“Unfortunately, the middle ground has been completed wiped out in Kashmir and I don’t know what the way forward is,” Sinha said in an exclusive chat with TwoCircles.net before his group left the Valley on Monday evening.

Sinha said that he fears that Government’s use of force will invite retaliation from the people of Kashmir. “I only hope that that will not happen. My urgent plea to the people of Kashmir is to not take that route,” he said.

Sinha arrived in the summer capital Srinagar on Friday as part of “Concerned Citizens’ Group” (CCG) to assess the ground situation in the region.

Other members of the group include former Chief Information Commissioner Wajahat Habibullah, former Air Vice Marshal Kapil Kak, journalist Bharat Bhushan and activist Sushoba Bharve.

Sinha was earlier not allowed to visit Kashmir in September and was sent back to New Delhi from Srinagar Airport. This time they were allowed to visit but were confined to the hotel.
 

Former Union Minister Yashwant Sinha (L) along with journalist Bharat Bhushan.

“Once we reached our hotel in Srinagar we realised we are being confined here. We wanted to go to Pulwama and we were told in writing that there is an impending terrorist threat the next day. We intended to visit Shopian but we were not allowed again. They (Security agencies) would write names of people who came to meet us on reception; they would monitor our every action,” Sinha said, adding that they have been under heavy security cover here in the hotel. 

Sinha said that they are feeling disappointed as they were confined to Srinagar district only by the security agencies who cited militancy issues for them not to visit any other area of Kashmir. 

He said they couldn’t meet the persons they intended to gauge the situation at ground level.  

Soon after their arrival, the group met several delegations of traders and businessmen. According to reports, they also interacted with representatives of civil society groups and the Kashmiri Pandit community at a local hotel.

Sinha said the silence of Kashmiris after August 5 is having a tremendous impact. “People have not taken to violence, which is already having an impact. Barring a few incidents of violence, there has been no large-scale violence and the credit for that goes to the people of Kashmir, not the Government of India,” the former finance minister said.

Sinha urged that non-violence has more power than violence. “With the number of boots on the ground here, there is no way violence will be allowed to succeed. But non-violence will succeed,” he said.

Sinha said despite being barred from going outside his group met several delegations from South to Central Kashmir. “Everyone is extremely unhappy. There is an atmosphere of fear here. Nobody knows how the future is going to turn out,” Sinha said. He added that Kashmiris have suffered enormous economic and financial loss post the abrogation of Article 370.

“Trade, transport and tourism have been affected. Fruit traders have been severely affected due to early snowfalls. Even if the shops are open, many people don’t have money to buy goods,” he said after meeting with several delegations. 

Sinha further said his group had visited Kashmir many times in the past, but this was the first time they were barred from travelling freely. 

“I think the only reason could be that they (Government) don’t want us to see the ground reality. If we would have been allowed to travel around the valley, we could have understood the ground situation. But many people from the south Kashmir came to talk to us when they learned that we are here,” he added. 

He further said that they have been pleading for the beginning of a dialogue process for years.

“We are having a dialogue at the civil society level but it doesn’t help. It the government of India which must engage people here and be part of the dialogue process,” he said.

He further asserted that he doesn’t know whether their visit will have a positive impact in the long run or not. But he added he will try to inform Indians about the situation in Kashmir.

“Our visit was for the people of Kashmir to show them that there are people in India who are concerned with their plight and therefore we came here,” he said. “Many people have written about the situation in Kashmir, but the atmosphere of fear that prevails here is also prevailing in the rest of the country,” he added. 

Sinha added that the militarization that has taken place in Kashmir since August 5 is far greater than ever in the past. “This is the most disturbing aspect of the present situation in Kashmir,” he added. 

Courtesy: Two Circles

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According to reports, the right-wing Party is trying hard to lure the Shia voters ahead of the parliamentary and the upcoming assembly polls to get some seats from the Valley.

Regardless of their backwardness, which they blame to their clergy comprising of Agas and Ansaris, the minority sect of Islam especially the youth said they won’t vote in coming elections, while others said they would vote on the directions of their leaders “come what may”.
 

 

“As long as the BJP doesn’t get an Aga or Ansari to campaign for them, Shias will not vote for them. It is as simple as that,” says Samir Ali, a political science student from Zadibal area of Srinagar City.

Despite several attempts, the BJP has failed to get any seat from the Valley and are now trying to push a sectarian divide to open their account in Kashmir.

For Javeed Ahmad, all political parties are the same and they have hardly done any work for the upliftment of the Shia community.
 

Javeed, however, says BJP is just after power and anyone associated with them is doing so for their own vested interests.
 

Reports suggest the BJP has promised to revoke the ban on Muharram processions, increase the Haj quota and separate Waqf Board in an attempt to lure Shia votes.
 

 

Saqib Mugloo, a Valley-based journalist says the BJP is as much an enemy of Shias as much they are of Sunnis. “The fear they have instilled in Muslims has no substitute and allowing Muharram procession or giving reservations is no solace for the pain the Hindutva party has instilled on Muslims regardless of the sects. They are least concerned about Shias or Sunnis,” Saqib says.

According to reports, BJP had conducted an in-house survey pertaining to the various religious and ethnic sects in Kashmir valley back 2011.

