Kashmir: The quite Fire of the Himalayas

This article by Mohsin Mohi-Ud-Din published in MWC News analyzes the reasons for the enworsening situation currently lived in Kashmir these being the deterioration of human rights in the area together with a discriminatory state judicial system which guarantees impunity to security forces. The views of Mr. Mohi-Ud-Din have provoked some discussion in the accompany blog to the source news item.

MWC News

I remember the first time I heard gun fire and grenade blasts when visiting my family in the embattled Himalayan region of Indian occupied Kashmir, IOK. Yet, I first became cognizant of what those bullets could do when my aunt was killed in the embattled state of Kashmir in 1992.  Icia’s death forced me to witness how violence and poverty brought out complex developments within the youth: anger, pain, hate and most tragic of all…a toxic combination of helplessness and humiliation that fuels the cycles of violence we see in places such as Sudan, Palestine, and Kashmir. Just what is it like to live in Kashmir? I will never forget what one victim described to me in 2003. When asked what it felt like to be a Kashmiri then, he replied “to walk outside the gate of one’s home feels like walking in a field of mines”. News this week from Kashmir give his words the same relevance today as they had years ago when his 17 year old nephew, Ajaaz, was extra-judicially murdered by Indian paramilitary forces.

In recent weeks, Kashmir has experienced the resignation of Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad and the collapse of its local government; daily riots in the Hindu dominated region of Jammu and the Muslim dominated region of the Kashmir valley; the discovery of over 900 mass graves by rights groups; and the deaths of dozens of protesters.  Last week, communal riots by Hindus in the Jammu region resulted in Hindu extremists destroying roads and railways in an attempt to blockade the Kashmir valley’s Muslim community from medicine, petrol, and food supplies. Kashmiri Muslims staged daily protest in which Indian security forces fired upon unarmed protesters, killing over 25 Kashmiris. Hundreds more have been injured. By Monday, security forces had arrested 3 prominent Kashmiri political figures, Mirwaiz Omar Farooq, Yasin Malik, and Syed Geelani, who have been leading the mass protests of the last few weeks. The arrest of these leaders is a blatant attempt by state security agencies to weaken the political will of Kashmiri civil society at a time when Kashmiri civil society has been gaining some momentum.

These developments have seemingly breathed new life into the Kashmiri movement for self determination. Yet, my fears seem to be manifesting themselves in two ways. First, the Kashmiri children born during the violent insurgency from 1989, children who have seen nothing but war and failed political and judicial processes—today are now children no more and are ever vulnerable to violence as the only means to have voice. Consequently, we may witness a resurgence of violence that had claimed thousands of lives in late 1980s and early 1990s. Second, the instability in Kashmir has seemingly shifted from its political roots to now more religious undertones. This will complicate the global war on terror in Pakistan and Afghanistan and will polarize India’s Muslims against non-Muslim communities in South-East Asia.

How has Kashmir reached this new boiling point? The current Kashmiri unrest is not the result of a land dispute between Hindus-Muslims, as is so widely reported. Rather, the current wave of instability in Kashmir is itself the result of a continued deterioration of Kashmiri human rights within a discriminatory state judicial apparatus granting immunity to security forces who commit atrocities. An example of the blatant disregard for Kashmiri rights by India was seen in April and 2008 when over 1,000 mass graves were discovered by rights groups in just one district in Kashmir and there are believed to be thousand more. India refused to open investigations into the graves. The Association of Parents of Disappeared Persons, APDP, allege that many of these graves contain bodies of victims of custodial killings and enforced disappearances. The APDP has documented over 8,000 cases since 1989 and most of the disappearances were allegedly committed by state security forces of India.

The one ray of hope towards restoring a sense of accountability and trust among Kashmiri Muslims in valley has been the International People's Tribunal for Human Rights and Justice in Indian-administered Kashmir. Kashmiris are searching for justice and accountability and the Kashmir Tribunal is the first organized attempt by civil society to achieve justice and accountability. The leading Kashmiri rights activist, Parvez Imroz and Dr. Angana Chatterji are the co-conveners of the International People's Tribunal for Human Rights and Justice in Indian-administered Kashmir. They have been doing independent investigations on the recent discovery of hundreds of mass graves in Kashmir.  However, the promise of the Tribunal risks losing momentum. The Kashmir Tribunal’s investigations led to Parvez and his family being assaulted by armed men affiliated with state security forces, who attempted to kill him and his family with a grenade.

Further destabilization of the region will affect the global war on terror and the process of developing lasting peace in South Asia. This will manifest itself in next few years unless India ceases its counter insurgency tactics involving enforced disappearances and extra judicial killings. In relation to the United State’s interests, continued instability in Kashmir will stifle any efforts in the global war on terror being waged in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Continued obstruction by India on processes for justice and accountability will create a void that risks being filled by extremists recruiting youth to take up arms.

Kashmiris are looking to United States and the United Nations to press India to cease abuses against Kashmiris and to support the Kashmir Tribunal. We have been so occupied by the classifications of India or Pakistan; Muslim or Hindu; that we have forgotten to be human. For the sake of justice and accountability, for the sake of the war against extremism, for the sake of human rights, I pray that India’s and Pakistan’s security and judicial bodies cease obstructing Kashmiris’ efforts for peace, justice and accountability. Now is the time to hear Kashmiris out. Now is the time to be human, above all else.

(Source: MWC News Kashmir: The Quite Fire of the Himalayas )