizaan had informed her that he had booked a flight ticket to Srinagar for August 8.

On Sunday, the couple returned to the district commissioner’s office early in the morning, hoping to be among the first ones to use the phone, only to find themselves standing at the tail end of a serpentine line. Like this worried couple from Srinagar’s Lal Bazaar locality, dozens of people including anxious parents and young men were waiting restlessly for their turn. A man in his mid 30s wanted to call his parents who are on Hajj, an elderly man from Downtown had come to contact his daughter studying at Jawaharlal Nehru University and a young woman from the Hyderpora locality on airport road wanted to contact her brother in Mumbai to know about the condition of her nephew, undergoing treatment at a hospital for lung cancer.

“I’m worried about my son’s well-being. Some bad thoughts have started to occupy my mind, no matter how much I try to distract my attention,” said an anxious Maimoona, who is a government school teacher. She said the government employee handling the phone service wasn’t kind to her the day before. “If he had kept the booth open for a few
more minutes, he would have got the blessing of a mother.”

Also read: This 17-Year-Old Was the First Pellet Victim of the ‘Union Territory’ of J&K

An official at the district commissioner’s office said the rush of people is growing too large to handle. “There is already pendency in hundreds and with each passing hour, the number of people registering their contacts to talk to their relatives outside is growing,” the employee said.

On Friday (August 9) the divisional commissioner Kashmir, Baseer Khan, told a press conference that the administration would set up 300 such booths in 10 districts of the Valley with a population of around 80 lakh people.

Barely a kilometre away from the district commissioner’s office, Nazir Malla, a resident of Shopian, had an argument with doctors at the Shri Maharaja Hari Singh hospital’s oncology department after his father, Ghulam Mohi-ud-Din, a
cancer patient, was asked to return next week for radiotherapy.

Battling lung cancer, Mohi-ud-Din was scheduled for his third cycle of therapy on August 8. He couldn’t make it on the day, owing to curfew across the Valley. Now, his son fears that missing the treatment cycle could worsen his health.

“We have a particular number of patients scheduled for treatment each day. There is no way that a new patient can be adjusted in this schedule,” a doctor said. He added that many patients couldn’t make it to the centre on time owing to the prevailing situation. “Obviously a break in the therapy schedule means prolonging the treatment and it has its own fallouts,” said the doctor.

Amid Communication Blackout, How One Kashmiri Connected Distressed Families

August 12 marks day eight of the complete ban on communication links in the Valley.

Srinagar: With the inhabitants of restive Kashmir Valley reeling under a complete communication blackout for the eighth straight day on August 12, Kashmiris studying or employed outside the region are finding it difficult to contact their relatives, and remain worried about their well-being.

Although the administration says it has established telephone booths in several localities, those who tried contacting their relatives outside India said ISD facility is not available.

This is perhaps the first time since the inception of armed insurgency in Kashmir, in the late ’80s, that all communication lines have been gagged across the region.

Although state authorities have previously snapped internet and mobile services, this time they have ensured a complete blackout fearing massive public upheaval.

On Saturday, Ubaid-ur-Rehman* – a Srinagar resident – drove to the airport to see off his brother, who was taking a flight to New Delhi.

As he dropped him off, Rehman overheard two airport officials talking about a working internet connection in a residential colony just outside the airport security gate.

Without wasting any time, Rehman says he rushed to the colony, knocked on several doors and finally landed in the house where a broadband connection was available.

Also read: As Eid Arrives, People in Kashmir Still Don’t Know What the Future Holds

The residents, he says, let him in to access the internet after an exchange of apprehensions and slew of enquiries.

As soon as he got connected, Rehman received a WhatsApp message from a south Kashmir friend, Syed Muzammil*, who is studying in Europe.

After exchanging pleasantries, Muzammil sent a voice note for his family living around 20 kilometres south of Srinagar.

“He was very worried about his parents, who are both diabetic,” Rehman told The Wire. “After spending some 15 minutes at the house exchanging messages with friends and other relatives living in mainland India, I drove to the residence of the friend.”

When Rehman asked the family if he could return with a message for Muzammil, he says he got an affirmative reply with a “pleasing smile”.

“I manoeuvred through the Kashmir highway, taking different lanes and by-lanes, avoiding the police and paramilitary barricades and finally reached the house. I was lucky that the authorities had relaxed the restrictions for some time on Saturday,” he says.

After listening to the voice note, Muzammil’s mother became quite emotional and began kissing the phone. “She was overwhelmed and sought blessings for me,” Rehman says.

“She then recorded a voice note full of prayers and blessings for her son, ending with: Yetti chukh tatti chukh, khudah thaewnaey salamat (Wherever you are, may Allah keep you well)”.

Once again, Rehman drove to the house with the internet connection to send Muzammil his mother’s message.

Rehman’s story doesn’t end there.

By the time he reached to deliver Muzammil his mother’s message, Muzammil had spoken to another friend, Zubair Khan*, working in a Western European country.