According to the data compiled in the survey, the Shia voters comprise approximately 14% vote in erstwhile Kashmir division which included Ladakh as well.
 

 

Reports suggest the survey also carried the profile of Shia population at district and village levels so that it could effectively engage with community voters for political gains.
 

For decades, Shias have been ruled by Aagas and Ansaries the two religious-cum-political families. However, the people say the two have exploited Shias under the garb of religion and imposing fear to garner votes.
 

Agas and Ansaries are two religious families whose ancestors have served the Shia communities for decades and who eventually joined politics and became the political leaders among Shias.
 

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Rizwan Asad Pandit

The cartoon shows inquiry report being buried in the grave along the body of a local teacher, who was allegedly killed inside Police custody by the Special Operations Group (SOG) of Jammu and Kashmir police on Tuesday.

Rizwan Asad Pandit, 30, a resident of Awantipora in south Kashmir’s Pulwama district was picked up by J&K Police in late March 17 during a raid at his family home. He was shifted to Cargo-a counter-insurgency police camp located in Srinagar, where he was allegedly killed.

According to a report compiled by International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) in collaboration with Jammu Kashmir Coalition of Civil Society (JKCCS), a copy of which lies with TwoCircle.net shows that between January 2008 and December 2018, 107 enquiries were ordered by the Jammu & Kashmir government. The highest numbers of enquiries were ordered in 2009. Out of 107 inquiries, no one has been prosecuted or held accountable.

Human rights experts say Kashmir is the history of “unfinished probes and hallow enquiries” where justice continuous to be a causality owning the special powers to government forces.

 “Ordering probe after the killing has become a joke now. In the last three decades, hundreds of probes were ordered to enquiry the killings and disappearance but the recent report of the US has made it clear that not a single soldier has been punished,” said Kashmir based human rights lawyer Parvez Imroz.

While referring to the killing of the teacher in custody Imroz says, these types of killing happen because nobody in the past held accountable and punished for their crimes.

“Not a single soldier has been punished from last 3 decades, if the action would have been taken against the perpetrators then yesterday’s incident wouldn’t have happened,” he says.

According to data, on Nov 22, 2008, two teenagers were killed and seven injured in north Kashmir’s Baramulla when a Personal Security Officer (PSO) of a Congress candidate and CRPF men opened fire at people protesting against the elections process in the State.

The then Deputy Commissioner Baramulla Baseer Ahmad Khan ordered a magisterial inquiry into the firing incidents but 11 years have passed no one has been punished.

On Dec 3, 2008, a 13-yr old in Kokernag area of South Kashmir was allegedly “gang-raped” by troopers of 33 Rashtriya Rifles of Indian Army.
On next days, the additional deputy commissioner, Anantnag, Bashir Ahmed Khan said that administration has ordered a magisterial probe into the incident and have asked the concerned Tehsildar to investigate the matter and submit his report within three days but in this case also, more than a decade has passed no one was punished.

On May 18, 2009, a youth, Manzoor Ahmad Beigh from AluchiBagh, Srinagar city was killed in custody personals of SoG of J& K police. After few days Deputy Commissioner ordered an inquiry into the killing but that too are on papers only.

Parvez believes that Government of India is not serious about these gave human rights violations. He says the government orders probe just to divert the attention of public anger.

“People here have lost faith on the probe as they don’t have credibility now,” he added.

Parvez says Govt knows there will be some other incident after some days and that incident will overshadow their incident, media’s attention towards a particular case is always not there.

“So this is a continuous process from years and it will continue, nothing will happen,” he added.

A PhD scholar from the University of Kashmir argues that laws like Armed forces special power act (AFSPA) made for the Indian security forces have given complete impunity to soldiers to do “whatever they want”.

“You see a young man is being picked up from his home and you say he dies in the custody. For God’s sake, how can he die, until you didn’t torture him?” asked Arshad Hussain.

For the family members of Rizwan, they are added in the list of those who are waiting for the justice of the kins. Like others, they have no hope on Police and their inquiry.

“What kind of inquiry are you talking? Should we expect justice from those who picked-up and then killed our brother in the custody,”? questioned Zulkarnain Asad, while talking of TwoCircles.net on Phone.

Zulkarnain further added that they don’t expect any justice because it was never served in Kashmir.

Irfan Mehraj, a researcher with JKCCS is of the view that inquiries in Kashmir are been ordered as a pre-emptive measure to cool down public anger against human rights violations.

He says not a single enquiry has lead to the prosecution of perpetrators and some like ML Koul’s report on civilian killings in 2010 agitation have not even been made public.

“It seems enquiries too have been used as a tool to further deny justice to Kashmiri victims of human rights abuses,” Irfan said.

It is pertinent to mention that the “custodial killing” of the Rizwan came at a  time when the US Department of State released a report on the human rights situation in Kashmir, saying that no prosecution of accused soldiers has been allowed for 28 years.

According to a report, GoI failed to prosecute any soldiers as the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) has been present in the state of Jammu and Kashmir.

Noted Human rights defender Khurram Parvez says India has repeatedly failed to deliver justice for the last 28 years in all the cases here and that is why people are asking for International intervention and enquiry to probe all the cases.

