August 7: National Protest Day against Abrogation of Article 370

August 6, 2019

Move an “assault on India’s Constitution, democracy and federalism”

Indian Left parties, the Communist Party of India (Marxist), Communist Party of India (CPI), Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) Liberation, All India Forward Bloc and Revolutionary Socialist Party have declared together declared August 7 as the National Protest day against “Dismantling the State of Jammu & Kashmir” which they have condemned an “assault on India’s Constitution, Democracy & Federalism”.

In a statement issued on Monday, the parties said that the “unilateral” abrogation of Article 370 and other provisions of the Constitution and division of the state of Jammu and Kashmir by the Modi government, through an act of Parliament, “has dealt a severe blow to our constitutional order”.

The Indian government, on Monday, suddenly announced the abrogation of Article 370 and the bifurcation of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh into two union territories. Before this, the state witnessed secretive tensions as sudden and extraordinary military troops were moved into tge state. This generated panic and fear prevailed in the state from August 2 onwards. When this unilateral abrogation was announced through a Presidential Order in Parliament, the people of Kashmir were forced into a state of complete shut-down. All internet, mobile and cellular services have been disconnected, leaders of the opposition have been put under house arrest. There has been a curfew imposed ever since.

Calling the move an assault on federalism, a fundamental feature of the Indian Constitution, the statement by left parties, said, “The special provisions guaranteed by the Indian Constitution to the state of Jammu & Kashmir were the result of the princely state signing the instrument of accession to the Indian Union in the face of Pakistani invaders. By the current measures, the Modi government has completely negated the assurance made by the Indian government to the people of Jammu & Kashmir.”

The statement highlighted the fact that the Indian union was formed on the basis of the unity of our people recognizing the immense diversities that exist, which is the legacy of our freedom struggle. Clearly, the RSS/BJP cannot tolerate any diversity and are converting Jammu-Kashmir and Ladakh as two separate centrally administered Union Territories.
“This is a betrayal of all promises, repeated ad nauseam by the Central government over the years, of upholding Kashmiriyat, Jamhooriyat (democracy) and Insaniyat (humanism)”, it said.

Emphasising the need for a “political dialogue”, the statement said that the strengthening of the bonds of the people of Jammu & Kashmir with the rest of India can only be through the “process of political dialogue with all stakeholders, as promised by the government three years ago”. It said that this step, which is “unilateral” in nature “will only deepen the alienation” and called this “harmful for the unity and integrity of India.”

In view of this situation, the Left parties have call upon the people of India to strongly protest against “these illegal and unconstitutional methods employed by the Modi Government.” The statement noted, “These are not issues confined to Jammu & Kashmir alone. They constitute an attack on democracy, federalism and the constitutional order.”

Call for protest
The Left parties call for a protest day on August 7, 2019 all over the country.
Jointly signed by:
1. Sitaram Yechury, General Secretary, CPI (M)
2. D Raja, General Secretary, CPI
3. Dipankar Bhattacharya, General Secretary, CPI (ML)
4. Debabrata Biswas, General Secretary, AIFB
5. Kshiti Goswami, RSP

SC directs states to file compliance affidavits in Forest Rights case

August 6, 2019

The Supreme Court has directed states who have not filed compliance affidavits on the matter of implementation of the Forest Rights Act, 2006 to do so within a fortnight’s time. Wild Life First v/s Union of India –a batch of petitions filed in 2008 challenging the constitutional validity of the Forest Rights Act of 2006 came up for hearing before the court at 3.50 p.m. on August 6. The hearing of the case has now been scheduled for September 12. Interveners that include Adivasi organisations, concerned citizens and academics have also been permitted to address the court and file written arguments on crucial issues that require deliberation. Detailed arguments are likely to resume in the month of September. Adivasi women leaders, Sokalo Gond and Nivada Rana backed by the All India Union of Forest Working Peoples (AIUFWP) and Citizens for Justice and Peace (CJP) have also intervened.

Image Courtesy: https://theleaflet.in/

States of Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha and Tamil Nadu have already filed affidavits. A controversial affidavit filed by the Forest Survey of India (FSI) is also reported to be on the records.

The matter, being heard since 2008, made the headlines when the Supreme Court on February 13,2 019 “ordered the evictions of millions of Adivasis and Forest Dwellers.” Protests and condemnations followed. Thereafter, on February 28, hearing in the case on the Forest Rights Act (FRA), 2006, the Supreme Court had stayed its February 13 eviction order. The court had also pulled up the Centre for waking up from its “slumber” and claiming that due process was not followed by states while passing the rejection orders against the dwellers. Though the order was subsequently stayed by the SC, the fate of these people still hangs in the balance and their future remains uncertain. The loss of not just their homes, but also their livelihoods threatens to deal twin body blows from which these marginalised and vulnerable people are unlikely to recover.

When the matter thereafter came up, post elections on July 24, In the five months since then, 19 intervention applications have been filed in the matter, all defending the constitutional validity of the Forest Rights Act 2006, a historic legislation that brings a jurisprudential shift in recognising the livelihood rights of traditional forest Dwellers, Adivasis and Dalits. These include an intervention filed by retired bureaucrats and academics, Sharad Lele and Nandini Sundar. Among the 19 interventions is one by two Adivasi women leaders.

Adivasi human rights defenders Sokalo Gond and Nivada Rana have moved Supreme Court praying for justice for millions of forest dwellers, especially women, who have been denied forest rights, and now face the prospect of eviction from their traditional habitats. The duo have filed an intervention application in the ongoing case led by Wildlife First.