As Rehman sent across the voice note, and was readying to leave, he received another one addressed to the sender’s mother. “It was from Zubair Khan.”

Khan’s family lives in Zakura area, on the outskirts of Srinagar

After promising Khan that his message would be delivered to his parents, Rehman left for home.

Early Sunday morning, Rehman drove to Khan’s residence to fulfil his promise.

“The whole family was ecstatic. Brothers and sisters of Zubair assembled around me to know what the message was,” Rehman says.

Khan’s family – like Muzammil’s – became emotional and recorded a voice note for their son. This one, Rehman says, he is yet to deliver.

Rehman says that by the time he was able to drive to the house near the airport to access the internet, authorities had put restrictions – which had briefly been lifted – back in place.

“I will surely and obviously try to reach the airport and access the internet to deliver the message,” he told The Wire.

Also read: Angry Kashmir Empty on Eid as Restrictions Return to Srinagar

Authorities had briefly relaxed restrictions on Sunday. However, the relaxation ended unexpectedly, leaving people trapped on barricaded roads manned by paramilitary personnel.

Police vehicles mounted with public address systems directed people to return to their houses. The reason behind the sudden announcement from the authorities is yet to be determined.

On Thursday, Mubeena*, whose daughter is studying in Bangladesh, spent three hours in Srinagar deputy commissioner’s office to try to contact her daughter. The phone, however, did not have an ISD facility, she says.

“I had to contact one of the cousins of my daughter in Mumbai to ask her to make a call to my daughter and apprise her that her family was doing well.”

A minuscule percentage of journalists who are able to access the internet – momentarily – receive tons of messages from people living outside the Valley, asking them to let their families know of their well-being.

This reporter also received several texts from many living in and outside India, asking him to convey their messages. However, almost all of these families live either deep down south or north of Kashmir – regions that are completely inaccessible.

On August 5, the Narendra Modi-led BJP government scrapped the special status guaranteed to Jammu and Kashmir under Article 370 of the Indian constitution and bifurcated the state into two union territories.

On the same day, just before dawn, the government imposed a de facto ‘curfew’ and detained most of the top pro-India leaders. Almost all separatist leaders are already behind bars. By the end of the week, the detention orders – many of them informal – had been extended to cover about 500 mid-level leaders and workers of mainstream parties across Kashmir.

*Names have been changed to protect their identities.

Magsaysay Awardee Sandeep Pandey Briefly Put Under House Arrest Over Article 370 Protest

Pandey and his wife, activist Arundhati Dhuru, were stopped from leaving their Lucknow home on Sunday.

New Delhi: Magsaysay award-winning social activist Sandeep Pandey was briefly put under ‘house arrest’ along with his wife Arundhati Dhuru, a fellow activist, in Lucknow’s Indira Nagar on Sunday. The local police’s action was meant to thwart a demonstration Pandey had organised to oppose the Centre’s recent decision on Kashmir.

Speaking to The Wire late on August 11, Pandey said, “I think a police jeep was parked outside our house around 10:30-11 am on August 11. But we discovered it only around 1:30 pm when my wife asked me to get bread from the market. As I took out my bicycle, 5-7 policemen in uniform and 2-3 in plain clothes got down from their jeep parked on the road, and told me that I couldn’t leave my home. They said that they had orders to keep me in my house till 4 pm.”

“Soon after that, the superintendent officer of Ghazipur police station landed up. Then all of them went back, having realised that the event, slated for 4 pm, had already been postponed. They must have gone back around 2-2:30 pm.”

Concerned over the revoking of Jammu and Kashmir’s special status, done without “the concurrence of anybody from the state of J&K”, Pandey, a visiting faculty at IIM-Ahmedabad had called for a demonstration at the Gandhi statue in the city’s Hazratganj area on August 11. “However, looking at Eid the next day and the impending Independence Day, we decided to postpone it to August 16,” he related.

Also read: Why UP’s Muslims Are Identifying With Kashmiris More Than They Used to

Local administration, however, denied he was put under house arrest. District magistrate Kaushal Raj Sharma told Hindustan Times, “Why should we arrest him? There is no truth in it. Yes, the administration did not allow him to hold a demonstration at Gandhi statue in Hazratganj, as he had announced on Friday. They are free to state a protest in Eco Garden, which has been made the official dharna sthal (protest ground) so that no inconvenience is cause to commuters.”

Commenting on the Centre’s Kashmir move, Pandey said, “The BJP government doesn’t want any other viewpoint on Kashmir than its own to be projected. They have suppressed the voice of Kashmiris and now they don’t want anybody even outside Kashmir to talk about it.”

In 2016, Pandey’s teaching contract as a visiting professor at the Banaras Hindu University’s Indian Institute of Technology was abruptly terminated on charges of him being “involved in anti-national activities and (being) a Naxalite” and for allegedly “showing the banned documentary on the Nirbhaya case, India’s Daughter to his students.”

Speaking to The Wire then, he said, “I wish to clarify that I am not a Naxalite. The ideology I would consider myself closest to is Gandhian.”