Situation in Kashmir Depressing, Says David Devadas at Book Launch

David Devadas’ book on Kashmir’s youth bases itself on research carried out across 60 schools in the valley.

After spending nearly three decades in the valley, David Devadas had made up his mind to leave Jammu and Kashmir. The journalist’s decision had pained many, including three students, who showed up at his residence in the January 2016. “Don’t go, they pleaded. I told them I was leaving the day after and couldn’t stay on,” Devadas said.

The next morning, Devadas woke up to the “unforgettable sight” of a snowfall. As he lay in bed, the author began thinking about the “indescribable beauty of this place and the warmth of its people. I then decided to stay back. This meant, I also witnessed the unrest that followed.”

His experience of Kashmir its modern-day tussle, culminated in the form of a book titled The Generation of a Rage in Kashmir, which was released on Tuesday, 4 September 2018.

Apart from the two protracted phases of unrest, Devadas also witnessed protests that broke out in Kashmir, following the killing of Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani in 2016.

One of the chapters in his book, says Devadas, deals with hateful polarization, that has “progressed more and more since 2010.” When Devadas started writing the book, “he thought it was about a minority of young people who’ve grown up in violence.” But, by the time he finished writing it, he realized it was about “the majority.”

Kashmir’s Changing Protesters

Those who were on the streets in 2008, maintained Devadas, were not the same people who had come out protesting in 2016. In 2008, protests had broken out over the Centre’s proposal to transfer over 99 acres of land in the state to the Amarnath Shrine Board for developing temporary shelters for pilgrims.

The persons who were out in the streets in 2008, were in their twenties and had passed the age of 30 by 2016. Those who protested in 2008, were not the ones who protested in 2016. This time, the protesters were mainly teenagers, who were mostly six or seven-years-old in 2008. 

David Devadas, Author & Journalist

In each of the three phases of protests that Devadas witnessed closely, the causes and participants were broadly different. While in 2008, “it was about people outside the state taking possession of land and about the Kashmiri Identity, in 2010, it was a cry for a rule of law.” But with the killing of Burhan Wani by security forces in 2016, the protests in the valley were clearly “in support of the acclaimed militant.”

“Alliance Wasn’t Easy for Mehbooba”

Amitabh Matoo, who served as an advisor to Mehbooba Mufti, was part of a panel discussion on Kashmir, moderated by veteran journalist Barkha Dutta. When Dutt asked if the PDP-BJP alliance could have added the situation on the ground, Matoo said “the late Mufti Mohammed Sayed did not personally know PM Modi and assumed he was a pragmatic, Vajpayee-like figure. He had the chutzpah of keeping the vision intact. But after him, it just collapsed.”

If the alliance was deeply unpopular and had collapsed after Sayed’s death, asked Barkha, why did the PDP not pull out?

Though defensive of Mehbooba’s decision, Matoo feels the former J&K Chief Minister could have pulled out of the government earlier. But this, he says, would have led to another set of government.

After the BJP went to press, declaring that it was withdrawing from the government, Mehbooba Mufti resigned as Chief Minister on 19 July 2018.

A Paradise Lost in Kashmir

In most of her interactions with the media and meetings with the Centre, Mehbooba Mufti had constantly stressed the need for dialogue, both within and outside Kashmir. Pakistan, largely believed to have sponsored unrest and terrorism in the valley, is an important part of this dialogue process.

Siddharth Varadarajan, founding editor of The Wire, said that whether one “likes it or not, Pakistan is a party to the problem. You have to engage with Pakistan and there’s no getting away from dialogue.”

Buttressing his argument in favour of dialogue, Varadarajan said every time India had reached out to Pakistan, things would “cool down in the valley.” He felt this promise of engagement, which was a part of the alliance’s spelt-out agenda, officially known as the common-minimum programme, failed to take shape on the ground.

Under the Prime Minister Modi, asserts Varadarajan, “not only was the door of dialogue with Pakistan shut, but no effort was made either, to pursue any domestic track.” He further maintains that the mandate PM Modi’s BJP came in with, should have emboldened him to walk the talk. Instead “he squandered and lost an opportunity,” adds Varadarajan.

So where does a broken alliance, rising militancy and a complete mistrust in the political system leave India’s sensitive state?

David Devadas felt that the situation looks only depressing. “The impression of politicians among the youth is falling. The teenagers today talk about not being able to speak out and make their voices heard. The anger, the belief is beyond belief.”