“Even United Nations (UN) last year in its first-ever report asked Govt to appoint a commission of enquiry to probe the human rights violations,” Khurram says.

Regarding Rizwan’s case, Khurram says a magisterial probe has been initiated under section 176 of the CrPC but “apparently the Police didn’t file an FIR for murder under Section 302.”

Courtesy: Two Circle
 

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Srinagar:- On December 8, 1989, Rubaiya Sayeed, the 23-year-old daughter of the then Union Home Minister Mufti Sayeed Mufti

Mohammad Sayeed was kidnapped in Srinagar by the members of Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF), a separatist group based in Kashmir. In lieu of her release, the kidnappers demanded the release of five militants— Sheikh Abdul Hameed, Sher Khan, a Pakistani militant; Noor Muhammad Kalwal; Muhammed Altaf Bhat; and Javeed Ahmed Zargar. The Government-led Prime Minister V. P. Singh met the demand and she was released on December 13.
 

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) blamed JKLF leaders— Mohammad Yaseen Malik, Manzoor Ahmed Sofi, Javed Ahmed Mir and Showkat Ahmed Bakshi, Javed Ahmed Zargar and Ali Muhammad Mir for kidnapping and conspiracy.

After the abduction, a case was filed in Police station Sadar in Srinagar City. The FIR No.339 was registered on 8 December 1989 under Sections 364, 368 RPC, Section 3(1) TADA Act and 25 Indian Arms Act, against unknown persons.

Almost after three decades, the case against Yasin Malik, the main accused and others, was shifted to Jammu for proceedings on CBI’s plea.
According to official sources, this was done for the ‘speedy trial’ of the case while people here see it as part of the tough approach towards Kashmir’s separatists by New Delhi.

Reports said the Union Home Minister was “shocked” to know the status of 1989 Rubaiya Sayeed kidnapping case and he expressed “displeasure” over the “slow pace of trial.”

In 2009, the High court stayed the trial against Mohammad Yasin Malik and others in the case before a Tada court in Jammu.

On March 13, the petitions filed by CBI in High Court, seeking vacation of the stay on trial and shifting the proceedings to Jammu in the kidnapping and killing of five Air Force officials cases from Srinagar to Jammu decided to be heard in the Jammu wing of the court as per the high court rules and circular issued by it in this regard.

The CBI counsel Tahir Majid Shamsi had filed a transfer appeal before the Srinagar wing of J&K High Court contending that the main accused, Yasin Malik, is an influential person in the state which is likely going to influence the proceedings of the matter.

“The writ petitions cannot be taken up for consideration at Srinagar Wing and have to be sent to the Jammu Wing for hearing and decision in accordance with Circular 6 dated 18.12.2010 and Guideline 94 dated 7th December 2018,” a bench of Chief Justice Gita Mittal said. On Monday, the HC reserved the orders after a plea.

“All other steps including hearing, consideration and decision have to be by the Wing to which it relates. The petitioners have accepted this when applications seeking permission to file the writ petitions relating to the Jammu Wing at the Srinagar Wing was sought,” the court said.
The writ petitions, the court reiterated, can be heard and decided only by the Wing to which the matters relate i.e., the Jammu Wing, the court said.

A brief background of the two cases
According to the CBI, Rubiya Syed was kidnapped while she was going in a Tata Mini Bus from Lal Ded Hospital her to her house at Nowgam in outskirts of Srinagar. She was taken to some unknown place by the militants travelling in the same minibus and they threatened to kill her in case their demands were not met and “created terror amongst all the passengers by showing gun and pistols to them”.

After completion of the investigation in the case, the charge sheet was filed by the CBI on 18.09.1990 under Section 364, 368, 109 and 34 RPC, Section 3(1) TADA and Section 27 of Arms Act, before the court of 3rd Additional Sessions Judge Jammu— the designated court under the TADA Act.

During the pendency of trial in this case, on 25th October 2010, an application was filed by the accused persons seeking transfer of the case to the designated TADA court at Srinagar. The CBI filed objections and opposed the application.
 

The case was registered by the CBI and on completion of the investigation, a charge sheet was filed on 31st August 1990 under Section 302 RPC of RPC, Section 3 and 4 of TADA Act and Section 27 of the Arms Act against Muhammad Yaseen Malik and five others, before the designated TADA Court at Jammu.

Both the cases were transferred to Srinagar from Jammu and in April 2009, Srinagar wing of the J&K High Court stayed Yasin Malik’s trial in a designated TADA court in Jammu. Now both the cases have been transferred back to Jammu for further proceedings.

Political experts in Kashmir believe that the opening of the 29-years-old case is just “propaganda” by the Modi-led government to win the upcoming elections. They believe shifting of nearly 3 decades old case to Jammu as Modi’s “Muscular Policy’ towards Kashmir.

“It is the changing approach of current the government in the centre and shifting of Yasin Malik’s case to Jammu that too after decades is the part of the same approach and I think this will continue till the elections are not over,” said Professor Noor Ahmad Baba, a Political expert in Kashmir.

Baba said the failure to address the Kashmir conflict meant the government is using the old cases for its benefits. “If the BJP continues to remain in power, it will continue with the muscular policy towards the Kashmir and it will not be good for the future.”

