eid ul adha mubarak

‘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.

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.”

Article 370 is Done But the Dawn of a New Era is Still Some Distance Away

A sincere and incorruptible leadership, enjoying mass support and willing to carry forward the agenda of change and development, will not emerge simply because we have scrapped J&K’s special status.

In a popular move, the Modi government has scrapped Articles 370 and 35A of the constitution regarding the special status of Jammu and Kashmir and divided it into two union territories. Questions have been raised about the constitutionality of the move and will be adjudicated by the Supreme Court. It has also re-ignited the political slugfest of Nehru versus Patel in the context of the handling of the Kashmir issue immediately after independence. However, what should matter to us the most is its impact on the ground situation.

Pakistan reacted angrily, but its response has been characterised by the absence of effective options and a deep divide between Imran Khan and his political opponents, visible during their parliament debate. Pakistan’s duplicity in questioning the Indian move, even though it has unilaterally altered the status and demography of the parts of Jammu and Kashmir under its illegal occupation, is self-evident. Its retaliatory steps are largely symbolic, replicating those taken by India in the wake of some egregious Pakistan-sponsored acts of terror in the past. Its decision to suspend trade will hurt its economy more, notably by depriving its textile and pharmaceutical industries of cheaper cotton and bulk drug imports from India. The painstaking effort of putting in place some CBMs between the two countries has gone to waste, but there is nothing in Pakistan’s measures that India cannot live with.

The international reaction has been muted, largely confined to calling for restraint by both sides. Some pro forma references to the non-binding and outdated UN Security Council resolutions, including in the statement of the UN Secretary-General, would remain empty words. Any manoeuvres by Pakistan at the UN are not likely to get much traction from the international community, with the possible exception of China. However, even China’s statement on the Indian move focused on Ladakh in the context of its territorial claim.

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

Our J&K problem ceased a long time ago to be one of UN intervention and for many years now, one of international pressure, which India is eminently equipped to handle. It boils down to the following: (1) Pakistan’s continuous interference to unleash terror and mayhem in the Kashmir Valley and (2) the alienation of the local populace that has provided Pakistan a fertile ground for its nefarious designs. What would be the impact of the removal of J&K’s special status on these factors?

Pakistan’s terror card

Pakistan’s questioning of the accession of J&K to India did not stem from the existence of Article 370 and will outlast its scrapping. So will its terror card, which is the only way for it to keep its dubious Kashmir agenda alive. The proposition that the timing of the Indian government’s move was determined by Trump’s offer to mediate on Kashmir misses the point that the offer was aimed at humouring the Pakistani establishment in the context of the ongoing US negotiations with the Taliban, in the full knowledge that India would not accept it. The Americans were unable to impose a Kashmir solution on a much weaker India over the years. They would harbour no hope whatsoever of doing so today, with or without the existence of J&K’s special status.

Further, the adverse consequences of the resurgence of the Taliban in Afghanistan for India’s security will not be mitigated by the scrapping of Article 370. With the FATF sword hanging over its head and the need for greater focus on the Afghan front, ramping up terror against India at this juncture will be a tough choice for Pakistan. This indeed may have been one of the considerations behind the timing of the Indian move. However, it would be unrealistic to expect an end to Pakistan terror till a change in the nature of the Pakistani state – the dominance of the army and its worldview – which is nowhere on the cards. Countering Pakistan terror would require a continuous effort on our part, quite independent of the end of J&K’s special status.

Immediate challenge facing India

Internally, India’s immediate challenge is to maintain peace in the Valley in the wake of the recent changes, but our goal remains the building of durable peace there. Use of force has repeatedly brought calm to the Valley in the past, only to be followed by phases of renewed violence. We have lacked political consensus on the steps necessary to build durable peace – the opinion ranging between the extremes of ‘the sky being the limit to autonomy under the Indian constitution’ and termination of J&K’s special status.