Sokalo and Nivada’s intervention application is supported by the All India Union of Forest Working People (AIUFWP) and Citizens for Justice and Peace (CJP), two organisations that have been actively campaigning for forest rights. What makes this intervention application special is that it explains how the law is in statutory line with Schedules V, VI and IX of the Constitution. Forest Rights Act 2006 is the first and only law that recognises the independent rights of women over land and cultivation. The law was brought in to set right the imbalance of power in favour of a Repressive Forest Department empowered by the colonial-era Indian Forest Act of 1927.

Adivasis and forest dwelling communities have already borne the brunt of historical injustices at the hands of the British colonists who brought about legislations to appropriate forest land and produce. What subsequent administrations failed to acknowledge is that these traditional forest dwelling communities are also the ones protecting our environment and biodiversity from twin threats from greedy corporations and climate change.

Widespread campaigns and protests were held in the lead up to the hearing of the case. Letters were written by Adivasi and farmer organisations to all chief ministers, urging them to file affidavits in the Supreme Court seeking recall of its now stayed February 13 order directing the eviction of 10 lakh forest dwellers alleged to have “illegally” encroached upon forest land.

In this letter, protesters have explained the reason behind writing to all the chief ministers, saying that “erroneous interpretation” of the Forest Rights Act — that rejection of claims must result in evictions — continued to “hold the field” despite the court’s February 28 order.

“We believe that there is an impression that after the Supreme Court order dated 28.2.2019 staying its earlier order putting the orders for eviction ‘on hold’, there is no further need for the order dated 13.2.2019 to be recalled or modified,” it said. “However, despite the fact that the directions for eviction have been put ‘on hold’ by the court, the erroneous interpretation of the FRA advanced by the writ petitions that rejection of claims must, by definition, result in evictions continues to hold the field.”

After the February 13 order, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi had asked all party-ruled states to file review petitions in the Supreme Court against its order to evict tribals and forestland dwellers whose claims had been rejected. Two days later, BJP president Amit Shah had issued a similar directive to all party-ruled states.

Bajrang Dal goons attack peaceful crowd in Patna gathered to discuss Kashmir and abrogation of Art. 370

August 6, 2019

JJSS’s Kamayani Swami highlights the need to come together to deal with notorious elements running amok.

Bajrang Dal goons attacked a peaceful crowd gathered in Patna on Monday. The crowd had gathered at Kargil Chowk, Gandhi Maidan as part of a citizen’s initiative to discuss and understand Article 370 and the recent developments in Kashmir. Veteran activist Ashish Ranjan from grassroots organisation Jan Jagaran Shakti Sangathan and Sumant from Communist Party of India (CPI) were seriously hurt. Ashish’s glasses broke.

This is a first-hand account of what materialised yesterday, from JJSS’s Kamayani Swami who was present at the spot,

“The general bystanders were listening [to the program]. We were about 60-70 people. The program was an initiative by citizens from different walks of life. Since Article 370 is a complex issue, we just thought of listening to the speakers. We were just leaving for Araria and thought that before we catch the bus we could attend the program. The speakers were explaining the provisions of the article, and the bystanders were curious. It would be wrong to say that the bystanders were violent or anything. They were hearing what the speakers had to say.

The people from Bajrang Dal, who attacked us were about 20-30 in numbers and clearly had planned to attack the crowd. The men in the mob, claiming to be BJP supporters first started abusing the protestors with derogatory words. They said, “These people are from Tukde Tukde gang. Somebody from the crowd said that Tukde Tukde has happened because of the abrogation of Article 370 and not because of us. The bystanders or the crowd wasn’t the one which attacked us. I was sitting that time and was completely stunned at this, we didn’t expect this. Someone held my hand and pulled me.

When they started beating us, we kept trying to talk to them, “Why are you beating us?” We believe in non-violence. So we kept telling them that don’t beat us and let’s talk.

Then they began swinging lathis and hitting people randomly with sticks and fist. Ashish was hit physically and his glasses also broke off. Sumant was also badly beaten on his head and was taken to hospital for treatment, although fortunately he is not grievously injured in the head. Others who got hurt due to the beatings are Mona Jha, Anish, Ankur and many others.

The aberration to this was a uniformed officer who had a lathi in hand, the kind that the Bajrang Dal goons had as well. He also beat people up, and we kept questioning him about the need to beat us. The rest of the police force, however, was trying to separate the crowd and they didn’t hurt us in any way.”

“We have attended several meetings earlier and faced obstructions but this time they were especially emboldened.”

It must be noted that yesterday, the government of India announced the abrogation of Article 370 and the bifurcation of Jammu and Kashmir into two union territories. Before this, the state witnessed an extraordinary military presence and panic prevailed in the state. As this was announced in the Parliament, the people of Kashmir were forced into a state of complete shut-down. All the internet, mobile, cellular services have been disconnected, leaders of the opposition have been put under house arrest. There has been a curfew imposed ever since.

On the need to respond to this extraordinary situation, Kamayani said, “There is a need to build solidarity from within and not just for namesake. We need a massive civil rights movement and do things together.”

Towards a ‘Suitable’ Ambedkar

August 6, 2019

Is tweaking of Babasaheb’s iconic slogan — Educate, Organise, Agitate — by the Gujarat government part of a pan-India phenomenon in the saffron camp?

Does anyone still remember the ‘re-editing’ of Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi during National Democratic Alliance (NDA)-I period when demands were raised that it should to be scrapped and the original collected works should to be reinstated so that readers/scholars are made available the ‘most authentic version of writings and utterances of Gandhi’. Noted Gandhians had underlined then how the revised Collected Works and adjoining CDs (compact discs) issued during 2001 had ‘five hundred entries missing’ from the original one.