A staunch supporter of JKLF, who wished not to be named due to security reasons, said Kashmiris have been always used by the Indian politicians for the political benefits.

“Tell me why a 30-year-old case was reopened? If Yasin Malik was involved in the kidnapping why didn’t they punish him in 30 years,” he questioned.

Talking to this reporter, Javeed Ahmed Mir, one of the accused allegedly involved in the kidnapping cases, said the JKLF announced a unilateral ceasefire in 1995 after the assurance of an American diplomat, Robin Raphel, who assured them that the GoI will support peace initiatives if JKLF leaves the path of violence.

As a result, Mir said, they left gun culture and choose the non-violent means to demand their rights but the BJP government led by Narendra Modi is pushing them to choose the gun again.

“We don’t know why we are being targeted in the decades-old case. If we are demanding our right through peaceful means, then why are our leaders being detained without any charges?” asked Meer.

The raids on separatists leaders seem to have had no impact, especially on JKLF. Their office at Masuima locality in Srinagar was filled with a dozen of activist discussing the Kashmir situation.

“We have hundreds of cases going on in different courts. Over 100 of our workers are behind bars. I am telling you nothing is going to happen to Yasin Malik,” said one of the activists, wishing anonymity.

“Modi wants to show his presence and his psychological warfare to the people of Kashmir, nothing else,” he says.

Courtesy: Two Circle

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Almost all political parties barring Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has expressed their displeasure for not holding the state assembly elections simultaneously, however Political experts in Kashmir believe that the decision might help former Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti in gaining the ground for the assembly elections.

The ex-CM has been left with limited options ahead of coming elections and has now started to pick up different issues for her electoral gains.
Sources said Mufti has asked for party carders to gear-up for Lok Sabha elections. There are 6 seats for Lok Sabha for the state: 3 from Kashmir valley, 2 from Jammu and 1 from Ladakh. In 2014, the PDP won all the 3 seats of Kashmir valley, while BJP won the 3 seats including one from Ladakh.

Sources said except North Kashmir PDP is yet to announce candidates for rest of the state but has asked workers to reach out to masses and prepare for the upcoming election.

With an eye on polls, Mufti has threatened to launch an agitation until the ban on Jamaat-i-Islami is not revoked. Last week, she led a massive protest rally in Anantnag district against the Centre’s ban on Jamaat-e-Islami (JeI) for allegedly having “close ties with militant outfits” and demanded revocation of the decision.

Her Party workers also protested in many districts of the state. Ever since the centre decided to ban JeI, she has been speaking against the move, saying that the ban is an ‘Act of Vengeance’ by the Centre.

However, experts in the Valley see this as a mere political gimmick to hoodwink the common masses of Kashmir ahead of upcoming elections.
Prof. Noor Ahmad Baba, a political scientist at the Central University of Kashmir believes that the PDP is trying to rehabilitate her party because of the setbacks received during her tenure.

Baba says Mufti wrongly believes that Jamaat followers might vote for her in the upcoming elections and she is trying to impress them. “But this time that maybe not the case keeping in view of the situation that PDP has created in last 4 years,” Baba says.

Noted political analyst Sheikh Showkat Hussain says that Mehbooba Mufti is trying to stay relevant as she has lost ground in the Valley. He doesn’t believe that this might help her.
 

It is believed that Jamaat carders helped People’s Democratic Party in 2002 Assembly elections- allegations that are denied by Jamaat leaders from time to time. However, sources in Jammat privacy to TwoCircles.net said some supporters of Jamaat helped the PDP led by Mufti Mohammad Sayeed to power. However, this step was taken to defeat the National Conference (NC) whom Jamaat had opposed from the beginning.

“When we look into History, Jamaat has suffered huge damage..its members were targeted by both Govt. and its militia knows as Ikhwan. Houses were burned; members were killed, tortured and disappeared for just being with Jamaat. Most of the damage was done when National Conference was in power, so in order to get some relief, we pushed Mufti Sayeed to power and it was a mutual understanding,” said a cadre of Jamaat-i-Islami who wished to remain anonymous due to security reasons.
 

                              
 

He further says it didn’t help them and they realise that they are no different from other mainstream parties.

“And if you see presently how Mehbooba is protesting against Jamaat ban… she thinks that she might get sympathy from our carders but that will not be the case,” he adds.

Er. Rasheed, a firebrand politician and an independent legislator from North Kashmir, says that she has lost credibility and thus beating drums in the Valley for electoral purposes.

“Why doesn’t she take all the regional parties on board and meet Prime Minister Modi for revocation of the ban, if she means business? She is doing this to gain the lost ground,” he said.

PDP spokesperson Najmu Saqib argued that protesting against Jamaat ban has nothing to do with upcoming elections and that opposition is creating a false narrative which is not based on facts.

“It was during the National Conference’s rule that Jamaat members were beaten, arrested and forced to migrate. NC workers burned houses of hundreds of workers, they would be without electricity, roads and other basic faculties and when Mufti sahib came into power… they were living a dignified life,” Saqib says.

He said Jamaat is a legitimate organisation and they are not protesting for electoral purposes, adding, “every party in Kashmir knows that people belonging with Jamaat-i-Islami don’t believe in the election process and they don’t vote.”

