Delhi Is to Be Blamed for Rise in Kashmir’s Youth Militancy

Delhi’s failure in providing an alternative to the youth explains recent unrest in Kashmir, writes Gautam Navlakha.

Burhan Muzaffar Wani and his comrades were born, and died, in a phase of militancy in Jammu and Kashmir that symbolises a watershed in the state’s politics, witnessed before and during 1989-90. Unlike in the past, indigenous militants now neither travel to Pakistan for guns nor for arms training. Armed resistance and its indigenous roots are etched on the faces of these young men.

Burhan’s killing on July 8, followed by the turnout at his funeral, as well as the protests that broke out in the Kashmir valley have rekindled memories of the early 90s, especially the death of Ashfaq Majid in 1990, which too saw mass outpouring of rage. Burhan and his comrades knew that they would not survive for long; seven years is the average life span of a militant in Kashmir, as Burhan’s father poignantly stated long before his son’s death.

Restricting the Role of State Government

Indians remained ignorant of the depth of the passion for ‘azaadi’ from forced union with India, as was being imposed then in myriad ways. The policy of grabbing land to settle non-state ex-servicemen (an old project of the RSS), giving non-state subjects unhindered access to land for industry, real estate, mining, setting up fortified colonies for migrants, where control of the state government, especially the Kashmir-based ruling parties, over the levers of administration has always been circumscribed by New Delhi.

And financial dependence, compounded by autonomy of the military from the purview of the representative government, all point to the fact that the reins of government are ensconced in New Delhi.

Disillusionment Looms Large

If into this vortex we add the role played in the past as well as in recent times by the Hindutva forces in J&K, then only a closed mind would fail to see the consequences of our own folly. It was the obduracy of the Government in 1986-89 that created the conflict situation; the brutal suppression that had been let loose since 1989-90 further transformed J&K, turning Kashmir in particular into a  military garrison. They are everywhere, present in  bunkers, check posts, drop gates, behind concertina fences, camps, cantonments, fortifications, on roads, bazaars – an all too visible presence.

Elections every six years (as in J&K) are not the sum total of politics. Participation in elections is nothing more than a compromise in daily life to make survival a little less onerous. Recall what AS Dulat, ex-RAW chief wrote in his book on his years in Kashmir, that even an old woman who goes and casts her vote will not give up asking for “Azaadi”. Why should they? Each time officials turn to distant causes, never once accepting that hearts and minds of the people are not with them in Kashmir, the sheer scale of armed resistance shoots up.

Blaming Pakistan

Not often do we ask that if J&K has been in administrative control of India for nearly seven decades – with a deployment of more than 600,000 armed soldiers comprising army, para military and armed state police forces spread over J&K, who are also equipped with stringent laws – then how does Pakistan finds it so easy to stoke fires of rebellion in Indian administered Kashmir?  If elections and electoral turnouts are indicators of people’s choice, then how come the very same people join militants’ funerals and gather at encounter sites? 

To blame outside agencies for ‘radicalisation’ has been a tried and tested myopic approach. Pakistan has been enabled to ‘fish in troubled waters’ by the Indian government by virtually closing all avenues of protest and expression, lack of any political initiative, jeopardising the right to life by giving legal immunity to the military that can kill on suspicion, resulting in unsolved cases of custodial killings, torture, rape, disappearances. This has been the driving force behind pushing people on to social media as well as driving them towards taking up arms again.

Second Wave of Militancy

Terror groups such as Lashkar or Jaish have reactivated themselves because young people began to drift towards militancy slowly, after the bloody suppression they experienced between 2008-1010. In 2008, there was a discernible shift away from guns towards mass unarmed protests; today, that has swung back towards armed militancy in a decisive way. Instead of seizing the moment in 2008, the UPA I and II squandered that opportunity, the reason being that the GoI had nothing to offer.

Offer of autonomy is an old hat brought forth whenever conflict escalates. There are no takers for it anymore because no one takes it seriously. The issue of state subject-hood in J&K is no different than elsewhere in the North East or in the forest areas of India. Beyond this, the GoI has ensured that they will continue to call the shots in J&K.

Former Chief Minister Omar Abdullah nailed the truth when he said that Burhan’s death will galvanise militancy. The spokesperson of ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the state police has asked parents to prevent their children from participating in ongoing protests. The question one should ask is – which parent would like to see their child go out to get killed. But when people belonging to every age group are joining the protests, asking parents to stop their wards is akin to grasping at straws, lending evidence to the Government’s miscalculation.

A Dogmatic Party in Power Makes the Situation Worse

Enlightened self-interest would be a courageous road to take. Tragedy is that the situation is made worse by the presence of a dogmatic and ideological party in power in New Delhi. And what was bad has been made worse by the Prime Minister who publicly declared in Srinagar last November that he needed no advice on Kashmir.

So the hackneyed approach of sending more troops, strident support for legal immunity for security forces just days after the apex court has raised very uncomfortable questions about armed forces’ definition of ‘enemy’, “internal disturbance”, rights and liberties of civilians even in “disturbed areas”, the “indefinite” time taken to restore “normalcy” etc, seems to have had no salutary impact on the Government.

A closed mind brooks no dissent. So I can only say, “cry my beloved country”, because instead of arresting this slide towards renewed cycle of bloodletting, the government is rushing us towards it. The consequences are grim, and we can no longer duck a hard look at ourselves.

(The writer is a civil liberties and human rights activist)

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