Thanks to the exit of the Bharatiya Janata Party-led NDA government in 2004, the original Collected Works could be restored and even published online so that henceforth no government — deliberately or inadvertently — is able to make any changes in the works.

Well, while the project to ‘re-edit’ Gandhi was undertaken in a big way, which could be exposed in time, what one observes that surreptitiously or not so surreptitiously, the project to edit other icons of the anti-colonial or social emancipation movement is on in very many ways. It has been quite a long time since both Gandhi as well as Ambedkar — who were once anathema to the Hindutva project — have been included as ‘Pratahsmaraniya‘ (worth remembering in the morning) in the RSS shakhas. The emphasis seems to be on to present a more sanitised image of them which is more acceptable to the ruling dispensation.

A recent example of this has come from Gujarat.
‘Educate, Organise, Agitate’ — a slogan synonymous with the Ambedkarite movement in India — which was the motto of Bahishrut Hitkarini Sabha founded by Babasaheb in 1924 — had a new ‘avatar’, thanks to the Gujarat government textbook board and its team of experts. The fifth standard Gujarati textbook replaced this with ‘Educate, Organise and Self-Reliance as true assistance’.

As expected, this tweaking of Ambedkar’s key slogan — which he had used in his inspirational speech addressing a meeting of All India Scheduled Castes Federation in 1945 as well — created an uproar in Ambedkarite circles and a demand was made to rectify it immediately. A layperson could even see that ‘Agitate’ being substituted with ‘Self-reliance as true assistance’ cannot be even attributed to printer’s devil.

A protest letter submitted by some Ambedkarite activists to the government rightly expressed why this ‘distorted presentation of truth’ is unacceptable.

“Any discretionary change in the slogan not only hurts sentiments of crores of followers of Babasaheb but will also be called distorted presentation of a historic truth,”

The protest letter also compared the slogan with the slogan given by Subhash Chandra Bose — Tum Mujhe Khoon do, Main Tumhe Azadi Dunga — and said, “Can we imagine a slogan like – Tum Mujhe Paisa do, Main Tumhe Azadi Dunga – in the name of our beloved leader Subhash Chandra Bose? And that too in a textbook for children?”

Looking at the fact that vetting of textbooks is a job of experts — who did not raise any objection to this editing of slogan– it would be rather difficult to conclude whether this was an inadvertent mistake or a deliberate move on their part. But, if past records can be checked, one discovers that there has existed a great hiatus between what the government claims about Ambedkar and what it does about it.

Remember, how the then Anandiben Patel-led Gujarat government had withdrawn (2015) and later pulped the book on Dr Ambedkar commissioned by her government itself because it discussed Ambedkar’s radical thoughts on Hinduism and the 22-point pledges he took to convert to Buddhism in 1956. We should not forget that the author of this book was close to the government and a few lakh copies of the book had been prepared which were to be distributed in government schools as supplementary reading.

What were those pledges administered by Ambedkar himself to lakhs of his followers, which the government found ‘explosive’ enough to pulp the book itself? To summarise, the pledges talked of having ‘no faith in Brahma, Vishnu and Mahesh, no faith in Rama and Krishna, no faith in Gauri’, and resolved not to worship them. It also talked about not believing ‘in the incarnation of God’ and maintaining distance from a religious ceremonies that are part of Hinduism and performed by brahmins. While resolving to follow ‘noble eightfold path’ of the Buddha, it also talked of belief in ‘the equality of man’ and one’s endeavour to ‘establish equality’.

The government made it rather explicit that it does respect Ambedkar but on its own terms.

Is it only the saffron camp in Gujarat that is more sensitive towards the real content of Ambedkar’s message or is this a pan-India phenomenon in their camp?

The experience of neighbouring Maharashtra can also be an eye-opener.

The year 2016 happened to be the year of Dr Ambedkar’s 125 birth anniversary and plans were afoot to celebrate it not only in India but in other countries as well. The state government had even planned to spend Rs 500 crore on a grand memorial for Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar at Dadar in Mumbai, and a statue at Indu Mills in Dadar. It was the same year when Dr Ambedkar Bhavan and the building next door that housed a printing press, in Dadar, Mumbai, was demolished in the dark of the night (June 25, 2016).

Whatever be the explanation offered by the government — when it had to go on the defensive because of this demolition — it cannot be forgotten that the Bhavan was situated on prime land and the BJP-led state government had made plans to erect a 17- storeyed building there. What was rather disturbing to note was that the Bhavan was built by Dr Ambedkar himself and ‘[t]his place was witness to many a movement of Ambedkar. ..the building was a treasure trove of documents and manuscripts of Dr Ambedkar, which now lie buried in the debris.”

One even noticed the cavalier manner of ensuring that Dr Ambedkar’s original documents, photographs and source material are preserved. When the Metro was to be built in a particular area of Mumbai where these documents were properly kept, the government overnight asked the people concerned to vacate it within 24 hours and shift the documents to another place where there were no proper arrangements to store them. According to experts “apathy may have led to rare drafts of his books, handwritten works, letters, documents and photographs being destroyed.”
What is the root of this ‘apathy towards the real Ambedkar?

Is it because in the early 1940s itself Dr Ambedkar had rejected the RSS (Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh) and Hindu Mahasabha as “reactionary” organisations. The political manifesto of the Scheduled Castes Federation itself— the political outfit which was set up by him in 1942 had clearly stated:
“The Scheduled Castes Federation will not have any alliance with any reactionary party such as the Hindu Mahasabha or the RSS,”

(See Vol 10 of Dr BhimraoRamjiAmbedkarCharitragranth, a Marathi book by ChangdevBhavanraoKhairmode, or refer to this article.