Courtesy: Two Circles
 

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A villager stands inside his damaged house after heavy shelling from the Pakistani side at Mendhar, in Poonch district ( photo by special arrangement)

“We are living in fear ever since Indian jets crossed the LoC and vice-versa, and only those people who live around the LoC know the true cost of war, as we are the first casualty,” Hussain, a Sarpanch from the Congress party, says while talking to TwoCircles.net via phone.

He says the temperature in Kargil during the day is -10 degrees Celcius. “When you don’t have water to bath, how can you think of surviving a war”? he asks.

Hussain says he along with his family are having sleepless nights these days as they worry where they will go in this “bone-chilling cold” if a war breaks out.

Hussain says the provisions stored for the winter are often not enough during normal times and if war breaks down it will be disastrous for the people of Leh, Kargil, and Ladakh.

Another local, Subhan Jaffari, says Ladakh shares 130 kilometres of the border area with Pakistan and even security forces are under 10ft snow.

“We will suffer heavy damage and we have suffered in past too. It will be impossible for us to shift right now to better places,” Jaffari says.
Jaffari says he has four daughters and is extremely worried for them. “Those who are beating the drums of war while sitting in their cosy rooms should see the conditions of the people living in the border area,” he adds.

Bodraj Suchetgarh of Jammu sectors RS Pura says people in his area are of the opinion that war can break down anytime and they are moving towards safer places along with their family members. Boadraj, a government school teacher by profession, lambasted the Indian media for creating a war-like situation.

“People are panicking because of the India media, the way they have created war hysteria has affected the people here. It is very unfortunate that the government  is not able to handle them,” Bodraj says. He also slammed the government for failing to construct bunkers that were promised to them.

“The tall claims of the government of constructing the bunkers remain only in papers. These bunkers could have been of use this time easily,” he says.

It is pertinent to mention the Central Government approved the construction of 14,460 bunkers along the 740-km long border with Pakistan at a cost of Rs 415.73 crore last year. However, the project is far from complete and hence of little use to the locals.

The dwellers alongside the LoC always face the brunt of cross-border shelling. In the last three years alone, 100 civilians have lost their lives and 300 civilians have been injured in border skirmishes.

The government has ordered all government and private schools within a range five km from the International Border in Samba, Jammu, Rajouri, and Poonch to remain closed since Thursday.

The nervousness is also visible in the town of Uri in Baramulla district after shelling continued late Tuesday night for several hours in the nearby villages of Kalgai and Kamalkote.

“We have not slept since the last three days due to shelling between Indian and Pakistan. We only pray that this tension comes to an end once and for all,” says Nazeer Ahmad Teli of Uri town via Phone. He adds that locals have been advised to stay indoors and switch off the lights during night

Mohammad Dilawar of Gurez sector, North Kashmir, while speaking to TwoCircles.net said the locals constructed the bunkers themselves a few years ago and many families have shifted to their underground bunkers. Although there were no reports of cross-border shelling in that region, there is a lot of fear among the locals.

According to latest reports, at least 60 families comprising around 300 people have fled their homes after firing from the Pakistan side killed 3 civilians in Poonch Village.

The civilians fled for safety as Indian and Pakistani armies continued to pound the Line of Control.

“We are poor people and cannot afford the loss of houses. We are tired of living under the fear of getting killed or our houses getting destroyed in the shelling, ” said an elderly person Ghulam Hussain of Poonch to a Srinagar-based news agency. He urged both India and Pakistan to resolve their issues peacefully.

Tension escalated between India and Pakistan after a Kashmiri suicide bomber belonging to the Jaish-e-Mohammed outfit blew up a bus killing 40 CRPF troopers on February 14 which prompted Tuesday’s air strike by India on a JeM camp across the LoC.

Courtesy: Two Circle

The post ‘Those who beat war drums from their cosy homes should see our life on the border’ appeared first on SabrangIndia.

According to reports, two local tribals: Mushtaq Ahmad Chowdary and Mohammad Ashraf Chowdary were on the way to their destination when an RSS mob caught hold of them in Vijaypur area of Samba and forced them to chant “nationalist slogans”.

A video of the two being thrashed and being forced to chant slogans in favour of “Bharat Mata” and against Pakistan went viral on social media with netizens demanding authorities to take strict action against the culprits.

Anger is brewing among the local Muslim community of the area against the hooliganism of the right-wing activists with locals calling for a peaceful protest against the harassment after Friday prayers this week.
 

He said the RSS workers were celebrating the airstrikes by Indian Air forces against Pakistan when they caught hold of the duo and thrashed them.

“We raised the issue with the concerned Police station; you can’t force anyone to chat Bharat Mata ki Jai. Although we have been assured that strict action will be taken against the culprits but we have decided to hold a peaceful protest march after Friday prayers this week”, Khatana says.

He said ever since the Pulwama attack the Muslims in the area are being provoked deliberately by the Hindu-right wing parties.
When TwoCircles.net raised the issue with Dr Koshal Sharma, Senior Superintendent of Police, Samba said the police have taken cognizance of the video and have started an investigation. “We are verifying the video…strict action will be taken against the culprits after the investigation,” he added.