The Modi government has ended that debate by implementing the latter option. The prime minister has promised a new era of progress and economic opportunities to the people. The underlying assumption seems to be that after being denied the hope of any negotiation on the status of J&K, the people would buy into the development agenda and emotionally integrate themselves with the Indian union.

Also read: There is No Wisdom in Turning All Kashmiris Into Antagonists

The scrapping of Article 35A raises the prospect of citizens from other parts of the country settling down in J&K and investing there. However, there are imponderables. Implementation of the new agenda in the Valley would depend upon the security situation there. Moulding public opinion in its favour would require a massive effort of engaging with the people in the Valley – something this government has shunned so far, with the exception of the ill-fated PDP-BJP alliance and a feeble attempt through its interlocutor, Dineshwar Sharma. It would also require local agents of change who carry conviction with the people.

With the mainstream parties of Kashmir marginalised and the amorphous leadership of the violent mobs, the choice of who to engage with has not been easy in recent years. The government is now actively engaged in discrediting the mainstream parties, whose leaders have admittedly displayed weaknesses not uncommon to politicians in other parts of India, but which have also stood firmly by the finality of the accession of Jammu and Kashmir to India. There is no clarity on who would carry forward the agenda of change. A sincere and incorruptible leadership, enjoying mass support and willing to carry forward the new agenda, will not emerge simply because we have scrapped Article 370. Any opportunists, wishing to ride to power with the support of the Union government as in the past, may prove to be just that.

Finally, any faltering in the maintenance of communal harmony in the rest of the country would add to the complexity of our task in Kashmir. The die having been cast, we must wish the government well in its endeavours to bring peace and progress to Kashmir. However, given the complex ground situation, the recent changes in the status of Jammu and Kashmir remain a leap of faith. Their impact, particularly in relation to our goal of building durable peace, will become known only in the coming years.

Sharat Sabharwal is a former diplomat. Views expressed are personal.

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

“Now I know there is no place for a Kashmiri Muslim anywhere – we carry a dual baggage that nobody has the heart or will to accommodate or welcome.”

“I would like to write one of those sophisticated stories in which even though nothing happens, there’s lots to write about. That can’t be done in Kashmir. It’s not sophisticated, what happens here. There’s too much blood for good literature.”
~ Arundhati Roy, The Ministry for Utmost Happiness

Two weekends ago, my WhatsApp was flooded with rumours stating our phones and internet are going to be cut off. That something drastic was going to happen, potentially a war, so we should stock up food. This was followed by instructions not to take these rumours seriously – that they were spread by miscreants who enjoy chaos. We also heard of a notice instructing all tourists to vacate Kashmir immediately. As if the tourism here was already booming.

Monday morning when I woke up, the first thing I felt was the air. It was not normal – there was an ambiguous stench, a combination of terror, fear and blood. I am not exaggerating – the air here feels different. One needs to live here to understand these nuances. I checked my phone and realised everything we had been told not to pay heed to had come true.

Our phone calls, text messages and internet were barred, and we couldn’t contact anyone or visit them. This is the 21st century, and our government, which claimed we were an integral part of India, chose to decide things for us, and silenced us. It was forcing us to spend our days in worry and anxiety, the breadth of which ranges from worrying about our homeland to the condition of all those we love.

Over the course of the day, I head several things that were happening which we had no way to confirm. Our news channels were cut off; our phones were not working. By evening, we got to know that Bills revoking Article 35A and 370 of our constitution, which granted special status to Jammu and Kashmir, had been introduced, voted for and decided on in a day in parliament.

I recognised the stench of that morning – doom. It was not war they were preparing for, though that might have been better. They brought us under the direct control of the Centre, when they had already been controlling us through military occupation. (This is the largest democracy in the world – joy.)

I knew the people would not take this lightly. To change the mood, my uncle asks me if we bought goats for qurbaani on Eid. I say, “Hum toh qurbaan hi ho gaye, ab aage kya karien?(We are already sacrificed – what else is left to do?)”