Or, in his historic monograph, Pakistan or Partition of India, Ambedkar had reiterated his fears vis-a-vis the possible majoritarian turn at the hands of those who vouched for ‘Hindu Raj’

“If Hindu Raj does become a fact, it will no doubt, be the greatest calamity for this country. No matter what the Hindus say, Hinduism is a menace to liberty, equality and fraternity. On that account it is incompatible with democracy. Hindu Raj must be prevented at any cost.” (Ambedkar, Pakistan or Partition of India, p. 358)

There are reasons to believe that formally the Right wing has declared Ambedkar as an icon and keep singing paeans to him but they have not moved far away from the assessment done by one of their ideologues way back in the 1990s. A few hundred-page monograph titled, Worshipping False Gods, which had come out in the mid-nineties spews venom against Ambedkar — an act for which one is yet to see any apology or self-criticism from them.

It was in 2017 when the nation celebrated the 90th year of ‘Mahad Kranti’, as it is termed in dalit folklore, when we were witness to a very disturbing spectacle. Billboards were put up across New Delhi railway station where Ambedkar was presented as an icon for cleanliness. It showed an Ambedkar look-alike leading a group of people towards a dustbin to throw garbage and the banner headline asked people to ‘Wake up the Spirit of Babasaheb Ambedkar and participate in this great campaign of cleaning rubbish (Áap ke andarke Babasaheb ko Aap Jagrut Karein . Gandagi ke khilaf is Mahan Abhiyan mein apna yogdan dein)

Who put up these billboards across the capital’s main railway station and who approved it? Definitely, higher-ups in the government would have vetted these billboards and had found nothing objectionable to this ‘reduction’ of Ambedkar’s image. Was anybody ever punished for this humiliating portrait of this real gem of India?

Was it an oblique way of communicating the understanding much prevalent among dominant castes that for them Ambedkar’s historic contributions in drafting the Constitution or his more than three-decade-long struggle for equity means nothing? Or did they want to reiterate the understanding that in their eyes this great scholar — whose personal library had more than 20,000 books — and who wrote extensively on various issues of immediate and long-term concern of Indian people, was no more than a someone who should remain bound by his ‘traditional duties’ sanctified by religion?

The writer is an independent journalist based in Delhi. The views are personal.

First published on Newsclick.in

The Long Dark Night In Kashmir

August 6, 2019

At the stroke of the midnight hour on 5 August 2019, Jammu and Kashmir was blanketed in a state of siege. 35,000 fresh troops in addition to the existing 6.5 lakhs were present with orders to shoot, curfew, internet and phone shut down, media black out, and all major elected leaders under house arrest.

Already, there was escalated aggression over the past week, with reports of military takeover of state institutions and frenzied evacuation of tourists and Amarnath yatris. Schools, universities and hostels were also shut down, and movement across the state restricted. With a complete gag on democratic space, and unprecedented terror among people, Union Home Minister Amit Shah tabled the resolution in Rajya Sabha to revoke autonomy in Jammu and Kashmir.

At 11:15am on 5 August 2019, Amit Shah announced that the President had already passed orders effectively abrogating Article 370, by extending all the provisions of the Constitution to the state of Jammu and Kashmir. Through convoluted and illegal processes and amendments, Amit Shah then moved to introduce the J&K Reorganisation Bill in Parliament among heavy protest and disruption- a power that the Parliament would not have been allowed under the unamended Article 370. The Bill bifurcates the state into two Union Territories: one of Ladakh, and one of Jammu and Kashmir. The UT of Ladakh is under the direct control of the Union Government through the Lt. Governor, while the UT of Jammu and Kashmir has a Legislative Assembly of its own with extremely limited powers, and is overall under the Lt. Governor.

The BJP government did not circulate the Bills in the House beforehand, and the Speaker Venkaiah Naidu allowed MPs time only until 12:30 pm to propose amendments. It appears that preparations for the move had been underway for months, as the imposition of President’s Rule in December 2018 helped facilitate the government’s actions today. The people of Kashmir themselves are denied any voice through the unconstitutional capture of state institutions and elected representatives, and the force of sheer state terror.

As the day progressed, the Rajya Sabha has passed the Reorganization Bill, and it is now due to be tabled before the Lok Sabha tomorrow. 8000 fresh paramilitary troops and counting have been moved to Kashmir from the states of UP, Odisha, and Assam; and law and order forces of the entire country have been placed on high alert. By the evening, Mehbooba Mufti and Omar Abdullah have also been taken into preventive detention. The blackout in the Valley prevents any access to information about the conditions of the people on the ground at the moment, and we fear ominous consequences as the BJP government brings its plan for the people of Kashmir into action at gunpoint.

We strongly oppose the move of the BJP government to unilaterally attempt to revoke the autonomy of the state of Jammu and Kashmir, with no regard to the Constitution and the rights it enshrines.

Shahana Bhattacharya and Deppika Tandon
Secretaries
pudr@pudr.org
PEOPLE’S UNION FOR DEMOCRATIC RIGHTS

Courtesy: https://countercurrents.org/

‘Non-Lethal’ Crowd-Control Methods Have Killed 24, Blinded 139 In Kashmir

August 6, 2019

Srinagar: Violent protests in Kashmir are quelled using what the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) describes as ‘non-lethal’ crowd-control measures. These include pellet guns, tear gas and chilli-filled shells (containing PAVA or pelargonic acid vanillyl amide, found in chillies).