Courtesy: Two Circle
 

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Zeenat-ul-Islam, according to the local police, was a top militant commander in the Kashmir Valley. He was known for being a cordon breaker and an IED (Improvised explosive device) expert. He was killed along with an aide in an encounter with security forces in Jammu and Kashmir’s restive Kulgam district on January 12. No wonder, the security forces termed the encounter of Zeenat as “a big blow to militancy” in the Kashmir Valley.

Banners praising local militants including Zeenat-ul-Islam, raised by the locals ( Photo: Auqib Javeed/ TwoCircles.net)

The family of Zeenat says their son joined militant ranks for the first time nearly 13 years ago and in 2008, he was arrested for the first time in Sopore under the dreaded Public Safety Act. Over the next four years, he spent his time in jail before finally being acquitted, first by the Shopian Court and later the High Court of Jammu and Kashmir.  In a conversation with TwoCircles.net, Shaftaq Hussain, his lawyer in the Srinagar High Court, said, “The police couldn’t prove that he was a militant and he was acquitted first by the Shopian court. The state then challenged the verdict in the honourable High Court and I represented Zeenat during that time. The HC couldn’t find any strong evidence against him and hence, he was released in 2012.”

After his release, Zeenat started living a normal life and helped his father in the fruit business. During this period, Zeenat also got married and was blessed with a child.

House of Zeenat-ul-Islam at Sugan Zanipura area of south Kashmir’s Shopian district. ( Photo: Auqib Javeed/ TwoCircles.net)

“Everything was fine for sometime after his release from jail in 2012,” says Ghulam Hassan Shah, father of Zeenat-ul-Islam at their residence in Sugan Zanipura village of south Kashmir’s Shopian district.

“There came a moment when I thought it is time to get Zeenat married and with God’s grace he tied the knot with a local girl, but our happiness was short-lived as security forces started summoning my son again to their camps,” says Ghulam Hassan Shah.

“He was mentally tortured to such an extent that he thought that it’s better to be a militant then live a normal life. Not only Zeenat, his friends too were harassed,” says Shah.

Broken windows of Zeenat-ul-Islam’s house (Photo: Auqib Javeed/ TwoCircles.net)

Explaining further, Shah says that soon after he was released, security forces would often make Zeenat spend four to five days a week at various camps for questioning, which ultimately lead him to join the militancy again. Shah says the day his son got engaged, he was arrested and kept in a local police station.

“I begged the police officer to leave him at least for this day as he was going to be engaged but our pleas fell on deaf ears. The police official, in turn, said he would allow him to get married only if Zeenat along with me will work for police as informers,” he adds.

Despite these issues, it seemed like Zeenat was ready to move on and in 2014, he got married to Aaliya. But five months after his daughter came to this world, he again left the home and joined the militancy. This time, he did not return. Aaliya says she knew her husband was a militant and released from jail a few years ago. “But it was God’s will and we got married” she adds.

Keeping in view that many militants were released in the area and are living a normal life with their families, Aaliya thought the same.

“I thought he had left militancy so I wouldn’t have any issues in spending the rest of my life with him. But I never had any inkling that he would leave us again,” she says.

“I was at my father’s home at Turkawangam, a village in Shopian with my five-month-old daughter when Zeenat left,” she adds.

While Aaliya will never get to ask her husband directly about why he took the step, she believes she understands the causes. “My husband used to spend most of the days in Army camps. The Army would also call him to their camps during the special occasions like 26 January or 15 August or when any VIP would have to visit to Kashmir.”

Aaliya believes that her husband wouldn’t have left her and their daughter if security forces had let him live a normal life.

“I remember once, a top police official told him on the phone that I will ensure that you will be behind bars for life. I think he chose militancy because he believed it was better for him to die with dignity.”

She says after joining the militancy, she never told her husband to come back. “I knew what he was going through his normal life. And for me and my daughter Allah is there for us,” she adds.

Local security officers believe that the harassment angle to be both a lie and a cover up for Zeenat’s real intentions.

“I can say it was the lust for power which led him to join the militancy back. He wanted to live a king’s life and that was not possible in his regular, normal life. So he joined the militancy again,” says a top police official from Shopian district, wishing to remain anonymous.

Father of Zeenat-ul-Islam addressing mourners at his home (Photo: Auqib Javeed/ TwoCircles.net)

The official added that Zeenat left the Hizbul Mujahideen (HM), a militant outfit which believes in merging Kashmir with Pakistan and joined the Al-Badar, another militant group, “because he wasn’t a Pakistani boy and refused to follow the commands of Pakistan.”

The official refused allegations of harassment. “When you have been a militant, the police will, of course, keep an eye on you. We only summon some ex-militants on special days….that reason alone cannot force someone to join militancy again.” The official pointed to the fact that over 1,500 militants had been released in Shopian district. “How come only Zeenat became a militant again if the harassment stories are true?” asked the official.

Courtesy: Two Cirles
 

The post Why the father of a three-year-old child ‘returned’ to militancy despite being acquitted by the Srinagar High Court appeared first on SabrangIndia.