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

We were under curfew, and there was an eerie silence that wails in war-torn places. No shops were open – we had no means to buy essential commodities including food and medicine. It was the week of Eid-ul-Adha, one of our biggest festivals. The eternal hoping heart I have, I told my family that they would relax restrictions on Eid. They reply, “Yeli ni teman sean parwah che, saani Eenz hinz kya aasi? (When they don’t care for us as a people, why would they care for our joy?)” Hope is no match for that kind of truth.

My helper Faraz*, who hails from Kupwara (one of the most volatile places in Kashmir) hasn’t seen his family for a week. He tells me listlessly that his wife had no money on her and has three children to feed. The men in my family pace the room endlessly – there is nothing to do. It make me think of young boys and girls captured in their houses, with gunshots for background music, life and youth rotting away. No wonder drug abuse and PTSD among other mental health disorders are here in abundance – what else can you grow here? They have and continue to rob us of our identity, of self esteem, or of our minds and our faculty to think and feel normally.

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

Friday arrives and so does dread. I go to my grandmother’s house to watch the news. A prominent Indian news channel claims normalcy in the Valley and peaceful occurrence of Friday prayers. I am enraged. All I heard in my Mohalla were slogans of “Hum kya chahte? Azadi!” and “Naara e taqbeer, allah hu akbar” being chanted in the mosque after the Friday namaaz. I can hear the protests. I can hear the gunshots.

In the evening I find out there have been casualties and pellets are being fired by the army. My relative and neighbour had been hit while they were standing at their gates, not protesting. People have been hit while they have been inside their houses. My neighbour was hit in the eye and is in the hospital. Another helper, who braved the curfew to see me, tells me there are multiple casualties in Eidgah.

A man with pellet injuries lies in a hospital bed after he was injured during clashes between the police and protesters during restrictions after the government scrapped special status for Kashmir, in Srinagar August 9, 2019. Photo: Reuters/Stringer

None of this is being covered by the media – they are deliberately interviewing people living in peaceful areas. The rest of the country is being given a rosy picture of what we are going through while we burn. What actually happens in Kashmir, what its people know and what the rest of the country knows are entirely different things.

Last evening, Faraz went to purchase mutton for Eid, so that for one day we could take a break and pretend there was still an iota of normalcy. He told us that the butcher, who had opened his shop late in the evening, was raided by young men and attacked for opening his shop when things were so dire.

At first I was furious – why couldn’t these men let us make merry for one day.

Faraz said that these men told the butcher, “Che chukka shaahedan hyund khoon kinaan? (Are you selling the blood of martyrs?)”

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

We were all complicit in this. You cannot make merry in a land running red with the blood of its people, where dying is a way of being alive.

People’s grit and fury shook me – they are going out on the streets to reclaim their home, with reckless abandon and no fear for their lives. And once that fear has gone, what use is the largest or second largest army in the world? There is an aching hope that maybe this mad angst can rule over tyranny and free us of this torment.

On the day before Eid, we usually celebrate in preparation for the festival with our hearts filled with joy. We were told restrictions would be relaxed on Sunday, but then the news came that the curfew had been re-imposed, with no explanation or reasons.

In my 24 years, I have never seen an Eid this heart-breaking. Everyone is distracted, uninvolved, anxious and unhappy. I don’t know if the phone lines will be open to wish our loved ones.

To top it all, rumours say the situation is going to worsen after Eid. August 15 has been volatile in Kashmir for years, and in light of recent events, I cannot even imagine what lies in store for us. I am more afraid than I have ever been. Possibly, because earlier, no matter how charged a situation was, a Kashmiri was at home in her homeland. Now I know there is no place for a Kashmiri Muslim anywhere – we carry a dual baggage that nobody has the heart or will to accommodate or welcome.

*Name changed.

This piece was filed by SMS and has light edits for clarity. Normal movement and communications have yet to be restored in the Valley.

Qurat ul Ain has completed her masters in clinical psychology and aims to practice psychotherapy in her hometown, Kashmir.