Tanveer Ahmad, a second-year undergraduate student at Srinagar’s Amar Singh College, was hit by a tear gas shell during a protest against the rape of a minor girl in Sumbal in Baramulla district.

But these munitions are far from non-lethal, according to an IndiaSpend analysis of MHA data and Srinagar hospital records.

We found that:

Tear-gas shells killed five between January 2010 and May 2019, and injured 176 between July 2016 and February 2019.

Chilli-filled shells killed one and caused respiratory problems in 51 of 294 respondents (non-combatants) surveyed for a medical study in downtown Srinagar. Of them, 97% developed cough and irritation within few seconds of breathing the gas.
Metal pellets have killed 18, blinded 139, injured 2,942 and caused eye injuries to 1,459 between July 2016 and February 2019.

These munitions killed 24 persons between January 2010 and May 2019, and injured 4,577 and blinded 139 between July 2016 and February 2019.

Over 100,000 tear gas canisters and almost 50,000 rounds of chilli spray have been used in over 4,000 incidents of stone-pelting in different parts of Kashmir since 2010, a senior security official who did not wish to be named told IndiaSpend. This situation worsened after July 2016 when militant commander, Burhan Wani, was shot dead by forces. There are no figures available on the use of pellets.

Human rights organisations such as Amnesty International have expressed outrage over the crowd control methods used in Kashmir and demanded a ban on these, especially pellets, which have blinded victims.

While the impact of pellets on victims has been documented extensively, there are few reports available on the effects of tear gas and chilli spray. We found in our investigations that these gases, which spread quickly, cause widespread damage to the health of those exposed. Those affected are not just those targeted by the forces but also passersby and those at home in the vicinity of the protest. Inhaling these gases causes paroxysms of cough and burning in the eyes, victims told us.

These accounts were confirmed by a May 2014 study published by Parvaiz Koul, professor and head of department, internal medicine at the Sher-i-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences (SKIMS) in Srinagar, and his colleagues at the department of internal and pulmonary medicine.

The researchers at SKIMS surveyed 294 bystanders exposed to pepper gas (as chilli-filled shells are referred to in the study) used against stone-pelters in Kashmir. Around 97% had developed cough and irritation of the throat within a few seconds of breathing the pungent gas as we mentioned earlier.

Exacerbation of lung diseases
“Among our interviewees, 16 developed exacerbation of their underlying respiratory disorders and one patient with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) developed a severe exacerbation of COPD immediately following exposure (She died in the hospital, three days later),” the SKIMS study said. “Symptoms lasted for one day to a week (median 24 hours), and in 94 percent of re-exposed individuals, symptoms recurred with similar severity on re-exposure.”

Exposure to tear gas and pepper gas is dangerous for human health both in the long and the short run, said S Balamurugan, principal investigator at the Chennai Chest Research Institute. Those exposed to them could become vulnerable to lung disease earlier in life, he warned.

“If there are asthma and COPD patients in a locality where these gases are used, they are bound to suffer and have exacerbations,” he said. “There is a 100% chance that children and elderly people will get affected. It can cause long-term effects, especially in a high-altitude place like Kashmir. Used frequently in a certain locality, it will cause problems for healthy people as well.”

Despite these documented effects, the Jammu and Kashmir police have issued a tender for fresh supplies of tear gas munitions.

Ages of some killed: 13, 17, 76
In 2010 the unrest in the Valley turned particularly violent, with the massive involvement of people in protests including stone-pelting. Since then, residents of Srinagar and other towns like Anantnag, Baramulla, Pulwama and Shopian have been witnessing regular use of metal pellets, tear gas and chilli sprays to quell protests and stone-pelters. The security situation in some south Kashmir towns has been particularly fragile in recent years.

One of the most widely discussed cases was of tear-gas victim Tufail Mattoo, 17, of Saida Kadal, Srinagar, who was killed after he was hit by a shell while government forces were dispersing protesters on June 11, 2010 at nearby Rajori Kadal. Mattoo was on his way to his coaching class when he was hit, newspapers had reported.

Another victim was the 13-year-old Wamiq Farooq, who was killed on January 31, 2010 when a tear gas shell, fired at point-blank range, hit his head. These killings triggered a series of protests which later resulted in agitations all across Kashmir.
There were two other tear gas deaths during protests: Gowhar Nazir of Zainakote HMT, on the outskirts of Srinagar in November 2014 and Irfan Ahmad, 18, in August 2016 in Malarata in the Nowhatta area of Srinagar. A 76-year-old man, Ghulam Muhammad Khan, was killed in November 2016 at Elahi Bagh when he was hit by a tear gas shell.

‘My wife was going to a hospital when she was hit’
Gowhar Nazir Dar’s brother, Shahzad Nazir Dar, a gaunt youngster with sunken eyes, sat in his home in the Omarabad HMT area of western Srinagar, recalling his loss. “I was not like this when my brother was alive–I was physically very fit,” said Dar, who stopped studying after his second year in BA. “When I look at Gowhar’s laptop, I get very emotional. He had hardly used it when he got killed.”

“When I look at Gowhar’s laptop, I get very emotional,” says Shahzad Nazir Dar of his brother, an engineering student, who had been killed when a crowd was tear-gassed at a protest on the outskirts of Srinagar. “He had hardly used it when he got killed.”

Gowhar was a computer-applications engineering student who had nearly completed his degree when he was killed.