Shah Faesal, who emerged as a youth icon in the state after he topped the UPSC exam in 2010, surprised many, particularly people outside the state of J&K, by announcing that he is quitting from government service to protest against the “unabated killings” in the state.
The resignation of IAS topper Shah Faesal baffled some and amused others in his native state. TwoCircles.net spoke to a cross-section of society regarding his decision.

Tariq Ahmad, a teacher from North Kashmir, called Shah Faesal an ambitious personality. “His decision to join mainstream politics is only going to be beneficial to the major political narrative. For him, his decision is right because he felt a bureaucratic handicap in the system,” said Ahmad.

Saqib Magloo, a Srinagar-based Journalist said Faesal had a history of ‘gimmicks’ and that he had long been implying that he was going to join politics sooner or later.

“For Kashmiris, it wasn’t a surprise given that they know their politics well. Even on social media, people aren’t expressing any surprise over his joining the politics,” he added.

Shah Faesal hails from a remote village in frontier district Kupwara of Kashmir. He topped the IAS exam in 2010 and was allotted the home cadre of Jammu and Kashmir where he worked as District Magistrate, Director of School Education and Managing Director of the state-owned Power Development Corporation.

According to unconfirmed reports, Faesal will be contesting from the North Kashmir parliamentary constituency which was won by the Peoples Democratic Party’s Muzaffar Hussain Baig in the 2014 general elections. At the time of his resignation, Faesal was on leave, pursuing a master’s degree as a Mason fellow at Harvard University. “He applied for voluntary retirement the day before but the process takes time since it has to be approved by the home ministry,” reports said.

Mohammad Saleem, a Banker, believes that Faesal could have served the society better by continuing with his job for a few more years.

“Now he will be like any other ‘disempowered’ Kashmiri politician. To protest civilian killings, if he had just tweeted about the same it would have made headlines not only in national media but international media as well,” he said.

In a post on Facebook, Faesal said he has decided to resign from the IAS to “protest against the unabated killings in Kashmir, and lack of any sincere reach-out from the Union Government; the marginalization and invisibilization of around 200 million Indian Muslims at the hands of Hindutva forces reducing them to second-class citizens; insidious attacks on the special identity of the J&K State and growing culture of intolerance and hate in the mainland India in the name of hyper-nationalism.”

Welcoming his decision, People Democratic Parties’ spokesperson Najmu Saqib said that youngsters joining politics is a welcome move and provides a platform of greater public service.

“The turbulent times’ state is undergoing a new generation of leaders need to rise to the occasion. The present status quo of retaliating violence with violence is untenable and calls for a comprehensive dialogue with all stakeholders at the earliest. We hope the decision is taken out of conviction and not convenience,” he said.

Dr Muneeb Faiq, a highly acclaimed clinical researcher from Kashmir said while a cynical approach to anyone’s intents is not wise, it is hard to guess why Dr. Shah Faesal decided to cease to relish Indian bureaucracy.

“If he has got some realization, howbeit, that it should be welcome. But if he is giving up one government post to fight for a bigger one, then this will hardly make much of a difference to Kashmir and Kashmiris. If he thinks that he can do some good which he yearned to (but could not) while being a celebrated pen pusher he has every right to try his hand through an unconventional promotion also. His future actions will reveal the truth behind this roster-synchronized resolution,” said Faiq.

Last year, Faesal found himself in trouble when the government sent a notice to him for his tweet on rapes in India.

“You have allegedly failed to maintain absolute honesty and integrity in the discharge of official duty and thus acted in a manner unbecoming of a public servant,” read the notice by the J&K General Administration Department, which initiated disciplinary proceedings against Faesal at the request of the central government’s Department of Personnel and Training.

Faesal’s tweet read: “Population +patriarchy +illiteracy +alcohol +porn +technology +anarchy = rapistan”. The post drew the ire of the DoPT. After it issued the notice to Faesal he wrote:
“Love letter from my boss for my sarcastic tweet against rape-culture in South Asia. The Irony here is that service rules with a colonial spirit are invoked in a democratic India to stifle the freedom of conscience.”

Mohammad Zafar, a student from the region, said, “There are two paradoxes regarding Faesal resignation. One is that while he condemns state violence and cited it as a reason for his decision; he seems to have made up his mind to join the same statist stream of politics.”
The other paradox, Zaffar explains, is that he (Faesal) acknowledged in his recent article in Indian express that pro-India band of politicians is not the true representative of people of Kashmir. “I fail to understand how he is going to adjust himself among those career politicians who carry no moral compass,” Zaffar added.

Welcoming Faesal to the “fold of politicians”, former J&K Chief Minister Omar Abdullah said, “The bureaucracy’s loss is politics’ gain” in a tweet.

“Actually, I welcomed him to the fold of politicians. His future political plans are his to announce,” Omar said in another tweet while responding to reports that Faesal was likely to join National Conference.

Faesal said he will reveal his future plans in a press conference on Friday.

Courtesy: Two Circles
 

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On Friday, for the first time ever David Kaye, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on freedom of opinion and expression wrote to Twitter CEO regarding the blocking of Twitter accounts of Kashmiris and users who shared or posted Kashmir-related content.

Kaye has asked Twitter to provide complete details of the request made by the Indian Government about the withholding of Kashmir content and blockage of Kashmir Twitter handles.