“My younger brother, Farnosh has developed a cardiac problem, while my mother is in depression,” said Shahzad. “Doctors have told us that we should never leave her alone.” Their father, Nazir Ahmad Dar, has been told that his son, Shahzad, will be given a government job as compensation but the offer is yet to arrive.

“Despite CID (Criminal Investigation Department) police and CIK (Counter Intelligence Kashmir) verification, my son is not being given employment under SRO 43 (statutory rules and order which guarantees employment to the next of kin of the innocent killed),” said Nazir. “Instead, they recently offered us Rs 4 lakh in cash which we refused.”

Arsalan Bhat, 19, of Dangarpora, Pulwama, was hit by a tear gas shell causing severe facial injuries in April 2018. He has already undergone two plastic surgeries at SKIMS and is waiting for the third.

“Doctors told us that he has to go through another surgery after six months and have advised against exposure to sunlight,” said Rayees Ahmad, Bhat’s cousin. “He is a student and has lost many weeks of studies because of the surgeries. It has cost his family Rs 60,000 so far and they don’t know how much the third surgery will cost.”

Tanveer Ahmad of Zainakote, Srinagar, a second-year undergraduate student at Srinagar’s Amar Singh College, was hit by a tear gas shell outside his college while he and his fellow students were protesting against the rape of a minor girl in Sumbal, in Baramulla district, an incident which evoked massive protests in May 2019.

“The government calls them non-lethal weapons for dispersing protesters but how are they not lethal if they are doing this to people?” asked Ahmad.

For Zahoor Ahmad Bhat of Shalteng in Srinagar district, the spring and summer of 2017 have been traumatic. His wife, Nighat, had to undergo several facial surgeries after she was hit by a tear gas shell when women were protesting against the lack of power supply in their area.
“She was not even part of the protest when women had blocked the main road outside our locality,” he said. “She had to go to the hospital for a check-up. But police fired tear gas shells indiscriminately and one of the shells hit her in the face. Thank God, the plastic surgeries gave her back her face. But, she has turned somewhat temperamental after that incident. She was very shy but now she loses her temper with the children and other family members.”

The young and old suffer the most
People with respiratory diseases such as asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), the elderly and very young suffer the most when tear gas and pepper gas are used, said a report in Greater Kashmir published in October 2016, quoting senior physicians.

The medical file of a tear gas shell victim at a Srinagar hospital. Upto 97% of those exposed to tear gas and chilli spray complained of cough and throat irritation, found a study conducted by doctors at SKIMS.

Tear gas is poisonous, Sundeep Salvi, director of Pune-based Chest Research Foundation, said. “It is meant to kill a person; it is meant to cause harm,” he pointed out. “But how much harm it is causing in Kashmir, I have no knowledge. I need to study cases before I comment on that.”
“Tear gas under the Geneva Convention is characterized as a chemical warfare agent, and so it is precluded for use in warfare, but it is used very frequently against civilians,” Sven-Eric Jordt, a nerve gas expert at Yale University School of Medicine, told National Geographic on June 12, 2013 in an interview. “That’s very illogical.”

Incidents of exacerbation of COPD and asthma, and the number of patients suffering from these arrive in larger numbers from areas which report more tear gas and pepper gas use, said doctors at Srinagar’s Chest Diseases Hospital (CDH) and Shri Maharaja Hari Singh (SMHS) Hospital. There are no data available to back this statement but the number of patients goes up every time a violent protest is dealt with using gas, the doctors said.

Sound cannons next? No, says govt
Despite this, media reports on June 24, 2019 claimed, the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) is now considering using sound cannons for crowd control in Kashmir instead of pellet guns. The use of long range acoustic devices (LRAD) could cause hearing damage, concluded a study by the Bureau of Police Research & Development (BPRD), published in March 2017.

“High-intensity directed acoustic devices (HIDA) devices such as LRAD are designed to deliver audible warning messages over long ranges (up to 1km),” the study said. “However, at closer distances it is considerably more incapacitating and can produce 120 db (decibles) of sound at 60m and peak levels of 130db at 4 meters. Hearing damage can occur at levels as low as 80 db, if exposure is over a long period.” These are high decibel levels–120 db is equivalent to the noise made by a thunderclap.

The media reports followed a notification or request for information put out by the CRPF on its website, asking manufacturers to submit details of long-range acoustic devices, or sound cannons, by June 30, 2019.

But these reports were denied by Sanjay Kumar, the CRPF spokesperson. “We have no information that CRPF is now going to use any sound cannons in Kashmir,” he told IndiaSpend. “In the first place, let me inform you that stone-pelting incidents have considerably declined. We don’t feel the need of using force anymore. We observe utmost restraint. But if the need arises, we resort to tear gas or pepper gas shelling in a responsible manner.”

Kashmir Police too denied the reports. “I don’t procure the supplies (the authentic information can be had from police headquarters),” said Swayam Prakash Pani, the inspector general of police.

The state had conducted trials in 2010 in Sopore and old Srinagar city and found the use of sound cannons unfeasible, said senior superintendent of police, armoury, Gulzar Ahmad. “So, I don’t think there is any probability of using sound cannons in Kashmir,” Ahmad told IndiaSpend.

The report could have been planted by “some munitions manufacturers for business opportunities”, a top official of Jammu & Kashmir police, who did not wish to be named, alleged. “Surprisingly, these reports have come at a time when the security situation in Kashmir is much better as compared to the past two-three years: Stone-pelting is now witnessed quite occasionally.”

A June 26, 2019, ministry of home affairs statement backed the claim that there has been a sharp decrease in number of stone-pelting incidents across Kashmir. “The Government [has] constituted a Joint Monitoring Committee involving all concerned agencies at the central level and a Multi-Disciplinary Terror Monitoring Group (TMG) at the State level for sustained action against terror funding,” it said. “This has, inter-alia, resulted in a significant decline in the incidents of stone pelting in 2019 so far, compared to the number of incidents during the corresponding period last year.”

Only 40 incidents of stone-pelting have been reported in the first six months of 2019 against 1,458 incidents in 2018 and 2,653 in 2016, a media report on July 14, 2019 stated, quoting figures from the union home ministry.

Solutions Box
Crowd control should not end up maiming and killing people. I think alternative methods of crowd control such as water cannons, baton charges and rubber bullets should be deployed to avoid injuries and casualties among protesters and prevent collateral damage.
Parvaiz Koul, Professor and Head of Department of Internal & Pulmonary Medicine, Sher-i-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences, Srinagar.

The government should not treat the stone-throwing mobs and innocent citizens alike. Tear gas and pepper gas don’t distinguish between innocent people and those involved in rioting. The government should either stop using such methods or provide protection to innocent citizens.
S Balamurugan, Principal Investigator, Chennai Chest Research Institute.

(Parvaiz is a Srinagar-based journalist.)

Courtesy: India Spend

Citizens condemn the Arbitrary and Unconstitutional act of the Indian Government

August 6, 2019

The Government of India today introduced the scrapping of Article 370 and Article 35A.

To protest against the central government ‘s unilateral decision on J&K, several organisations and concerned citizens organised a demonstration today at Jantar Mantar, New Delhi at 3 pm.

The citizens asserted that this move without taking into account the voices of people of Jammu and Kashmir is undemocratic and Illegal.

They shouted slogans demanding ‘Immediate release of all opposition leaders in Kashmir!’

‘Restore Article 370 and 35A!’

‘Stop meddling with the Indian Constitution!’

Here are some pictures of the protest at Jantar Mantar this afternoon:

Picture credit: Musthujab, Delhi

Courtesy: Two Circles

A History of Article 370

August 6, 2019

Article 370: A Constitutional History of Jammu and Kashmir by AG Noorani is a collection of documents on Article 370 of the Constitution of India that contains “temporary provisions” with respect to the State of Jammu and Kashmir. The book details the five-month long negotiations that preceded its enactment on 17 October 1949. It talks about the importance of the article, how it was eroded and the relationship of the State with the Union of India. The book covers the period from 1946 to 2010. From Jammu and Kashmir’s accession to India in 1947 to the various negotiations thereafter, including Sheikh Abdullah’s arrest to the framing of the Constitution of Jammu and Kashmir, and the replacement of Sadar–i–Riyasat, this book examines in detail the little-known constitutional history of the state.

1(a). Letter Dated 17 May 1949 by N. Gopalaswami Ayyangar to Vallabhbhai Patel Enclosing Jawaharlal Nehru’s Draft Letter to Sheikh Abdullah for his Approval:
Durga Das (ed.), Sardar Patel’s Correspondence 1945–50, Navajivan Publishing House, Ahmedabad, 1971, pp. 275–309

(The chapter Article 306A was not enclosed…)

New Delhi
17 May 1949
My dear Sardarji,
Herewith the draft. Jawaharlalji has seen and approved of it.
2. Will you kindly let Jawharlalji know direct as to your approval of it? He will issue the letter to Sheikh Abdullah only after receiving your approval.
(p.51) Yours sincerely,
N. Gopalaswami
The Hon’ble Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel
New Delhi

Enclosure

New Delhi
18 May 1949
My dear Sheikh Sahib,
In the course of the talks at Sardar Patel’s residence on 15 and 16 May 1949 between some of my colleagues and me and you and your colleagues, important issues raised by you in regard to the future of Jammu and Kashmir State were discussed.

2. Among the subjects that were discussed were: (i) the framing of a constitution for the State; (ii) the subjects in respect of which the State should accede to the Union of India; (iii) the monarchical form of government in the State; (iv) the control of the State Forces, and (v) the rights of the citizens of the State to equality of opportunity for service in the Indian Army.

3. As regards (i) and (iii), it has been the settled policy of the Government of India, which on many occasions has been stated both by Sardar Patel and me, that the constitution of Jammu and Kashmir State is a matter for determination by the people of the State represented in a Constituent Assembly convened for the purpose. In the special circumstances of the State of Jammu and Kashmir, the Government of India have no objection to the Constituent Assembly of the State considering the question of the continuance of the assocation of the State with a constitutional monarchy.
4. In regard to (ii), Jammu and Kashmir State now stands acceded to the Indian Union in respect of three subjects, namely, Foreign Affairs, Defence and Communications. It will be for the Constituent Assembly of the State, when convened, to determine in respect of what other subjects the State may accede.

5. Regarding (iv), both the operational and administrative control over the State Forces has already, with the consent of the Government of Jammu and Kashmir State, been taken over by the Indian Army. (p.52) The final arrangements in this connection, for the duration of the present emergency, including financial responsibility for the expenditure involved, were agreed to between us on the 16th inst.

6. As regards (v), the citizens of the State will have equality of opportunity for service in the Indian Army. Under Article 10 of the draft of the new Constitution, as passed by the Constituent Assembly of India, equality of opportunity for employment under the State, including employment in the Indian Army, is declared to be amongst the fundamental rights of all Indian citizens.