Taking to social networking site Twitter, David Kaye wrote: “platforms may be improving but they are often opaque to users whose accounts are suspended or posts hidden from view, esp when under pressure from governments. for case in point see my letter to @jack @twitter re #Kashmir #India:”

Scores of Kashmiris have complained that their accounts were withheld and many of their tweets are being removed by Twitter for sharing the content related to human rights abuses in Kashmir.

Why does Twitter delete/withholds accounts?
Journalist and activist Irfan Mehraj thinks Twitter deleted or withheld Kashmiri accounts or censored Kashmir related content on request from the GoI (Government of India) because they would not like Kashmir’s ground realities to be discussed openly and independently.
“Government wants to control the flow of information coming from Kashmir because it goes against its conduct there,” he says. Irfan believes that the Indian government has put a lot of pressure on social media platforms to comply with their demands and both Twitter and Facebook have complied without caring for the human rights of its users, which Kaye has also highlighted.

Irfan, who has faced censorship from Facebook multiple times, says several of his posts critical of Indian government’s conduct in Kashmir were taken down during summer uprising of in 2016. On October 24, his publication Wande Magazine’s official Facebook page was removed by Facebook without any reason or intimation or warning.

“It was taken down by Facebook in October. Due to the pressure we built on social media and relevant channels and after continuously writing to Facebook, we were able to get the page back,” he adds.

This ‘random and unnecessary’ act of censorship by Facebook has left Irfan wary of its promises of being a “powerful platform for promoting free speech and expression”.

“In Kashmir, we have seen other alternative media pages getting censored in this way while pages which are known to have published and circulated fake news are operating without any tabs or questions. This is unjust and unfair,” he says.

Recently he was blocked by Facebook for 24 hours without any warning. This has happened with a few other Kashmiri journalists and news websites like Free Press Kashmir and The Kashmir Walla.

For the people, social media is an important medium through which they seek to highlight the human rights abuses by the Indian forces in Kashmir. People post videos of armed forces torturing civilians, mutilating bodies of militants and vandalising public property after the encounters. It is also being used to counter the Indian narratives in Kashmir.

On August 31 last year, Wasim Khalid, a Srinagar-based journalist, received an email from Twitter stating that the Indian government had objected to some of his recent tweets.

One of the tweets that Twitter later removed from Khalid’s timeline was posted on June 16 of this year. Waseem says it was a picture showing two Indian soldiers standing next to a Kashmiri boy who was handcuffed and made to sit on the ground. Khalid’s tweet read: “A teenager being used as a human shield by Indian paramilitary man in #Kashmir to stop other pro-freedom leaders from moving ahead.”

Similarly, Srinagar based online web portal Free Press Kashmir has faced censorship multiple times on Facebook. On December 14, the social media page of Free Press Kashmir was banned from publishing by Facebook. Its editor, Qazi Zaid while speaking to TwoCircles.net believes it was incorrect reporting and flagging that was a reason for their Facebook ban.

He says his web portal has reported in details regarding withholding of Twitter accounts, deleting tweets on the request of the Government of India.

He says four of their stories were removed, and later restored. “These were critical of the right-wing BJP, critical of UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and PM Narendra Modi to be precise. One story has been permanently removed from our page, in addition to a 48-hour period during which we were stopped from accessing our page” he adds.

A Turkey-based Kashmiri Journalist Faisal Mohammad who was also served with a legal notice by Twitter says Social media is not just a platform for Kashmiris to document human rights abuse and comment on the situation in Kashmir. It has manifested itself into a weapon against ‘Indian propaganda’. “And as such you see UNHCR reports and David Kaye’s involvement into Kashmir. That’s why India wants to set up ‘information warriors’ to fight the narrative of Kashmiris online,” he adds.

Faisal says there are many fake accounts which are run by the government and army masquerading as Kashmiris on Facebook and Twitter who are agent provocateurs on comments and tweets. He is hopeful this statement will serve as a wakeup call for Twitter and other social media platforms, which are pro-people in the west, and pro-government in the east.

Twitter is India’s fastest growing market
Since the BJP came into power, Twitter has actively created partnerships with BJP governments both at state and federal level which is understandable as India is the largest and the fastest growing market for Twitter.

The moderators of Twitter would have to comply with the state’s policy. India like other authoritarian countries has sent countless requests to take down content which the country deems illegal. It has sent legal notices, mostly to activists in Kashmir and also journalists. “It definitely means that Twitter is collaborating with the Indian state in censoring voices from Kashmir,” Faisal says.

Noted Human rights activist Khurram Parvez who is an active user of Twitter and usually posts stuff related to human rights abuses in Kashmir, says it is important that various UN Special Rapporteurs have slowly begun to monitor human rights situation of Kashmir.

“David Kaye’s letter to Twitter for withholding Twitter handles of Kashmiris will certainly push Twitter to rethink how they were unethically and illegally strengthening the Indian state’s efforts of choking of democratic rights of Kashmiris. Twitter perhaps was obliging India because of business interests with India” he says.

For Qazi Zaid, there is a different approach from Twitter, when it comes to the subcontinent. “Champions of free speech and democracy take a very authoritarian position of the government to curb free speech and freedom of the press,” he adds.

Courtesy: http://twocircles.net/
 

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