7. I trust that the Government of India’s position, as stated above, will give you the clarification that you have asked for.
Yours sincerely,
Jawaharlal Nehru
The Hon’ble Sheikh Mohammed Abdullah
Srinagar

[…]
1(c). Amendments Proposed by the Ministry of States of the Government of India
Amendment Proposed to be Incorporated in the Law Constitution by the Ministry of States, Indian Constitutional Document, Munshi Papers, Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan,

Bombay, 1967, Volume II, pp. 473 and 476–7
The Government of India have also carefully considered the position of Jammu and Kashmir State in the context of their international commitments. Ordinarily, they would have liked to treat this State like other States in the category of Part III States. The main difficulty in adopting this procedure is that the Premier of this State has definitely expressed his inability to extend the content of the accession of the State till the Constituent Assembly of the State has taken a decision in the matter. Against the present background, he is most anxious that the accession of the State should continue in respect of three subjects of Defence, Foreign Affairs and Communications only. During the course of the discussion at the Drafting Committee meeting, it was pointed out that the scheme embodied in the Draft Constitution visualised that all States in Part III would accept List I and List II and in addition accept all provisions relating to fundamental rights and the provisions relating to High Courts and Supreme Court. It was further pointed out that if the quantum of accession of Kashmir State was not extended, difficulties would arise in respect of the citizenship of the subjects of Kashmir State as also in connection with the operation of the provisions regarding fundamental rights and Supreme Court in respect of this State. The (p.54) Government of India have considered the matter in its various aspects and are of the opinion that in the view of the present peculiar situation in respect of Jammu and Kashmir State it is desirable that the accession of the State should be continued on the existing basis till the State could be brought to the level of other States. A special provision has therefore to be made in respect of this State on the basis suggested above as a transitional arrangement. It may be added that ‘naturalisation’ is already covered by the existing Instrument of Accession signed by the Ruler of the State and this may perhaps meet the requirements in respect of citizenship of the subjects of this State.

The Ministry of States suggest for the consideration of the Drafting Committee the following approach to this question:—
1. Jammu and Kashmir State may be treated as part of the Indian territory and shown in States specified in Part III of Schedule I.

2. A special provision may be made in the Constitution to the effect that until the Parliament provides by law that all the provisions of the Constitution applicable to the States specified in Part III will apply to this State, the power of the Parliament to make laws for the State will be limited to the items specified in the Schedule to the Instrument of Accession governing the accession of this State to the Dominion of India or to the corresponding entries in List I of the new Constitution.
[…]

Article 370 (1) (d) is not and cannot just be one way stream. It has been brought into existence so as to invest the Constitution with requisite resilience in order to respond to ground situations warranting solution so that the relationship between the state and Union is placed on an even keel in which aspirations of the people of the state would find satisfactory expression. There is no legal impediment, as is evident from the pronouncements of the Supreme Court in reversing the dilution made to the autonomy of the state. Indeed, none can be urged as causes omissus cannot be read into the constitutional text which must be interpreted to give full and wide meaning to its words for it must endure through generations. The issue in that state is not whether elections should be held or not. An election just for the sake of an election will be a farcical exercise which will fail to carry conviction with the people and therefore, not ensure their participation.

It will be another short-sighted step in pursuit of Centre’s obduracy in refusing to deal with a political problem in keeping with the principles of secularism, democracy, federalism and solemn obligations under the Delhi Agreement.
[…]

Four features of these terms of reference deserve particularly to be noted. First, implicit in the exercise is acknowledgement of the fact that the State’s autonomy, guaranteed by Article 370 of the Constitution of India, was eroded in breach of its provisions, of those of the Instrument of Accession to which Article 370 gave full recognition, of the Constitution (Application to Jammu and Kashmir) Order, made under Article 370, by the President of India on January 26, 1950, extending to the State specified provisions of the Constitution of India which had come into force on the same day, and of the Delhi Agreement of July, 1952. It is this erosion which had necessitated ‘the restoration of (p.422) autonomy’ to the State. As we shall point out, till now, 94 of the 97 entries in the Union List have been applied to the State. 26 entries in the Concurrent List have also been applied, 6 more with modifications. Even in 1954 the Concurrent List did not apply at all. The process did not cease. It was accelerated. The Constitutional relationship that was established was contrary to and went far beyond the Delhi Agreement.

Secondly, if this exercise is to be worthwhile, it would be necessary to devise appropriate effective constitutional safeguards against any repetition of that unfortunate phase of erosion in future. Any Constitutional arrangement that is evolved to this end must have finality and be ‘inviolable’.
Thirdly, the exercise has a definite limit and a clear objective. It seeks in effect the full enforcement of the historic Delhi Agreement concluded between the Prime Minister of India, Pt. Jawahar Lal Nehru, and the Prime Minister (as he was then called) of the State, Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah, the two foremost architects of the State’s accession to the Union of India. Implementing their mutual pledges in that Agreement is, at once, the bottom line and the high ideal we have placed before ourselves.
[…]

Regional diversities are reflected in special provisions with respect to the States of Nagaland (Article 371-A), Sikkim (Article 371-F), Mizoram (Article 371-G) and Arunachal Pradesh (Article 371-H) which confer ‘special status’ on these States. There are other ‘special provisions’ with respect to some States concerning certain areas within those States, for example, Article 371 relating to the states of Maharashtra and Gujarat. In respect of Nagaland and Mizoram, Parliament is barred not only from altering religious or social practices but also ‘customary law and procedure’, ‘administration of civil and criminal justice’ according to such law, and ownership and transfer of land.

These are excerpts from Article 370: A Constitutional History of Jammu and Kashmir by AG Noorani and published by Oxford University Press. Republished here with permission from the publisher.

Courtesy: Indian Cultural Forum

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